Where have you skied abroad?

[RISkier]

Bump.

Because I'm trying to decide between Zermatt and Zell am See/Kaprun for beginning of March. Need both good skiing and worthwhile apres. Any thoughts?

Except for riding through Zell on our way to and from Saalbach I've not been to either. I don't think the skiing in Zell is really that extensive, though I suspect the village would be very nice. There are other places in Austria I'd probably go for before Zell. Zermatt has a reputation of being one of the "must ski" resorts in the world. And skiing next to the Matterhorn with the opportunity to ski into Italy would seem to have no small appeal. I think somewhere like the Arlberg (St. Anton, Lech, Zuers, etc.) would be more competitive with Zermatt. You might take a look at www.skisnowboard.com, goski.com, ifyouski.com, wtss.co.uk, or skisolutions.com (this is a commerical British travel agency site but gives comprehensive reviews/descriptions of many resorts).

 

[polski]

Bump.

Because I'm trying to decide between Zermatt and Zell am See/Kaprun for beginning of March. Need both good skiing and worthwhile apres. Any thoughts?

I've been to neither of those but what about Chamonix? Several amazing lift-served mountains to choose from surrounding the Chamonix valley, and then there's the Aiguille du Midi, the highest lift-served point in Europe, from which you can ski into Italy or back into Chamonix.

Here's me on Easter Sunday 1984 after threading the snow bridges across the crevasses of the Glacier du Geant:

A guide is recommended so you don't fall into one of those crevasses and die but I was a poor college student so I followed other people with guides ...

Because I was a poor college student I mainly stuck to hostels and focused on skiing rather than apres ski, but I'm sure there's plenty of it in Chamonix.

Interlaken (mentioned upthread) was phenomenal -- I spent a couple weekends skiing Kleine Scheidegg. I have nothing against trees but it's amazing to have an entire ski resort with hotel and train station all above tree line ...

Also skied Garmisch-Partenkirchen outside Munich (site of the first Olympic alpine skiing events in 1936). Also hit a hill in the Black Forest, Hinterzarten, local to where I was studying (Freiburg im Breisgau).

Reminiscing about this is a great way to pass a rainy December day ...


p.s. the view from atop the Aiguille du Midi.

Foreground: France. Background, toward the left: Switzerland. Background, toward the right: Italy.

 

[ski63]

I skiied quite a few times in Garmisch when I was in the Army from (79-82). As I remember there was lots of variety. The Zugspitz was lots of fun starting with the cable car ride. It was over 6000' from one tower to the next. Quite a view. Took the train from Augsburg, where I was based.

The conditions at the base were sometimes poor since the base elevation was very low. I wonder how global warming will affect such areas? I guess you will use the trams to download.

 

[darent]

had the pleasure of skiing Cortina Italy and the surrounding area.

 

[kingslug]

Spent some time skiing in Austria. Kaprun and Kitchsteinhorn glaciers in October. The runs, more like an area where easy but it snowed quite a lot and it was October. Drinking at a large tent afterwards with drinks at 2 bucks and shots at 1 made for an interesting apre. Waking up to cows mooing every morning was pretty cool as well. Chaminox was an altogether different experience. Not much snow and pretty icy, kind of like here...times 100. It was great though. Some very tough runs, some I wouldn't even dare as it was years ago. The views, the town and the food...no comparison to anything I have been to. A must ski place.

 

[Sky]

Italy and Switzerland. I passed on a chance to ski the Kaprun galcier in Austria on aa 4th of July.

I lived in ITaly for three years when I was in the Army...Vicenza (betwen Venice and Verona). We could be on snow and @ 2000 M in about an hour. Most of the time we hit the Aziago or Enego region...nothing great. But we hit Modona di Campiglia a few times, Paso Rolle...and one spot that topped out at over 3000 M near Trento (heading towards the Brenner Pass).

While we were living there, we hit St Moritz for two Thanksgivings. That was pretty special.

Took the train to the top of the mountain outside Gamisch/Partenkirken in Germany...can't think of the name...and Skimaps.com is gone. :<

Loved it all.

 

[WoodCore]

St. Anton am Alberg in Austria, a magical place.

 

[ski63]

Sky, The site is back as http://www.skimap.org/

 

[abc]

Austria, Switzerland and France. One visit of each.

I go for the scenary and food. Skiing-wise, it's good but not special. Skiing in such visually spetacular scenery (when you CAN see, that is, half of my days are total whiteouts), on the other hand, is what I thought "what dreams are made of". Still think so. :-D

 

[Geoff]

New Zealand (one trip):
Mount Hutt
Ohau Ski Field
Treble Cone
The Remarkables
Coronet Peak

South America (five trips):
Valle Nevado/La Parva/el Colorado
Termas de Chillan

Europe:
Kitzbuhel
Innsbruck
Tignes/Val D'Isere (twice)
St Moritz
Cortina

I've been in Chamonix a couple of times but haven't skied there.

 

[skiing is life]

my avatar is a french resort in the alps

also been to the dolomites a few times.

 

[powhunter]

I skiied quite a few times in Garmisch when I was in the Army from (79-82). As I remember there was lots of variety. The Zugspitz was lots of fun starting with the cable car ride. It was over 6000' from one tower to the next. Quite a view. Took the train from Augsburg, where I was based.

