UKH

Hi Folks,

Looking for a recommendation for sking destinations early next year, we tend to ski in large linked restorts to get lots of milage (kilometerage?) in, with opportunities for (close to piste) off piste, or a couple of guided days (we've done a couple of off piste courses but could never be described as ... er competent !). Have pretty much done France to death so would interested to hear suggestions in Italy (or other suitable destinations).

Your thoughts, are as always, much appreciated.

St Anton.

Aosta Valley has some good options.  We're heading to Cervinia for the third time at Easter which would tick all your boxes.  Have also had a good holiday in La Thuile, but you may have already checked that out from the French side (La Rosiere).  Lots of people rate Courmayeur, I've only skied there a couple of days but wouldn't rush back.  Think it can be epic after fresh snow (which I didn't get).

Verbier another 'just over the border from France option'.

Some of my favourites which match the requirements you mentioned but not French:

Davos/Klosters Swiss so tres expensive). Good extensive piste skiing.Some really nice undemanding off piste opportunities and itineraries.

Ischgl: great party town in addition to really good skiing 

Lech: extensive skiing with easy access to St Anton as well. Usually buried in snow. But pricey though.

Bad Hofgastein: Short transfers, three or four mountains partially linked by lifts otherwise by short efficient free buses. Not so well known by the Brits. My family love it but a bit short on challenges if that’s your thing.

Have fun. 

Try Austria -

• Saalbach / Hinterglemm / Leogang / Fieberbrunn
• Serfaus / Fiss / Ladis
• Or as already mentioned,  Gasteinertal

Sestriere, Sauze d'Oulx (and the rest of the resorts forming the Via Lattea)?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Via_Lattea

Dolomites? My Italian colleague was always trying to encourage me to try the Dolomiti Superski range:

https://www.dolomitisuperski.com/en/home

As for off-piste, take note of the warning here:

https://www.snow-forecast.com/countries/Italy/resorts/A-B

Was going to suggest Ischgl too. We’ve always stayed in Galtur which is a bit saner, bus needed to get to ischgl but you would be 1st on the bus.

I have no idea if it’s any good as it’ll be my first ever ski holiday. But I’m heading to the Dolomite Superski area in February. My mates, all very seasoned skiers, rave about it. 

Been to the Dolomites Superski area twice. I enjoyed it. A good range of skiing from piste bashing to interesting off piste. Sceney is nice as well.

The two visits were about ten years apart, first occasion I thought that the lifts were a bit rickety, but on the second visit they were all very up to date.

Sella Ronde is a good day out, preferably on skis as some long flat sections. With an early start and really trying hard I have got round it in a morning, but normally done in a more relaxed fashion.

John

Yes its the queues that can make the sella ronda a bit of a tedious experience.

Been once and it's a pleasant area with stunning scenery. It was tropical when we visited in march a few years ago to the extent that you could have quite easily climbed a route on the Sella towers (20+c in Canazei)

Thanks for all the responses, some very good ideas there. We have done a number of the Austrian resorts, Ishgul, St Anton etc so Italy is still favourite. I was thinking of the Aosta Valley but had never really considered the Dolomites which looks really interesting. If anyone has been to both areas I'd be very interested hear how they compare given the original criteria ?

Thanks again

GS

I’ve skied the Dolomites and Aosta resorts. I always think of Aosta as day trips except for Courmayeur. Courmayeur itself is nice intermediate terrain somewhat limited in extent and one of the options is to base there and take day trips to other resorts in the valley fo example Pila. But for me the main attraction of Courmayeur is the challenging off piste up on Mont Blanc for which you need kit and a guide.

The Dolomites I would guess are more likely to meet your needs. Masses of intermediate terrain in astonishing surroundings. There is little to challenge on piste although you can find a few genuine black pistes but not in the same league as some of the more infamous blacks in the Alps. There is some off piste but the nature of the terrain is  generally either unskiable vertical rock faces or relatively modest gradients on wide pistes. They also keep changing the rules about whether off piste is actually legal so you’ll need to check this out locally. We’ve stayed in both Cortina and Selva. If you stay in Cortina you get a lot more out of the extensive skiing available if you get a local bus timetable and put in a bit of effort figuring out the connections. You can access the famous hidden valley for example by using these local buses. Selva is better if you want quick access to the main Sella Ronda circuit. We were in Selva once when the World Cup downhill was being raced. After the race was run they opened the course to ordinary punters so my son and I had a go. It was solid ice pretty much top to bottom. How those guys go down it at racing speed is beyond me. I’m a pretty good skier but I was making turns pretty much all the way down and still crapping myself. 
The transfer from Verona seemed to take quite a long time, so might be wise to check out your airport options. I hate long transfers with passion!

Zillertal (Mayerhofen is fairly central), hire car from Munich cheapest flight and transfer, which also means you can visit the various ski areas in the valley, and book a cheaper out of town apartment. Free parking in all resort areas.  The glacier at the head of the valley is guaranteed snow, each area is very different in character. We too like to explore large areas, this did us for 2 different weeks over 2 years. Use the local tourist website such as mayrhofen.at for accommodation as cheaper and many family owned places not on big sites.  Also search for "Fieren wohnung".

