Ski Holiday Noob!

tophurler

Hi All,

Recently back from a textbook sun holiday with the lads, basically everything we expected plus a bit more on top! (Hospital visits!)

For our next adventure we were thinking of a ski holiday in Jan 06, none of us have ever been so was wondering if anyone has pointers/advice on best places to go, how to book, what to be looking for generally????

Thanks in advance!
TH

penexpers

Andorra is a good place to go if you're a total newbie and want some nightlife, though it tends to be pretty busy and sometimes it doesn't have the best snow. France generally offers more challenging skiing with not so great nightlife.

Orion

Ski holiday = best holiday

You'll need to compare how much to spend vs when you want to go. Best time for snow is usually late Jan to late Feb so the prices are highest then. Personally I prefer to go self-catering. The apartments are very basic but the resorts I've been to all have good restaurants and are usually quite cheap. Hotels cost more and the food isn't great in my experience. Another option if there's a few of you is to get a catered chalet. I haven't done this myself but I know some people who have and they recommend it highly.

WHERE
France: Great skiiing - excellent instructors - fantastic food. I've been to Val D'Isere and Val Thorens. I'd recommend both but Val Thorens is a custom built ski resort so there's doorstep skiiing (you can ski right back to the door of the apartments). It's in the middle of the 4 Valleys and there's hundreds of kilometres of skiing. Very reasonably priced too. There are other resorts in the region as well using the same slopes. Personal favorite of mine. The're some great off-piste skiiing in the 4 Valleys.

Italy: Sauze D'Oulx/Siestrierre. 1 hour transfer from Turin which is a plus. Plenty of skiiing but if your a beginner is limited - the training slopes are up the top. That said is still good. When I was there the lifts were fairly basic but I believe they've upgraded them now. Queues were quite short too. Siestrierre is the location for the next Olympics so expect the prices to start going up. Some fantastic off-piste in both. Livignio is very popular and quite reasonable. It's a 5 hour transfer to it though. But it's a duty-free zone so it's very cheap. The town is in the middle of two mountains so you can follow the sun. Ski on the west slope in the morning and the east slope in the afternoon.

Austria/Switzerland: Highly prices. Haven't been so I can't comment much. Some resorts are highly recommended but come with a high price tag.

Andorra: Haven't been myself but it will probably be my next destination. The reason for that is that it's very family orientated. Quite cheap but lots of kids. Also it's further south so it's a shorter season. You're taking your chances there with the snow more than anywhere else.

If you do go make sure you do ski-school. The instructors are good everywhere but best in France imo. I prefer to do school in the morning because it forces you to get out of bed and you still have the afternoon to go off by yourselves. The instructors take you all over the mountain when you're ready for it so even for decent skiiers it's worthwhile. You can book this when you book the holiday as well.

Hope this helps. Any more questions just ask.

Orion

penexpers wrote:

Andorra is a good place to go if you're a total newbie and want some nightlife, though it tends to be pretty busy and sometimes it doesn't have the best snow. France generally offers more challenging skiing with not so great nightlife.

The nightlife in the cusom built resorts like Val Thorens is excellent. Others like Val D'Isere which are normal towns are quieter. Italian resorts have a great night-life as well.

[edit]btw for me a ski holiday is skiing first and nightlife is optional. You're paying good money for a week skiiing which finishes at 4pm anyway. I like a good nightlife but it's not my main reason for going on a ski holiday.

Imposter

Macros42 wrote:

Ski holiday = best holiday
Austria/Switzerland: Highly prices. Haven't been so I can't comment much. Some resorts are highly recommended but come with a high price tag.

Switzerland is quite expensive but Austria does not neccessarily have to be so.
Most of the package tours are similar to France, Italy and Austria with Andorra a little cheaper.

If you go for an apartment in Austria it can be very cheap. Lift passes are about 30-35 per day and about 150-180 for a week so they are comparable to anywhere else.

The resorts where the more energetic nightlife is contained would be a little more expensive but you get the benefit of having many nationalities and not just Irish and English

There are also many areas that have 100's of km's of of pistes on a single lift pass.

If you're into going to a resort with mostly irish and english then check out Söll and Westendorf. I found these wuite boring as it was an irish pub after skiing type apres ski rather than the more traditional austrian version which involves hoping to reach the bottom alive after stopping in everx hut on the way down in the dark

Similarly those irish resorts nightlife gets going later (about 10) and continues into the early morning whereas the other resorts are alive from 4 or 5 until about 10-12.

