Rate the resorts you've visited.

I nicked this from ...errmmm another forum which shall be nameless...seems to do the job ..why reinvent the wheel.....they did it in one thread with a link to each review.....

Resort: Easiest part first
Country: Hopefully you'll also know which country you were in!
Domain: i.e 3 vallees, Ski Welt or whatever system the resort is linked into. If it isn't linked into a domain then put 'none'
Author: Not quite sure how this data will be processed in future so it would be good to put your snowHead name in the report.

Date: The dates of your visit
Our holiday: Use this section to reveal something about yourself so the reader can see the context of your report.
Website : Links to things link the resort website, webcams, Ski Club information and weather.
Basics : Where it is and how you got there
Lift system : Type and quality of the lifts, links to other areas
The terrain : The layout of the pistes and comments on specific pistes
The snow : How the snow was for your trip
Off-piste : Comments on off piste opportunities
The resort : The village itself, facilities and character or lack thereof
Food : Where would you recommend eating in resort and in the mountains
Accommodation : Comment on the hotel/chalet you stayed
Costs: Some idea of relative costs
Conclusion: Overall comments

Ian Wickham wrote:TBO I not too sure if rating a resort is much use to the masses ..... as we all look for different things from our ski resorts 8)

I have to say that I am with Wickers on this one. There are a thousand ways of finding information and opinions of resorts and ski areas on t'internet, and the suggestions here seem to represent a cumbersome, time consuming and superfluous addition.

Without wishing to be unkind, the very nature of a forum like this inevitably attracts opinionated people, who are unlikely to be swayed by other peoples opinions anyway. Personalities inevitably come into it. I can see this thread turning into a 'look where I've been' oneupmanship contest.

For example, for many and varied reasons, I like Soldeu in Andorra. Many people will find those self same reasons a negative influence.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that there are too many factors involved to make any reviews here meaningful, and there are already countless ways, along the information highway, to aid peoples decision making.

IMO we're simply sharing information and opinions. There is some merit.

Personally I find it interesting to see how people rate a resort based upon the criteria that is important to them. If read carefully, and in context, this will inform me when I'm making decisions in the future to visit a new resort.

I'll post up my thoughts shortly......

Brucie wrote:

the very nature of a forum like this inevitably attracts opinionated people

You do see the irony of that posting, I assume? :evil:

I would be interested in others' lists. But it has to have context about 'them'. There is no point in me following the 'recommendation' of a black loving, beer swilling, boarder who loves Italy. If I'm a blue loving, T-total, skier who has racist tendencies against Italians [I don't btw :!: ].

But someone who seeks a similar set of criteria to me would be interesting (to me.)

For example if someone shares their list but places my no.1, no.2, no.3 as their no.2, no.3, no.4 then I would *probably* love to visit their no.1. (and vice versa)

It's not about trying to sway anyone's opinion or oneupmanship.

This proven by the thread replies and PM replies that I have received which say "wow, we're so similar in what we seek", for those people they will *probably* love my top 5 places.


I do agree however that 9/10 type ratings don't really mean very much except to give a 'value order' to the list itself.

Andyhull's reporting layout is spot on so I'll happily follow that (in date order). I've got into skiing relatively late in life but trying to catch up fast! First skied April 2010 as a complete beginner and have managed to get in 7 trips so far (if you can also count Tignes July 2013!!) 8th trip booked for this coming Christmas. Therefore in 3 years I've gone from a snow ploughing total beginner in the Castleford fridge to confidently (ish!) skiing down La Face in Val d'Isere with a big grin on my face. What an epic pastime this is.