Dolomites is superb. We did a ski safari.  Use booking. Com and airbnb and the local tourist sites to book small hotels for 2 or 3 nights around the Sella massif in different places. It's possible.  Need to ski with a sack on say 3 or 4 days to each hotel and be light on kit. (we did day wear and night wear system, hand washing items when at a hotel for a few days.  Fly to Verona or Venice then local tourist bus to one of the southern resorts.  Great ski busses in resort. Not sure I still have the Dolomite itinerary, but can send some tips of you pm me. 

Austria generally has LOW valley bottoms with little snow so easy for driving  and fast lifts to height for skiing areas.  The hire car paradigm and a different ski resort each day works well. Just look for the areas you can get a combined ticket e.g. obergurgl-hochgurgle-solden or buy a day ticket at each resort.  There are two more in that valley I can't remember.  Cars fitted with snow tyres as standard so don't pay extra when hiring!  Avoid Skiwelt except early in the season as very low and can have snow issues.

I'm pretty sure you mean 'Ferienwohnung' (German for holiday accommodation) .  Good suggestion though, as many places in Austria would be catering for German skiers.

Thanks for that considered answer, lots of useful info. With regard to the transfers, Venice and Verona seem to be more or less equidistant from the Dollies, any advantage with one over the other ?

Again thanks for the suggestion, by coincidence we were considering The Dolomites for a summer holiday this year but it had never really registered as  a skiing destination. As there are 12 different resorts, do you think a car would be necessary or will the local ski bus service between resorts be sufficent to get arround ?

A lot of votes for the Dolomites but the massive downside to them, not mentioned, is that on average they get far less natural snowfall than other areas of the Alps, they have great snowmaking facilities and typically enough natural snow that the mountains look white so for piste skiing this isn't a problem, but it wouldn't be my choice if off-piste is important to you unless its a very late booking when you're confident that conditions will be good.

The Zillertal would meet your requirements well. The Maurienne Valley in France would as well providing that you have a car. I'm sure that St Anton and Isghl would well although I haven't been to either. It Italy the Monterosa has a decent reputation for what you want but I'm always put off by the apparent comparatively small amount of North facing terrain

For the summer I'd go for a car from the Airport.  If you're looking to do the very many Via Ferratas Cortina D'Ampezzo is a good center with newer and first world war historical ferratas within easy driving.  Parking is generally free outside of the towns and in cable car car parks, though occasionally very busy so aim to arrive early.

The excellent Rockfax guide does both climbing and VFs and is recommended:
https://cordee.co.uk/The-Dolomites---Rockfax-det-0-0-0-10800.html

As is the Cicerone guide (Volume 1 for the Cortina area) if its just VFs you're interested in:
https://cordee.co.uk/CP0179

You could bus it, but the buses aren't free and you'd spend  lot of time waiting.  They didn't seems as regular or as good as in the ski season.  There are (were!) tourist busses from the airports to Cortina and Canezei but again not as frequent as in the winter.

Checkout the CAI (Italian mountaineering Club) huts as you get a discount with the AAC membership or the BMC hut card.  Note the AAC includes your mountain rescue insurance (though not travel insurance).  For popular huts, such as the Tre Cime you'll need to book early (You can walk from the car park so its popular).  There is a free bivvy hut at the start of a VF between Canezei and Cortina, PM me for its location.  Blankets and beds a short walk from a chair lift that is open in the summer.

The Dolomites are really fab (we've been twice and both our kids have returned independently with friends), but being cooler than the flatlands very popular with the Italians fromt he South.

For skiing you need to remember the resorts are separated by valleys and cols.  The ski busses do go up the cols, though seldom over - you'd need to change buses.  For many busses the ski pass doesn't cover it and you need a special bus ticket so check online.  We "winged it" as the bus drivers didn't seem to check the passes. Skiing over however is easy with a few exceptions such as Vigo Di Fassa being separate and requiring the excellent bus from the Fassa valley. (Its a nice fairly quiet area to ski so worth a day trip). 

A hire car form the airport may be a cheap way to both get around and do the transfer from the airport.  I personally use https://www.enjoytravel.com/ as they are consistently cheaper than the rest - they all seem to work off the same database anyway.  Unlike Austria, Switzerland and Germany I don't think snow tyres are fitted as standard by law in Italy so check the Italian winter driving rules.

There are some cheaper hotels in the Fassa valley (Canazei), Val gardena is popular with the British ski companies and expensive.  Corvara (Alta Badia) is a nice ski are and has a camp site if you have a winterised van and can be bothered to drive that far!  Arabba is relatively cheaper, but is not an extensive area and requires a ski over to Alta Badia or Canazei for a larger ski area, though it is on route to the Marmolada.  Hot tip for the Marmolada - go VERY early and ski it once.  No matter how good the run don't try for a second as you'll get stuck in a three hour queue!  The Seiser Alm in the West is also quite good. 

Because of the Geography if you don't have a car and can book separate hotels around the Sella massif (In Arraba, Alta Badia, Val de fassa, Val Gardena) then the "ski safari" idea works really well.)  We skiied from the Air BnB near Kastelruth via bus to Oritisei then skiied to Corvara and on to the hotel in Arabba in a morning (admittedly my nervous other half was pushing the pace!)

Iirc the drive in from Verona is much more straightforward - major road, then turn up the Fassa Valley and when you reach Canazei you're at the highest point of the journey (if you're stopping there). Driving from Venice involves going up and over at least a couple of passes, with all the switchbacks that involves, and more driving on minor roads.

Verona airport is a shithole.  Venice is ok