European Resort Questions

Has anyone been to any of the following:

-Val D'Isere (Espace Killy)
-Glacier 3000
-Paradiski
-Val Thorens
-Kitzbuhel

All have incredible lift systems (I'm a ropway enthusiast) and I want to go
boarding somewhere in Europe this winter, and these 5 places look to be the
most beautiful, any coments?

Iain

Hi Iain,

Has anyone been to any of the following:

-Val D'Isere (Espace Killy)

My second home :-)

-Glacier 3000

One long weekend

-Paradiski

Not yet

-Val Thorens

Been to the other end of the three valleys (Courchevel) but not
actually
Val Thorens.

-Kitzbuhel

Two or three times

All have incredible lift systems (I'm a ropway enthusiast) and I want to go
boarding somewhere in Europe this winter, and these 5 places look to be the
most beautiful, any coments?

Might be worth searching on rec.skiing.resorts.europe for more info.

There are a lot of factors to condider. I love Vd'I and the snow is
normally
reliable from mid Dec through to May. Tignes (the other half of the
Espace
Killy) is a bit cheaper, and some people prefer it. The resort ain't
pretty
though.

EK, Paradiski and the Three Valleys are all huge areas which will keep
you
entertained for many weeks. They are also all high and snow sure.
I've been
really lucky in Kitzbuhel and had great snow. It's very low though,
only 700
meters up to little over 2000 and the season there is much shorter.
The same
is also true for the Glacier 3000 area. The only bit that's really
high is
the glacier itself and that's actually pretty flat. If you go at the
right
time however, and are lucky, I think the scenery and terrain in the
lower
resorts is better. Much of the skiing in the bigger ones is above the
tree
line and can be pretty bleak and featureless.

You might also want to consider Zermatt if it's scenery you're
interested in,
also the view of the alps from the top in Crans Montana is stunning
(though
the area is average).

What's a ropway?

Cheers.
Iain.

Has anyone been to any of the following:

-Val D'Isere (Espace Killy)

I was here this winter. I was staying in the Tignes side of the resort
(ugly, and slightly lunar because of the lack of trees), but I did
enjoy the Val D'Isere side more. The scenery was nicer; the runs were
varied and the resorts were a damn sight easier on the eye.

-Paradiski

I've only boarded the Les Arcs/Peisey-Vallandry side of this, but even
then it's an enormous area. The Vallandry area has really some nice
runs through the trees (if you go, the short-but-good Ecureils is worth
a few shots) and the village of Vallandry itself is a nice place to
stay in.

The Les Arcs area is massive (I've been three times, and only now do I
feel I've maybe seen most of it) and has an excellent variety of runs.
The resorts are typically lacking in elegance, but it's nowhere near as
nasty as Tignes.

I'd highly recommend Les Arcs/Peisey-Vallandry if you get the chance!

Cheers,
Keith

"Memascii" wrote:

What's a ropway?

A ropeway is a generic term for any kind of rope-hauled or supported
transport system. Gondolas, chairlifts, Funitel, etc. Mountain transport,
how you and I get to the top after a run down. Val D'Isere and
Kitzbuhel both have 3S lifts from Doppelmayr (huge detachable gondolas with
two support ropes and one traction rope), Paradiski is home to the massive
Vanoise Express (200 passenger gondola, 1.8 km span between terminals with
no support), and Val Thorens has a quirky Funitel, Funipulse, and a massive
jigback gondola cantilevred off the side of a mountain (horrific). The
thought of seeing these incredible structures is as inticing to me to come
to Europe as the mountains and terrain to go boarding on themselves.

Of course whenever I think about going on a far-away trip (I live in
Ontario, Canada) my biggest fear is I'm going to "miss" doing something
incredible or pick the "wrong" place to go. I guess I should look at it as
more of an exploration and like, hey, I'll catch it next time or something
like that. I'm also somewhat concerned that I'd be overwhelmed and
completly unprepared for the style of the mountains, being so incredibly
huge over there. The biggest place I have gone to is Tremblant and I bet
it's peanuts compared to any of the resorts I just listed!

(Thanks for your coments and feedback!)

Iain

Iain Hendry wrote:

A ropeway is a generic term for any kind of rope-hauled or supported
transport system. Gondolas, chairlifts, Funitel, etc. Mountain transport,
how you and I get to the top after a run down.

You may want to consider les deux alpes (france) if you want to see a big
variety in lifts. Saw a gondola there that is definately aging

And (to me) a big plus is that the amount of snowboarders there is enough
that they have 6 or 7 snowboard classes running in parallel.

Koos

--
Koos van den Hout, PGP keyid RSA/1024 0xCA845CB5 via keyservers
or DSS/1024 0xF0D7C263 -?)
Fax +31-30-2817051 Visit the site about books with reviews /\\
http://idefix.net/~koos/ http://www.virtualbookcase.com/ _\_V

On 27 May 2005 03:59:40 -0700, "Keith"
wrote:


The Les Arcs area is massive (I've been three times, and only now do I
feel I've maybe seen most of it) and has an excellent variety of runs.
The resorts are typically lacking in elegance, but it's nowhere near as
nasty as Tignes.

I'd highly recommend Les Arcs/Peisey-Vallandry if you get the chance!

