I’m in the Tarantaise Valley from 4th of Jan until we head around to Chamonix. Almost 4 weeks on skis. Pumped.
Opinion Where next in Europe as a backup for if Japan doesn't open?
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I stayed a bit uphill of the little village square in a little Japanese pension close to the mainstreet and walked down 50m to catch the village shuttle bus up to the gondola. Easy peasy.
haha! First time I have been to the forums in probably 2 months and I've been spotted! What brought me on was the peak in interest through my FF points for a new credit card came through so its time to book some QFF reward flights this weekend.
We hate crowds but love the infrastructure that is provided at places that attract crowds so our decisions are based on conflicting factors.
At this stage thinking about splitting a 3 week trip between Schoppernau/ Mellau and Pfunds/Reid (Austria). @Kletterer's advice is making me think about maybe just staying on the east side of the Arlberg and giving up on Schoppernau so we will see.
That is the long winded version of yes, Austria. I see you have a month in the Tarentaise booked
Edit: As as of a couple hours later - flights booked. Last two weeks of Jan and 1st week of Feb.Last edited:
I got some quotes from a Telemark ski travel firm in Southern Spain in the Sierra Nevada near Granada.
It looks tempting for four days on the lifts with a ski teacher and 4 days of side country and back country ski touring.
I need to compare how this stacks up compared with Central Turkey for skiing in late January.
So nice to have a trip booked. It makes going to work each day so much easier. haha! First time I have been to the forums in probably 2 months and I've been spotted! What brought me on was the peak in interest through my FF points for a new credit card came through so its time to book some QFF reward flights this weekend.
We hate crowds but love the infrastructure that is provided at places that attract crowds so our decisions are based on conflicting factors.
At this stage thinking about splitting a 3 week trip between Schoppernau/ Mellau and Pfunds/Reid (Austria). @Kletterer's advice is making me think about maybe just staying on the east side of the Arlberg and giving up on Schoppernau so we will see.
That is the long winded version of yes, Austria. I see you have a month in the Tarentaise booked
Edit: As as of a couple hours later - flights booked. Last two weeks of Jan and 1st week of Feb.
Follow up questions.
Assuming heading to Stella Ronda region for roughly 18-20 days. We probably don't want to stay in the one hotel/bed and breakfast for that long as the half board gets a little tired after about day 10.
1. Is there worth staying in Selva/Val Gardena and then transiting over to Cordova/Arabba for the second half. (thinking being we focus on the eastern resorts for the first half and then the western/southern resorts for second half)
2. If not to the above, where would be a logical place for second half that wont take a full day of travel between? Cortina?
Selva is a great shout. 18-20 days in that area is a long time though given it's not known for it's abundant snowfall. You wouldn't consider half the time in the Dollies and half somewhere in Tirol Austria that easily accessible? St Anton would make a nice contrast. Pretty easy and scenic train ride. About 4 and a half hours from Bolzano to St Anton.
Firming up, dates would be roughly 28th December to 16 Jan.
Re staying in the area: by all accounts the area has exceptional snowmaking so assuming by then we would be looking at at least 80% open which would be fine for our needs. We aren't off-piste at all. We love to ski any level of groomed run. As in the first post, we would happily spend an entire season skiing just Shiga Kogen.
Will take a look at the logistics for something like St Anton. We prefer our rest day to be rest rather than big travel though. a 4.5 hour train is really a full day of travel with transfers and logistics.
Could combine it with one of those ski safaries (I have never done) - can also be done on your own, if you do not want to stay the same place all the time.
Many have written about Lagazuoi on her - @Schnaxxy Schnaxxlburger - i always take a one night stand there, when the weather is good - book the day before. (bunk-beds rooms).
From Arabba you can also easy go to Alleghe Via Malga Ciapela if you want to se an other ski area. Covara has the easier slopes - Arabba a bit more difficult.
