J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by verbier_ski_bum

the journey itself (time spent on a train) will likely be the same, but connection times will be shorter.

yeah, the same is happening here. After some good snow earlier this week yesterday it rained all the way up to 2700 meters, so this snow is largely gone. The only place worth skiing at the moment is Mont Fort, but it's ungroomed so will be covered in huge moguls by the end of weekend and lift lines to get to the top will be horrendous. Warm weather is forecast till Tuesday.

As SwingBeep said, it's better to visit a fitter early in the season or even before the start of the season as you want to have a wider selection of models and sizes. Bootfitter route is expensive but in my opinion it's a good investment of money. I am so happy with my current properly fitted boots I am dreading the day I need to retire them - they are on 170 ski days at the moment and I hope to make them last another two seasons. ZipFit liners made good difference too as they don't pack out for a very long time and then it's possible to have some material added if need be, so their cost is well justified. Until my current boots I had to change boots every 90 days on snow as they would become fairly unskiable due to liners packing out. Having said that, one of my friends who is a strong experienced skier after needing to rent a pair of boots ended up talking the shop into selling them to her for something like 60 francs - she absolutely loved the fit and how they skied.

Villars have very limited snow at the moment as whatever fell as snow this week fell as rain over there. If you want to stay in a city you should probably head to Davos. But you will still need a lift pass. Ski lifts are not generally a part of public transport system so your train pass won't work. If you are a beginner and therefore don't need extensive terrain to ski you should mention this at the ticket office as they may have options at reduced prices.

Depressing. Relatively speaking whatever falls this week are just a few snowflakes when good 2 meters are needed. And it's annoyingly warm. I turned heating off at home and even in the chalet heating is in saving mode and it doesn't feel cold at all.

Not another season of constant foehn, please! But seriously, it seems like seasons switched places - summer was cold and very wet and now we have warm and dry winter. Even when it rains (like yesterday) it's not the rain that is likely to last longer than a few hours, unlike last summer when it wouldn't stop for days...

Don't take your own skis, take rentals, make sure edges are sharp and you will be OK. Pistes are very hard and fast so take care of your speed, it will also help to avoid little rocks - the cover is thin.

SwingBeep wrote:

Verbier_ski_bum, the Farinet changed hands at the end of 2013, it's now owned by an English hotelier / property developer from Brighton. I don't think he will have too much trouble getting permission to convert it into apartments, according to Lex Weber hotels that are more than 25 years old and no longer financially viable can be converted into second homes.

I presume they are keeping the Hotel de Verbier although I can't think why, most 3 star hotels of this age and size in resorts that only have a winter season don't make any money. Maybe they can't get out of the contract in or maybe they have a stake it.

It looks like the new owner of Farinet will be keeping it as a hotel. There is work going on at the moment, but it's not conversion. In my understanding, the planning permission came with strings attached - Lounge bar, après-ski and Casbah night club are all staying put where they are, so it will be very difficult for the guy to sell flats in this building for any good money.