[Closed] STW SkiClub - Recommendations please!

portes du soleil is my favourite (a mate of mine I once had to arrange a H evac off a ridge for has a couple of apartments there which are at my disposal woohoo!)

http://www.morzine-avoriaz.com/
Morzine for a more fun vibe, or the smaller villages around like Chatel, St Jean d'Aulps, or Montriond. All the little villages have at least one bar/restaurant for easy evening fodder. Most of the eateries in town are a bit touristy although there's a few specials ones like the clin: http://www.restaurant-leclin.com/ although it's changed hands since I last went - fingers crossed it's still a great little restaurant and bar.

Huge area with varied pistes. Plenty to do in the area - check out the activités sportives on the site for details.

easy to get to and some of the smaller villages are bargins if you have transport.

Tignes? Not sure about the extra stuff to do away from piste.

Les Arcs is a vast area, runs to cater for all abilities and great off piste opps higher up. Last year the conditions were fantastic in late Jan and we have booked again for this year we enjoyed it so much. Loads of good restaurants and bars but its seems to be an older crowd in general so no groms causing mischief.

If you go week commencing 31st Jan you could even meet me for a beer! How are things any how? I'm back up North now, I couldn't resist the pull of 'proper' riding any longer!

Norway. Some gentler slops, better suited to XC ski-ing, but absolutely perfect for beginners, plus XC ski-ing is really good fun. I found it easy to gain a lot of confidence in just a short time, and there's not the 'oh shit how do I stop' terror.

Spensive mjnd. But definitely something a bit different to the average ski-ing holiday I'd imagine. Probbly a lot quieter too. Plus the Norwegians seem to be really into snowboarding and that too. The Winter culture is a lot less touristy, as it's just daily life for most people there.

-----------------------------

I'm hopefully going to be negotiating the use of a place near Perpignan for MTB and ski-ing holidays, very reasonable rates to STWers. 😉 I'll keep you posted...

Montgenevre is a very nice little resort. Big skiing area which can get busy during the french/italian holidays but it remains lager lout free. Good off piste stuff and the lift pass gives access to Sestriere and Serre Chevalier as well. Montgenevre village sits at 1850m with top lift somewhere around the 3000m I think. Quite a nice little village, especially as they have now put in a tunnel moving all the passing traffic underground. There are a few ski in/out hotels/chalets available.

St Martin de Bellville is also worth a look. Quite a nice little village and you can get access to everything up the Belleville valley which means lots of variety both on and off piste. St Martin is low, 1300 I think, but Val Thorens village is at 2000m

Tignes is almost the complete opposite of what you have asked for!

I'd consider La Clusaz.

Resort altitude 1110m - 1110m
Highest lift 2477m
Lowest lift 1110m
kms of piste 130km²
Black pistes 7%
Red pistes 20%
Blue pistes 23%
Green pistes 22%
Snow parks 2
Glacier No
Snowmaking Yes

With the caveat that at 1110m you are not guaranteed good snow in a bad year.

Nor would I go to Norway in January, the sun doesn't come up 🙂

Stoner, noted, thanks.
DarkSide, blast from the past! How the hell are you? Already done Les Arcs and liked it a lot. Didn't like the long transfer, though!
Creg, skied some of Montgenevre last year, as well as much of the Via Lattea. Great area!

Keep 'em coming!

Saalbach / hinterglem
zell em see/ kaprun
all 1 hour transfer from salzburg etc..

Nor would I go to Norway in January, the sun doesn't come up

A fair point actually. The sun does come up, if you're below the Arctic Circle, but not for long, and it can be propperly bastard cold. Late January/early Feb wouldn't be too bad, and there's a better guarantee of snow than some other places.

Definitely a 'different' experience mind. And there are some pretty remote places if you chose to be adventurous.

Just an idea.

Vallandry. Nice little village at the bottom of tree lined runs connected directly to Les Arcs also connected by CC to La Plange. Enough skiing for weeks, great in January as the trees give it shelter so you can ski in a white out. Never any queues on the lifts and a great place to learn as it has some nice easy blues and reds. However it also has some full on off piste and blacks as does Les Arcs.

