Late march resort suggestions?

Hi all,

great forum, best I've seen for sharing snow based information.

I've looked all over and read a lot but cant make a sure decision for my needs, so I thought I'd ask.

I'm looking for resort suggestions.

We are a group of 7 people; 1 beginner snowboarder, 1 intermediate snowboarder, 1 novice skier (not beginner, not intermediate), and 4 intermediate/experienced skiers.

We are going for our annual trip on 21st March 2009 and are concerned about snow availability.

We are happy to go more or less anywhere in Europe and would probably quite like a change away from France which we've skied for countless years now. But I keep coming back to the need for a high resort due to the time of year and France having the majority of them.

To give you some idea we have recently skied Val Thoren (good amount of piste and apres ski), Avoriaz (good amount of piste and apres ski), La Plagne Soleil (good amount of piste, too little apres ski, even in Plagne Centre), Sauze D'oulx (limited piste, too little apres ski). We also have a policy of never skiing the same resort twice, although this may have to give way to snow priority this year.

We don't have money to burn so places like Zermatt are out of the question I think but we definitely want to stay in resort (not a satellite village) as ski in/out and decent apres ski (lots of restaurant and bar choice) are high on our list.

So, does anyone know where I can get the moon on a stick?!?!? ;)

All help desperately and gratefully received.

[MaccA]

Well I am going to Serre Chevalier on March 20th. That might give you something to think about, ie avoiding the place in case you bump into a nutter like me

Hahah, thanks for the heads up!

*Runs off to google Serre Chevalier*

Why not go to North America?

We've always figured you'd need two extra days holiday due to the flight times which most of us cant afford.

Also, we're used to getting flights, transfers and accommodation for <£300 when we DIY, which we've struggled with when looking at America/Canada in the psat.

Shame really as I'd love to try N.America as I've heard only good things, but don't think it'll be possible this season :(

Hi MaccA and a warm welcome to our cosy little world :P

(and now we risk one of those monster threads that spirals into infinity)

Might I just mention that you "shouldn't" need to rely on altitude to achieve your requirements ... Last year, on 29th March, at 850m I was skiing quality, natural pistes and some untracked off-piste )

As a quick search of previous threads will show, altitude can have it's problems with "snow sureness" too (glaciers excepted).

Anyway, just a thought :D

Jan

Hi Jan and thank you for the welcome.

One of the benefits of starting my own thread was the ability to ask questions of people's replies without hijacking someone elses thread. Hopefully this'll keep it on track and stop it spiralling into infinity :wink:

I know that height doesn't guarantee snow but it sure does help! We all feel ski in/out can make or break a ski holiday as a lot of people rent equipment which isn't pleasant to trudge around in. Whereas there may be snow on lower pistes it often dries up in the towns lower down quicker (from what I've read on the forum).

Also I seem to remember last winter being a very good season for snow late on after a very delayed start, so guess thid have helped towards your 850m March time skiing?

[Macca]

[MaccA wrote:]Hi Jan and thank you for the welcome.

One of the benefits of starting my own thread was the ability to ask questions of people's replies without hijacking someone elses thread. Hopefully this'll keep it on track and stop it spiralling into infinity :wink:

I know that height doesn't guarantee snow but it sure does help! We all feel ski in/out can make or break a ski holiday as a lot of people rent equipment which isn't pleasant to trudge around in. Whereas there may be snow on lower pistes it often dries up in the towns lower down quicker (from what I've read on the forum).

Also I seem to remember last winter being a very good season for snow late on after a very delayed start, so guess thid have helped towards your 850m March time skiing?

[Macca]

I was in Val d'Isere the week before Christmas last year and we had plenty of snow. Saying that I was also on the Hintertux in May this year with plenty of snow....

......so my reccomendation is, if you are going early or late, pick somehere with a Glacier to fall back on. I have to say Mayrhofen is a good choice for this.