Food and equipment hire in Austria is also very reasonable so I can't see where it gets this really expensive image unless everyone goes to Kitzbühl!

beezkneez

I am also interested in doing a ski holiday in January. Can anyone recommend a good travel agent for ski holidays or a good online agent?

Overflow

Imposter wrote:

If you're into going to a resort with mostly irish and english then check out Söll and Westendorf. I found these wuite boring as it was an irish pub after skiing type apres ski rather than the more traditional austrian version which involves hoping to reach the bottom alive after stopping in everx hut on the way down in the dark

Similarly those irish resorts nightlife gets going later (about 10) and continues into the early morning whereas the other resorts are alive from 4 or 5 until about 10-12.

Food and equipment hire in Austria is also very reasonable so I can't see where it gets this really expensive image unless everyone goes to Kitzbühl!

Learn how to fooking type mate!! WTF!!!!

Funkstard

All I can offer is to bring layers rather than big heavy clothing. They keep you warmer and you can take them off rather than having to take off a big coat and be freezing. You're better able to adapt to the weather.

Bring twice as many socks as you think you'll need. Make sure the place your staying has a dryer type thing. In Finland (my first trip away) we thought the dryer was a fridge for the first while and were wondering why it wasn't cold

I'd recommend getting some lessons in Kilternan before you go - you'll get more out of the holiday that way.

Bring a wrap around for your neck. I don't really like scarves, so I had a single tube thing which worked great.

Oh, a must, bring magic gloves or small lining gloves to wear inside your big gloves. In my experience once the big gloves got wet (invariably it didn't take long) my hands were absolutely freezing. With thermal gloves you stay nice and toasty

Culchie

Great advice above, one thing I will say, is January is not the best month to go ski-ing ..... too damn cold and icy.

Far better and wait until Feb 10th onwards, when the sun has a little heat, and the locals are about the place as well.

penexpers

Culchie wrote:

Great advice above, one thing I will say, is January is not the best month to go ski-ing ..... too damn cold and icy.

Far better and wait until Feb 10th onwards, when the sun has a little heat, and the locals are about the place as well.

Don't go near France after 10th Feb. The schools are on holiday and the slopes are packed and the lift queues are pretty bad. I've been in January twice now and it's not too bad.

Culchie

They only take a week (half term), and I think it is normally last week in February....anyways it proves my point, the ski resorts have better 'life' about them.

I lived in ski resorts in France and Switzerland for 3 years....January ski-ing can be hard work, and you can easily get bitter weather.

Imposter

Culchie wrote:

They only take a week (half term), and I think it is normally last week in February....anyways it proves my point, the ski resorts have better 'life' about them.

I lived in ski resorts in France and Switzerland for 3 years....January ski-ing can be hard work, and you can easily get bitter weather.

I don't know about france but here in Austria the school holidays are staggered so there is always crowds in February.

Yes January can be cold but there aren't the same queues for lifts. March is also very good, queues aren't so bad and it is warmer.

Culchie

OK, the reason the queues aren't bad is because people generally find January can be a bad month to ski in.

We're going around in circles a little now, all I suggested was that if given a choice, I would prefer to ski after Feb 10th, because the conditions are more pleasant (hence increased activity).

There are many occassions, especially in January, when you cannot ski due to very bitter, icy and stormy conditions .... doesn't make for much fun, especially if you only have a week, as most ski packages are.

penexpers

Culchie wrote:

They only take a week (half term), and I think it is normally last week in February....anyways it proves my point, the ski resorts have better 'life' about them.

I lived in ski resorts in France and Switzerland for 3 years....January ski-ing can be hard work, and you can easily get bitter weather.

Wrong. It's staggered over the last three weeks in February so there is always crowds during those weeks.

penexpers

Culchie wrote:

OK, the reason the queues aren't bad is because people generally find January can be a bad month to ski in.

We're going around in circles a little now, all I suggested was that if given a choice, I would prefer to ski after Feb 10th, because the conditions are more pleasant (hence increased activity).

There are many occassions, especially in January, when you cannot ski due to very bitter, icy and stormy conditions .... doesn't make for much fun, especially if you only have a week, as most ski packages are.

The reason the queues aren't bad in January is because it's right after Christmas. I've been for two full weeks in January and also skiied every weekend in January when I lived in France and I've never had a problem with the weather.

Culchie

penexpers wrote:

Wrong. It's staggered over the last three weeks in February so there is always crowds during those weeks.