Breckenridge CO. Plenty of great beginner runs nice and long but flat and wide (off of Peak 9) Great intermediate blues on peak 8 and 9. And good expert runs. Apres is good in January there's less people as it's outside of spring break and other holiday times over here.

Ice rink 5 mins walk from base of peak 9, dog sledding on the outside of town. Free bus service to keystone for tubing or to Frisco for tubing if they finish the building work.

Best of all I work as an instructor there so you can borrow me for guiding!!

Two cross country centres on the free bus route as well. One is a short way from Peak 8 base.

We went to livignon last feb and it was great, loads of snow as well, plus loads to do when your not skiing, some good snowbird and ski jump comps to watch in the day, and it wasn't full of berks either,

I must add that all the people I went with are decent skiers while I am not,
I slide down things in abject terror until I crash at the bottom! But I enjoyed it immensely anyway.

Anyone been to Ischgl or Galtür? Looks pretty ideal so far.

Livignon and Vallandry look good too, thanks!

Courmayeur. Picture box village, great skiing, off piste in the trees if the snow's good, possibility of doing the Vallée Blanche (without the terrifying arete entrance) if conditions permit. The only bit it fails on is skiing down to the village, it'a a gondola ride up and down - but the restaurant on the mountain are fabulous anyway, it's in italy

Livignon and Vallandry look good too, thanks!

I'd consider La Clusaz.

edit: NBT's right about Courmayeur too. Off piste options include the Vallee Blanche and going over the back to La Thuile.

Dear god, if you thought les arcs was a long transfer then avoid Livigno. Les arcs is circa 2.5 hrs from geneva, livigno is a 5 hour transfer!

Thanks re Livigno, both.

Sainte Foy

Yep - avoid Livigno as it also has a 5 hour tfr.

La Clusaz, Montgenevre, La Tania, are all great, Kaprun when it has snow on the local lifts without going all the way up to the glacier every day is also great fun as would Kirchdorf and lots of other Austrian resorts which are much better value than they used to be, with greatly improved/modernised lift systems.

la clusaz / grand bornard is a good choice
short xfer from GVA , tree skiing, classic french charm, other posters have commented on it being lower but in Jan that shouldnt be an issue

done morzene and would suggest other resorts
Montgenevre / Serre Che gets a big thumbs up too

la plagne doesnt have huge nightlife but very good skiing in jan

breckenridge +1 its the only place I have returned to, best holidays of my life

You have in my opinion just described Flaine in France, just rebooked for 3 rd consecutive holiday,Wife and kids all learned there and can`t get enough now.Not a lager lout in sight.Have fun.

Folgarida - Dolomites, Italy

Val De Sol mtb races were held there a few months ago.

It's a lovely little resort, with enough to keep your group happy.
Good Pizza restaurants, not too noisy or wild.
There is the opportunity to ski over to Madonna de campiglio and back in a day, a very posh village, where the woman still parade around in their fur coats.

Only one tour operator has acommodation from the U.K. So book early.

You have in my opinion just described Flaine in France, just rebooked for 3 rd consecutive holiday,Wife and kids all learned there and can`t get enough now.Not a lager lout in sight.Have fun.

Tis a bit of a concrete monstrosity though.

Agree on the slopes though, simply brilliant resort. Loved the Serpentine run back down to the resort...huge grin factor for that 😀 Some fantastic off piste stuff as well. I liked being ready for first lift and heading down to Les Carroz, runs so long if felt like they were never going to end. Many happy memories from my season there

What about Schladming? I personally have never been but have friends who have worked seasons there and they say it is simply brilliant. Good range of runs and a very nice village.

Been to Mongenevre a few times and the snow reliabiltiy isn't always good.

However I would second Flaine, its downside though, is the awful 1960.s purpose built village. It's worth putting up with that for the skiing.

Anyone been to Ischgl or Galtür? Looks pretty ideal so far.

