3 day ski break

dizzyrascal

I would love to book a 3 day ski break in Feb but totally confused. Kitzbuhel seems most likely but open to suggestions. Chaminox seems to have most lifts closed. has anyone done this before and how??

cormee

Have been on long weekends in Chamonix in March and had a great time, the mild evenings in Chamonix town are really nice after a day on the slopes. Les Houches was the only ski area closed. If you're only going for a few days Chamonix is ideal becaus eit's so close to Geneva airport.
Three days sounds very short though! Does that include your travel days, or is it three full days on the slope?

dizzyrascal

Chamonix looks perfect. My only concern is the risk of no snow which would be a disaster. There was snow today but from what I can see there was none for over a month before that. 19/79 trails open today. Too risky??

cormee

Not at all. A lot of resorts won't have snow for weeks on end. Like I said I was there in March last year and there was only one, lower down, ski area closed. If you're nervous about it just wait until closer to the day and book then.
The number of lifts open seems bizarrely low - I subscribe to their Twitter feed and they were twweting this morning about how great conditions were, and the photos looked fantastic. Most of the lifts in the Grand Montets area are open, you could easily spend three days there and not get bored.

dizzyrascal

Great thanks for the info. I'm looking at accommodation here and getting confused. I want to be somewhere close to a ski lift. Don't mind a walk to the restaurants in the evening. Any ideas?

cormee

I've stayed in the Hotel Prieure http://www.prieurechamonix.com/en/ a few times, it's nice, within walking distance of the Brevent area, but quite expensive. The Brevents ski area would be intermediate-advanced I reckon, I'm not mad about it as it's small enough and can get busy, but unlike the other Chamonix ski areas, it's within walking-distance of Chamonix town.

I have also stayed in the Hotel Alpina which is pretty nice too, not as luxurious as Prieure, but cheaper, very central and right across the road from a bus stop that serves the Grand Montets ski area. If I go back this spring I'd pick the Alpina over the Prieure. I also stayed in a few Airbnb places.

d2ww

Is there not a howling gale there today?

cormee

d2ww wrote: »

Is there not a howling gale there today?

That might explain all the lifts being closed.
I saw earlier that the Grand Montets cable car was closed due to wind, but that's closed almost daily for one reason or another, so I didn't pay it any heed.

maddness

dizzyrascal wrote: »

Great thanks for the info. I'm looking at accommodation here and getting confused. I want to be somewhere close to a ski lift. Don't mind a walk to the restaurants in the evening. Any ideas?

If you want to stay close to the ski lifts Chamonix is not the place for you.
Chamonix is a town that just happens to have a few great ski areas dotted around the place and most a good drive away.
I've been for a four day short break in February or March every year for the last ten and have never once not had good ski conditions.
Geneva for Morzine/Avoiraz etc , Flaine, Three Valleys, Tignes/Val.
Grenoble for Alpe d'Huez or Les Deux Alpes.
Munich for St Anton, Ischul etc.
Milan Malpensa for Cervinia, Sauze etc.

Depends what you are looking for really.....

olaola

Somewhere that has an early flight & a short transfer, so you can be on the slopes by lunch.
Morzine is about an hour from Geneva, this is handy to search for resorts near your desired airport: http://www.skiclub.co.uk/skiclub/skiresorts/searchmap.aspx?country=&locationID=15&goodForType=#.WG_laJKLVJh

And some good suggestions here: http://www.onthesnow.com/news/a/105567/top-10-weekend-ski-resorts-with-easy-airport-access

maddness

What Olaola said makes a lot of sense.
Geneva flights land at about 10am so you can get a half days skiing the first day. Flights home are about 11:30 midweek or the same and 14:35 weekends.

Aerlingus to Milan Malpensa leave Dublin in the late afternoon and leave Milan at about 20:30 so you can fly Thursday evening, ski Friday, Saturday and Sunday until early afternoon and only pay for three nights accommodation.
If I remember Aerlingus to Munich are also out and back evening times so you can do something similar.

cormee

olaola wrote: »

Somewhere that has an early flight & a short transfer, so you can be on the slopes by lunch.
Morzine is about an hour from Geneva, this is handy to search for resorts near your desired airport: http://www.skiclub.co.uk/skiclub/skiresorts/searchmap.aspx?country=&locationID=15&goodForType=#.WG_laJKLVJh

And some good suggestions here: http://www.onthesnow.com/news/a/105567/top-10-weekend-ski-resorts-with-easy-airport-access

Yes, especially on such a short trip. If you're well organised you can be on the slopes on Brevent (Chamonix) by 1:30 or so. It just means a quick turnaround in the airport, transfer waiting for you in arrivals, and having your gear booked in advance.
Morzine would be a great choice too, lovely town, lifts within walking distance of town, though the slopes wouldn't be as challenging as Chamonix, so it's probably a better choice if you're a beginner.

a148pro

I've done both - early flight and half days skiing in la clusaz, en route to 3vs and evening flight so you can get the guts of a days skiing in on return day. Personally I prefer the latter which is an option out of zurich, munich and the Milan airports (all 3 of them). Its trickier to get organized for a days skiing in the afternoon and if flight is delayed you lose your half day (or it becomes too short to make lift pass and gear rental worth it), though you may have missing the flight stress the other end. If getting morning flight you will also probably have to get up very early on way out and home which makes it less attractive to me.

No need to be worried about snow this far out, assuming you just want to ski pistes. But if chasing powder if you're flexible why not hang on and book within 3 days of departure to go where conditions are best? I started doing that year before last and I'm never going back to pre booking (except when bringing kids). Flight might cost a hundred or two hundred euro more but I'd pay that for quality snow. I've also booked the night before twice for less than one hundred euro return (milan airports both times).

