J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by Wanderer

Pavel

I have an elderly relative who lives quite close to Taos and I have often played around with the idea of combining a visit to her with a visit to Taos. You are obviously a big fan so maybe you can help me with a couple of questions about the resort:

1. I would consider myself a reasonable on-piste skier, comfortable on reds and can get down blacks in most conditions (even if sometimes lacking in elegance, finesse or even technique at times) but useless at off-piste, though I am determined to get better at it. Do you think it would hold the same type of appeal for somebody at my skiing level?

2. I would probably be bringing the family - whats it like for kids who are basically little more than beginners(8 & 6 years old)?

3. What do conditions tend to be like late in the season? If I were to go, it would probably suit best to go late in the season, possibly around Easter.

4. I get the impression that road maintenance in the winter can be poor and I am guessing that winter tires are not usually available for hire cars in New Mexico!. Does this mean that access to the resort in a hire car is likely to be be "challenging"?

Believe it or not, Val Thoren is also reachable from Sauze - maybe 40 minutes by coach - and you may find day trip over are offered by your tour company rep, if using. This can be very tempting and a good option, particularly if conditions are poor on the Italian side, as they can be all to frequently. A group of us did it a number of years ago when snow conditions in Sauze were very poor - meanwhile Val had 4 metres of fresh snow!!!

However, ......the lift up from the road brings you to the top of a pretty difficult run - black if memory serves - that you have to negotiate to get down into Val itself. When I was there, admittedly a good few years, there was a "roadway" opt out but this was probably more frightening than the run itself - a narrow pathway with a long and steep drop over the side - definitely not one for the fainthearted and definitely not advisable for beginners, regardless of the sales pitch a rep may give you :!:

I would have thought that €130 for a week long pass is pretty reasonable for a small resort (provided there is enough skiing to get you out every day - not familiar with Ruka so don't know if this applies). Most of the bigger European resorts would be charging somewhere around the €200 mark (for 6 days in high season) with some of the more up-market being even higher.

BTW, it is usually a good bit cheaper to buy a weekly pass or multiple day passes compared with the cumulative daily rates. Depending on resort, you can often use them in neighbouring resorts. So, it would normally make sense to check out the best option carefully. Also keep an eye on whether the resorts are offering family discounts, etc, which can help bring down the cost, if applicable.

Davidmpires: I am pretty sure that the Alpe D'Heuz pass does include the swimming pool and ice rink. However, they insist on Speedo type swimming togs :twisted:. They will not let you in with shorts, though you can hire acceptable attire, if you don't mind the fact that (many) others will have worn them before you :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:.

My Smilies seem to be working fine most of the time, though I have noticed that occasionally, they do not seem to work on new messages :shock:.

However,I do seem to be experiencing another glitch - when I login, the system will not allow me to reply to some messages. When I click on these messages, the system takes me to the message but does not recognise that I am signed in and so does not accept replies :x. Any explanations and/or solutions?

I am sensing a lot of tension in forum members in the past few weeks - clearly, the impending winter and prospect of getting back on the mountains is making people a little jittery, as well as somewhat impatient.

For me, reading Pavel's beautifully written inspirational stories helps deal with these feeling :D. When are you going to write a book about life and skiing, Pavel? You will have a ready audience amongst the J2ski brigade.

However, to spread the load wider, I thought it might be nice to share some memories of magic moments in skiing. Pavel, Ise and others regale us with tales of first tracks down special off-piste runs but even those of us, of more limited capabilities, have enjoyed special experiences on the mountains, whether it was the first time we made a decent turn, a special favourite run, a particular view that took our breath away, a face plant that left us laughing while buried deep in fresh soft snow or whatever.

To get the thread going, here are a few of my special memories:

1. Waking up in Meribel one morning on the last day of our holiday to find that it was raining and miserable. Despite this we headed off out with little enthusiasm, expecting a fairly lousy last day. Got on the gondola, everyone was pretty subdued and disappointed ........


...... then, about half way up, the gondola broke through the clouds and we emerged into glorious sunshine and the sight of lots of fresh snow on the piste. The previously subdued group in the gondola suddenly became animated and excited. The change in atmosphere was simply magical.

2. By coincidence, another Meribel story involving bad weather. Again woke up to a stormy morning with high winds, cloudy and bitterly cold. When we got down to the lifts we found virtually all the gondolas and chairlifts closed. However, we had met up with the Crystal rep who was scheduled to guide a group of us around the resort. He encouraged us to go the mountain anyway and led us all over the mountain,using draglifts that would normally be neglected (I can still remember the extreme cold on one particular long drag when I had to cover my nose with my glove to prevent frostbite!). Against the odds, we had a fantastic day skiing on an empty mountain and a great sense of achievement on a day when most other people had given up and gone home.

3. Listening to the sound of silence and admiring the views on the Sarenne run in Alpe D'Heuz. Its marketed as the longest black run in Europe but in reality is a pretty straightforward red (with a short steep pitch at the top). However......... for the average on-piste skiier, it gives you a rare opportunity to ski down into a truly beautiful valley completely unspoilt by lifts, restaurants, etc. I remember skiing one day with very few people about and at one stage on the run, all I could hear was the sound of my skis on the snow echoing off a cliff-face. Another magical moment.

Looking forward to reading some others "magic moments".

Tony

A couple of ideas that might help you narrow down your choice:

- have a close look at flights times and try to get very early flights out and late flights back - on a short trip, you should ideally be trying to get in some skiing on arrival and/or departure day to maximise skiing to travel time ratio;

- given the preceding point, you might want to think twice about relying on public transport - the last thing you want to is spend a big chunk of your trip hanging around the airport or train/bus stations waiting for trains or buses. You are also very vulnerable if your flight is delayed. Accordingly, you might want to consider car hire instead (inexpensive if there are a few of you going). This can also widen your choice of resorts, as you can get away from the limitations of public transport.

Good luck with your plans.

I would suggest that you take a look at St Anton. It is a beautiful town with lots of really nice hotels, shops, restaurants and bars and is very traditional. The town sits on the mainline railway line and, in fact, the line was moved across the valley a few years ago for the World Championships. The old railway station has been converted into a very swish spa.

Finally, the resort is pretty much as snowsure as you can get it and the skiing is fantastic for virtually all levels of skiers (though somewhat limited for absolute beginners). I'm a big fan, though do not get there as often as I would like.

I am probably mad raising this particular hare given the enthusiam for Neiderau that permeates this site :lol:.

However, here goes ........

Four of us (lads in our 40s) went to Soll last year for a long weekend skiing. We are reasonably good on-piste skiers and tend to prefer the larger resorts with plenty of runs, though this is obviously less of an issue on a shorter trip. We had a great time - Soll worked out really well for a number of reasons:

- quick and easy drive from Munich (best airport option from Dublin)
- extensive, reasonably well connected, skiing in the area
- good apres ski (including a pub crawl with the "mayor" - but thats another story :twisted:)
- reasonably priced.

We are planning on a similar trip for next year and it is a very attractive proposition to simply return to Soll, now that we know the lay of the land. However, prompted by the many fans of Neiderau, I am wondering whether it would be worth considering it as an alternative.

So the big question is, why should we pass Soll and continue on to Neiderau?