Why Europe is fun for skiing

[ctenidae]

We're planning our annual ski trip to Europe, thinking about Zakopane in Poland and areas in Slovakia, for something a little different. One place in Slovakia is Donovaly, and after looking at their website, I want to go:

http://www.ho.hu/en/index.shtml

Look about 1/2 way down the page, after the sleds.

[billski]

Originally Posted by ctenidae

We're planning our annual ski trip to Europe, thinking about Zakopane in Poland and areas in Slovakia, for something a little different. One place in Slovakia is Donovaly, and after looking at their website, I want to go:

http://www.ho.hu/en/index.shtml

Look about 1/2 way down the page, after the sleds.

Well tanks are definitely an attraction. I wonder if they operate in the winter. I have family in Eastern Slovakia. I've been through Donovaly on my way east. Beautiful, yet entirely unknown in the West.

These are the Tatra mountains and in some ways are similar to the Austrian Alps. It's up-and-coming, so it's still a bit rough around the edges, at least in terms of accommodating westerners. Regardless, they are great, friendly folks, who just suffered under communism longer and harder than the Poles. I don't believe this is the largest ski area, but at least in terms of lifts, it appears to be more up to date than many, though I expect you'd be on surface lifts most of the day. Most resorts are still surface lift predominant. Weather-wise, they have their ups and downs like NE US, but starting at 3500 feet base elevation never hurt things. I have a ski map of all Slovakia somewhere in my office.

Notice that it's US$10 for a 1500 vertical foot hill. Happy to chat if you are indeed serious.

[ctenidae]

We're going to have about a week, fly in to Warsaw on a Friday, hang out witht eh in-laws in Lodz on Saturday, then we'll all drive to Zakopane or somewhere in Slovakia. We haven't nailed down where yet. I'd like to do maybe a couple of days at Zakopane, then move across the border.

The rough-around-the-edges-ness of Slovakia is what's attractive. As long as the hotel room is warm with a decent bed, I'm good. We're not there to relax, we're there to ski, which is relaxing in and of itself.

The hardest part of deciding where to go is finding then translating the ski maps. Hard to tell what the vertical of an area is, since the reporting isn't standard like in the US. Too much math...

[billski]

I found my map. An alternative might be Jasna if you want something larger. Jasna is the largest area in Slovakia, with a vertical of 770m/2500ft and has five chairlift (Donovaly has one chair lift). It's located 15km south of Liptovsky Mikulas, not far from Donovaly.

All rooms are clean, up to date, yet spartan. Food is good, though it can take a little getting used to, it's not at all objectionable.

I have the specs on all the ski areas, drop a note if another tickles your fancy.

[mattchuck2]

I'd love to go to Europe . . .

Too bad the Dollar is in the "toilette"

[ctenidae]

Originally Posted by mattchuck2

I'd love to go to Europe . . .

Too bad the Dollar is in the "toilette"

Truth be told, if you're spending anything less than $10K, you'll hardly notice the difference.

Even so, we're leaning hard towards Poland at the moment, since all we'll be footing there is the airfare.

[mattchuck2]

Originally Posted by ctenidae

Truth be told, if you're spending anything less than $10K, you'll hardly notice the difference.

Even so, we're leaning hard towards Poland at the moment, since all we'll be footing there is the airfare.

Haha, what a joke . . .

The Euro has risen 60% against the dollar since 2000. In October 2000, The Euro was 82 cents to one dollar. I remember ordering stuff on telemark-pyrenees.com because it was cheaper to get it there and then have it shipped overseas than to get it from someplace in the US.

I was able to take advantage of the difference then . . . and I sure as hell wasn't spending $10,000

[RISkier]

Originally Posted by mattchuck2

I'd love to go to Europe . . .

Too bad the Dollar is in the "toilette"

We'd kind of talked about returing to Austria this year but everything we looked at was considerably more expensive this year than two years ago. And the exchange rate wasn't that good then. The current exchange rate puts those cheap European lift tickets close to what you'd pay in the U.S. And those 4 Euro beers end up costing you about $6. Two years ago we did a trip to Austria, stayed in a nice 4* hotel, and skied 6 days. Our costs were very comparable to what we would have spent on a week long trip to places like Steamboat (with moderate accomodations) and considerably less that what I priced as trips to places like Vail or Aspen or even Big Sky. I did some exploratory pricing on similar European trips this year and the costs were much higher. Certainly if someone has a place to stay and can stay in for meals much of the time you can minimize the pain of the exchange rate. But I definately agree that the exchange rate has made Europe a much more expensive destination.

[ctenidae]

On 12/27, EUR to USD was 1.2 in 2005, 1.3 in 2006, and 1.4 today. So that $120 room two years ago is now $140, assuming Euro rates stayed the same.

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

I've been to Europe a few times but I've never skied there..I'll probably ski there next season..Chamonix, St. Anton, Le Grave, and Tignes are high on my list. I think I'd need 2 weeks over there..mad $$$$$$ but I really want to ski over there before I'm 30