I said 'I think' ....excuse me for having an opinion and not be correct. Each school has one week then. I hope you are happy with your 'victory'.
I also said it is busier in February, it's far more enjoyable.

penexpers wrote:

I've been for two full weeks in January and also skiied every weekend in January when I lived in France and I've never had a problem with the weather.

Bully for you. I lived in the bloody mountains, and I can tell you there are many times you can't ski in January, above any other month.

Ever wondered how all the fluffy white stuff gets onto the mountains in the first place?


Get a life :rolleyes:

SparkyLarks

If I can ask for some specific skiing advice

Ther is a bunch of us ( 8 to 12 people), all new to skiing, planing a holiday.

We're looking at the 8th to the 15th of Jan.

The two plans being discussed are a package to Andora (Arsinal), or flying via Ryanair to Grenoble and sorting our own accom and ski passes ect.

The package works out at about 900 including everyting insurance,ski;s boots ,passes, lessons, breakfast and evening meals.

Flights from ryan air are about €120
Does anyone have any ideas how much renting somewher e in grenoble would cost. or how much ski passes for the week would cost as well as lessons ect

Are ther any major issues with either plan that I may not know about, i.e. regular storms in early jan in either place.

qBot

SparkyLarks wrote:

If I can ask for some specific skiing advice

Ther is a bunch of us ( 8 to 12 people), all new to skiing, planing a holiday.

We're looking at the 8th to the 15th of Jan.

The two plans being discussed are a package to Andora (Arsinal), or flying via Ryanair to Grenoble and sorting our own accom and ski passes ect.

The package works out at about 900 including everyting insurance,ski;s boots ,passes, lessons, breakfast and evening meals.

Flights from ryan air are about €120
Does anyone have any ideas how much renting somewher e in grenoble would cost. or how much ski passes for the week would cost as well as lessons ect

Are ther any major issues with either plan that I may not know about, i.e. regular storms in early jan in either place.

Well instead of going to Andorra, you could head down to the French Alps, to maybe les deux alpes. We did this a few years ago, It's a great resort. I wasn't impressed by Andorra last year at all. We got Ryanair flights to St. Etienne (None to grenoble at the time). There is a bus service that do trips to Ski resorts. They go from Leon airport through grenoble and down to the main alp resorts. I can't remember the name of the bus service, but it wasn't that hard to find and they were very professional. Bus tickets cost either €30 or €40 but that was from Leon, your journey would be much smaller. As for accomodation and stuff, I can't really remember the prices but we booked the rooms online. Just beware if your bringing your own ski gear that Ryanair will charge you €25 per flight for the extra baggage.

qBot

We used Satobus: www.satobus.com
And here is the website we used to find accom: www.les2alpes.com

Imposter

SparkyLarks wrote:

Ther is a bunch of us ( 8 to 12 people), all new to skiing, planing a holiday.

I'd suggest booking a package if you are all new to skiing. The reason is that you won't forget anything and you will be able to enjoy your holiday and concentrate on skiing and such things. You will also have accomodation which is possibly better situated compared to the cheap accom you'll book yourself. 900 sounds like a lot though.

SparkyLarks

The package is 509
199 for flights
310 for Accom 4 star hotel half board( accoring to direct ski anyway) in twin rooms, less fortriple and wuadruple rooms.

55 for insurance

and the rest for the learn to ski package( 245 euro) ski's boots

and a few other bits and pieces

does it really sound deer, it seams cheep to me, it was the cheapest I could finds anyway

Imposter

SparkyLarks wrote:

The package is 509
199 for flights
310 for Accom 4 star hotel half board( accoring to direct ski anyway) in twin rooms, less fortriple and wuadruple rooms.

55 for insurance

and the rest for the learn to ski package( 245 euro) ski's boots

and a few other bits and pieces

does it really sound deer, it seams cheep to me, it was the cheapest I could finds anyway

Actually come to think of it I was thinking about what I paid and that was without flights and ski/boot hire (but a more expensive lift pass)

That seems fine although cheaper accomodation may be possible. Try and make sure any accomodation is in the town/village. Transfers are also worth a lot to you as otherwise car hire/train/bus costs from the airport can add up.

You may need to pay extra to get a ski pass for the whole area on your last day as sometimes the beginner ski pass only covers the local slopes and not the wider area. That is of course if you and your friends feel confident in skiing that much expecially at the end of the week. Ask about this too and you'll know where you stand if you think you might be interested.