J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by msej449

I have a colleague going out to our apartment in La Tzoumaz that week with his school-age children - apparently this is a rare year when the school term ends on 16th. So expect more people around. Last year, we skiied the weekend of 28-29 November, but only Lac de Vaux and above Ruinettes were pisted and open. However, that was an exceptional year for early snowfall. Conversely, with not a lot of snowfalls after Christmas, some of the best skiing was in December. So to answer your question, if you're based in Verbier, there should be something to ski on, but how good it will be and how much piste will be open is down to the usual weather uncertainties. Back in 2004 (I think) we cancelled a trip out in February because at temperatures of 18C at 1500m the conditions were terrible. So you never know.

I've been skiing in the US and loved it every time. The base is always massive, grooming excellent, queuing is polite and efficient and pistes uncrowded. Relatively, on-piste eating is cheaper then the Alps. Hotels I've stayed in have a ski concierge who stores and waxes your skis overnight and there's a wider choice of accomodation.

BUT equipment hire, passes and accomodation are relatively expensive. There's always the worry of being sued after an accident. And pistes can be binary - either wide open intermediate or impossible double-diamond, with less of the difficult reds/easier blacks that you get in the Alps. And I don't think that I will ever understand why their chairlifts lack restraining bars, given the American preoccupation with safety.

However, I've only skied in the USA because I was already there on a business trip or training and able to tack skiing onto the end. I wouldn't endure the long-haul flight plus transfer (e.g. Lake Tahoe is fantastic, but it's an 11-hour flight to San Francisco then a 5 hour drive) - and definitely not for just a week's skiing.

If you have youngsters along, then I'd echo the post that said the Italians are very child-friendly. All three of our children learned in Livigno and the instructors were great. Switzerland instruction was also good, but obviously, the trip was more expensive than Italy.

All the EU school holidays are listed at

http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/education/eurydice/tools_en.php

Remember that most countries stagger their half term and equivalent holidays across 2-3 weeks. And as in the UK, private schools may deliberately choose different dates to state schools.

Last time I checked, I found that every week over the winter season some school area, somewhere in the EU was on holiday! Although, obviously, the peak times are Christmas, New Year, Easter and around mid-February.

I've also been told that in the UK, this year is unusual because the week 19-23 Dec. 2011 is holiday, and I know a couple of families that are going out to the Alps on an early holiday.

I developed terrible back problems some years after I first went skiing and just couldn't work out what the problem was. I went to the sports injury unit attached to Snow+Rock in Chertsey and they did a great job. It turned out that a combination of one femur shorter than the other, one foot smaller then the other and a curved spine plus asymmetric back muscles all contributed. All I needed was a made-to-measure insole for the smaller/shorter foot and that sorted it. I'm not saying yours is the same issue but you may need professional analysis to diagnose what's wrong. Straight boot retailers/fitters, no matter how experienced, may not be able to diagnose the root cause.

I've done the trip to Zermatt by train and it's far easier than by car/bus. You have to park the car at the transfer station anyway and catch the train, so you might as well do it by train from the start. You can work out the schedule using the railway website:

http://www.sbb.ch

There are discount fares available to foreigners. As well as the site above, you can also get tickets from the Swiss Tourist Office in London, who are also very helpful if you 'phone them up:

http://www.stc.co.uk/

Well, if this is purely investment, and if your funds are in £Sterling, then I wonder if €zone or CHF is attractive at all? On a historical basis the £ is pretty weak against these currencies. So I wonder if the USA wouldn't be a better market to invest in, especially given the relatively distressed residential market background?
If it's partly for your own leisure use as well, then that's a different matter, and I'd say a rather more difficult judgement to make.

Checking the EU school holidays is a very good suggestion. Google for 'eurydice school holidays' and pick out the 'Organisation of school time in Europe' result for a detailed report on the school term times and holidays in the EU.

The current report for 2010-11 holidays is at

http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/education/eurydice/documents/calendars/102en.pdf

but the actual URL will change each year. Looking through this, it's amazing just how holidays are spread out i.e. there's almost no week in the winter when some region of some country isn't on holiday, although the main Christmas, half-term and Easter periods are obviously the worst.

This is why we started to ski in Italy and Switzerland. By comparison, queues are relatively short and much more polite. The atmosphere in most Italian resorts is comparatively more family-friendly in my experience. The standard of instruction and fluency in English is much higher in Switzerland and Italy, on average, than in France.

As your children get older, you will find that skiing remains the one activity you can all do together - the summer's tend to fragment and eventually they want to do activity hols that don't involve you (wait 'till they want to go on their first trip to Ibiza .... but that's down the line). Switzerland is more expensive, of course, but we thought it worth it and if you go self-catering you can cut the cost down substantially, although I'd admit that basic costs like skipasses and hire can be pricy.

I'd now never go to France again, even outside the school holidays as I just can't stand the queues and hassle. That's not to say there aren't quieter French resorts, but if you're confined to school hols for the next few years, then I'd try Switzerland or Italy. You'll probably also hear similar comments about Austria - I've not skied there so I'll leave that to others to post on.