Hemsedal, Norway (an unusual resort to start with)

3 visits (Christmas x 1, Easter x 2)

Pros
Great for beginners with decent nursery slopes and some nice wide pistes
Relatively quiet slopes
Very little queuing for lifts
Long season due to latitude
Interesting mix of nationalities not seen elsewhere
Few Brits (possibly seen as a good thing!)
Excellent standard of accommodation
Generally ski in ski out (unless cheaper accommodation taken in town)
Everyone very friendly and English spoken by all
Bus transfer from Oslo airport very straight forward

Cons
Only 40km of pistes so quite limiting once you have moved on from beginner status
Food and drink costs quite high (although quite similar to big French resorts)
Alcohol sales heavily restricted (no wine or spirits on sale in the resort supermarkets)
Only 2 mountain restaurants (although very decent food)
Can be very cold! It was between -12 and -25 for the whole of our Christmas trip. (With wind chill, it was barely doable on the coldest days)
Patchy snow conditions. Our 1st trip at Easter was fine. Our 2nd December trip was not so good as snowfall had been scarce and not all slopes were open (which is a problem when only 40km on offer)

8/10 as a beginner
Now 5/10 as an intermediate skier (and having skied larger resorts since)


Les Arcs/La Plagne (stayed in Les Arcs 1950 with 75% of skiing on Les Arcs side)

1 visit (early March)

Pros
Decent extent of slopes particularly when including the whole of Paradiski
Nice mixture of piste classifications
Piste down from top of Aiguille Rouge is a super long run
Good regular mountain restaurants
1950 accommodation very good with ski in ski out
Very quick transfer from Bourg if using the Eurostar


Cons
Horrible lift queues experienced over in La Plagne, Queuing in Les Arcs better but much busier than Espace Killy (maybe time of year didn't help?)
Seemed to be quite a few flat sections
Pistes were pretty congested. Ski back into Arcs 1950 at end of day a bit shambolic
Nightlife and overall ambiance in 1950 and 2000 pretty dead
The lower pistes (below about 1600m) were degrading quite significantly due to number of skiers and warm weather. (May have been due to weather in March 2011?)
Link between Les Arcs and La Plagne surprisingly inconvenient (even more so in hindsight once we'd been to Espace Killy)

7/10 – not planning to go back anytime soon but may give it another go in the future (probably Jan or Feb rather than March)


Val d'Isere/Tignes (skied 60:40 between two areas)

2 visits (staying in Val d'Isere both times, New Year week and mid Jan)

Pros
Fantastic number of varied pistes in both resorts with link between virtually seamless
Mountain restaurants in great positions with decent menus
Lift system excellent – hardly any queues other than perhaps 5 minutes at base at the start of the day
Proper ski in ski out available (if you want to pay for it)
Val d'Isere town has decent vibe with lots going on after hours, plenty of bars, eateries, shops

Cons
Not cheap!
Piste classifications very random and may be alarming for beginners (VDI only, Tignes ok)

9.5/10 – other than the fact it's an expensive place to ski, I am struggling to think of any other cons.

I'm keen to ski Italy, Austria and Switzerland in due course and this may help place Espace Killy in better context. So many places to go and not enough time and money to cater for it!!! Can think of worse 'problems' to have though! :mrgreen:

Filzmoos, Austria (Ski Amade area)
I learnt to ski (badly) here. It was great at the time. In hindsight, small and lowish but conditions were good when I was there. Flachau not far away.

PRO - Reasonably priced. Crowd free. Local people are great. Food is great. Pretty little village. Chav and snowboarder free.
CONS - Smallish. Lowish.
8/10 - for beginners
7/10 for more advanced skiers but throw Flachau in and you get 8/10

Val Gardena, Dolomites
Great snow when we were there. Lots of sun too. Villages are pretty.

PROS - Massive ski area. Impeccable piste management. Reasonably priced. Incredible scenery. A plethora of great hotels. Great food and coffee. Local Ladin people are super. Great lift infrastructure.
CONS - Lots of Russians. Bit hard to get to.
9/10

Alta Pusteria, Dolomites
Same as Val Gardena but a bit of Sella Ronda etc. Great snow and great skiing.

