J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by msej449

Stayed there a couple of times and also Morillion. Had an apartment just above the central area and once we'd done a few lunchtimes on the balcony, realised why the ambulances and helicopter are nearby. The central crossroads seems quite benign, but we saw lots of slow-motion collisions. Pretty much a serious-looking one every lunchtime! Albeit it was a busy week.

So just be aware: having skiied some of the difficult upper slopes or trekked around to Morillion etc. don't relax too much as you come into the base are in the centre and keep alert. Lots of people going across in different directions.

I also forgot to point you to the official Swiss Tourism website at https://www.myswitzerland.com/en-gb/home.html

They have all sorts of offers for both accommodation and skiing as well as travel at https://www.myswitzerland.com/en-gb/service-updates/offers.html?nodeId=25140

You'll see there's also an interactive regions map where you can narrow the details down to canton: the nearest to GVA are the Vaud and Valais.

How about staying in a valley and then trying out various resorts within driving distance? Then if one place is bad you can at least try another. One attraction of staying at a thermal resort is if the weather is really bad, you can just stay put and enjoy the swimming/wellness etc. My suggestions:

Stay at the thermal resort of Saillon in Switzerland (in the Rhône valley between Martigny and Sion) and get a Valais area skipass. Covers 47 ski areas and 4 thermal resorts.

https://www.bainsdesaillon.ch/en/
https://www.valais.ch/en/information/landingpage/valais-skicard/information

Note the SkiCard doesn't include the 4 Valleys (Verbier and its satellites of La Tzoumaz, Nendaz and Veysonnaz/Les Collons). So you might just pay the day rate at any places you visit. Alternatively, look at the Valais MagicPass:

http://www.ovronnaz.ch/en/ski-in-ovronnaz-with-the-magic-pass/

Which gives access to 25 ski resorts.

I appreciate that you've referenced companies/groups, and may dislike skiing alone, but if you're prepared to self-cater or eat out/take-away, you may find that there are 1-room apartments that are good value. I just took a quick look at the agency that rents our apt out and they have a 1-room for CHF500-750/week (£385-£577) and that's in Switzerland - I imagine France and Italy will be even cheaper.

Yes, going out to Switzerland December 7-11 for our annual pre-Christmas long Weekend. Last year conditions were pretty good:



and yes, there was no one else on the slopes. When we stopped for lunch at the Savoleyres summit café there were only three other people there.

For a drone video and explanation of the works by the Téléverbier CEO and Proj.Mgr., see at 1:59 secs in (the auto-jump doesn't work on this platform):

I also think that it reinforces the attraction of staying down in the valley and making excursions to the various resorts (other than the 4 Valleys, which the pass doesn't cover). Somewhere like Saillon, Martigny, Sion or Sierre will probably offer a wider and cheaper range of accomodation options, including thermal resorts like the Bains de Saillon (https://www.bainsdesaillon.ch/en/) or somewhere in a town itself.

This could also appeal to mixed groups, where not everyone is a keen skier, allowing non-ski partners to do cultural excursions to places like the Fondation Giannada (http://www.gianadda.ch/) in Martigny, Chateau Chillion etc.). It also means that if the weather is terrible, you can spend the day doing the Thermal Wellness thing, or going out somewhere interesting.

If you can use a Swiss airline flight into Sion, being based in the valley also means you'd be only 30-40 minutes from the airport.

New snow guns currently being installed on the pistes from Savoleyres down to La Tzoumaz.

«Téléverbier has received the authorisation to install equipment for artificial snow on the Savoleyers – La Tzoumaz ski area. The work, costing over 7 million CHF, will be phased throughout the summers 2017, 2018 and 2019. It will be undertaken by the firm Techno-Alpin similarly to what has been done in Bruson. In total, over 12km of pipes will be installed.»

For a map, see http://www.latzoumaz.ch/UserFiles/File/organisme/UserFiles-tzoumazv2/File/Pistes%20eneig%E9es%20hiver%202018%20small.pdf

We saw the work being started when we visited our apartment earlier in June this summer. The upgrade to the existing system is very extensive. When we skied last November/Dec, the upper slopes of Savoleyres on the La Tzoumaz side were very good (and yes, there is no one else on the slopes ...)



but you couldn't go down further than the 6-man chair near Chez Simon. The snow was fine lower down except for the final slopes to Etablons and the télécabine. It looks like they're investing big to make the north-facing La Tzoumaz side skiable right down to the télécabine earlier/later in the season.