Poster: A snowHead
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I turn 40 in November and am wondering if a Christmas ski trip would be a good celebration. Ideally we'd hire a self catering chalet in an easy to drive to French resort for a couple of weeks. However, with the way the snow has been over the past few years I dont really fancy risking it. It would be amazing to actually look out on snow rather than have to travel to find it.
Soooo, where in the world would you book a Christmas ski trip for the best chance of snow??
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@breeze11, Lapland and a bit of Nordic?
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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I've skied at Christmas for the last 15+ years, always heading high. Always had enough snow to ski on, providing you're happy on piste. Bad years were OK, the good years were sometimes excellent. You stand a better chance later in the season of snow depths building up to give the best coverage, but if you do decide to ski early season the advice to head to a high resort (or a resort with access to high terrain) in whatever country you choose will hold true for most of the time. Given the vagaries of the weather it's impossible in advance to give advice about which resorts which do well, and every resort will have a potential downside (such as exposed to the weather if you head very high, or very short days if you head North to Scandi or Finish resorts).
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Norway or Sweden. Both super expensive though
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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@breeze11, if you're going for a couple of weeks get a Salzburg Superski season pass. Stay in somewhere like Saalbach/Zell am See ski there and the many areas nearby within 30 mins of there and if the natural snow is iffy then head to Kaprun glacier.
We've had no bother with iffy snow though in the last three season staying in that area at Christmas. The man made stuff has been well managed and excellent to ski on. No off piste though!
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@breeze11, what type of skiing and features of a resort do you like/dislike?
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breeze11 wrote: |
However, with the way the snow has been over the past few years I dont really fancy risking it. It would be amazing to actually look out on snow rather than have to travel to find it.
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Is this a serious question? If you like skiing on piste and looking out on snow then as long as you head high you will be guaranteed a good time.
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moseyp wrote: |
Norway or Sweden. Both super expensive though |
I disagree! With EasyJet flights to Åre Ostersund, Norwegian to Trondheim, loads of options for Oslo, I think you could do a Scandinavian ski holiday cheaper than the alps. I've find accommodation in Scandinavia better quality and much cheaper than the alps. Eating out, especially with alcohol, is costly, but self-catering and the off licence are ok (in Sweden. Norway is expensive either way...).
Downside is the short days in December, though it's not too bad. Using Åre as an example, dusk is about 3pm at Christmas and you make your way home on floodlit trails, but there is night skiing also. Given that it's normally pretty cold by then there's lots of opportunity to make snow and pretty much everything has been open for Christmas & New Year week when I've been. There was offpiste opportunity this Christmas (though that's not a given) if you don't mind a bit of rock hopping. Staying in Åreby (village) should feel very Christmassy.
Personally I wouldn't go further north than Åre at Christmas due to the darkness, but people do go to, say, Ruka, for the Lapland experience and if you did go Southern Lapland you'd have the place to yourself
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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I had to answer this question once. I was driving my van abroad, and staying abroad over Xmas. High altitude resorts with a glacier was my answer. I always went to Tignes with my van, and that year I wanted to try some Austrian resorts as the snow fell there early. I therefore decided on Zermatt.
Now staying in a van in Zermatt, is largely impossible. (although it can be done). I decided to book into the HI hostel for 5 days over Xmas. I booked in a 8 person room for 5 nights. Every day was sunny, and there was snow on all pistes. The glacier was powdery. Over in the Italian side, it was a bit wind scorn, and bare in places (but excellent conditions compared to Scotland).
I would definately recommend Zermatt as a central place for Xmas when you are touring European ski resorts. Even at current exchange rates, I would still say stay at the HI hostel. Just do not drink alcohol or party. You will have a fantastic Xmas!
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Quote: |
Just do not drink alcohol or party. You will have a fantastic Xmas!
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Does not compute.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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And Zermatt isn't in Austria.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Where in the world? Canadian Rockies
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Val thorens/ Les menuires. If cost is not an issue maybe other options. I can say even with no snow both the above have worked for the last 9 years for me, even when the mountains have been brown and rocky.
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You know it makes sense.
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Schladming always opens early doors
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Poster: A snowHead
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I did 8 trips this season, starting at the end of Nov and finishing at the end of April. The snow was perfect on every one of them. Just go somewhere high.
That said, we are off to the Caribbean this Christmas
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@bar shaker, What is the snow like in the Caribbean over Christmas?
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Dolomites is great esp New Year week. If there is no natural snow their snow making installation is second to none ...1000k of piste open in Dolomiti superski first week of Jan 2017...despite almost zero natural snowfall...and the quality of skiing on offer was amazing. Thus if you are mainly a piste skier it is a brilliant option...and there MIGHT also be loads of natural snow!
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Corky wrote: |
And Zermatt isn't in Austria. |
I went to Austria before Xmas and started sking in Solden on 5 December, then went to St Anton for a weekend. After that I had a day at Davos, and then due to bad weather drove all the way to Verbier by which time the bad weather had passed and the snow was fresh. Made it eventually to Zermatt after a stop in Saas Fe and another Swiss resort. Then after Xmas I headed off to some French resorts and was in Tignes for New Years eve, and New years day in fact I stayed there for about a week. So it was halfway between Austria and France, if that makes more sense!
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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swiftoid wrote: |
Quote: |
Just do not drink alcohol or party. You will have a fantastic Xmas!
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Does not compute. |
Your skiing will not be spoiled by hangovers, and too much farting!
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If you want real snow and relatively quiet pistes Colorado, Utah and Alberta probably have a better chance than most places in Europe.
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Quote: |
We were in the 3 Valleys (based in Meribel) from 17-24 Dec 2016 & had great skiing despite there being no natural snow below 2000m.
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December 2016 was MUCH better than December 2015 - because it had been cold enough to blow snow - you can't generalise from one year. I'd agree with the "go high" advice (higher than Meribel) if you have to book well in advance, but for Christmas week you could afford to wait till much later, if you are prepared to be flexible. New Year is different - much busier, much more expensive, far longer lift queues.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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I never had a problem finding a suitable parking place for my van over Xmas and New Year. I do not know if it is more difficult now, but generally there was no need to book in advance. I suspect that most of the fair weather vanners do it in spring time when it is warmer. (and consequently much busier and more difficult to find a parking place) I really liked the quiet pistes, and early season time when you could get fantastic conditions on a few days, with great fresh snow, and very small lift queues. Also lift prices were usually cheaper pre-season in most large resorts. However, there would also be days or weeks when the weather would be terrible and you had to do something else like leave resort and go to some hypermarches shopping. (do your washing and drying in the supermarket laundrette)
In places like Tignes, free parking was available at lower levels. (I believe the free parking areas keep changing, so it is difficult to know where to go now)
Zermatt did not have any free parking, and you really could not park close enough to resort (unless you drove a small vehicle) so you had to park in Tasch and get the furnicular up to Zermatt.
I would say that New Year is sometimes very quiet too. Especially early in the morning on New Years day!
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Thank you all so much for your replies. There are lots of areas to look at here. I love the idea of Sweden or Norway. That's somewhere i have always wanted to visit. I also love the 3v. We used to spend a lot of holidays in Courchevel pre marriage and kids so it would be lovely to ski there again.
The Canadian Rockies would be the dream trip. We spent Christmas 04 there as part of our honeymoon. I think we will do that one when the kids are older and will be able to handle the cold a bit better.
Thank you all again! I am off to search Easter trips now. This could be a first winter for fitting in 2 trips for us - although i fear there may be no going back if we do!
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