PROS - Same as Val Gardena.
CONS - Not directly linked to Sella Ronda. It isn't in Switzerland so it is a long drive for me.
8/10

Thredbo, Australia
PROS - Better than no skiing at all. It can actually be OK when snow is good and crowds are small; which isn't often. Scenery of snow-gums is nice.
CONS - Expensive. Not really a mountain, more a hill. Crowded with lots of dangerous snowboarders and really bad skiers. Expensive. Food is ordinary. Ordinary lift infrastructure.
5/10

Perisher, Australia
Same as applies to Thredbo. One decent lift (the V8), the rest are ordinary. The tow rope is like some medieval instrument of torture.
5/10

Mount Hutt, NZ
PROS - Sometimes better snow and crowds than Australia. Some OK skiing. Kiwi accents. Kiwis are good value.
CONS - The road up is staggeringly dangerous and can be closed due to weather, rockfall, snow etc. No accomodation near the ski area. Methven is 40 minute death defying drive away. Resort often closed due to inclement weather. Large groups have been trapped up there for days.
5/10

La Faucille\Monts Jura, France
PROS - Cheap. Skiing can be quite good. Fairly easy to get to.
CONS - Small. Low by euro standards.
6/10

Crozet\Monts Jura, France
Same as La Faucille\Monts Jura, Switzerland.
6/10

Monte Rosa, Italy
PROS - Cheap for what you get. Remarkably uncrowded. Lots of great pisted runs. Great food and drink. Stunning location. Euro skiings secret sleeper. Great accommodation and prices. Locals are great. Pretty villages.
CONS - Maybe too quiet for Chavs? Lifts not the most modern but OK.
9/10

Le Grand Bornand, Les Aravis, France
A real decent black run there.
PROS - Skiing is good. Close to Geneva.
CONS - Crowds. Lots of crappy old lifts.
7/10

Davos, Switzerland
PROS - There is lots of great skiing there. Scenery.
CONS - Bits of Davos town are ugly concrete. Dodgy piste marking\grading. Prices are simply ludicrous. Crowded as buggery. Train up in the morning means close exposure to garlic and sausage breath.
8/10

Alpe de Huez, France
PROS - There is lots of great skiing there. Scenery. Sunny aspect.
CONS - So crowded the week we were there we never could get to top station (3300). Lots of dangerous skiers on green beginner runs so beginners on our trip were rightly scared of being hit by out of control snowboarder\skiers. Too many drag-lifts. Is it just me or can the French be annoying?
8/10

Corvara, Dolomites, Italy
Great snow when we were there. Lots of sun too. Villages are pretty.

PROS - Massive ski area. Impeccable piste management. Reasonably priced. Incredible scenery. Great food and coffee. Local Ladin people are super. On-piste eating generally fantastic.
CONS - Maybe a bit hard to get to. Is it just me or can Italians be annoying?
9/10

Les Contamines, France
Nice little ski place. Nice scenery.
PROS - Not massive.
CONS - Lifts a bit old and ordinary for mine. No super long runs.
7/10

Chamonix, La Tour and Argentieres
PROS - Skiing can be very, very good. Nice views of valley and to Mont Blanc.
CONS - Crowds getting up from Argentiere are a joke.
8/10

Verbier, Switzerland
PROS - Large area full of great skiing. Piste management very good. Lifts generally very good.
CONS - The prices are ludicrous (Some joker tried to charge me 8CHF for a coffee).
8/10

I think this topic is going swimmingly.

Very interesting to see comparisons (and marks) between resorts in different countries, particularly from those who have skied for much longer than I have.

Not surprised with Juddernaut's marks for Aus/NZ - we shared a chalet with an Aus family last time round and I think they were totally blown away by Espace Killy. They obviously enjoy skiing at home as well but no real comparison with skiing down under and the Alps.

I have a feeling I have posted a review/report each time I have made a ski trip in recent years, on this website.
However, I don't have much of an idea on how to search for them in the history. But if I did, I'd post some links to them, as I personally believe my own reviews are informative, honest, and useful for others.
Can anyone show me how to check the archives and locate these old threads, as these would be of far more use than me trying to put up a shortened rating system?