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Skiing holidays are fun. Here are my impressions of where I’ve been. Like any holiday you should go skiing to relax. The apres-ski is as important as the skiing. I’m never going to be the next Franz Klammer so the skiing isn’t my sole concern. So go find some snow & sun, fall over, get a tan, get a hangover and HAVE FUN.
Before reading further, I should point out that some less subjective skiing sites can be found at:
Skiing | Apres Ski |
| Kitz is low therefore the snow can be quite variable. If the snow is poor try Pass Thurn where the snow is usually better – but beware – it’s mainly drag lifts up there. You can ski from the main ski area to Pass Thurn, but it involves a long slog along the side of a road – better go by bus. Early intermediates can have fun on the Kitzbuhler Horn (reached by a speedy gondola) which has some nice wide pistes. The skiing is more interesting on the Hahnenkamm but it can get fairly busy. | Any place where you can get a beer with a MacDonalds gets my vote. There’s something for everyone and it’s not as expensive as you might think. The Londoner is a good place to start for a lively and reasonably priced bar (and it’s opposite Macdonalds). Big Ben serves Guinness (at around 6 quid a pint!) if you can’t stand continental lager. There’s plenty of restaurants to suit all tastes (although quite why anyone would stray further than that pinnacle of Haute Cuisine – MacDonald’s – is a source of amazement :-). |
Skiing | Apres Ski |
| The skiing is linked to Kitzbuhel so the same applies, although as it’s a smaller resort I found it quicker to get up the Hahnenkamm from Kirchberg than from Kitzbuhel. | Quiter than Kitz, although as Kitz is so close your best bet is to go there. Kirchberg’s version of the Londoner doesn’t compare – give it a miss and get a taxi/train to Kitzbuhel – the taxis are reasonably priced and the trains cheap (although don’t hang about as the trains are never late). Couldn’t find any nightclubs as such (though I didn’t try too hard), however there were a couple of bars with a dance area. Food is good value in Kirchberg, you can get a fair percentage of pig bits for a modest amount of schillings – however they don’t seem to have got the hang of vegetarian food in some restaurants. Although to be fair, whilst the vegetarian food isn’t scintillating, the restaurants seem embarrassed at serving meals without meat and reduce the prices accordingly. |
Skiing | Apres Ski |
| Pretty good for intermediates. If it’s slushy the snow is usually better at SportGastein which is a bus ride away. There’s enough skiing in the main area to keep you occupied for half a week, and there are some pretty runs thro’ the trees. | Badgastein is a beautiful place. Definitely worth wandering around. Plenty of places for a beer or two but again a bit limited on the club front. The Casino is fun if you like watching a lot of rich people put silly money on roulette – you have to be semi smart to get in but it’s worth it. |
Skiing | Apres Ski |
| You can’t go wrong in Val D’Isere for skiing, it’s linked with nearby Tignes (which for some reason the French pronounce teen when it obviously should be pronounced Tig-ness after Lincolnshire’s famous seaside town). There’s enough for everyone. Getting up the mountain can be a bit slow but once up there there’s so much space you can usually find a quiet bit. Some of the resort runs can get a bit mogulled by the end of the day, in fact some of the mogulls get so big they should be classified as red runs in their own right. If you like big wide empty pistes go over towards Tignes. | Can’t say much about this as it was exceptionally expensive and as there’s so much skiing to be done I didn’t stay awake much after tea time. I imagine there’s plenty going on tho’, and, to be fair, I suspect the exchange rate helps prices more these days. |
Skiing | Apres Ski |
| There’s only enough to keep you going for two or three days, so make the most of an excellent chance to ski Serre Chevalier (see me wondering how I’ve skied too fast for my hair to keep up), Alpe D’Huez and others included on your lift pass. The skiing at Deux Alpes goes high up so you can usually find decent snow somewhere. Looking at a piste map there appears to be a decent variety of green, blue and black runs with limited reds, but to be perfectly honest, they’re all pretty similar. Some of the blacks are wide open and not busy and consequently easier than some of the blues (Bellcombe for instance). There’s a new (’97) 6 man chair that takes you to La Fee which is a good black to start on for people who aren’t that sure of their ability. Beginners can have fun up on the glacier where there are some good wide runs to build confidence. Whilst up on the glacier take a look at the ice cave which is most impressive. There are no trees in Deux Alpes so it’s not the most picturesque skiing ever – if you want that, go to Serre Chevalier which has some lovely wooded runs and large bowls to ski through. | Lively & fun. Plenty of busy bars – Rodeo & Brazilien to name a couple. Pretty cheap beer – just over 2 quid for a half litre, and reasonable food. You can eat cheaply (pizzas etc. for between 5 and 10 quid) and even the fondues & raclettes are very reasonable. Many of the smaller restaurateurs don’t understand english – or maybe it’s just me, but they’re all friendly enough. It’s definitely a good place to be self catering. The village isn’t picturesque but it is fun. If you’re still game on when the bars quieten down there are a few clubs to chose between. Most of the pool tables have bigger slopes than the ski runs so beware – crown green pool takes a bit of getting used to. If you want to have an excuse not to ski have a go on the mechanical bull in The Rodeo bar. |
Skiing | Apres Ski |
