Switzerland questions

Can anyone here recommend the skiing in Arolla (Switzerland)?
We're late intermediates and the pistes appear somewhat limited
but it also looks like there is lots of exciting off-piste if
you're prepared to climb a bit...

How much expertise do you need to have a go?

And on a vaguely related note, does anyone know why have Flybe
stopped their Geneva flight from Southampton? It always seemed
pretty full on the [mostly midweek] flights I took and hugely
convenient for local Hampshire residents. According to the
helpdesk summer flights are definitely off and there is no news
on a re-instatement next winter.

-Sarah

Yn erthygl , sgrifennodd
Sarah :
Can anyone here recommend the skiing in Arolla (Switzerland)?

Where's Arolla? do you mean Airolo? Or perhaps Arosa?

Adrian

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

No, she means Arolla!! Arolla is a nice village up in one of the side valley
of the Rohne valley, not far from Zermatt as the bird flies (if it gets over
the high mountains). I have only passed through on a ski mountaineering
trip, but as I remember, piste-skiing looked rather limited - Arolla is
primarily a mountaineering village. There are lots and lots of better places
for piste based skiing in Switzerland - i.e. Laax from which I have just
returned (not to mention Zermatt or Verbiere which rank among the best in
the world). Still Switzerland is quite expensive compared with Austria, and
also with France (but less so). If you still want a smaller Swiss resor,
Zinal or St. Luc in the Val dAnnivers, not very far avay, but another valley
would be better - I think.

Jostein (from Norway)


"Adrian D. Shaw" skrev i melding
...
Yn erthygl , sgrifennodd
Sarah :
Can anyone here recommend the skiing in Arolla (Switzerland)?

Where's Arolla? do you mean Airolo? Or perhaps Arosa?

Adrian

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

In message , Sarah
writes
Can anyone here recommend the skiing in Arolla (Switzerland)?

Yes. My partner in crime most seasons went there with a ski club
recently. He said it was great skiing.

We're late intermediates and the pistes appear somewhat limited
but it also looks like there is lots of exciting off-piste if
you're prepared to climb a bit...

They took skins but he says there was fantastic off piste to be had all
over. What amazed him was the fact that they had fresh snow and even at
the end of the week they were still following the tracks that they had
laid down at the start of the week i.e no one else was cutting it up.

How much expertise do you need to have a go?

Not much apparently. Trails not too difficult and not too long. His
group had a few "tags" (talks a good ski) and they managed it
eventually. He _was_ in a group with people who knew the area well so I
cannot hazard a guess as to how easy it is to get lost. All usual
caveats apply when going Hors, get a guide etc.
--
Pete Devlin
[{//////news03//////at\\\\\secondrow/////co\\\\\uk}]
A man's home is his castle, in a manor of speaking.

pete devlin wrote in
:

How much expertise do you need to have a go?

Not much apparently. Trails not too difficult and not too long. His
group had a few "tags" (talks a good ski) and they managed it
eventually. He _was_ in a group with people who knew the area well so I
cannot hazard a guess as to how easy it is to get lost. All usual
caveats apply when going Hors, get a guide etc.

I think the OP meant to ask how much experience was needed to give off
piste skiing a go, so the usual caveats need spelling out in a little more
detail. We have just done exactly that. Google for "OFF PISTE FOR
BEGINNERS" (caps in the original).

Jeremy

On Tue, 16 Mar 2004 07:53:04 GMT, Jeremy Mortimer
wrote:

pete devlin wrote in
:

How much expertise do you need to have a go?

Not much apparently. Trails not too difficult and not too long. His
group had a few "tags" (talks a good ski) and they managed it
eventually. He _was_ in a group with people who knew the area well so I
cannot hazard a guess as to how easy it is to get lost. All usual
caveats apply when going Hors, get a guide etc.

I think the OP meant to ask how much experience was needed to give off
piste skiing a go, so the usual caveats need spelling out in a little more
detail. We have just done exactly that. Google for "OFF PISTE FOR
BEGINNERS" (caps in the original).

Also missplet as "BEGGINERS"

--
Ace (brucedotrogers a.t rochedotcom)
Ski Club of Great Britain - http://www.skiclub.co.uk
All opinions expressed are personal and in no way represent those of the Ski Club.

Ace wrote in
:

I think the OP meant to ask how much experience was needed to give off
piste skiing a go, so the usual caveats need spelling out in a little
more detail. We have just done exactly that. Google for "OFF PISTE FOR
BEGINNERS" (caps in the original).

Also missplet as "BEGGINERS"

So it is - I missed that. Makes it easier to find, though according to
Google it seems to be quite a common mistake.

Jeremy

I had a week ski touring in Arolla last April and it was great, but I'm not
sure I'd reccommend it for a full week of on-piste-only skiing. The lifts go
quite high and there are not that many punters, so the off-piste is pretty
good for a small resort, a bit like Ste Foy for example.

But if you want to get the most out of Arolla you will need to hire some
touring gear - you can do this from the shop in the main square. Try the
trip up to Pas de Chevres as a touring taster, then if you enjoy it, go to
the Dix hut (requires a rope if you are not good at climbing ladders in ski
boots), or go to the Vignettes hut for a fantastic descent back to Arolla,
or you can spend another day climbing the Pigne d'Arolla.

Al

"Sarah" wrote in message
...
Can anyone here recommend the skiing in Arolla (Switzerland)?
We're late intermediates and the pistes appear somewhat limited
but it also looks like there is lots of exciting off-piste if
you're prepared to climb a bit...

How much expertise do you need to have a go?

And on a vaguely related note, does anyone know why have Flybe
stopped their Geneva flight from Southampton? It always seemed
pretty full on the [mostly midweek] flights I took and hugely
convenient for local Hampshire residents. According to the
helpdesk summer flights are definitely off and there is no news
on a re-instatement next winter.

-Sarah

Hi, Sarah, Alan & all,

"Alan Rowland" wrote in message
...
snip
Try the
trip up to Pas de Chevres as a touring taster, then if you enjoy it, go to
the Dix hut (requires a rope if you are not good at climbing ladders in
ski
boots),

There's a picture of the Pas de Chevres ladders (in July) near the bottom of
this page http://www.pardoes.com/climbing/whauter.htm - quite scary enough
for me without any ice on them!

HTH,

Steve