The conditions at the base were sometimes poor since the base elevation was very low. I wonder how global warming will affect such areas? I guess you will use the trams to download.

Thats cool!! I was in Bad Kissingen from 77-80....hit up Garmisch...Berchesgaten...and Chiemsee....also the Stubai glacier in july which was great...Rail service over there was second to none! Me and my buddies would do these crazy "midnight express" runs up to Amsterdam every few months!!

steveo

 

[hardline]

south america:
argentina
las lenas
Cerro Cathedral

chile
Valle Nevado
portillo

Alps
st anton
a bunch of places when i was young but dont remember where we where.

 

[polski]

I skiied quite a few times in Garmisch when I was in the Army from (79-82).

(snip)

The conditions at the base were sometimes poor since the base elevation was very low. I wonder how global warming will affect such areas? I guess you will use the trams to download.

I also recall very long runouts at the bottom of Garmisch.

All right, I'm gonna tell my longish Chamonix 1984 story.

I was studying in southwestern West Germany at the time. While relatively close to the Swiss and French Alps as the crow flies, it required multiple train connections to reach the mountains. If memory serves it was a total of six legs to get to Chamonix. I had a long weekend off from studies and time to make the trip.

It was Easter weekend and I was lucky to get a space on a cot in the dining room of the youth hostel in Chamonix. But the weather and skiing surfaces were fantastic -- they'd gotten a dumping of fresh snow earlier in the week, followed by spring conditions..

I skied Les Grand Montets a couple days for "traditional" if above-treeline lift/gondi-served skiing, and that was great. But what I really wanted to do was ski from the top of the Aiguille du Midi, highest lift-served point in Europe (3842 m/12605 ft), in the shadow of Mont Blanc. This required making a cable-car reservation so on Saturday morning I got in a very long queue for tickets for the next day, my last in Chamonix.

From what I understood I could expect it to take 2-3 hours to descend from the summit down the Glacier du Geant, the Mer de Glace and lower-elevation mountains back into town. The last train I could catch and make all my connections back home Sunday night was a 3 p.m. departure. So I was hoping for a cable car no later than say 9 or 10 a.m.

By the time I finally reached the ticket window the earliest space available was at ... noon Sunday.

I had to make a choice on the spot between the likely ski adventure of a lifetime and possibly being stranded in a train station somewhere in Switzerland, or passing on skiing Sunday and getting home comfortably.

I opted for once-in-a-lifetime.

Sunday morning I checked out of the hostel and stored my bag in a locker at the train station before shlepping 10 minutes or so in my ski boots to the tram for the noon ride up. In 20 minutes we were at the top, to this day the highest altitude I've ever been on land, and really just stunningly beautiful. (Google image search "aiguille du midi" for yourself.) It was a bluebird day and with the heavy snow earlier in the week, conditions were perfect for navigating the glacier -- well-defined, easily visible snow bridges. (Visibility into the crevasses was deadly clear, too ...). As I mentioned before, a guide was strongly recommended but not something I could afford. I'd follow others.

At the top the air was noticeably thin but I don't remember the altitude causing me any problems. Long story a little shorter, I made it down the glacier, took/had some photos taken, and then began my race against time. Once you're down the steep part of the glacier the Mer de Glace is really a "sea of ice," as in bascially flat except for a downhill pitch not visibly perceptible but enough for gravity to do its thing and keep you moving. A long, long way.

After the Mer de Glace came a more traditional ski trail through the lower mountains ... a low-elevation ski trail in spring, meaning parts had snow and parts required taking the skis off and hoofing it through mud. I kept checking my watch and knew I might be able to catch my train but it would be a very, very close call. I finally got to the bottom, it was 10 minutes to 3, my train was at 3 and I was 10 minutes away. To the extent I could run in ski boots with my skis on my shoulder after descending more than 9,000' vertical in one shot, I did. I reached the train station, winded, and saw my train was still there. I got my bag out of the locker, ran onto the platform, pulled myself and my gear up the train steps ... and the doors closed behind me. I collapsed into a seat as the train began to pull out of the station and all I could think was: "Life is PRETTY EFFIN' GREAT."

 

[Smellytele]

I have been to Chamonix including skiing the Vallee Blanch. Apres was good as well

 

[gymnast46]

Garmisch and Berchetsgaden but that was in the late fifties...(The world was still in black and white back then)


1999 St. Moritz
2003 Zermatt and Cervinia
2007 Davos

From a standpoint of scenery and terrain, I'd give Zermatt top marks. Cars aren't allowed in the village. The view of the Matterhorn from our hotel room was breathtaking. I'd love to retire there.

Davos has several ski areas within a short bus or train ride. Rinerhorn was my favorite although it's mostly T-Bars (that kept the crowds down).

St. Moritz is glitzy and the skiing wasn't as good. I did have a memorable day glacier skiing at Diavalezza. We had to do a traverse along a narrow icy trail with a long steep drop off (they're not big on guard rails over there....) You can't tell it from the photo, but there's a dropoff of a few hundred feet to the right of the skier.