I looked at that but ended up with Igles; smaller, nice and high and very austrian tyrol looking.

Not millions of miles of pistes but doubt I'll cover what's there in 1 week anyway!

No mention of it in the OP but if childcare is an issue, I can further recommend Le Grand Bornand.

We've used their "Mom'en Ski" service twice a year for the last three years now and they're superb - drop the kids off at 9:30 and they take them to ski school. Then they pick them up from ski school, feed them (well) and let them play 'til about 2pm when we pick them up and ski with them a bit more.

p.s. Flaine - some really good skiing but not a pretty town - I've only been there for day trips so I don't know what it's like at night. Based on the skiing, I'd happily spend a week there.

Breckenridge again - went there on honeymoon and it was fantastic. Not much more expensive than France/etc either once you add in all the costs once there.

Plus other resorts nearby if you're there for two weeks and fancy a change. And the Pearl Izumi (cycling) outlet store nearby 🙂

10 - we stayed in a rented house in Frisco in the mid 1990's. It was a real cowboy town then. Guys wearing chaps, stetsons and everything.

RE: flaine

Agree on the slopes though, simply brilliant resort. Loved the Serpentine run back down to the resort...huge grin factor for that Some fantastic off piste stuff as well.

Flaine is a resort on a massive limestone escarpment. There are potholes there that would swallow a bus. You should treat it like a glacier. If you;d ski off piste on a glacier, fine, but otherwise take the appropriate precautions

I'm loving this, El Fred offering the captain advice on where to go skiing.
😆

+1 for les arcs, plenty of through the woods blues and reds but has the high altitude open runs too. Some very long, easy blues with great views too.

+1 for Les Arcs. So much variation and even when its busy once you are out of the villages it quietens out a lot plus the wide pistes make it ideal for learners.

Second DavidB, Sainte Foy is pretty much ideal for what you've asked for. Pretty village (all wood/stone, no concrete!) quiet, immaculately-groomed pistes, epic off-piste. All funnels back to the village, so easy to meet up for lunch/hard to get lost! 1550m altitude and snow-making on the lower runs, so very snow-sure.

Drop me a line if you want any advice. We're pretty full already for late Jan, but might be able to sort something out depending on dates, etc.

La Clusaz and Grand Bornand of those listed above are closest to meeting your requirements (that I've been to anyway), but both are very low. I personally don't like Les Arcs much for skiing/snowboarding (better for mountain biking!).

Nice location, not some prefab monstrosity

You have in my opinion just described Flaine in France,

Flaine has to be the worst prefab monstrosity in France. Only place I've been back to and regretted it. Some reasonable skiing but that doesn't make up for the resort making your local Asda look like an architectural gem. Also no apre-ski to speak of.

Some of the Austrian resorts are greatly improved recently. Have you thought about St Anton (not nearly as bad for lager louts as you might think - they all go to Solden) or Lech/Zurs which share the same ski area? Or Obergurgl - small but very pretty and with a ski area out of proportion to the size of the village hence uncrowded slopes and untracked off-piste.

If you want a nice village most Austrian and Swiss fit the mould. Exchange rates ith Swiss franc are not good so I reckon Austria. It's where I will be going this season. There is lots of choice for intermediates. Drunk austrians are not like drunk Brits. They are quite safe, even fun.

Frisco in the mid 1990's. It was a real cowboy town then. Guys wearing chaps, stetsons and everything.

BH - It still has it's moments. The BBQ festival had a fair number of cowboys as you'd expect!! Without doubt my favourite thing about being here is the Texans and their skiing in jeans and starter jackets!

Avoid Livigno, skiing is limited, resort is *livley*, landscape is barren. Good for a day trip to St Moritz though.

America is great if you like good snow, good food and good beer. I've been to Brekenridge and Stowe Vermont. Stowe had some superb value spa hotels and great micro brews but the snow is a bit manmade.

La Plagne / Les Arcs fit the bill in terms of offering all things to all skiiers but the drinks are expensive and nightlife is a bit dull.

