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Me and a few mates fancy jetting off somewhere in Febuary in order to hurtle down some snow covered slopes totally out of control and cause serious injuries to ourselves.
Sounds fun?
Anyone who goes skiing can tell me where good places are? I think were looking at either France or Canada at the mo but could be open to suggestions of other places.
Cheers
Butuz
the La Plagne (france) resorts are excellent - highly recommend them and Les Arcs :)
(and yes I've been - several times) :D
Snowblading > Skiing though!
if u got the cash, goto Aspen in america
i went to italy a couple years back, it was pretty damn good. and we went in feb. can't remember where tho...hmm..i'll dig out the old stuff about it.
La Plagne is very good, especially if you're just starting out. Flaine is another good resort for a beginner. Avoid Chamonix/Argentieres, Val D'Isere and Switzerland. If you want the traditional alpine village feel, go to Austria, but if you can put up with concrete monstrosities of purpose built resorts with skiing to/from the door go France.
Any specific queries, email/msn me. I've done a bit of skiing in my time :)
Val D'Isere in France, right on the Italian border (tho you get there through France), high up, loads of snow, excellent lifts, wild night life...close to Tignes...and you can ski between them :)
the place ROCKS! :)
http://www.valdisere.com/gb/index-gb.php
wish I could join ya mate....I aint been for 2 seasons now...but money is tight :(
I LOVE SKIIING :) makes me howl with excitement :)
God..I gotta go look at their Web cam piccies now!
can't rate these peopl ehigh enough....
http://www.yseski.co.uk/
Flights, Coach to take ya there from Lyon, awesome (I mean DIVINE) Chalets, all the wine you can drink, top class food, take you to the Ski rental shops in their vans etc....
just fantastic...gawd I'm excited for ya now :)
If your beginners, i suggest St anton, austria, good mix of blue and red runs (for later in the week) and theres a few resorts down the road covered in black runs, perfect for the guy in the group whos been skiing since he was 3 and backflips off every bump he can find :D
Ben
all wrong ;)
courchevel is THE seminal resort ....period
I've done three seasons there now although you could actually read that as being 18 months in the pub! www.courchevel.com the 3 valleys is the largest skiable area in the world encompassing la tania, le Praz , courchevel 1550,1650,1850 , meribel, mottaret & V.T , it has the steepest marked black run in the world (grand coulier). all round awesome resort and I love it :)
Anyone know anywhere really cheap?
Looked at Scotland last year - looks almost as expensive as anywhere in europe, and the snow isn't guaranteed/as good.
Yawn! It's all very well suggesting Val, Courchevel etc but for a beginner those resorts aren't really suitable. 1650 in Courchevel maybe, but the nursery slopes in both Val and 1850 at Courchevel are severely limited at resort level. The night life in Val is great yeah, but other resorts like Meribel will get close to matching it. Grand Coulier isn't as steep as the side black run at La Rosiere too :p
ooooo i love skiing.... Went to the south of france to a resort called "les duex alps" or summit like that. Great experience.. I wanna do it again :D :D :D :D i loved it!
Valis FINE for newbs...truly great :)
Hmm skiing is cool, damn you for remind me i haven't been in a couple of seasons, Jan 2002 in norway was last time :(
I'll have to get something organised for the new year.
TiG
Get yon down to the Xscape at Milton Keynes. If you can blag an NUS card off someone it's fifteen quid for all of Wednesday evening from 7pm to 11pm.
Val D'Isere! fab! went over new year a couple of years ago. Ski with the stars! (we had the edge come visit us to pick up some chrimbo decs he left behind in our chalet! - he was stayign there the week before us and moved to the chalet across the road with bono!!!)
oh yeah, and the skiing/snowboarding is fab too :D
Thing is Zathras, once you've been on a 2000m run, you go to MK and well get bored, oh i've finished the run again. I Skii to be free and unconstrained. I simply don't enjoy skiing within dry slopes or confined areas anymore :(Quote:
Originally posted by Zathras
Get yon down to the Xscape at Milton Keynes. If you can blag an NUS card off someone it's fifteen quid for all of Wednesday evening from 7pm to 11pm.
TiG
Agree with TiG...until I had seen just hOW HUGE A MOUNTAIN IS...my skiing never improved.
Its only when you can fall over, nose plant and wip eout over and over without getting on a lift again....thatyou get better.
Besides.......the views make me cry ;) or is that the -20degree windchill ?
Theres a small skii slope just off Welwyn In Hertfordshire .............Cheap as chips it is!
:D:D:D:D
Whistler?
Who are you talkin to Stoo?Quote:
Whistler?
Yeah, MK is short, but it's the best you've got in the UK. I've been skiing since I was eight, and done my fair share of reasonable level skiing but I still enjoy skiing at MK, especially when the ramp/rails are open. As for 2km runs, go to Chamonix and do the Vallee Blanche, Les Arcs and the Aiguille Rouge or L'Alpe D'Huez and the Sarenne, all nice 25km+ runs and something to do without stopping... but not nearly as painful as the OK downhill at Val D'Isere from the top of the Bellevarde to La Daillehere - two minutes of burning thighs, 60m jumps and 85+mph.
