UKH

Thinking about next winter already…….

anyome done this I would have y weeks away in the van. Well converted and not scared of winter! Any ideas appreciated for good places to visit in the van! Happy to stay a few days at various places

cheers r

Are you more interested in touring, piste or both?

or the best... liftserved offpiste .

Indeed, what kind of skiing the OP is after, will greatly affect the recommendations.

But as a general idea, more often than not smaller resorts often end up offering a better ski-experience... if the conditions are right. Small resort quite often also means limited terrain, and thus often limited crowds. So if you catch them when the conditions are right, you can lap the pow in the trees all alone (or rip the perfectly groomed piste to your hearts content). I've done just that in Italy and also Swissy...

In fact, while the big resorts (St Anton, Zillertal, etc.) certainly offer the terrain, they can get really crowded, so the quality of skiing might only last a run or perhaps two (had that happen in Cham, Verbier, Amatt and Eberg). Where as I was lapping good and knee deep pow for two days pretty much on my own, in a few undisclosed resorts in IT and CH.

So my general advice is to go outside the prime season (especially avoid mid to late Feb), and be flexible and look at the weather forecasts. Plus perhaps get one of those fancy ADAC or similar ski-resorts atlas books, so that you can pick interesting (small) resorts to ski in.


For pure touring, get maps and guidebooks .

oh, and to continue... on the matter...


While mid winter is often the time to get good pow (~Jan to early Feb). It's more of a crap shoot. This year was a good example... it was good, then bad, and now again good.

I more often prefer late season (post Easter, especially if it is early, like this year). So like April. Pow will be less likely, and lower resorts can already close due to lack of snow. But higher up, spring snow is often readily available... the sun is shining... and no crowds... Unless you pick a  really popular ski-touring spot (April is generally ski-touring season).

Note, my bias has been always for good snow, followed by good lines. But I do value good snow more than the line (or even vert). For my the order is pow > chalk > firn > slush > groomed > ice

Albeit the two latter ones are fun, with the right gear... good SG skis with sharp edges... I just very rarely take those along.

Not a skier, but this ^^. I spend a fair bit of time in the Bavarian / Tyrolean alps and there's a lot of what I call "local's resorts" that your average UK skier has never heard of - single chairlift or small gondola to a hut, maybe a couple of drags, a couple of pistes and a 'skiroute' - unmaintained / unpatrolled 'piste'. Often more popular in summer with walkers or paragliders than skiers.  They're too small to be a ski holiday destination in their own right, but get used by locals who will do a day trip.  Many ski touring routes start from these places.  Lots of stuff in the trees and just above.  The only downside is that they're often at low altitude (<1500m) and can suffer from lack of snow - most were closed 2 weeks ago in the Allgau. With a van you could hit a lot of these places and have a great time when they're 'in'.  Googlemaps is the place to look to find the lifts and work from there.

Be careful with location and day though - at weekends hordes of Germans head south from Munich / Ulm / Augsburg on the motorways and places can get busy. During the week things are much more relaxed.

The newer DAV maps have ski touring and snowshoeing routes marked on them now .  I suspect German language guidebooks would be the best place to look. Globetrotter.de would be a good place to see what's out there (although they won't ship to the UK )