If I was going skiing this winter, which I'm not :-(, then it would be to Port du Soliel, especially if they get a good dump, or the states again, I'd like to try California

I would certainly avoid Livigno due to the length of transfer and the annoying local bus service.

Beginners will find it difficult to walk any distance carrying skis, so ideally look for somewhere close to the slopes.

I WOULDN'T necessarily recommend Morzine, although Les Gets and Avoriaz could be OK. Not many treelined runs at Avoriaz if the weather is bad though...

Alpe D'huez has no trees either, but ticks every other box.
Serre Chevalier would be an excellent choice. Montgenevre or Claviere are good for what you're looking for too, but perhaps don't offer the same extent of 'Apres' activity - great bars/villages though.

I'd be tempted to avoid the super massive resorts, although La Plagne has good cruisey pistes.

You don't mention how you plan to travel. If Self drive you have an excellent choice of resorts that don't tend to feature in the brochures. Grand Bornand and La Clusaz would be good. As would Les Sept Laux and Chamrousse which are both a stones-throw from Grenoble. Easy to do on a self drive or fly-drive basis.

Not France!!

What's on the piste map and what's on the ground are too much divorced from reality - routes marked blue that hadn't been pisted and were more like blacks. Not good for beginner / intermediate confidence.

Italy, on the other hand is fab. Well groomed runs, big lunches and laid back skiing.

Would particularly recommend Cervinia for the intermediate end and Pila for beginner to intermediate.

Cervinia is high, and in January might be cold, exposed and windy.

Pila has a lot of runs in the trees, so isn't as exposed - well worth a look.

[url= http://pilaski.co.uk/ ]more info here[/url]

[url= http://www.pila.it/homepage.asp?l=e ]and here[/url]

Pila is surprisingly good, ski-wise, but you do need to hunt around a bit - not that that is a bad thing.

Down to Aosta for the roman baths etc for the non skiers.

My choice though would be Brekenridge

I used to live in Breck and count it as my third home (behind UK and now Australia). It fits the bill, but is quite typically American. Having said that, at least its a town with a ski resort, not a ski resort that has built a town, so it is somewhat prettier than many places in that regard (it was a gold rush settlement originally many of which are listed/protected). Factor in a day at A-Basin, then the night at Keystone, a day at Vail, Beaver Creek or Copper and, if you have a car, Loveland, and there is as much variety as anywhere in Europe, just not linked by lifts.

[hijack]
10 - I'm betting we have a number of mutual friends, or possibly know each other even... I was there, 00-03 and 05-06 and worked P8 lifts
[/hijack]

Seriously, try Obertauern in Austria. 1hr transfer from Salzburg. Lovely resort with lots to do, resort is aimed purely at int.skiers (albeit decent int.skiers). But there is some great off piste to be had for the more advanced skiers along with a few cracking black runs. Resort caters mainly for Austrian and Germans but dont let that put you off there is a great vibe and the Germans and locals make you feel wanted. And you regulary get free shots with your drinks when they find out your a brit.

Resort has a good family based feel, but also has the usual Austrian apres if you want it in certain bars....but not full on like St Anton etc.

its a small gem not many people outside of Austria and Germany know about, so its of the radar for most brits.

My m8 has been skiing over 30yrs and has been to all the big resorts Val disere, St Anton, Lech, utah, Morzine, 3 Valleys, Chamonix,Canada, etc etc. i have not been skiing as long as him but have been to most of the big resorts also and regulary go to Val disere every March with Mrs Junkie, but also have a ski holiday with my m8 and the 2 wives in Jan. We both agreed that Obertauern was a hidden Gem, and both would go back with outfail, and the girls also enjoyed it.

The resort is also high by Austrian standards so also enjoys snowsure record second to none.
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plenty of decent off piste not far from the main runs:-

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Canada... Like france only,bigger,less crowded,powder snow and nice HELPFULL people. Boarders paradise.....sunshine and powder.