Courchevel (theres 3 resorts I think, I went to 1650 and 'twas very cool), St Anton and Val D'Isere were all amazing! Mind you I dont think Ive had such a thing as a bad skiing holiday! :)
I spent a year at uni in Grenoble and went to Deux Alpes and Alpe d'huez all the time. Both decent resorts, but not outstanding like the biggies, but both quite beginner friendly. If I was recommending places to go for a beginner (of the ones I'd been to) then Les arcs or la plagne both seemed great.Quote:
Originally posted by XTR
ooooo i love skiing.... Went to the south of france to a resort called "les duex alps" or summit like that. Great experience.. I wanna do it again :D :D :D :D i loved it!
Or a small resort like Chamrousse - it overlooks grenoble and has a collection of really fun runs. I guess it wouldn't be much of a challenge to an advanced skier, but I'm certainly not one of those!
Sadly, cheap and skiing don't go together, unless you are going to work at a chalet or bar while you are up there for a season.
Hehe cheers all I'll pass your feedback to the boys and see what we decide :D
Butuz
Havent been skiing for a few years (12 iirc) and just booked a boarding holiday to Meribel at the end of january!
Cant wait, my arse is going to hurt soooo much! (and no not for that reason!)
Wol
I aint that good....have to stop once, and twice if I'm going quickly, on the way down, no way can I do the jumps and when I am there its sheet ice :) which seems to scare the cack outta most people, but I learned on it, and love it :)Quote:
Originally posted by Zathras
... but not nearly as painful as the OK downhill at Val D'Isere from the top of the Bellevarde to La Daillehere - two minutes of burning thighs, 60m jumps and 85+mph.
Its fast, but I'm not sure I'm an 80mph dude :eek:
Think I'd guess at 40 max.....thas still fast as hell and my legs arelike jelly after that run.
Did the Womens downhill on my first year, with my skii instructor.....yeahyeah..womens ....blah blah...
I was SO PROUD....skiing for 6 days and she took me and the only other class member on the last day, round the entire resort, up the glacier on the Funicular (sp) (cant remeber the name of the glacier :eek:) then down again, then too see the eye of the needle, then back to Tignes again, and then finished at Le Daille having dropped me down the womens downhillwithout me having a clue where I was. I thought it was quiet and its all cordoned off with the orange stuff.....then as you get to the bottom, aware of where you are but not what side of the orange plastic..then under the FINISH BANNER :)
It was just the MOST EXCITED I have ever been in my life. It even beats rallying....even in a 6R4......to do something that fast, that exhausting and to defeat it with barely enough energy to even breathe at the end...in 6 days of 4 hours per day lessons.
just divine. Prouder Zak33's there have never been...ever. I laughed for 6 hours solid...until I collapsed in my beer that evening, My mates just thought I had lost it.
I wish I could learn IL-2 like that...
The slope down to La Daille is a good one to do after just six days skiing. Just to bring you down to earth again :p there's a difference between pottering down the downhill course and actually racing it, but the slope there is often quite icy and stays in the shadow so you've done well. When the snow's good it's one of my favourite runs.
couldn't ever RACE on it...would DIE :)
Actually....what a way to go......
Im reasonably fast as it goes.....not a potterer at all...promise ya that.
too many "nose plant wipeouts" to my name to be considered even "steady"
To ski.....is to live at the fastest possible. Like cars.....why do it to go slow?
Anyone been to Bulgaria (especially Borovets)?
There seem to be some cheap deals about for the beginning of January. A bit worried that I'm going to get stung on rentals or lift passes.
Not in Borovets you won't, but don't expect Western standards of lifts or equipment. Beer and food are cheap though :D
telford dry-ski slope is pretty good. the equipment is decent and it aint too pricy either. plus the instructors ain't rubbishrubbishrubbishrubbishrubbishrubbishs like the one i had in Italy.
i'm considerin goin skiing in scotland, it'd cost less to get too, and i think its cheaper as well?
Don't book anything in Scotland until two or three days before you go: trust me. The amout of times I've been planning to go up to Scotland for a weekend of races only for there to be no snow and the races to get cancelled is untrue. It's a hell of a long way to go for a muddy hillside and you don't want to waste however much on deposits on accommodation should you choose not to go. When the snow is good Scotland is okay, but that's not very often. When the snow is bad or there's no snow, you're better off staying at home or going to a dry ski slope.
It was just a suggestion..Quote:
Originally posted by Colonel Ames
Who are you talkin to Stoo?
Panarama in Canada.......
Very good skiing and boarding.
Last minutes are do a week 290......
Another vote for Les Trois Valees. First time I ever went skiing went to Les Menuires and everywhere else has been a letdown since. Get the Full three valley pass and 600+ Km of runs are at your displosal.
First Valley: Courcheval- three levels. Don't know the difference between the levels- I think some are posher than others?:confused: Anyway, all reasonably posh and good nightlife.
Second valley: Meribel. Chic and expensive.
Third Valley: Les Menuires and Val Thorens. Val Thorens is (I think) the highest resort in Europe. It's nice but a bit quiet from what I hear. Les Menuires is pretty much the Benidorm of the ski slopes, cheap and pretty cheerful. It's further down the valley from Val Thorens. My best day's skiing ever was going all the way up the far side of the valley from Les Menuires in the morning when it was bathed in sunlight. Fast reds and blacks all the way down. Heaven!:)
I'd love to go again but my wife can't ski 'cos of a bad knee- that and I'm poor:(.
Rich :¬)