Where to go end-March

Never queued for more than a few minutes out of peak season at Mayrhofen. People who go to ski tend to get up early. People who go to party deserve to queue to get up the mountain, its called penance

Didnt realise N closed so early. Funny, because every time I go on to a ski companies website, all the offers are for N, hundreds of them.

I have skied Austria for last 10 years. We ski in Gosau. Fantastic conditions even when other resorts are struggling. Instructors in Austria are the best in world especially compared to French who are generally not interested in much but their own skiing. Krippenstein is also good for off piste and 2nd longest run in Europe at 12km. Highly recommended.

should have added that night life in Gosau or Obertraun where we stay (not to be confused with Obertauren) is non existent. We stay at fantastic sports complex in Obertraun as our kids are sports mad. Can play football, table tennis, table football, badminton etc etc. Food stunning. Sports centre called Bundisport.

Edited 3 times. Last update at 25/03/2009 08:26:00

Instructors in Austria are the best in world especially compared to French who are generally not interested in much but their own skiing

Maybe try getting out of Austria sometime in the next 10 years....! Maybe even across the pond?

Edit: thanks Bandit.

Edited 1 time. Last update at 25/03/2009 08:29:49

I would really like to know from aharwood why they dislike French instructors so much. Have you had a bad experience in France?

Hi guys, In response. Have skied throughout Europe and have settled on Austria for last few years because where we stay in the Sports complex really suits our kids as they are able to play sport 'till their hearts content, even after a full day on the slopes. The accommodation is excellent as is the food. Finally, I take large group parties to Austria (30 - 40 young people) In France we have been unable to get instruction for the whole day. I have only found ski schools who will do 2 X 2 hour slots with unsupervised lunch. Sometimes they want 2 hours between lessons. On occasions they can't start the lesson untill 11.00am so we have to manage 40 beginners until then! Our first visit to Austria was a revelation. They start when we want them to, and ski with their group all day, with a supervised lunch to help them order etc. Their preparation for ski instructors is very intensive including a second language, local geology, flora and fauna etc so they are very knowledgable. They obviously have a grading system depending upon the level of the learner. 1st level can only teach beginners up to plough/braking turns, level 2 up to basic parallel...etc.

Will no doubt go back to France as I love the food and language and the French people, but not impressed with instruction experiences. When carvers first arrived on the scene, took a private one to one in France with an instructor at some expense. His methodology was....'Follow me'.... I came back with very little feedback or technical imput, partly because his English was not very good and his main goal seemed to be to show me how fast he could ski. My French was ok conversationally but he could have used other teaching methods to get instruction across. So all in all Austria suits my needs just now while kids are skiing with me and also the needs of the large groups I take across.

aharwood wrote: Hi guys, In response. Have skied throughout Europe and have settled on Austria for last few years because where we stay in the Sports complex really suits our kids as they are able to play sport 'till their hearts content, even after a full day on the slopes. The accommodation is excellent as is the food. Finally, I take large group parties to Austria (30 - 40 young people) In France we have been unable to get instruction for the whole day. I have only found ski schools who will do 2 X 2 hour slots with unsupervised lunch. Sometimes they want 2 hours between lessons. On occasions they can't start the lesson untill 11.00am so we have to manage 40 beginners until then! Our first visit to Austria was a revelation. They start when we want them to, and ski with their group all day, with a supervised lunch to help them order etc. Their preparation for ski instructors is very intensive including a second language, local geology, flora and fauna etc so they are very knowledgable. They obviously have a grading system depending upon the level of the learner. 1st level can only teach beginners up to plough/braking turns, level 2 up to basic parallel...etc.

Will no doubt go back to France as I love the food and language and the French people, but not impressed with instruction experiences. When carvers first arrived on the scene, took a private one to one in France with an instructor at some expense. His methodology was....'Follow me'.... I came back with very little feedback or technical imput, partly because his English was not very good and his main goal seemed to be to show me how fast he could ski. My French was ok conversationally but he could have used other teaching methods to get instruction across. So all in all Austria suits my needs just now while kids are skiing with me and also the needs of the large groups I take across.

There is the odd exception but I have always found the French instructors to be very good, I normally request a female as I find them better teachers

aharwood wrote: Their preparation for ski instructors is very intensive including a second language, local geology, flora and fauna etc so they are very knowledgable. They obviously have a grading system depending upon the level of the learner. 1st level can only teach beginners up to plough/braking turns, level 2 up to basic parallel...etc.

I think you're confusing ski instructor and the Austrian bergführer qualifications there, a lot of Austrian ski instructors may hold both though. The requirement to be an instructor in Austria or France, or Switzerland or Italy or the UK, is pretty much the same as there is an internationally agreed system for it. The entrance standard for any French mountaineering or skiing qualification is extremely high, way, way higher than any other country in fact. There might be a number of instructors in France who got their tickets some years ago and weren't assessed against some later requirements but that's the same for Austria or any other country. In fact, Austria was particularly bad at this, the days where pretty much anyone could tip up and teach aren't so very long ago.

What makes the real difference is the expectation of the clients, French clients tend to want someone to take them around the mountain and give a few tips and Germans tend to prefer the more regimented classes. When you see their client base on the slopes it's pretty obvious that outcomes don't vary hugely so it's just personal choice.

Where to go end-March

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