Timmaay

Where do you heard when flying into Milan?

a148pro

Any of them - Linate, Bergamo or Malpensa. If you put in Milan area airports into, I think, Aer Lingus, it gives you options of either Linate or Malpensa, best to pay attention to which ones you're flying from as it wouldn't be ideal to return to the wrong one! You could conceivably miss that! Ryanair are Bergamo. There can be advantages for given resorts, I think Bergamo is like an hour to the North East of Malpensa, so some of them are closer to given resorts, but I can't remember which, google will tell you quick enough.

Car hire very cheap in Italy in Winter, like 6 or 7 euro a day. You don't get Winter tyres as standard like in Austria or Switzerland though. Also, it tends to be about two and a half hours to the slopes, compared to Geneva which is a little over an hour. But I like the atmosphere skiing in italy, good food on the slopes, great interesting wines, sound friendly italians. If its due to snow there its a good option.

maddness

https://www.j2ski.com/ski_resorts/Airports/Milan_Malpensa.html

Good reference point for Milan airports and distance to resorts.

pgibbo

Early flight to Munich has you there at 10:15. It's less than 2 hours to the SkiWelt. Flight back is at 20:10 on the Sunday. I'm going in 2 weeks for a Thursday to Sunday and hoping for half day skiing on Thurs & Sun plus full days on Fri & Sat. Getting accommodation in Feb was tricky though as it's peak season and most place want a week and not 3 nights.

P.

Rew

pgibbo wrote: »

Early flight to Munich has you there at 10:15. It's less than 2 hours to the SkiWelt. Flight back is at 20:10 on the Sunday. I'm going in 2 weeks for a Thursday to Sunday and hoping for half day skiing on Thurs & Sun plus full days on Fri & Sat. Getting accommodation in Feb was tricky though as it's peak season and most place want a week and not 3 nights.

I did that trip a couple of years ago. Are you going to Soll or else where? If you aiming to ski the first day to make it worth it you need to get to rental car place ASAP and get on the road. Id split up and have one person get car and another hang out for the luggage (if you have checked any, even better don't check any bags). Don't check into hotel go straight to the lift and rent you gear from the place there.

Anything else and you lose a lot of time to general messing. There were loads of police on the road so def watch your speed. Stopping for the vignette is another time sink, I believe if you turn off as soon as you cross to Austria it only adds a short bit to the journey but avoids the need for it. You will be starving by the time you land in to the resort as well so if pos grab sandwiches in the airport or bring something with you from Ireland.

pgibbo

Rew wrote: »

I did that trip a couple of years ago. Are you going to Soll or else where? If you aiming to ski the first day to make it worth it you need to get to rental car place ASAP and get on the road. Id split up and have one person get car and another hang out for the luggage (if you have checked any, even better don't check any bags). Don't check into hotel go straight to the lift and rent you gear from the place there.

Anything else and you lose a lot of time to general messing. There were loads of police on the road so def watch your speed. Stopping for the vignette is another time sink, I believe if you turn off as soon as you cross to Austria it only adds a short bit to the journey but avoids the need for it. You will be starving by the time you land in to the resort as well so if pos grab sandwiches in the airport or bring something with you from Ireland.

Thanks for that. Going to Brixen as accommodation was hard got. There are 8 of us so we are going with a transfer. Grab bags and on to private transfer. Hopefully it will be swift

pgibbo

Anyone use shuttledirect.com for transfers? Are they reliable? They seem to be a lot cheaper than other companies. Cheers.

P.

Rew

pgibbo wrote: »

Thanks for that. Going to Brixen as accommodation was hard got. There are 8 of us so we are going with a transfer. Grab bags and on to private transfer. Hopefully it will be swift

That cuts out the messing some it hanging around at least unless but I'd def have a plan if you want to get any decent time on the slopes that day its amazing how the time can slip away from you.

prunudo

Sorry for hijacking this thread. Just a question with regards to Chamonix. Is it better staying in Chamonix itself or in Argentiere which is closer to the Grand Montets area. Would Argentiere be very quiet at nighttime?

a148pro

jvan wrote: »

Sorry for hijacking this thread. Just a question with regards to Chamonix. Is it better staying in Chamonix itself or in Argentiere which is closer to the Grand Montets area. Would Argentiere be very quiet at nighttime?

Yes it would be quiet. But by far the best skiing and snow is up there. Slopes are north facing so snow doesn't suffer from freeze thaw cycle.

But town is quiet and there's no real town feel to it, just a street on a hill. Bars and restaurants for sure but no great apres scene.

Chamonix town on the other hand has a nice feel. Nice to walk around, lots of restaurants and some bars, even at that I wouldn't say its great apres but certainly more going on than argent.

a148pro

If I was there to ski I'd stay in argent. If I was in a group who wanted to potter around and have somewhere nice to stay and be in i'd bite the bullet and go Chamonix.

pgibbo

Rew wrote: »

That cuts out the messing some it hanging around at least unless but I'd def have a plan if you want to get any decent time on the slopes that day its amazing how the time can slip away from you.

I have to say things went really well for our 3 day trip.
The transfer from Munich went smoothly - 1:45 or so.
Checked in to accommodation and got ski gear by 13:30.
Half day ski pass started at 13:45 and we were on the mountain until 16:45 or so. It helped that we were staying 50 metres from the lifts and ski hire shop.
We got to ski until 15:30 yesterday. It was a bit tight going back to Munich for the flight so I'd leave earlier next time. Other than that it worked out really well. Some lovely skiing and conditions were good. Lower slopes were being cut up later in the day as temperatures were a little high but we all had a great trip.

P.