Cheers,
Keith
Was in la plagne this year. Definitely aint pretty and quite a few
stretches where getting off and pushing is required. Preferred the 2
days in Les Arcs.

The lower slopes of la plagne are good especially after a good dump of
snow. Also foudn them quieter and much cheaper!

Good off piste areas as well.

Of course if you are into park stuff then I dotn know.

On Fri, 27 May 2005 07:30:55 -0400, "Iain Hendry"
wrote:

"Memascii" wrote:

What's a ropway?

A ropeway is a generic term for any kind of rope-hauled or supported
transport system. Gondolas, chairlifts, Funitel, etc. Mountain transport,
how you and I get to the top after a run down. Val D'Isere and
Kitzbuhel both have 3S lifts from Doppelmayr (huge detachable gondolas with

Doppelmayr Switzerland :-)
This system was Orignal from Von Roll. A couple of years a go, sold
Von Roll the Ropeway part to Doppel Mayer. The Prototype ist at Saas
Fee (Alpine Express) an goes from the village(1800m) to
Felskinn(3000m) in 2 sections. Buiding year 85 or 86.

two support ropes and one traction rope), Paradiski is home to the massive
Vanoise Express (200 passenger gondola, 1.8 km span between terminals with
no support), and Val Thorens has a quirky Funitel, Funipulse, and a massive
jigback gondola cantilevred off the side of a mountain (horrific). The
thought of seeing these incredible structures is as inticing to me to come
to Europe as the mountains and terrain to go boarding on themselves.

If you like superlatives you should realy got to Zermatt. The Gondola
from Trockener Steg(2939m) to the little Matterhorn(3820) is 4200m
long. There is just one mast 200m after the Base and than 4km nothing
till the top. Meanwille give it longer ropeways, but 4000m without
mast ist still worldrecord.
Inside the mountain is a lift to the Top. With a couple steps you
stand on the highest peak(3885m) that you can reach with a ropeway at
Europa. Mt. Robson isn't much higher. :-)

An other point of interesst could be Mount Titlis at Engelberg. There
is the first Rotating Gondola of the world. From Stand(2450m) to Klein
Titlis(3020m). There are meanwile 2 other gondolas, one somerwere at
California and the other at Capetown.

Btw it is difficult to compare the resorts from Canada an Europe.
Because at North America they declare the skiable area, at Europe the
lengt of the runs.

Johannes

"Iain Hendry" schrieb im Newsbeitrag
...
Has anyone been to any of the following:

-Val D'Isere (Espace Killy)
-Glacier 3000
-Paradiski
-Val Thorens

Go for Val Thorens. Been there for a week. It's been Boarderweek 2004, fat
parties, chicks everywhere, room parties, big big contests, (normally)
gigantic amount of rideable terrain. Base station is at 2300m an reaches up
to 3800m (you'll have breathing problems for sure!). While Boarderweek, we
had snow trouble because there wasn't much of it. Otherwise, there are 600km
of daily prepared pistes waiting. On friday when wanted to leave, it started
dumping fresh as hell. 5ft in 24 Hours. I personally went boarding on the
main street of the artificial village because there were no cars able to
drive. Bring cash, it's expensive (Baguette bread 1,20 Euro, A beer at
Malaysia 5 Euro half Liter, Cappuccino 4 Euro, Pizza 8 - 14 Euro, Dinner at
a restaurant starts at 25 Euro, Skiing Pass 1 week 220 Euro). Have a large
credt card and extraordinary good health care insurance. Be ready to party
everytime.

CU there in december while the next boarderweek

Stelios

"Johannes" wrote:

If you like superlatives you should realy got to Zermatt. The Gondola
from Trockener Steg(2939m) to the little Matterhorn(3820) is 4200m
long. There is just one mast 200m after the Base and than 4km nothing
till the top. Meanwille give it longer ropeways, but 4000m without
mast ist still worldrecord.

4 kilometres without support?! Wow! I did a search on lift-world.info, and
found this:

http://www.seilbahntechnik.net/lifte/2522/datas.php

http://www1.linkclub.or.jp/~swiss/ph...t/p121-25m.JPG

That is frigin' awesome...!

An other point of interesst could be Mount Titlis at Engelberg. There
is the first Rotating Gondola of the world. From Stand(2450m) to Klein
Titlis(3020m). There are meanwile 2 other gondolas, one somerwere at
California and the other at Capetown.

Yeah, the Titlis Rotair! Always wondered how the cabin gets power to
rotate.

Btw it is difficult to compare the resorts from Canada an Europe.
Because at North America they declare the skiable area, at Europe the
lengt of the runs.

Well, I think almost anything in Europe would be huger than what I'm used
to. Thanks for your help!

Iain

Stelios Kougras wrote:

Base station is at 2300m
an reaches up to 3800m (you'll have breathing problems for sure!).


Hmmm, AFAIKS the highest peak is the Aiguille de Péclet which is 3561.
The lift served skiing tops out at around 3050 with the base of the Val
Tho pistes at 2100... you can, of course, ski much lower if the snow is
there via the 3 Vallées lift system.

There are a few odd slopes with uphill bits on which are a pain for
boarding.