J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by Juddernaut

Filzmoos, Austria (Ski Amade area)
I learnt to ski (badly) here. It was great at the time. In hindsight, small and lowish but conditions were good when I was there. Flachau not far away.

PRO - Reasonably priced. Crowd free. Local people are great. Food is great. Pretty little village. Chav and snowboarder free.
CONS - Smallish. Lowish.
8/10 - for beginners
7/10 for more advanced skiers but throw Flachau in and you get 8/10

Val Gardena, Dolomites
Great snow when we were there. Lots of sun too. Villages are pretty.

PROS - Massive ski area. Impeccable piste management. Reasonably priced. Incredible scenery. A plethora of great hotels. Great food and coffee. Local Ladin people are super. Great lift infrastructure.
CONS - Lots of Russians. Bit hard to get to.
9/10

Alta Pusteria, Dolomites
Same as Val Gardena but a bit of Sella Ronda etc. Great snow and great skiing.

PROS - Same as Val Gardena.
CONS - Not directly linked to Sella Ronda. It isn't in Switzerland so it is a long drive for me.
8/10

Thredbo, Australia
PROS - Better than no skiing at all. It can actually be OK when snow is good and crowds are small; which isn't often. Scenery of snow-gums is nice.
CONS - Expensive. Not really a mountain, more a hill. Crowded with lots of dangerous snowboarders and really bad skiers. Expensive. Food is ordinary. Ordinary lift infrastructure.
5/10

Perisher, Australia
Same as applies to Thredbo. One decent lift (the V8), the rest are ordinary. The tow rope is like some medieval instrument of torture.
5/10

Mount Hutt, NZ
PROS - Sometimes better snow and crowds than Australia. Some OK skiing. Kiwi accents. Kiwis are good value.
CONS - The road up is staggeringly dangerous and can be closed due to weather, rockfall, snow etc. No accomodation near the ski area. Methven is 40 minute death defying drive away. Resort often closed due to inclement weather. Large groups have been trapped up there for days.
5/10

La Faucille\Monts Jura, France
PROS - Cheap. Skiing can be quite good. Fairly easy to get to.
CONS - Small. Low by euro standards.
6/10

Crozet\Monts Jura, France
Same as La Faucille\Monts Jura, Switzerland.
6/10

Monte Rosa, Italy
PROS - Cheap for what you get. Remarkably uncrowded. Lots of great pisted runs. Great food and drink. Stunning location. Euro skiings secret sleeper. Great accommodation and prices. Locals are great. Pretty villages.
CONS - Maybe too quiet for Chavs? Lifts not the most modern but OK.
9/10

Le Grand Bornand, Les Aravis, France
A real decent black run there.
PROS - Skiing is good. Close to Geneva.
CONS - Crowds. Lots of crappy old lifts.
7/10

Davos, Switzerland
PROS - There is lots of great skiing there. Scenery.
CONS - Bits of Davos town are ugly concrete. Dodgy piste marking\grading. Prices are simply ludicrous. Crowded as buggery. Train up in the morning means close exposure to garlic and sausage breath.
8/10

Alpe de Huez, France
PROS - There is lots of great skiing there. Scenery. Sunny aspect.
CONS - So crowded the week we were there we never could get to top station (3300). Lots of dangerous skiers on green beginner runs so beginners on our trip were rightly scared of being hit by out of control snowboarder\skiers. Too many drag-lifts. Is it just me or can the French be annoying?
8/10

Corvara, Dolomites, Italy
Great snow when we were there. Lots of sun too. Villages are pretty.

PROS - Massive ski area. Impeccable piste management. Reasonably priced. Incredible scenery. Great food and coffee. Local Ladin people are super. On-piste eating generally fantastic.
CONS - Maybe a bit hard to get to. Is it just me or can Italians be annoying?
9/10

Les Contamines, France
Nice little ski place. Nice scenery.
PROS - Not massive.
CONS - Lifts a bit old and ordinary for mine. No super long runs.
7/10

Chamonix, La Tour and Argentieres
PROS - Skiing can be very, very good. Nice views of valley and to Mont Blanc.
CONS - Crowds getting up from Argentiere are a joke.
8/10

Verbier, Switzerland
PROS - Large area full of great skiing. Piste management very good. Lifts generally very good.
CONS - The prices are ludicrous (Some joker tried to charge me 8CHF for a coffee).
8/10

Ranchero_1979 wrote:Juddernaut, where exactly in the valley did you ski because pretty much every resort has an un-comparable run:-
Aguille de Midi:- VB, ski touring, more options than can be noted.
Grand Montets:- Pas De Chevre
Le Tour:- Trient.
Brevant/Flegere:- Run over top to Le Buet.

Massive vertical, can ski N/S/E/W facing slopes in valley. No where can compete with this variety. Now if you want motorway piste skiing, absolutely better places to be. Does not affect statement about best terrain of any ski resort in world though.

I have skied Argentiere and La Tour Balme. I haven't skied Flegere or Brevent cuz people rave about Argentiere. It is good, but it is not earth shatteringly better than other places I have skied (I.e. Monte Rosa, Dolomites, ADH, Davos, Verbier). In fact the queue to get up from Argentiere is absurd. Food quite good and reasonably priced for France though.

La Thuile has been added to the list of places to have a ski this season. Living in Geneva has a lot of upside. Just over an hour in the car and the prices plummet, the food improves and you can get real coffee.

We had a week at Mount "Shutt" a few years back. It was closed for the week prior to our arrival due to extreme wind that was blowing what little snow there was to all points of the compass. While in plane from Oz they got a dump and we had a week of good snow and decent weather. A massive low pressure then hit the day after we left. Christchurch blanketed and Mount Shutt closed again.
The road up is a wonder of the modern world. Picture a bonkers road in the Andes, with no guardrail to protect a fall into an abyss and you get the idea. I believe quite a few people have met their maker on it and i am surprised there hasn't been some litigation over it.
The reality is that there is not much skiing there and it is a real hassle to spend 40 death defying minutes to get up there. Sometimes better than the muck we serve up in Oz though. Antipodeans better off going to Japan in the southern summer.

I have had three ski weeks in the Dolomites over 5 years. A week in Val Gardena, a week in Alta Pusteria and a week in Corvara. We had tons of snow very time and never had any weather problems either. Maybe I am lucky but from what I hear their snow making makes up for any lack of the natural stuff.
I live in Switzerland and have heard horror stories of rubbish snow at PDS, Gran Massif and even Chamonix. Lots of micro climates in the Alps and sometimes one area cops a dump and a place not that far away misses out.
I would return to ski the Dolomites all the time if it was a bit closer. Great value, great food, relatively uncrowded. Bit of a hike from Geneva though.
Your snow anxiety is perfectly normal and I too suffer the same affliction. I would be amazed if you had a problem in February.

You sure you don't mean Australia? I am Australian but admit that our skiing is rubbish. Austria a great place to ski, drink and eat. People are fantastic. Skiing top shelf.

Tony_H wrote:I think you've probably got to try Chamonix once in a lifetime to be able to really pass judgement, and the Vallee Blanche appeals to me,but sadly Mrs H flatly refuses to get involved on that front with me.

So Chamonix holds no other appeal for me personally, and from what Ive read its got to remain way down the wish list.

I have tried it twice and don't rate it. That said, I have not done Vallee Blanche. will do it next season but can not see how it will change my opinion of Chamonix overall.
Actually, I prefer Chamonix in summer. Only ski resort I can say that about.

Tony_H wrote:Probably done by someone in France who should have been upgrading toilets instead

Good call. I was confronted with a hole-in-the-ground toilet at a mainstream Samoens bar this year.