Sella Ronda, beautiful scenery, a variety if different resorts so you can pick one that suits your nightlife expectations, I am pretty sure they have snow canons all the way round so a good base for the real stuff

Canada... Like france only,bigger,

No, like France only 1/10 of the size! Canadian resorts (even Whistler) are tiny compared to French ones.

stevomcd - Member

Canadian resorts (even Whistler) are tiny compared to French ones.

Says he who lives in Ste Foy, the well-known high-mileage mega-resort 🙂

In any case in terms of piste mileage you are spot on. In terms of skiiable terrain, I'd go with North America everytime - since they have "in-bounds and out-of-bounds" rather than "on-piste and off-piste" there's a hell of a lot more terrain to explore that you know is patrolled and checked for avvy danger and the like. I know there's loads of off-piste in europe (especially in Ste Foy) but the attitude is different, especially when it comes to insurance...

There are but two facts in life Canada is way better than france (even your area) and the north is so better than the south 😉

+1 for La Clusaz
hardly any Brits, short transfers, bonny town, all kinds of ski-ing, good scenery, great for families.

You want a recommendation for sk**ng...do the right thing and take up snowboarding.

Sorry make that 3 facts .....Snowboarders are way cooler than skierists 😯

I hear ya Stumpy...

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or

[img] [/img]

Snowboarding is just cooler...FACT.

Says he who lives in Ste Foy, the well-known high-mileage mega-resort

Fair one, I always describe Sainte Foy as being more like a Canadian resort than a French one, funnily enough!

since they have "in-bounds and out-of-bounds" rather than "on-piste and off-piste" there's a hell of a lot more terrain to explore that you know is patrolled and checked for avvy danger and the like. I know there's loads of off-piste in europe (especially in Ste Foy) but the attitude is different, especially when it comes to insurance...

I know where you're coming from with that, but I actually see that as a bad thing, not a good thing.

I can go up to the top of Sainte Foy and drop off the other side of the ridge-line and be deep in the backcountry within 2 turns. My decision on whether it's safe or not. In the US I couldn't do that, there would be a rope and a sign warning me I'd get fined if I crossed it! Canada is a bit better from that point of view, but there are still limitations - it varies from resort to resort across North America in fact.

Insurance shouldn't be an issue - get a better insurance company! (Snowcard or the BMC). Or pay a few pennies a day to get insurance along with your lift pass.

I've done couple of trips to Canada and to be honest, it was OK. We were pretty unlucky with snow conditions (grass showing at Fernie!) but I'd rather be in Sainte Foy, Chamonix or La Grave any day!

McHamish - You're so very wrong....! Ghey on a tray....! 😉

Some great suggestions here, folks. I knew that the HiveMind would come through for me!

Re travel - Probably flying, but may consider a drive or train/hire car dependent on resort.

Re Piste markings France V Italy - Having done both, I found Italy far madder than France for the "Eh? This is meant to be a blue" and the "Erm, was that the black?"

Re US/Canada. Hmm, interesting, but as mentioned by others, not often the biggest area. Have done the Via Lattea area before, and that's a massive amount of ski area. Huge!

Keep it coming!

Pila/Aosta is a very good recommendation. I've taken a number of school groups there and it is ideal as a non-busy beginner intermediate resort. Interski do packages for family/adult groups.

Re Piste markings France V Italy - Having done both, I found Italy far madder than France for the "Eh? This is meant to be a blue" and the "Erm, was that the black?"

Agree with that - we reckon the Italians add a grade to every run so they can say they were skiing blacks all day in the apres bars! 😉

Any views on Arinsal in Andorra? The prices for a budget holiday in half term are looking best there at the moment. We'd be after long blue runs because despite mne being a freaking awesome skier, my son prefers things a bit easier.

I went to [b][url= http://www.spindleruv-mlyn.com/en/ ]Spindleruv Mlyn in Czech Republic[/url][/b] a few of years ago. Cheap, loads of snow, piste or off, Norwegian girls ready for some laughs, Germans singing karaoke, you know the score.
The snow was still there in June, although only on the North-facing slopes.
Did I mention beer for peanuts? From 9 am till whatever? And decent gear rental? And cheap passes? No? Oh, well....

samuri -

Never really liked Arinsal - found it pretty limited. It's just one side of one hill that caught a load of the sun and was pretty slushy by the end of the day.