| Slightly more extensive than Les Deux Alpes, with the general rule being the farther out you go from the resort the better the skiing gets. There’s some fun wide open pistes down to Villard Reculas and Vaujany & Oz station that aren’t too busy. Some slightly more challenging runs over towards Auris (tho’ you have to go on a scary chair to get there). The blacks tend to be off the top of the Pic Blanc, with ‘The Sarenne’ being the longest black in Europe (16 KM). It was fairly rocky lower down, although it’s only the top 800M or so that is ‘black’ and even that’s quite wide and shouldn’t cause a problem to intermediates – ‘Ed the Cat‘ managed it comfortably(ish) in his second week skiing (half a fall (one hand down) in 16KM isn’t too bad – discounting a full fall when taking skis off to sit on a rock and a full fall when being flattened by a boarder whilst standing still). There are also a couple of nice, short blacks off the Clocher de Machle chair (which is the most uncomfortable chair in the world), these are steep but quite short and there’s never anyone on them. Closer to the resort the only challenging skiing comes in trying to avoid people, a reasonable rule of thumb seemed to be that each person has 2 square meters of space to themselves. All in all a good resort for mixed ability groups, and maybe it’ll be less busy when you go. | Similar in feel to nearby Les Deux Alpes. Some busy bars – the Pacific is fun and The Crazy Cow restaurant above it is not bad (try the seafood platter and say “hi” to Phil’s friend Judy when you’re there). Pretty cheap beer (try a Fisher!) all over the resort, and some good food to be had if you look for it. Everyone was friendly enough. The downside when we were there was that, due to half term holidays, 80% of people were kids and, even worse, the remaining 20% seemed to be teachers – still at least you can play the ‘shove a teacher over a cliff’ game. Local rules for this game state that the target ‘teacher’ does not have to be actively employed in education just that they be as loud and obnoxious as a proper teacher. |
Skiing | Apres Ski |
| There was pretty limited snow when we were there. The link to Sestriere was open but not the other areas of the Milky Way. However, probably due to the lack of snow there was never any queues on any lifts, and who cares about the rocks if you hire your skis. As a rule, the runs in Sauze tend to be easier than those in Sestriere, they also tend to be full of Brits, hence the standard of sking is awful. It may be a bit tricky for beginners to find more than a couple of runs to practice on and experts would no doubt find it limiting but it’s great fun for cruising around trying to shake off the hangover. The area at Sportinia is a favourite meeting place but I wouldn’t recommend the food in any of the cafe’s there. A big “hello” to Lara, the best limbo skier in Sauze. For anyone going to Sauze this year – the huge crater in the snow on the run back down to Sportinia was where Lara decided on a bum plant rather than a pole plant whilst performing a particularly tricky manoeuvre – a ‘turn’ I think it’s called. Seeing as we managed to get a camera back without trashing it, here are a few photos (seeing as the camera appears to have come free with a packet of Jelly Tots many apologies for the quality): My long lost brother – Jock McProbets (I feel so sorry for people with ginger hair), Ed & Lara in a cafe (particularly good one of Ed I think), The boys after a hard morning’s falling over (hangovers still appear to be in evidence), an ugly bastard (in normal skiing pose), relaxing in the snow! (there’s actually 3 people in this shot but you’d never know it), Lara (if you look closely there is a ray of light going in one ear and out the other – proving that the space/time continuum isn’t affected by empty spaces!), God knows what’s going on here (adults only), 4 people standing still (including a particularly cocky looking Jon shortly before giving us all a laugh with his amazing incompetence – chairlifts, keys, heads and spanner all spring to mind). | Not what you’d call sophisticated (more like Ibiza-on-Snow), beer is cheap(ish) and sold by the pint, food is cheap (though we struggled to find a really good restaurant, Don Quijote’s probably being the best, or the one down the steps in the centre whose name escapes me) and everyone is English (apart from the Irish and Scots – but they can be avoided, or hit with a heavy implement, if necessary). Andy Capp’s and the Schuss bar are usually lively and the Gran Trun is worth a visit. Paddy McGinty’s is good too – but remember to take along that heavy implement. All in all, Sauze is a great place to go, get shedded and have a great time. Strangely enough the reps (1st choice, 1999) were not complete tossers. However the concept of breakfast should be explained to the hoteliers, if I wanted to eat rabbit food I’d spend my holidays in a hutch. But, best of all, we didn’t meet a single teacher. |
Skiing | Apres Ski |
| If you don’t mind skiing the same runs each day then Pas de la Casa can be fun. There’s a good choice of wide open pistes or tree-lined runs. There wasn’t much queueing except at weekends. An ideal opportunity to hire a board and spend a couple of days bruising limbs. You can go night skiing which was fun, but I suspect most of the participants had imbibed more than a few pints of San Miguel before hand, so it’s not for the faint-hearted. | Similar in atmosphere to Les Deux Alpes only smaller. There’s some good beer bargains to be had during happy hour at around 5 O’ Clock, and plenty of sangria to keep you topped up later on. Many of the bars throw schnapps or other industrial fluids at you during the quiet early evening time. The Bilboard club is fun later on. Basically Pas de la Casa is a good place to go for late nights. The skiing is a bit limited so go out, have fun, skip breakfast, and get out on the slopes by mid-day which is probably the best time to ski as it’s less crowded and the snow is at its best. The Lake Placid Apartments are large and cheap and seconds away from the lists, but they’re incredibly noisy at about 3:00 AM when the Spanish nightclub underneath closes. |
Skiing | Apres Ski |
| A day in each of the above is quite acceptable. Even when the mountain looks green, the runs are cunningly placed on the only bits of snow around – besides which, avoiding grass, mud and rocks is good practice. If you’ve got a quiet weekend it’s worth a visit. | Fort William, which is the nearest town, is a fair sized place, with plenty of B&B;’s, and at least breakfast in Scotland means sausage, bacon, egg and chips which set you up for a good day’s sitting around waiting for the weather to clear up. Plenty of good beer and Scotch to sample in the evenings. |
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