J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by Lynn_D

Dids1 wrote:I've had a rummage around and found a golf bag on wheels. If it snows enough I'm going to use that to drag my skis up some hills. It WILL be worth it!

A sledge also works well for ski transport. I hijacked my little brother's – boots and skis on sledge, walked the half mile or so to a brilliant hill (blue/red slope) on land belonging to family and had a great afternoon skiing a foot of untracked powder the weekend before last. Bliss :D The walk back up the hill was a killer though…… :shock:

Have fun )

I always knew it was a steep gondola ride up but decided to risk it anyway. I survived the Marmolada cable car (admittedly squashed like sardine surrounded by 70 odd other people and with threats of divorce from my OH) so I'm sure I'll be fine. I might risk admiring the view towards the end of the week, it certainly sounds worth it.

We went with Thompson/Crystal to Sauze in 2009 and took a double ski bag packed with clothes. If I remember correctly it weighted about 18 kilos and no-one batted an eyelid or checked what we had paid for. We had paid for two sets of ski carriage but it was half the price then compared to what it is now.
We are going to risk them same bag with two sets of skis + clothes in January and have only paid for one set of carriage. I'll let you know how I get on.....

We have booked to go to Mayrhofen in early January. It will be our first time in the resort and we are really looking forward to it. My only worry is the access to the mountain as both me and my OH are frightened of heights (I'm fine with chairlifts but am not keen on Gondolas) – still, I can shut my eyes I suppose. :-(
We got a pretty good deal as Thompson are doing 2 for 1 lift passes for Austria at the moment.

Our second ski holiday is booked for the 27th February. We're going back to Arabba having visited last year and fallen in love with the place.

Two months and counting :D

Hi Karen,

How about the Alta Badia area of the Dolomites (Corvara etc.)? We have booked to go to the next village along (Arabba) the week before, also self catering. We are going with Colletts and although we haven't been with them before they seem to get a lot of positive reviews. They were also extremely helpful with the booking.

The skiing in that area is lovely and cruisey with lots of blues and reds and by the sounds of things would suit you perfectly (Arabba is great too but the skiing is more taxing). With the Dolomiti Superski pass you've got over 1000 km to go at so will not get bored. The area is to my knowledge pretty well covered for snowmaking so should hopefully be Ok for snow (someone with more experience of the resort later season may be able to give you a better idea).

Flights wise, we are also North East based and if you can get to Venice, Colletts do free transfers to the resort. Sadly you cannot do it from Newcastle (we tried every possible combination) but East Midlands is not too bad to get to and we got some decent prices on flights (BMI, with free ski carriage). The other option is Innsbruck, however the transfers from there are £35pp.

The accommodation was £340pp, though I believe it is cheaper if there are more of you (£295 rings a bell). If they still have availability this could be a good option for you and be within budget. The ski pass for the area is ~£200 pp, though should be cheaper for the children. Lunches are tasty and inexpensive and there are loads of places to choose from.

You also mentioned Sauze, which I've also been to and love. If you get the snow (which we did) it's a fantastic place to ski and would suit you perfectly (though Arabba has replaced it for us as a favourite resort due to shear mileage and a being a bit more of a challenge). It may be too much of a risk for you later season snow wise as it can be a bit unpredictable, though for the last two or three years this hasn't been a problem. Sestriere seems to have a better snow record, however in my opinion Sauze is a nicer place to stay. The skiing in Sestriere is also more taxing than that it in Sauze. There are self catering options in Sauze and although I've looked into them briefly ruled them out as too expensive for 2 of us. For a family it would be more feasible. If you are still thinking about this as an option you could try contacting James at sauzeonline who was very helpful when I e-mailed him.

Hope this is some help - any other questions just ask.

Good luck :D

Lynn

mfc wrote:Went to Arabba last year and loved it. Went to Arabba in March from Selva and couldnt beleave how many people were on the slopes in that area it was packed, an accident waiting to happen.

Were trying to book Selva again as we loved it so much, mostly with the ease of getting to ski areas. At the moment Im being quoted prices of £250 more for the same Chalet on March 5th 2011.


Nice pics by the way and glad you enjoyed the hols.

mfc – just out of curiosity, what time of day were you in Arabba? It did get a bit manic mid to late afternoon as being directly on the Sella Ronda, you got traffic from both directions passing through (and often people in a hurry trying to get 'home' before the lifts closed). Morning and late afternoon seemed fine though, at least when we were there.

I liked Selva (from the little we got to see of it) and would certainly consider it for future hols. My only concern would be getting to the other villages (should we want to) as there looks like there could be quite a bit of skiing just to get to the links to other resorts (depending on where you stayed), never mind actually skiing there and back…..

I know what you mean about the prices. I looked at prices for Sauze and they were at least £200 more than I would expect. So far, haven't managed to find a price for a return trip to Arabba, though guessing they should be available soon (and hopefully not bank breaking!.) :D

The first one looks like it could be the link the between Sauze and Sestriere (in a bad year - we managed to ski across.)
The one with the parallel drags looks like the Bowl in Sauze, but could be mistaken.....

I should really stop looking at ski photos - I'm getting withdrawal symptoms and it's a long time 'till next season!!!! :( Feeling even more fed up as my plans to have couple of days skiing in the US whilst away with work have been thwarted by the BA strike. They cancelled all my flights and it was going to cost twice as much to go with an alternative company so had to call the whole thing off. :evil:

Have finally got around to putting the photos up...... :D