There were a couple of places nearby that you could get a bus to from it, Arcalis and Pal, which were quite a bit better but still always a bus ride away. Arcalis in particular was pretty good - a big empty bowl with no resort attached but it was a separate ski area so required more dosh for another lift pass.

If I was going back to Andorra I'd recommend Soldeu. More variety of runs, and I think the ski area is now linked with Pas De La Casa and the village had a bit more variety and a bit more going on.

Cap'n Flashheart - I'd recommend any of the resorts in the Ski Weldt in Austria. Lift system very well linked and efficient. No queues despite being rather busy the whole time. If you liked the variety of the Milky Way, you'd appreciate what's on offer there. Ellmau, Scheffau, Going. Probably my favourite place that I've skied. Quite a few resorts linked into one area, fantastic views of the Wilder Kaiser ridge once you're up there. Short transfers from either Innsbruck or Salzburg which both have enough going on and are close enough to keep any non-skiers or culture vultures happy.

Thank you. I'll keep looking then. We don't have a huge amount of cash this year to spend on skiing but I've not been for about 3 years now and I'm missing it. Cheapness is the key requirement. We'll happily sleep in very basic accomodation, don't need any nightlife other than somewhere to get food and all we really need is lots of slopes and ski lifts. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

In fact, if anyone is going as a family group in February half term and is looking for a middle aged man and a teenage boy to pad things out then I'd be interested. We're no trouble.

Personally, I don't always understand the need to have hundreds of miles of piste on your doorstep, especially for a one-week holiday. I'd happily spend a week in Ste Foy, especially if I could ski with someone local who could arrange a lift back if we dropped over a ridge and away from the lifts (hint hint)

For instance, this is the lift map for Solitude resort, just outside Salt lake City in Utah. We spent the last day of our trip there in 2009 - admittedly we had great conditions as we arrived to 8" of fresh snow and it continued to snow through the day
[url= http://www.skisolitude.com/images/winter/trailmap_thumb.jp g" target="_blank">http://www.skisolitude.com/images/winter/trailmap_thumb.jp g"/> [/img][/url]
(click to downlad PDF)

When I arrived, I took the Moonbeam express lift, and skiied down to the bottom of Eagle Express. I spent the rest of the morning going up Eagle Express and skiing back down to it, and never took the same line twice. Just before lunch, we varied the routine and dropped over the ridge into Honeycomb canyon, which eventually led us back to - yep, Eagle express.

At lunch, we skiied back to the base so some of the group could stop for lunch, but given the excellent conditions a number of us chose to ski straight through. We took the powder horn lift and dropped into Honeycomb canyon, at a higher point than before. This allowed us to take the honeycomb return lift, but from the top we dropped back down into Honeycomb canyon and again went back round to eagle express. We spent the rest of the afternoon going up eagle express then dropping into Honeycomb canyon - if we dropped to skiier's left, we'd take the honeycomb return lift, otherwise we'd just ski back round to eagle express. When we took the Honeycomb return, why then we'd drop back into to skiiers right and ski round to eagle express.

I arrived just before 10.30, and took my last lift just after 3.30, completely knackered. I have no idea how many time I rode Eagle express, but it must have been well into double figures.

If you have the right conditions and the right terrain, you don't need hundreds of kilometres of piste, you just need one lift and no queues (and good mates and beer waiting for you at the end of the day!)

(originally posted [url= http://snowheads.com/ski-forum/viewtopic.php?p=1166293&highlight=conditions#1166293 ]here[/url])

Any views on Arinsal in Andorra? The prices for a budget holiday in half term are looking best there at the moment. We'd be after long blue runs because despite mne being a freaking awesome skier, my son prefers things a bit easier.

I did a season in Arinsal, well half a season. I left early because the place drove me mental.

