Southern Hemisphere skiier needs help

Hi all,
I am an Australian who is used to skiing in NZ, planning to go to Europe to ski for the first time with my family in late January 2012; for two weeks. The choice is truly overwhelming!In the end books and websites tend to gloss over things that individuals can say about resorts. I suppose some advice would be great...so I've included a bit about our skiing interests/recent experience.

We are all advanced skiiers (not cliff dropping experts), but pisted runs do not really hold much appeal at all to us. In NZ we have skiied in Mt Ruapehu, Cardrona, the Remarkables and Treble Cone. We have been at Treble Cone for the past five years because most of the runs are unpisted and are more fun and challenging than the other resorts.

We are planning on skiing one week for one resort and another week in a different country. St Anton seems a sound choice based on what we are interested in (confirmations?), so it looks like that will fill one week. For the other week we are thinking of possibly Verbier or Zermatt, but are still unsure. Criteria includes:
- not much interest in pisted runs
- a traditional style town (unlike e.g Tignes)
- good snow reliability (dont want to get unlucky)
- size is probably not an issue since we are used to NZ!
and the other thing we wish to avoid are CROWDS (for this reason Chamonix seems ruled out).

Thanks for your help

St. Anton is about the best choice in Austria, plenty of off piste to go at. Given your requirements I would chose Verbier over Zermatt (where I live) in Switzerland, however the atmosphere is nowhere near as authentic as Saas Fee or Zermatt. Before I got to the end of your post I was shouting Chamonix. It will be busy, but you miss the European school holidays and if you have a car you have 3 countries to ski in based there. It also has enough to keep you going for 2 weeks. It terms of pure terrain La Grave would be a great option but I have not been and given the size and facilities I doubt it's a 2 week-er. If it's a one off to Europe why not try 2 resorts? Taking Switzerland for example I would suggest a 4 or 5 day week in Engelberg (masses of off piste, close to airports and great powder record) followed by Verbier and the Valleys (much bigger area, more lively nightlife and some great steeps). I would say that Val d'Isere and Tignes would be great, altitude, linked resorts, plenty of nightlife, but can be feroiciously cold at that time of year (-30C and 60km/wind stuck on a lift one day up on the glacier at Val d'Isere nearly put me off for life!).

Good luck!

I go along with Tino's suggestions. I also suggest that you could stay in Verbier and easily spend a couple of days in Chamonix, as it's linked by rail from Martigny. Chamonix is an amazing ski town, there really is nowhere else like it, the mountains are right in your face.
It's possible to avoid all the crowds in Chamonix, if you have a proper Guide. Do not skimp on this. Would you want to head back home without skiing the endless off piste choices from the Aguille du Midi? Plenty of independent Guides and Bureaux addresses on:

http://www.chamonix.net/english/home.htm

Thanks so far guys! As i said many of the literature guides do not even mention useful information such as that Chamonix could be skiied for a few days from Verbier. It seems that you have to dig around for such information.
I was certainly attracted to Chamonix before I read somewhere about the crowds...but obviously this isnt a horrendous problem in the time that I will be going...interesting. This has been really helpful so far!
I have never skiied with a guide before. Sounds like it is a must?

I don't know if you are planning on using a hire car when you travel around the ski resorts? Verbier to Chamonix is only 100km, so a couple of hours drive. The Col des Montets is sometimes weather affected in mid winter, so the train may be a better bet. Timetables and prices on:

http://www.sbb.ch/en/home.html

Hiring a qualified Mountain Guide will enable you to access the best of a resort area in the limited time you have. It will also ensure safe route choices.

There are two non skiiers in our group (of 7). There would be things for them to do I suppose?

For the other week, is St Anton worth the trip to Austria? Or are we better off just going somewhere like Val. We are interested in seeing different parts of Europe though (we will have two weeks of city-seeing amongst the two weeks of skiing).

For the non-skiers in your party, most resorts now offer Snowshoeing rambles. The Tourist Offices will have details. In Switzerland trails are sponsored by a Snowshoe manufacturer. Here's a link to the Swiss Raquettes site, which covers Verbier.

http://www.sentiers-raquettes.com/default2.asp?l=e&c=3&s0=1

Verbier Tourist Office Page on snowshoeing.

http://verbier.ch/en/Winter/Snowshoeing/index.cfm?objectID=510&cObject=Snowshoe%20trails

I also suggest a day here from Verbier, it's not far.

http://www.bainsdesaillon.ch/bienetre-carpediem.html

In Chamonix, you have all the attractions of a major mountain town, plus, don't miss:

The Aguille du Midi
http://www.chamonix.net/english/sightseeing/aiguille_du_midi.htm

Mer du Glace via the Montenvers Railway
http://www.virtualtourist.com/travel/Europe/France/Rhone_Alpes/Chamonix_Mont_Blanc-130810/Things_To_Do-Chamonix_Mont_Blanc-Mer_de_Glace_Montenvers-BR-1.html

In doing more research, I have read more and more "Val D'Isere". What's it like (in a few words :P) based on that criteria: off piste (preferably easily accessable), snow reliability, CROWDS/QUEUES attractive resort and things to do for non skiiers....

im not sure if im more concerned with crowds than the average skiier, but at Treble Cone I am used to generally skiing pretty much straight onto the lift. I am aware that under normal conditions its less likely in the Alps though
sorry for all the trouble, I feel so naive!