Val d'Isere V.S St.Anton

Can anyone please help with some advise regarding skiing in Val d'isere in France. A group of us are planning a ski trip early in january 2016 and was wondering if Val d'isere is any good. Our other option is St Anton. My wife and i have skied in St Anton before and loved it, although some of the people coming along are complete beginners, so St Anton might be a bit intimidating. Is Val any good for beginners, also how do the prices compare to Austria. How is the general vibe among the people on the slopes and in the pubs. Personally i would head back to St Anton, but i guess it needs to be good for the whole group. So my question would be what would all of you recommend, Val d'Isere or St anton? Ive never skied in France so any advise would be appreciated. Many thanks and happy skiing!

Neither of those ski areas would be top of the list for beginners, but if you can tell us what sort of skiing / night-life / pampering / lessons you (and the rest of the group) are looking for then we can give you some more informed opinion... 8)

The timing is on your side, though, as early January will be much less crowded (albeit with the downside - from your beginner's POV - that they may be standing around in lessons when it's pretty cold). Val d'Isere has a (deserved) reputation for under-grading runs (e.g. greens that get moguls on them!) and neither area really caters well for beginners IMO.

(p.s. have changed the post title, as comparing countries is just silly... -) ).

Spot on, Admin.
A good information start point for differential ski abilities,is the inside back page of the Inghams brochure.
Scroll down the beginners column and mark off all the 5* resorts.
If the next main level of your group are intermediates, scrolldown that column, and where you have listed the 5* beginners, also mark off any 4* and 5* intermediates.

Hence you will list Obergurgl and Hochgurgl in Austria, and VT, Meribel, Avoriaz, Alp d'Heez in France, Cortina in Italy.

Then check the historic snow reports on J2ski or Iglu for your chosen area. Cross out any dodgy resorts.
Bear in mind that some resorts have their beginner slopes up the mountain,and this may not always be ideal.

If your search throws up an ideal resort, where the beginners can ski from the village, and also if the runs are in the treeline, this would add some weight.

Then, go and look for your bargains!

Completely agree that neither resort should be considered suitable for beginners.
Whats the key requirements: if its apres and partying then Austria wins every time on atmosphere and price. If its the ease of access for beginners then forget either resort.
However, do consider St Christoph just outside St Anton - beginners have nursery slopes on the doorstep, Inghams have a ski in ski out hotel, there is a blue from the main area down to St Christoph and the better skiers have good access from there to the whole area including Zurs and Lech, which are much quieter than St Anton. I'd thoroughly recommend this place for a group of mixed ability. Good hotel, nice food and wine, superb position at the foot of the slopes, ease of access into a huge area. You can all meet in St Anton for apres as beginners will progress onto other slopes at that end of the area.

Alternatively, Obergurgl is a good shout, but its expensive by Austrian standards.

I would normally add Alpe d'Huez as I've had 3 great trips here with superb snow, but a mate of mine went early Jan this year and there was more snow in the Sahara!!!! Beware early Jan, the seasons have changed.

Beginners are the easiest group to accommodate as they don't need extensive terrain. Any resort with a nursery slope, couple blue runs and a download option will do for a week. To learn and consolidate basic skills one easy-ish run is enough, as they need lot of repetitions of the same moves and be able to stay focused on executing these moves rather than exploring new runs. I disagree that beginner slopes up on the mountain are not ideal - as long as there is a download option this is the best place for them as snow is guaranteed. I remember problems ski instructors had earlier this season when nursery slopes were not available, and never-evers had to learn on flatter parts of regular slopes, stepping uphill and then skiing down.

Tony_H wrote:...loads of useful stuff...

:thumbup:

Tony_H wrote:Beware early Jan, the seasons have changed.

...but gotta call you on that...

The seasons have not changed; they vary. The snows were late this year but it's only 4 years since St.Anton's snow gauge was buried by 6 metres of snow in December! There's nothing to say whether we'll get a repeat of 2010/11 next year, or a repeat of this year... or something else entirely... so carry on!

I think that for beginners it is nice to be able to go up the hill and back down in a cable car/ gondola to experience the beauty of the higher mountains.
So - what I mean is to go up for Lunch with the others sort of thing and leave skis behind.

Les Carroz has a couple of nice beginner slopes on the mountain, reached by a gondola, as well as a small nursery slope in the village. More experienced skiers have nice runs in Les Carroz and the rest of the grand massif e.g. Flaine, Samoens, reachable from Les Carroz. It's a nice village as well.