Don't know about the Marmolada at the moment - some pistes may be damaged and often to much que to get up.Last edited:
In previous seasons the Dolomites have been near 100% open by Christmas - with virtually no natural snow. In normal circumstances you'd be fine. I don't know what the Russian power thing will do to Austria and Italy this year of course. There is some talk that energy intensive snowmaking will be reduced??? Who knows. You'll be in spectacular mountains - if there is no snow walk them. I'd be happy to.
Fair call on the train ride to Austria. As you said a quick shuttle over to Corvara or Colfosco would make a change of scenery. A little further taxi ride would take you to Arabba which is the village 'opposite' to Selva on the Sella Ronda. I have stayed there and can confirm it's fantastic. The north facing runs above Arabba (including the Marmolada Glacier) are generally a bit steeper than other areas. I had an unfortunate mishap there one day that resulted in a dislocated clavicle and broken thumb. (I didn't find out the severity of the injuries until I returned to Australia a week or so later so I kept skiing for the remainder of the holiday.)
1 that’s really all the same area, hardly any distance apart
2 people I skied with in the Dolomites went on to Lech afterward - possibly a better option - as someone else said, that’s a lot of days so 10 in each would be great
You"ve also been following the discussion on Snowheads of the potential of Putin turning off the gas pipelines this winter? Rationing of electricity, so no snow making and even no lifts. France won't be affected, though.In previous seasons the Dolomites have been near 100% open by Christmas - with virtually no natural snow. In normal circumstances you'd be fine. I don't know what the Russian power thing will do to Austria and Italy this year of course. There is some talk that energy intensive snowmaking will be reduced??? Who knows. You'll be in spectacular mountains - if there is no snow walk them. I'd be happy to.
Fair call on the train ride to Austria. As you said a quick shuttle over to Corvara or Colfosco would make a change of scenery. A little further taxi ride would take you to Arabba which is the village 'opposite' to Selva on the Sella Ronda. I have stayed there and can confirm it's fantastic. The north facing runs above Arabba (including the Marmolada Glacier) are generally a bit steeper than other areas. I had an unfortunate mishap there one day that resulted in a dislocated clavicle and broken thumb. (I didn't find out the severity of the injuries until I returned to Australia a week or so later so I kept skiing for the remainder of the holiday.)
Praise the snow gods for nuclear power.
What about Turkey ?
Putin and Erdogan do not have a bromance.Turkey has ski options.
I’ve been to Palandoken, would be good with full cover. We got a small fall the last day I was there, made Utah pow look like sludge.It's been 20 years but we're starting to lean towards heading to the Dolomites instead of the annual japow trip. Last time we were there they were in the midst of a terrible, terrible season....but I still enjoyed the vibe and the mountains. Probably back to somewhere like Cortina D'Ampezzo.
Ahhh..... the Sella Ronda! I loved it. And the best thing how food and architecture change as you make your way around it. On the southern side it's distinctly Italian (pizza and pasta) and as you make your way round the north side it becomes very Germanic (kransky and sauerkraut).
3 separate weeks skiing in europe for the missus and I in Feb early march (Wagrain Snow Space in Austria, Corvara in Dolimites and back to Austria TBD possibly Kitz, Ischgl or Schladming)
A week off after ski weeks 1 and 2 to spend some time exploring nearby smaller cities and towns e.g Passua, Bratislava, Bolzano,Linz, etc
We like the smaller cities in winter. A bit quieter
Visited Verona and Trento not far from the dolomites a couple of years ago when we went to Madonna Di Campiglio (7 days free skiing on Us epic pass) and had a great time
Be interested in where you find to stay in Wagrain. I skirted through this area on the way from Radstadt to Bischofshofen this year. Flying Mozart lift with commentary from Hermann Maier is cool. It is so interconnected now. Flachau - Wagrain - Alpendorf, then Flachauwinkel to either Kleinarl or Zauchensee. Accommodation relatively cheap in Radstadt with free ski bus, but more expensive in Flachau.Last edited:
Sella Ronda, tell me more! Practically everyone we met in Austria last year said we had to go to Italy next time if we could. The cardboard pizzas mentioned earlier don't sound that great mind you but I'm hoping that was just an unlucky experience!
