Rate your resorts!!

So if I get this right, you're asking us to put where we have skied in order of how much we liked them. Hmmm, very difficult. Some places at the time were brilliant and perfect for what we wanted, but have been skied out and hold no desire for a future return for a few years anyway.

But I will have a go:

1. St Moritz - breathtakingly beautiful, wonderfully quiet slopes, great varied skiing

2. Verbier - itching to go back and a fabulous ski area with masses of different options. Lots going on in town.

3. Arlberg - massive area with some awesome runs, best skiing in Zurs and Stuben. Only down side is how busy St Anton gets.

4. Serre Chevalier - massively under rated area, nicely rustic, fairly quiet slopes too.

5. Alpe d'Huez - nicely varied ski area with some interesting runs in different directions.

6. Mayrhofen - skied it to death now, but it holds a lot of affection for me as I've developed so much by skiing here. Loads to ski in this valley.

7. Sauze d'Oulx - good fun and lovely sweeping runs which tend to be quiet, but snow is a massive problem here. Good links to other areas makes you feel like you're travelling around a lot.

8. Val Thorens - I just didnt like anything about this place, although that was probably because I was learning and didnt enjoy one minute of the first 4 days! Nothing about the 3 valleys flaots my boat.

9. Bad Klein Kircheim - only had 3 days here early in my skiing history and the snow was rubbish but it was a lovely place and we drank so much that I only have hilarious memories of the place. I'd like to go back and ski it in good snow.

10. Niederau. I have nothing to say about this place as nothing about it stands out in my mins, other than how small it was, and how icy the slopes were and the fact I had skied it in about an hour.

Hope I havent forgotten something obvious!!!!

Good stuff, keep it coming.

Our 2nd ski holiday of the season might end up being the averaged no.1 from this thread!!

1. Val D'Isere / EK
2. St Anton
3. Serre Chevalier
4. La Thuile
5. Soll

Val D'Isere and Tignes/EK is incredible, the skiing is just fantastic there. Also Val D'Isere itself is lovely.

St Anton ski area is amazing as well.

Serre Chevalier is underrated I feel - big ski area with some excellent runs, but not talked about as much as some of the bigger resorts.

La Thuile - Decent ski area, enough to keep me and Mrs DJTJ occupied for a week, but limited in terms of atmosphere and things to do other than skiing.

Soll - I'm sure the rest of the SkiWelt is great, but this was our first week's skiing as total beginners, and had a learner's lift pass which let us on about 5 lifts in total. So not really Soll's fault that we were limited.

Only a top 5 - as that's all I've been to! However, we are now booked to go to Sauze D'Oulx in January so I expect that to jump in somewhere around the 3 position from what I've heard!

In reality never had a bad days skiing but anyway someone asked for list.

Chamonix:- Loved it so much moved there, 16 years after first skiing there.
Engelberg:- Great offpiste, nice town.
Cervinia:- Nothing to dislike, good food, coffee, wine, sun, snow.
Courmayeur:- When Chamonix doesn't they do. Powder!
Whistler:- Snow bit on wet side (was late in year in fairness) but some great terrain. Was not impressed by town itself. Whistler mountain resort i.e. one big chain pub, zero charm.
Obergergul:- Good apres ski and some fun terrain.
Passo Tonale:- Good Pizza
Pamporovo:- Great people and great place for anyone to start. Making skiing affordable for families, has to deserve credit.
Voss/Myrkdalen:- Spent too many days here skiing so has to make top ten. Wet snow, pathetic vertical, but still went every weekend :-).
Chatel:- Despite being low and dodgy snow record, certainly few good days skiing to be had here.
.
Disappointments
NZ:- All areas, not quite same as Alps. Novelty factor as was "summer" but hell of a distance for what in reality is pretty average skiing. Heli skiing did look good though.
Banff:- Great town, too cold to enjoy skiing! 2 x persons in group got frost nip on exposed parts of face.
Livingo:- Massive transfer! That is pretty much all I remember was long time ago.
Les Deux Alpes:- Rubbish! Zero appeal.
Megeve:- Worst resort in world, quite possibly! Think crossing rivers in torrential rain.

Chronological order.
1. Filzmoos. Part of Ski Amade in Austria. Popped my skiing cherry at the age of 41. Tiny village, good enough for us beginners. Locals are great. We had a blast and conditions were good when we where there but other people we know have bombed out there snow wise.

2. Ortisei/St Ulrich, Val Gardena, Italian Dolomites. Stunning village, amazing scenery. Tons of snow and beautiful food, coffee and weather. The local are a great bunch. Had the time of our lives. Loved it so much I snuck in another ski trip - see below.

3. Innichen/San Candido, Alta Pusteria, Dolomites. A more budget conscious trip planned at last minute after trip 2 mentioned above. Pushed the skiing gods but came up trumps. Everything just as good as Val Gardena but less swank and cheaper.

4. Perisher, Australia. Most expensive couple of days skiing ever. It was holidays so crowds were mad and there was no snow. Accommodation third world standard. Debacle.

5. Mount Hutt, New Zealand. No on snow accommodation so had to stay in Methven and run the gauntlet of the terrifying trip up every morning. Snow arrived just as we landed much to our relief as resort was closed due to wind and no snow the week prior our arrival. Weather and snow were good and it is drag having to get the bus up every day. Skiing was pretty good but limited in area.

6. Thredbo, Australia. Quite a nice village. We had good snow and conditions when we were there apart from afternoon slush down low. Not cheap.

7. Perisher, Australia. Much better conditions this time and quite enjoyed it.

Difficult - here is my best attempt. There's a heavy north american bias since we learned to ski in Canada.

1- Kickinghorse, BC - best all rounder
2- Nisseko, Hokkaido, Japan - for the 15m annual powder fest
3- Sunshine, AB - Snow and sentiment
4- St Anton - Apres and nightlife
5- Val Thorens - You can ski powder in December (if your'e lucky)
6- Zermatt - Even though we had awful ice, it's very scenic
7- Whitewater, BC - Small hill vibe - great terrain
8- Revelstoke, BC - Terrain, when there is good snow
9 - Chamonix - Great all rounder
10 - Crystal, WA - Great terrain, low key base area
11 - Vail, CO - Lost of terrain, nice resort base and facilities
12 - Big White, BC - Great snow + Nice atmosphere

Tony_H - I have been wanting to ski Verbier for ages, maybe this year.

steverandomno wrote:Tony_H - I have been wanting to ski Verbier for ages, maybe this year.

Do it. Its very good.