J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by Wanderer

Dave Ryding had a fantastic first run in the Men's Slamom in Levi, Finland to give him the lead at that stage but unfortunately he did not complete the second run!

markinkent wrote:There are two car hire stations at Geneva airport. One in the Swiss sector and one in the French. If you pick the right one that might address your concerns.

Thanks for that but I am really interested in flying into Zurich with a view to hiring a car and driving into Austria :roll:

Furthy34 wrote:Probably the ugliest resort in the Alps due to many of its buildings but big place. France so expect expensive. Always good skiing to be had in big places.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Many people find it ugly but it is actually extremely highly regarded in architectural circles and I believe has won awards. I believe the style is called "brutalist" - very popular in the 60s and 70s. I actually quite like the main "square" looking out on the slopes. There are far worse resorts all over the alps where a complete absence of any real planning or coherence often makes for a horrible mishmash.

More importantly, it is a lovely resort to ski in and combined with the linked areas is vast.

chrisgu wrote:I suspect that the French (being the pragmatic folk that they are) will overlook it for short term car hire. I lose track of how many EU regulations the French turn a blind eye to.

That may be the case for France but I am not sure that the Austrian's are as relaxed :shock:. I accept that the likelihood of running into trouble is tiny but if you do, the consequences can be horrendeous :evil:. I have experienced the Austrian's closing the motorway and diverting all traffic into a siding where they checked for the motorway vignettes - we did get ours before crossing the border from Switzerland so no problem.

http://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/vehicles/cars/car-rental-abroad/index_en.htm
The Official EU website is still making it clear that an EU resident would need to rent a car with EU registration if they are planning on driving into an EU country, e.g. fly into Zurich and then travel down to Austria.

"If you plan to travel with your rental car both in EU and non-EU countries – for example from Switzerland to France, Germany, Austria or Italy – you need to tell the rental company in advance. They can provide you with an EU-registered car in order to comply with EU customs laws. Most car rental companies in Switzerland provide cars with EU number plates for EU residents in order to comply with EU customs rules, but you should check with your car rental company."

Anybody know how easy or difficult it is to get EU-reg cars from hirers in Zurich?

You might be interested in the thread I created with my trip report on the Dolomites last year. I'm was staying at the opposite end of the Sella Ronda in the Val Di Fassa but covered the entire area. I am going back again in February and staying in Selva this time. I will be really interested to see if the experience is different when staying at the opposite end of the area. In my view it is a truly wonderful ski area -)

https://www.j2ski.com/ski-chat-forum/posts/list/0/17411/dolomites-2017.page

......... I thought I had beaten that speed behind the horses being towed out of the Hidden Valley run in the Dolomites last year :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:.

While his speed is pretty impressive, I have to wonder what the point was other than to gain publicity for the car. I am much more impressed with his downhill skiing while carrying a camera for Ski Sunday :thumbup:.

Dave Mac wrote:I did try the top of range one time. They were really stiff racer skis. I changed a couple of times, found a comfortable pair, only to find out that they were bottom of the range.

I had a similar experience last year in Mayrhofen - the ski shop was pretty reasonable so I went for "Premium" skis. However, they were very heavy and stiff and I found then very difficult to control (in somewhat wet spring conditions). I went back to the shop and got a much lighter more flexible pair that were great :thumbup:. Unlike you Dave, this might be more a reflection of the limitations of my skiing abilities than unsuitability of the skis though I do wonder what part piste conditions played in the suitability of the skis.