" cupra" wrote in message
...
emma wrote:
My partner and I are going to the Olympics in Feb 2006 to watch my
sister and want to spend a week either before or after snowboarding
somewhere else. We are both good snowboarders and enjoy going
off-piste and tackling the harder runs as well as playing in the park.
We are looking for somewhere that is value for money and hopefully not
too busy.

My family is going to Val Gardena, so that may be a starting point,
but I have heard it may not be too good for snowboarders, and the
place they are staying in is too expensive for us anyway! Please can
you let me know of some places we could try, and maybe the
reputations of the bigger places? We are from New Zealand and have
never travelled to Europe, so don't really now much about the
location at all.
snip

I spent a week in Val Gardena last winter, and although the runs aren't
particularly long we (boarders) still managed to find some challanging
slopes (although there wasn't enough snow off piste though).


I think you would get pretty bored(no pun intended!) with the whole Val
Gardena/ Dolomite area, beautiful as it is. I wouldn't even attempt to do
the Sella Ronda on a board.
Bardonecchia has an off-piste reputation and a lot of the Olympics I think
are being held at Cervinia from where you can ski over the top to Zermatt in
Swirzerland very easily which has a big, challenging area.