New Year or Easter?

Here's another ski holiday decision I need help with please!

Alternatives for 2006 seem to be Dec 31st 05 for a week, or the first
week of the Easter holidays.

Worried about insufficient snow at New Year, worried about late season
slush......

Maybe I worry too much!

Answer - leave it till Easter and don't book in advance? Book flights
to Geneva and a car, and chance the accommodation, to allow going in
the best direction for snow?

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Paul
Leigh
Lancs

"Paul Richardson" wrote in message
news | Here's another ski holiday decision I need help with please!
|
| Alternatives for 2006 seem to be Dec 31st 05 for a week, or the first
| week of the Easter holidays.
|
| Worried about insufficient snow at New Year, worried about late season
| slush......
|
| Maybe I worry too much!
|
| Answer - leave it till Easter and don't book in advance? Book flights
| to Geneva and a car, and chance the accommodation, to allow going in
| the best direction for snow?

That's not a bad idea for Easter - there will be good snow somewhere
within a reasonable distance of Geneva, and self-catering accommodation
isn't too hard to find at that time of year. Or book up at one of the
higher resorts, Val Thorens, Tignes, etc. Good conditions middle of
April last season in the Tarentaise, for example.

Pete
www.mysnowsports.com

Felly sgrifennodd Paul Richardson :
Alternatives for 2006 seem to be Dec 31st 05 for a week, or the first
week of the Easter holidays.

Worried about insufficient snow at New Year, worried about late season
slush......

That will depend a little on where you're intending to go, of course, but
we've never had a problem with snow over the new year in central Switzerland
or the Berner Oberland, in six years.

Central Switzerland, if you have a car, is pretty safe. Travelling between
resorts is easy, and some are pretty snow-sure.

I know Berner Oberland can be a bit risky; we've probably just been lucky.
I think only once in the six years we've been there have the valley runs been
shut the whole time (they have been dodgy though!). This year was superb.

Adrian
--
Adrian Shaw ais@
Adran Cyfrifiadureg, Prifysgol Cymru, aber.
Aberystwyth, Ceredigion, Cymru ac.
http://users.aber.ac.uk/ais uk

On 21 Jun 2005 10:38:17 +0100, (Adrian D. Shaw) wrote:

Felly sgrifennodd Paul Richardson :
Alternatives for 2006 seem to be Dec 31st 05 for a week, or the first
week of the Easter holidays.

Worried about insufficient snow at New Year, worried about late season
slush......

That will depend a little on where you're intending to go, of course,


Thanks for the ideas, guys. The history of this question is that the
only time we ever went skiing at New Year was St Anton a few seasons
ago, and we found it so crowded it was scary! Part of that was because
a lot of the lower resorts were very short of snow. It was raining in
the St Anton valley most of the week.

So........ IF we go for NYear, it's gotta be higher I guess, and
possibly more remote so the crowds aren't there? Livigno has been
considered, though at 4-5hr from the airport, it has its downside!

I know really nobody can ever predict the early season snowfall, and
this season lots of people will go where it was best last season and
quite possibly come unstuck!

I guess my current thoughts a

New Year - if Italy maybe Livigno, maybe Gressoney?
if France maybe Tignes

Easter fly to Switzerland and then choose!!

I don't think I can stretch to both - that would be the ideal.......
hmmm. I wonder.


Paul

Paul Richardson wrote:

: Thanks for the ideas, guys. The history of this question is that the
: only time we ever went skiing at New Year was St Anton a few seasons
: ago, and we found it so crowded it was scary!

Whereas last New Year (the first time I had been skiing at New Year
for about 8 years!) Val D'Isere was *VERY* scary!! In that, for the
ENTIRE week my group sailed straight onto virtually every lift with no
queues ( a 30 minute wait for a poma when "TC Le Vallon" broke WAS a
shock after all the rest of the week!) I have a photo of a ski run
on New Year's day with about 5 people on it in total!

While the snow cover was not thick it was complete and we had a MUCH
better week than we had expected!

Paul Richardson wrote:


Thanks for the ideas, guys. The history of this question is that the
only time we ever went skiing at New Year was St Anton a few seasons
ago, and we found it so crowded it was scary! Part of that was because
a lot of the lower resorts were very short of snow. It was raining in
the St Anton valley most of the week.

Even the week after New Year this year in St. Anton was so crowded it
was scary - once you actually got onto the piste after the massive lift
queues (30 minutes was the norm). The snow cover was good so there was
no question of other low level resorts being closed. It may just be a
property of St. Anton rather than the rest of the alps.

We do not normally ski over New Year - too expensive - but will have to
this year. Does any one else have experience of the crowded/quiet
resorts for this week?



John

Felly sgrifennodd John Elgy :
Does any one else have experience of the crowded/quiet
resorts for this week?

Klewenalp, Switzerland. I've skied there new years day twice (03 and 04),
and it is superb. It's a little limited, so not somewhere you'd want to
spend a whole week. But in good snow, what's there is excellent. And it
has stunning views over Vierwaldstättersee (Lake Luzern).

It's not completely snow-sure though.

If you're saying "where's Klewenalp", you can already see why it's so
relatively quiet even at new year.

Adrian

--
Adrian Shaw ais@
Adran Cyfrifiadureg, Prifysgol Cymru, aber.
Aberystwyth, Ceredigion, Cymru ac.
http://users.aber.ac.uk/ais uk