So can you get away linguistically with schoolboy German in that area? My Italian is non-existent.
Off the bat also seems not that easy to get to if you are looking to arrive at a mainstream airport and then drive. Someone say it ain't so...
Venice is close, if that could be a possibility. (watch out for Italian snowtyres!)
Your linguistical abilities will be OK - but fun to watch.
Teaser:
If we were to go to Europe my partner would want to go to Genoa, Italy to see her best friend. Anybody know of any good resorts nearby? France or Italy.
my offspring learned Italian for four or five years in primary school in a supposedly immersive environment
I had done Italian 1 at university
neither of us used any of it
that was early 2004, so it will be even less necessary now
the local ‘German’ is something else!
driving would be easy from Venice, probably elsewhere
bus also easy
as Heinz comments, Wagrain is part of a large ski area
we stayed in St Johann in Pongau and accessed the area via Alpendorf - quick shuttle bus to cable car
it's Europe - everything is close
It’s fantastic in every way with one exception. The region doesn’t get regular snow so if your goal is to ski powder as much as possible find somewhere else.
So if you didn't need Italian were you speaking German or English? Or a combination of both in the same sentence!
To make up for this it has the most impressive snowmaking infrastructure you will ever see.
Well outside of the Beijing Olympic venues anyway.Last edited:
Like Åre - right.it's Europe - everything is close
You could always try Landin!
Ladin language | Romance language
Other articles where Ladin language is discussed: Rhaetian dialects: …Italy, some 30,000 persons speak Ladin (not to be confused with Ladino). Some Italian scholars have claimed that it is really an Italian (Veneto-Lombard) dialect. The other main language spoken in this now semiautonomous...www.britannica.com
Yep. We were there for a week in early January a few years ago. They had less than 30cm of snow for the season to that point and we enjoyed a gazzillion miles of perfect piste skiing in the most majestic mountain scenery that the planet can offer up. Truly impressive.
Thank you for all of your opinions and guidance team. Great stuff. I think @CarveMan's advice that we like skiing and we like Italian food was the push we needed.
To close the loop we are about to book Italy, specifically Sella Ronda, which I keep typing as Stella Ronda... We are gunna roll the dice on the snow guns running.
Currently looking at staying in San Cassiano for the first half with day trips to Cortina and Kronplatz, and then over to Val Gardinia to get access to Seiser Alm and the western side of Sella.
I'll post in the booking thread for any further updates, and will no doubt start a elSpike's SkiSki report once the trip gets closer.
Good stuff! Based on keenly watching and living vicariously though your 3V TR this year I think you'll love the Sella Ronda - you seem to like your piste skiing and exploring an extensive resort system, and if the natural snow is low tide and you're on snowmaking you won't be that disappointed.
As I have mentioned before and will mention again, you just can't go wrong skiing in Italy. Because it's skiing, and it's in Italy.
I'll dig up some naughty drone pics I took and post.
A non-curated selection of random, unsorted pics from the Sella Ronda. I'd imagine the EXIF data is in the files if you want to know where they were taken.
To avoid the sella ronds crowds try this:
@CarveMan
Nice pics. I’ll add a few. I particularly loved the artillery from WW1 which are still in place.
Menucard pic. You know the way to my heart!
Note the vino prices. It was very nice too.There is a great WW1 museum at the cable car to the Marmolada glacier.
This last pic is just fantastic. How can your heart not soar? (probably a little more for you due to the kids!)There is a great WW1 museum at the cable car to the Marmolada glacier.Locked and loaded.
Val d’Isere 9th - 30th January.
Post the 30th still up for discussion, related to whether Japan opens or not.
Been once before, but excited to be heading back now - lots of places I want to go back to with the added skills
