J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by Grizwald

Comparing Austria and Andorra as ski countries there is no comparrison. Andorra used to be the bargain destination, it still is cheap(er) but I think the lift pass is now one of the most expensive in Europe?

Anyhow comparing the two resorts here are my thoughts:

Soldeu:

+'s

Lift pass rivals the size of some of the major resorts in the Alps if you want mileage.

Lift system is very efficent

Very good ski school for English speakers

-'s

Can get very crowded

Village is on the main road through Andorra and suffers from heavy traffic

Some hotels are way out of town and inconvienient for the lifts

Not a great deal to do off the slopes

Smoking everywhere.

Zell:

+'s

Very pretty, lake side setting

Tree linned runs with great views down to the lake

Lively but not rowdy nightlife

Lots to do off the slopes

Huge range of cross country trails if that's your thing

Kaprun glacier is nearby if conditions are iffy

Varried terrian including some steep and challenging black runs

-'s

Sunny, low slopes often have poor conditions despite snow making. Which as a results limits the size of the area.

Trek to the lifts from allot of the accomadation, and the buses at times get crowded.

Less suitible for beginners than many other of the smaller Austrian resorts.

Kaprun glacier gets lengthy queues when it's needed the most. You have to queue with visitors from Saalbach, Kitzbuhel and other lower resorts nearby.

Zell is very nice but ultimately I think it depends on what level of skier you are, not including Kaprun there are around 75km of piste which IMO isn't enough for a week to entertain a keen intermediate or advanced skier.

As the others have said the ski world is your oyster. Some good intermediate resorts (but not limited to) IMO are:

Meribel (France) Part of 3 valleys huge area plenty of everything.

Davos (Switzerland) loads of reds, many people have rightly been put off this season by the strength of the Swiss Franc but to counter this tour companies have some tempting deals @ around £500 catered chalet or HB with 2 for 1 lift passes this would really take the sting out of the costs.

Les Arc/Le Plagne, both huge ski areas in their own right but linked with the vanoise express makes a intermediates paradise, loads of everything.

Saalbach in Austria is very nice and good for intermediates but it's not cheap. The cheap option for Austria tends to be Soll past of a huge area with loads to keep and intermediate happy.

One word of caution is to be careful when you book your accomadation to check out a piste map. To appeal to as many people as possible ski resorts can be a bit liberal with their gradings. A Red run back into La Plagne 1800 when busy gets icy and gets pretty black.

Generally France has many more ski in/out options than Austria. Austria has resorts which you need to get a gondola to get onto the mountain initally (Mayrhofen as a example). Austria is cheaper when you're there and the Apres ski doesn't compare......

The final week of my season has now been booked. St. Anton. We're a mixed group ranging from nervous intermediates to one Ski Pro (not me I might add).

Not all of us have our own gear and Intersport seems mega expensive looking at prices? Is there anywhere more reasonable I can point my friends in the direction off? I don't think our chalet is in the best location but we were trying to keep costs down it's meant to be 10 minutes walk to Nasserein gondola but has a ski bus stop directly outside.

Any hints and tips would be greatly appreciated.

Sounds like an awesome trip! We'll be in ST Anton the last week of March 8 of us as a stag holiday. A couple of us will get a guide to really see what St Anton is made of and no doubt defeat us! What will you other half make of you abandoning her?! I find this problem with my fiancée as while she's technically good enough she lacks the confidence to tackle the stuff I like to so I end up leaving her or staying with her and cruising around.

200 odd views and one reply! Cheers Tino, thought I'd post back and let you know we booked St Anton for March.

Just to add budget for a week catered chalet inc flight up to £600

I'm looking for information on resorts and accomadation that would be suitible for a ski stag holiday for around 12. Hopefully everyone can make a full week but if not also need a plan B for maybe 4-5 nights which seems difficult and not really cost effective.

To make it a bit more difficult we'll be going most likely the last week of March which puts me off some of the lower Austrian resorts. I've been looking at St Anton and struggling to beat any package deals DIY as companies like Crystal offer 2 for 1 lift passes. We'd really prefer a catered chalet.

For plan B I've looked at Chamonix, cheap flight from Newcastle to Geneva, cheap accom with plenty offering shorter or no minimum stay. Other places in Austria I'd have considered are working out too expensive. Looked at a couple of other French resorts which are working out slightly cheaper than St Anton but will be more expensive when we get there and less to do. Found a decent price for Tignes on a package but not that much cheaper that it would be a better overall package than St Anton.

Anyone done something similar that can offer some advice?

Cheers

@Dustyfog,

Difficult question to answer, which deserves more thought but a quick summary!

LP vs Cham, If we'd have had these conditons but in Cham I'd rather have been in LP. When you've got deep powder Cham is hard to beat for off piste, on piste LP top trumps easily. We hit some great off piste with minimal hiking.

LP vs Tignes, harder to call I liked the range of tree lined runs in Les Arc with plenty in LP too. Tignes more expensive to get there I've found and a more difficult pistes generally IMO. Tignes high altitude can be cold and windy in the wrong conditions.

Verbier gets top trupmed for on piste action but also has epic off piste and better night life than LP which is probably LP's only downside. I didn't think of LP as a meca for off piste but after my experience it's up there.

All in all it worth a look for anyone, and seems to crop up in late deals more e.g. to go the first week in March self catering is cheaper than you can get to Andorra for.