J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by andymol2

If you draw a circle around Insbruck you will have a fair choice within a couple of hours drive - Mayrhofen, Zell am Zee, Obergurgle, St Anton, Lech, Kitzbuhel and if you want you could drop down into Italy to Madonna Di Campiglio in the Dolomites to name but a few of the options.

A few nights here and a few there should make a cracking ski trip.

Can't comment about Verbier but the quoted snow depths for the Portes Du Soleil were a little out of step with my experience of them a couple of weeks ago.

The snow was melting fast on both the French & Swiss sides to the point that many runs were brown with rocks & grass poking through and they were taking away some of the Piste Bashers as there wasn't enough snow to bash.

I don't think 2011 will go down as a great snow year in the French or Swiss Alps.

Some of the Austrian areas have been fine as have some of the Italian Alps.

I guess they can't all be vintage years. A little realism with snow depths might not be a bad thing as many will now take snow depth readings with a pinch of salt.

I'd say yes. Far less hassle than the scrum of the hire shops and at least you know what you are getting in terms of the ski and it's condition.

Downside - cost & hassle of lugging your ski's around. If you drive to the ski resort then the cost is nil. Flight charges vary.
Hiring does let you try a variety of skis which is sensible the first few time you ski - as you get better you'll probably need different ski's and you will also get a better appreciation of the type of ski that suits you.

Do you need several sets? If the answere is that if you'd only stick with one set of hire skis for a week you can make the same case for owning 1 pair.
It may be nice to have some for different snow conditions but most people tend to ski on the prepared pistes.

You may want 2 or more pairs but that's not the same as needing them! As for Pablo having 6 pairs....sounds like he's a shopaholic!

Ah the delights of budget airlines.
Just flown with B*I brat - booked flight, case & ski bag.
E Mids to Geneva - tap in reference number - prints boarding pass & check in case at regular desk & ski's at oversize desk. Simples.

Geneva to E mids. "You haven't booked luggage of ski carriage" When challenged they backed down on the luggage but not the skis.
Sent me to the Swissport service dest where unhelpful member of staff keeps dissapearing into the back room & returning to say I haven't got ski carriage booked. And unless I can show them a ticket I'll have to pay. Naturally no paper ticket just a booking reference as on-line. However I have may laptop in the back pack & logged into my booking - "there it is!"

But no "It says 1 ski bag"
Oh dear I've got he village idiot. Not persuadable with example that 1 ski/sports equipment carriage is literally that and not just carriage on the outbound flight.
I even demonstrated making a booking showing that the ski carriage price doubled if you booked a return journey for that 1 bag compared to a 1 way journey to the amount I had paid!

Still wouldn't have it & I had no choice but to pay & argue the toss with customer services back in the UK! Then charged me 9 Euros for paying by credit card!

It would have been so much cheaper & less hassle to have booked a package. (Not an option as meeting up with a friend doing the season in Montriond (Morzine))

Back to the thread.
Are you really sure you don't want to get a package deal. I know half term is expensive but the flights tend to be expensive too. Our half term tends not to always coincide with the Austrian half term so hotel costs don't shift that much (not the same in France however).
If you have 2 drivers you might be better off driving down.

The Vallee Blanche has been quite high in terms of avalanche risk this year so I'm told.

A friend who's done it didn't rate it as one of the more interesting days skiing he's had.

I would't bother with Les Gets (or anywhere in the Portes Du Soleil) this season - I came back from Morzine on Monday & had spent a day over on the Les Gets side and it was slushy & very thin - they were brinbing the piste bashers down as there wasn't enough snow in many areas to be able to use them.

We did have a little snow later in the week which helped high up (didn't go back to Les Gets after it) but can't think that snow made a vast difference.

Essentially the whole ski area has had very little snow since Xmas & Spring has arrived. (I met up with a mate who spends the season in Montriond)
The snow reports indicate a depth of 130cm high in Morzine but any of the pistes were brown & had rocks sticking through, so take the snow depth with a pinch of salt.

In short the only way you will have to pay it is if the care hire company do so on your behalf using the credit card details you gave them.

There are no powers to effectively collect speeding fines as speeding, not normally being an arrestable offence, can't be persued through the UK courts.

A number of third party companies try to collect speeding fines on behalf of foreign countries but they have no legal powers to enforce payment in the UK & rely on you paying up. They send a variety of official sounding threatening letters but a reply of "Oh how interesting" tends to make them go away when they realise they are not getting you to cough up.

There are plans afoot to change the law across Europe make speeding fines pan-european but they haven't gone ahead yet.

There's diddly squat in the Portes du Soleil.
Only passable around Avoriaz yesterday - melting fast everywhere and what there is is chewed up porridge!