J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by Tony_H

Oh great. The world continues to go mad.

Icy! Hey, great resort, superb ski area, wonderful range of slopes over into Zermatt as well. The Dragon is a bit like a Wetherspoons, Carling and Pie and Chips. Eating out might be a good idea..... unless things have changes recently!
Cretaz chair can be busy first thing but thats the area you will want to end up at in the evenings. Best lift out to get up and over is up to Plan Maison and then across and up again to the highest point. You can get to the far side of Zermatt and back in a day no problem, if you dont leave their too late and miss the last connection..... not a risk worth taking.
Lovely skiing in the Valtounanche (sp?) section worth visiting half a day or so.
Never found it overly busy even at Xmas week. Ive stayed in town and at the club med before and would defo go back for another visit.
Your only issue may be the covid restrictions but hey thats affecting everyone.

Enjoy. Some good bars in town as well.

You can't stop writing the scripts with these lockdowns and restrictions haha. I'm waiting for the uk gov to tell us Xmas has either been cancelled or saved. Sake.

...."if infection levels rise"

Its winter, of course they will.

Do you know if the UK exemption is valid in Austria? I have managed to get away using it in Spain and Greece this summer without any problems.

Somewhere I have often looked at but found holiday costs to get there on a package restrictive, and limited availability for accommodation DIY.
However, last week I cancelled a cycling week in Tenerife and swapped it for a ski week in Ischgl (courtesy of TUI allowing free amends) early Jan.

Initially very excited, and then the realistic thoughts kicked in (same as anyone going anywhere I guess):

Will we be in a lockdown situation come that time of winter here in the UK?

Will Austria have adopted restrictions in resort that could impact the skiing?

Will there be a limit to the number of lift passes sold each day to go up the mountain?


And I thought to myself: for the past 2 years nearly we have been in a ridiculous situation which is out of our control so why worry about the negative aspects and focus on looking ahead to getting back on the snow again, especially to this resort! Especially as my last ski trip ended up in emergency evac flights out of Verona in March 2020 as things started to get proper crazy with this "pandemic".

Anyway.....Ischgl. I've read a fair bit about the skiing, and of course the mental apres (I will probably return to the open fire in a quiet hotel lounge at tea time......), but wondered if anyone had some tips and guidance on the best runs, where to avoid the more crowded slopes, decent off piste to locate, and the smaller cozy huts up the mountain to avoid the big self serve places?

Thanks in advance.

LOTA wrote:Tone, I take your points entirely and think there is a lot of confusion and some more, potential restrictions ahead. However, Switzerland yesterday removed the requirement for UK travellers to quarantine on arrival (cue leap in EasyJet prices!). The quarantine period on return to the UK remains, however. I've opted for the DIY approach, with free cancellations/refunds on everything.

I can live with quarantine as my current job is working from home. However in the current climate I'm not sure I want to share a hotel with people from Belgium, Czech Republic, France etc over a buffet JUST AS MUCH as they probably don't want to with an Englishman!

Club Med will have to rethink their whole operation from now on and I would be interested to hear how its going to work, and whether they reduce capacity in their hotels - if so, who misses out when they cancel a certain %?

Mate, I would be delighted to have a week skiing this season after the **** that 2020 has been, but I just have a feeling it will all be cancelled at some point....... at which time I will be packing up the E Class estate and heading east.......

Well I have a holiday booked through Club Med for this season, last week in December, which I know there is no way on this planet that it will happen. Covid is going mad again, Switzerland has a high rate and things are only going to get worse as the winter goes by. I honestly cannot see any of us getting away this winter without booking our own travel and accepting any quarantine..... that's if we are even allowed to leave the country as things are heading down that route long term I am certain.

The question is: club med SURELY know this is the case, yet they're happily taking bookings for the season. At what point do they concede and inform me my holiday is cancelled, as obviously I won't cancel and lose money on it?
Wouldn't they gain more kudos from being up front with customers and saying they know it won't be happening and offering the option to cancel FOC, or take a credit voucher (not keen on the voucher option personally as we don't know when anything will change).
I am aware they're offering fee free amendments and rebooks but not cancellations.

So, having recently come back from a week road cycling the mountains of Majorca, and ridden a decent length ride across Rutland this weekend, its time to put the bike away for a while (well, the good one anyway) and think seriously about the winter ahead.

I have made some plans for January already, the GF are I are off to a chalet in Zug - a place I've been looking at for many years, but finally found a deal good enough to hit BOOK on the skiworld website. I haven't been to the Arlberg in a few years - last time I was there was before the lift links from St Anton to Lech and before the new wider area became accessible, probably 6 years at least.

The GF liked the sound of St Anton, I tried to warn her off last year with tales of packed pistes and crazy bars on the slopes, and I think she's more aroused by the thought of Lech and a cozy chalet at the end of a ski route. Lets hope for a good early start to the cold and snow, and long may it continue.

I haven't bought much in the way of new gear for a couple of seasons, now I have skis that do what I want them to, and boots that are so ridiculously comfy there's no point in even thinking about it I guess. Flying with BA in January so no issues with ski carriage. Not been into Friedrichshafen before though. I don't see the collapse of Thomas Cook affecting the ski season, maybe some package holidays may have planned to use their old planes, but that'll all be sorted. I imagine Titan will be the main beneficiary there. The main thing will be which channel we MIGHT have to walk through at the airport, if Brexit ever happens eventually.
I see there's been other casualties in the world of holiday companies and websites, I know times are hard generally for punters and companies alike, especially with the euro exchange rates of a couple of years ago hitting hard when it comes to property rental prices. I haven't seen any trends of forecasts, so do we know if UK skiers are still taking the same amount of holidays as say 5 or 10 years ago?

Its been a long time since I was on here, no idea what's been happening in the skiing world to be honest, but now that the weather has turned chilly for the first time, Ive started pointing my thoughts towards the mountains with snow on, and coming down them on skis rather than on 2 wheels.

I have no plans for later in the season, I always like to make 2 trips a year, nothing particular is on the agenda apart from Ischgl as always, but Im not sure I can afford to go there, as always. I would actually like to see what Sauze has to offer these days, I hear good reports, but only after or during a big snow dump as otherwise it can be a dry or hot place. I am still, bizarrely, yet to make a trip to the Dolomites, its a matter of time, but its hard to identify the best base in that region in terms of good local skiing and links into the SR. Open to suggestions from experienced visitors there.

Anyway, heres to a great winter season for everyone. Lets hope its an epic one weather-wise.