Which resort?

Cervinia, nice easy skiing, guaranteed snow and being Italy good coffee and food. Not many trees but I would not really consider it as a place that suffers from serious weather. People spend far more time worry about no snow than bad weather. For sure there this will be of zero concern about snow there.

I agree with GazC re Folgarida. There are two beginner slopes which are separate from the main pistes, so you can learn to ski without the fear of being mown down by other skiers. A very gentle slope then takes you back to the gondola or to the long blue back to the village. There are several friendly bars/cafes where the 'minder' can keep an eye on the beginners. For the rest of you, the skiing in Marilleva or Madonna is superb.

Soldeu, Andorra has already been mentioned and thats part of the Grandvilera ski area which includes Pas da la Casa - perfect for beginners and intermediates and most of the hotels are either on or close to the piste. This year the snow is fantastic and im told its always good end feb/early March

Whoever told you that about Cervinia was pulling your leg. It can get very windy high up especially in the early part of the season, but in general the weather is as good if not better than most other places and the snow conditions are usually excellent.

jastem wrote:I agree with GazC re Folgarida. There are two beginner slopes which are separate from the main pistes, so you can learn to ski without the fear of being mown down by other skiers. A very gentle slope then takes you back to the gondola or to the long blue back to the village. There are several friendly bars/cafes where the 'minder' can keep an eye on the beginners. For the rest of you, the skiing in Marilleva or Madonna is superb.

I'd forgotten about the two side-by-side beginner slopes! :oops: They are the ones served by the short, parallel drag-lifts at the top of the 'Bambi' chair. I think the 'progression' of the pistes in Folgarida is ideal for beginners/low intermediates. I got as much satisfaction from skiing the blue (Azzura) down to 1300 and the red (Belvedere) down to 1400 with the children as I did from skiing 'Le Tunnel' at Alpe d'Huez.

Alpe d'Huez! Now there's another possibility! -)

Have you had a look at Morzine - it's my favourite resort and sitting in the middle of the Portes du Soleil ski area has a huge range of terrain for all abilities. You can head over to Les Gets for some great blues and reds in the Les Gets bowl or head over to Avoriaz and Linderets for some brilliant runs. It's only an hour from Geneva and a beautiful traditional alpine village making it a great place to spend a week - definitely worth a look!

Have a look at the resort reviews on Mountago (its a new ski site for ski resort reviews this season, not quite there yet but a good start and interesting) - http://mountago.com/resort/morzine

I'd suggest Cervinia, Serre Chevalier, Alpe d'Huez based on your criteria.

"So far we've looked at Cervinia but been told all the runs look identical and very prone to bad weather."

I'd disagree, the weather is often better than Zermatt. And for intermediates - the runs that "look identical" are in fact the "wide, easy cruising blues and reds" that you're after.