J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by Dave Mac

All the TO's have opening dates.
So presumably this discussion is only about diy?

Aside from the Federer hype, we skied on the Jungfraujoch in February. Really good skiing, grand mountains.
This is a really good ski region, but you have to work hard to get the best out of it. The great downhill abfart, the Lauberhorn is dwarfed by the surrounds, and yet is an outstanding run.

Thanks for the background detailed info, VSB, and thank you for clarifying the change in employment law.
I do not agree that this should be termed "slave labour". It is a free choice, that mainly young people will work in Europe for the winter. I did this myself for several years, working for the ski school, certainly not for the money, but for the life enrichment

Yes, I am sure that it is easy to book diy chalets, but that was not my point. The majority of UK skiers use TOs. The TOs have pulled out of chalet holidays. That is going to have a significant impact on lift companies and local businesses. A few people booking by diy will not significantly affect that ~ many people do not have access to appropriate flights/transfers, many people do not have the knowledge or willingness to do this.
I believe this has been a bad move for Switzerland. Time will tell, but certainly, this is a move that cannot be undone.

Along with the other Swiss issue of bumping up workers earnings to £32,000 a year, ~ thus ensuring that almost all TOs have closed their chalets. This was a move created by defensive and thoughtless Swiss hoteliers, accompanied by a collective groan from lift company operators, who face a reduction of thousands of visitor lift passes.

All just as the Swiss were getting smarter at cost reduction.

I would love to cover a project like this. I have carried out heaps of extensions and renovations, but the most enjoyable have been modernising traditional buildings.

We have 16 days booked in Niederau, mid-January. Hmm, a big birthday for me. Maybe my 30th. ish. So heaps of friends, family, Kilts, Dirndls, Tirol and Scottish music.

Then a big family/friends group in March, probably Obergurgl, but could be another high Austrian resort.

Not sure about February, maybe mid-Feb for 9/10 days.

Heck, Tony, if your wife ever gets fed up with you, tell her to give me a call! I will do a quickie divorce. (I have my wife's permission to say that!)
Banff for £299! Fantastic! Better than 99.9% of Euro offers.

It is never possible to know if you have actually secured a "deal", until after the event. I have often thought that it would be an interesting J2 exercise to spreadsheet a couple of resorts for say 3/4 Euro countries, checking the main TOs every week throughout the season. Is there a trend? being an engineer, I like to look at data.

Re DIY, early booking on flights and car hire carries the lowest cost. I have not seen a trend in DIY accommodation costs. I tend to book accommodation early on DIY.

So for my main January trip, I booked flights and accommodation for next season in April.

Flights were free, using points from my credit card.

Accommodation is €23 (£18.40) per night each, in an apartment

Transport costs could be €100, but we will elect to pay a bit more to cover car hire, since we plan to go for a large area ski pass.

A big plus on DIY, in my view, is that an evening meal tends to be a €10/12 main course. I don't like the offer of 3/4 courses with HB, you feel obliged to eat them because they are paid for.