Crap snow at the time, crap runs, tiny skiing area, apres ski that was just about downing as much cheap beer as possible and then scrapping with the locals.

Had to get a Gondola up to the skiing area and after that there were two painfully slow chairlifts servicing essentially two runs. The piste map showed loads of most were either stupidly short or not open due to poor snow. There was a cablecar over to Pals but I never ventured that far, heard it is supposed to be better than Arinsal though.

The only positive, it's cheap (well it was before the Euro came in, dont know what its like now)

Another thumbs up for Colorado. Breckenridge is characterful and marvellous. The snow record is outstanding and its really high meaning piste ice is something rarely seen. It can be pretty cold but worth it.

Keystone night skiing is awesome - the adjacent resorts are just wonderful. The back bowls at Aspen are beyond fantastic for an off piste play. Beaver Creek quite lovely (if you have the budget).

TM

Cervinia. Backs onto Zermatt, so you get an absolute shedload of runs of all difficulty levels.

I've always wanted to go to Fernie, British Columbia, and to Japan. Both of those you'd want to take a couple of weeks for I guess.

Can't say I'd heartly recommend Spindleruv Mlyn in CZ, it's a great place and all Hairychested said is true (though I don't recall many Norwegians) nut it'd be pretty small for a whole week. Though as beginner/intermediates you might be OK. That said I often think at a blue/green level you really want a bigger resort if you value variety at all.

White Mountain area, near Boston, USA, lots of ski areas to visit!

Fernie rocks 🙂

Not really suitable for beginners or cautious intermediates, but great if you want to learn how to ski steeps and trees 😀

Ischgl - look no further. It's lovely and fairly unspoilt.
The ski range is vast.
Been 6-7 times and my dad goes there 3-4 times a year for the last 8 years.
Tim

I'd happily spend a week in Ste Foy, especially if I could ski with someone local who could arrange a lift back if we dropped over a ridge and away from the lifts (hint hint)

Always open to offers!

The resort actually runs shuttles back though - if you go straight off the back and ride to le Monal (easy, but stunning surroundings), you can just ski back to the resort. If you go over the Col Granier (nice powder fields with some cool gullies, trees, etc.) or hike the ridge to ride La Fogliettaz (huge, steep face - perfect north aspect so snow is always good) then you eventually (1700m of vert from the Fog) end up in La Masure, from where there are regular shuttles back to the resort. If you miss one, you just ski (or walk) down to Sainte Foy town, have a beer and wait for the bus there!

Why do you even need to aks. DA 06

stevomcd - Member
Always open to offers!

Dude, seriously, don't go to Les Saisies! There's a reason they hosted the cross-country skiing in the winter olympics!

If you want to go to the Beaufortain, go just up the road to Areches-Beaufort. Fantastic wee resort, awesome off piste. The north-face of the Grand Mont (and it pains me to say this) is even better than the Fogliettaz (although the hike is twice as long!).

For what you're looking for i'd recommend Meribel.

Careful of Canada at that time of the year...it can be very cold.

I don't get the 'Breckenridge' is great thing.

Having been a few times, the skiing was o.k. Quite crowded though. The town just seemed to be one whole tourist cowboy place, with lots of shops and micro breweries. Also it takes a couple of days to get used to the altitude, unless you have a stop over in the mile high city (Denver) to get used to it.
Keystone or even Vail are far better resorts i.m.o.

Much prefer the resorts in Canada like Fernie, Kicking Horse, Panarama etc.

stevomcd - Member

Dude, seriously, don't go to Les Saisies! There's a reason they hosted the cross-country skiing in the winter olympics!

😯 You have mail

Les Saisies does have pretty flat connectors, but it's OK and does link to other resorts. It's not as bad as La Rosiere.

Areches Beaufort is excellent for a day or two, but not a week. A lovely place though. Why not stay around Albertville and do a couple of days at each of Les Saisies, Areches Beaufort and Hautluce/Les Condamines?

Plan is to get a season pass for the espace diamant and do a longer stay. Les Saisies is just a base where we've been offered accomodation