Why oh why

Do people go to Europe skiing at Xmas expecting good snow. Yes it may happen but the reality is you have paid a lot of money and may not be able to ski.

Leave it till later when you have a much better chance of good conditions.

Its much like going to places like Greece in April/May expecting hot weather, its too early and its not going to happen.

Just my opinion folks but I am tired of hearing people on various forums getting stressed at the lack of snow when it is a big gamble if you go early.

BB 8)

With the exchange rates, I'd have thought the US would be the place to go.
There are scores of smaller resorts with good snow. Especially if you are shopping for gear and equipment or shopping for anything else for that matter. If you have Sterling, everything here is cheap.

Trencher

Where would you recommend in the States? I have this strange mental image of Disney on Snow. Are there quite organic places you can ski or is it all snowtheme parks, chairlifts and smiles?

Bansko Babe wrote:Do people go to Europe skiing at Xmas expecting good snow. Yes it may happen but the reality is you have paid a lot of money and may not be able to ski.

Leave it till later when you have a much better chance of good conditions.

Its much like going to places like Greece in April/May expecting hot weather, its too early and its not going to happen.

Just my opinion folks but I am tired of hearing people on various forums getting stressed at the lack of snow when it is a big gamble if you go early.

BB 8)

I quite see where you're coming from on this, however in most cases circumstances dictate when people can or cannot go skiing to Europe. Usually we go skiing in January, however, now our eldest is school age we are very restricted as to when we can go. Half term prices are horrendous, even more expensive than Christmas, and probably more crowded too, so if we want to go skiing we have to go during Christmas. Budget does not always allow for trips further afield like US or Canada (though we will definintely consider it next year). This year, hubby just wanted to be away for Christmas and from all the enforced gluttony and sitting in front of the telly nursing indigestion, and getting some exercise in a (hopefully) winter wonderland to us seemed more appealing. From past experience I've noticed that the teletext ski reports always seemed to say that the snow over Christmas was excellent and by the time we came to go in January, there would have been no new snow for weeks so it seemed like a good idea!

What are other people's views on all this?

I would say for a lot of people the expense of going to the US from Europe is restrictive.

When you spend all year thinking about the snow you basically just want to get out as soon as you can. I will personally go next week and in March as well, i'm happy to take my chances, however this still doesn't stop be buzzing around like a chipmunk on LSD wondering whether there will be snow in December.

I agree with you Snowcheeks, we can't always choose, and as far as i can remember working in ski resort, xmas snow is always good, because falls just couple of days before, so it's fresh and not spoiled yet by all the crowd you can find later on in the season.
The xmas ambiance you can find during your ski holidays is great, maybe cliche, but really beautifull and unique.

Enjoy your snowy xmas !

james_gray wrote:
I would say for a lot of people the expense of going to the US from Europe is restrictive.

I've found some deals for US as cheap/cheaper than Europe. I'm going to Andorra in Jan with a group of 20 people and it's cost £500 each, exc gear & lessons, and that's with a discount of 4 free spaces. Yet I've seen deals for Canada for, the same week, for half the price... Personally I think some areas of Europe are becoming very overpriced. I know I'll be looking at USA/Canada for 2008....

Responding to james_gray:

Where would you recommend in the States? I have this strange mental image of Disney on Snow. Are there quite organic places you can ski or is it all snowtheme parks, chairlifts and smiles?

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All the ski resorts in the U.S. and Canada are definitely NOT created equal. If you've not gone to North America because of the distance or expense, that's valid. But, just as every ski area in Europe is not the same, neither is every ski area in N. America the same. Many are wild, uncrowded, gorgeous and snowy. Some are overbuilt, crowded, too expensive and have unreliable snow, but it's easy to avoid those.

I've lived in Austria and skied all over Europe, and I've also skied in much of North America. I tell my skiing friends that, if they haven't gone to Europe or western North America, they owe it to themselves to try it at least once, because it's very different from Eastern N. America skiing.

The huge advantage of western North America is SNOW !!!! Utah, Colorado and the Canadian Rockies are almost always buried from late November on. It's not unusual to ski there and get many inches of snow EVERY DAY. But, because we have lots of trees here, avalanches are much less common.

While some resorts are overbuilt and glitzy (think Vail and Aspen), some of the same ones also offer tremendous skiing. Many places -- Utah, Colorado, most western Canada resorts -- are unspoiled and uncrowded AND offer incredible skiing. For lower prices and few crowds, think Utah and Canada. Also, many N. American resorts are well-served by airports and wide, well-plowed access roads.

You probably know that few N. American resorts have much above the treeline, which makes them feel somewhat less wide open (though the big resorts do have huge, wide-open bowls if that's your thing). But on stormy, foggy days, you can see a lot better than you can in Europe above the treeline.

One note: Do avoid Vermont, New Hampshire and Quebec. Their weather is erratic (often too warm) and because they're so close to large population centers, they can be crowded. They're also expensive.

West is where you'd want to go and, yes, it's a very long plane ride.