J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by karen72

For those who know Saalbach well, does anyone know where this is? they got back to me and said they were only a few minutes away from the dorfplatz but on the website it says that the piste goes past their house.
http://www.saalbach380.com/pics.htm

would it be better to go on 29th January or 13th March?

Dids, we tend to do absolutely nothing in the evenings, we rarely venture out as this would require packing more clothes lol. We always have been self catering and we more or less arrive back to the apartment and we only go it if necessary for supplies. God that sounds really boring lol, but its the way we like it, so nightlife isnt really a factor.

Still looking at apartments in Saalbach now lol. Tony, I was only going to stay in the apartments we stayed in at Niederau and use this as a base to go to skiwelt. I proposed this idea to hubby, but he didnt fancy driving every day to slopes so that idea is out. Maybe one day Dave, we will cross paths.

The only reason I am now persuing saalbach is that I like the price of the lifts and the transfer which instead of the les saisies price so far comes to £650. flights and transfers for les saisies comes to £950.

Thanks Dave, thats another spanner in the works lol and another definite possiblity. I have now found cheaper flights to salzburg (even though it is going from liverpool) so I am busy looking at some nice apartments in saalbach, or maybe leogang or maybe neiderau and hire a car and go to the skiwelt, oh my head is spinning lol, must make a decision.............lol

PrivateBryan - I had a look at your report. Looks really good. We discounted Bisanne as we thought it would be too far out from saisies to get shopping etc. Even though we have the hire car, we dont intend to use it unless we really have to.

Tony - I couldnt really find any nice apartments in Sauze, it seemed to be mainly hotels. I did look in Serre Che, or was it sestriere i was looking at, I cant remember, it is all a blur. And they called it cardiac hill on a trip advisor review i read lol

Tino - I have looked at Saalbach and did quite fancy Leogang but I had discounted it becasue of going in March and not being that snow sure, but now we are going in Janaury, it could be the ideal time.

Oh decisions decisions, I dont know what to do now. I was going to book flights tonight, but dont want to book them now in case I change my mind and go to Austria, as obvisouly it wont be as convenient to Saalbach from Geneva as it would be from Innsbruck.

Thanks for the replies. I have spoke with hubby and with a bit of gentle persuasion, i have convinced him that my first choice of les saisies should be the one! which I personally feel fits all the criteria that we want as a family for this year (even if it is France). There are other places that I really do fancy for next year. Lynne I had a look at Alta Badia, La Villa and Corvara and they will definitley be contenders for next year. I really like the look of the ski area itself (is it Val Gardena or something?)
Tony, I have looked at Sauze a few times and still really fancy it, but because we were thinking of going in March, I felt it might not be snow sure enough for us, but that is also going on my shortlist. The other thing I found when looking at Sauze was the places I was looking at staying, cant remember the hotel, maybe was the hotel sauze? a lot of people complained of it being on cardiac hill. Also we want self catering.
I had looked at Saalbach and Montgenevre too. I think I have looked at every single ski resort going lol. They all just emalgamate into one in the end. I had shortlisted Les Saisies along with Valmorel for last years holiday and we chose Valmorel and really enjoyed it and Les Saisies, I think, offers more or less the same amount of skiing area (espace diamant) and with doing it DIY we can hopefully get a bit better accomodation with a swimming pool.

So we have decided to change it back to January 29th, 1 week self catering, apartment with swimming pool, gym and spa, les saisies, full lift pass and ski hire, car hire and flights for £2500. I am hoping this is a good price.

We were going to sit it out and wait for a last minute booking, even if it meant paying for 2 rooms - adult and child in each but to be honest, we have been that fussy ruling out skiing areas because of one thing or another, I dont think we would find a "bargain", we would probably end up paying near to £2500 for something we dont really want.

So, all going well and easyjet prices havent gone up, I will be booking the flights this weekend. Has anyone skiied espace diamant?

Oh what a minefield, there are so many skiing holidays out there.

Well I started off with one area and ended up with another, I have been half way round the world looking for a ski holiday and just when i thought my work was done, hubby decides to change his mind and also the date.

I had decided to go to les saisies, we were going to do diy from newcastle to geneva, hire a car, stay in apartments with a swimming pool self catering and including lift pass and ski hire going on 29th January came to a price of £2500 for the 4 of us (2 adults and 2 kids (10&12)). In between times I have been looking at other areas like sauze doulx, sestriere, morzine, les gets, bardonecchia.

WE went to Valmorel last year and really liked it and the year before that we went to Niederau. The last skiing holidays were more or less left to me to chose and decide where to go. We usually go in March but due to the French school holidays takeing up nearly of all of Feb and the first week of March I dont know where will be good for snow. Will the 2nd week of March be ok? Valmorel last year had never snowed for 2 weeks before we got there and didnt snow until about 2 weeks later and it did start to get icy, even though they had snow cannons. Hubby doesnt really want to go to France, but I think he would go as long as the slopes werent too busy. So where can we go that will avoid France? and avoid school holidays but still be good for snow? We were really spoilt with our apartment in Niederau compared to the apartment we had in Valmorel. looking back the valmorel apartmetn wasnt that nice and hubby would lke something a bit more upmarket that doesnt make too much of a strain on the pocket. I was even thinking of hiring the apartment we had in Niederau (The Alpenhof) and getting a lift pass for the ski welt and just driving to the slopes every day (not sure which area of ski welt is closest or how long it would take in the car or what the snow would be like at that time of year)

I would like somewhere that has a large skiing area, mainly for crusing, I dont really like anything that is too taxing ie getting to the bottom of the slopes and thinking "thank god I made it with all my limbs in tact" bearing in mind we will only be on our 3rd week of skiing. we would like somewhere that has nice apartments. before when being almost at the foot of the slopes was a priorty has not become much of a priortiy if we can get the other things right.

So to reiterate our wish list is:
1. large cruisy skiing area
2. not in france
3. somewhere that has nice self catering apartments
4. not too expensive to eat out on slopes for lunch
5. our budget is approx £2500-3000 (including lift pass and ski hire)
6. somewhere good for snow 2nd week in march
7. a winning lottery ticket

I have researched till I am blue, but what I didnt do was write down why I ruled places out. stupid school girl error I suppose, but I now have pen and paper in hand ready for the task in hand.

Thanks in advance

Karen

the first problem i can see is that it would be a bit like a car going down a one way street, when you are skiing down a mountain, the last thing you expect is to have a head on collision with someone skiing UP the mountain. I can see it saving a fortune in llift passes but there is no way you would buy one as this would take up all your luggage allowance so I gather you would be selling this to the ski hire market? and surely this would only appeal to a person who would be skiing on their own? as a mother who skiis with her family, i would have to hire 4 and then there is no way i would let the kids loose skiing up a hill towards oncoming lunatics who flee down the mountain at ridiculous speeds, that would be an accident waiting to happen, especially if they were coming over a ridge. could it go as fast as a chairlift? would the cost of hiring it outweigh the cost of a lift pass?, i dont want to sound negative and maybe i have picked up the concept wrong, but hope I am providing you with the feedback that will help you decide whether you are going to take this concept to the next level. good luck with whatever you do.
karen

Ian my youngest is 10 and he could win an oscar for over-dramatising how cold it is. he is so skinnyhe could snap and does feel the cold more. when we were in valmorel this year, the wind picked up and itwas really chilly, especially on your hands buthonestly he was hysterical and that was in March so i wouldnt like to tempt going in Jan! my other son could ski naked and not be bothered by the cold.