J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by verbier_ski_bum

Englberg is under 2 hours on a train from Zurich, including about 20 minutes waiting for a train in Lucerne.

Les Houches and Argentiere are on the opposite ends of the valley and connected by bus, should take about 30 min I guess. If you are planning to ski in Argentiere Les Houches is probably the worst place to stay. Far from Chamonix itself too. Les Houches itself is too low, more for families, I heard it's good on powder days when everywhere else might be closed and they have some trees too. We never made it to les Houches - when we arrived one day the queue was too long since all the valley headed there, so we went home since we were going back that way. Chamonix piste map has a few distinct areas, only two are connected - Brevent and Flegere. Brevent lift is in town, then Flegere, then Argentiere slightly further and facing Flegere, and even further near Swiss border is Le Tour. Les Houches might be cheaper, but IMHO not worth of staying there, particularly for an extended stay. Stay in Chamonix itself, or in Argentiere - it's not very expensive either.

Too much focus on ligaments.

Not so alike on DPS though :)

Since when March 12 became "that late in the season" or even just late?... :)

Tourists prices...

Definitely lazy myself. When conditions are boring I skin up to Cabane Mont Fort, have lunch and ski down. I invested in a pair of Head Magnums to make piste skiing more enjoyable, but even then, it's 3 hours of skiing maximum, after that it's terrace/bar hopping. I did make a point of going up in any weather, any conditions last season (well, one of my flatmates was a ski nut who would drag me out as I was the only one in a flat without a valid excuse not to ski - everyone else worked on weekends), but on some days it was literally for one run only - couple times visibility was so bad this one run took a very long time, couple it was so icy that skiing for longer would be definitely pushing it. The benefit of longer stays and season passes is that you don't need to ski bell-to-bell. But it's good to go in any weather if only for an hour just for the sake of having skied some awful conditions :) That's what many locals do as they don't feel the need to maximise the uptake from the short holiday. They would ski most days that they can ski but many of these days will be rather short.

There is a bus between Chamonix and Courmayeur, but not sure if it goes elsewhere in Aosta. I never took the bus myself, we usually drive, but I was told that it existed. Italy is cheaper than France, as for food I like both, maybe French food edges it for me a bit as I am totally indifferent to pizzas and lasagnas, even real Italian ones, probably wouldn't even notice if all pizzerias disappeared tomorrow :) If you take a car than the world is your oyster whether you stay in France or Aosta. But I would stay in Chamonix for the vibe alone and drive if I want to ski elsewhere. Places like Les Gets will be full of families once school breaks start.