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The ski season is gearing up and will be fully up to speed by the end of this month, but it’s not too late to book. Arnie Wilson highlights some of the best resorts that are easily accessible from easyJet airports in France and Germany. Photography © John-Norris.com
RESORT: LES DEUX ALPES (FRANCE)
HEIGHT: 1650M
NEAREST AIRPORT: LYON
TRANSFER TIME:33/4 hrs by coach, 2-3 hrs by car
Who it’s good for: everyone, but especially intermediates and off-piste enthusiasts. Visitors who enjoy late-night partying.
Hits: big ski area, with some of the easier slopes high on the glacier, enabling novices to enjoy the best snow and scenery. Terrific off-piste after fresh snowfalls. Loosely linked with the fabulous but challenging slopes of La Grave (guide essential). Also linked by gondola (but not on skis) with idyllic little village of Venosc.
Misses: ramshackle, unattractive town. Only one overcrowded beginners’ piste back to base.
Number of runs: 137 miles (including La Grave)
Who goes: extreme skiers heading for La Grave; boarders heading for the British Snowboard Championships.
Best bar: The Rodeo – if your idea of fun is trying to stay in the saddle of an artificial bucking bronco!
Best restaurant: the Hotel Chalet Mounier – “recommended by gourmet critics”.
RESORT: CHAMONIX/ARGENTIÈRE (FRANCE)
HEIGHT: 1035M
NEAREST AIRPORT: GENEVA
TRANSFER TIME: 2 hrs by coach, 1 hr by car
Who it’s good for: strong, courageous intermediates and experts, especially off-piste enthusiasts.
Hits: Mont Blanc massif has some of the most astonishing scenery north west of the Himalayas, even accessible by intermediates (with a guide) in the Vallée Blanche, perhaps the longest off-piste run in Europe – reached via a stunning cable-car ride to the Aiguille du Midi. Great restaurants and a lively, cosmopolitan town.
Misses: a lot of dangerous terrain if you don’t take a guide. The town is in a narrow, rather claustrophobic valley. Fragmented ski areas a long way apart.
Number of runs: the various unlinked or partly linked areas total 400 miles.
Who goes: Tom Stoppard, Prince Bandar of Saudi Arabia, Pierce Brosnan (who made the 1999 Bond movie The World Is Not Enough here) and just about every self-respecting extreme skier in the world. Oh and Winston Churchill MP did too!
Best bar: Le Choucas (Jackdaw) video bar.
Best restaurant: no question – it’s the Michelin-rated Le Hameau Albert 1er. We did say best – not best value!
RESORT: VAL D’ISÈRE (FRANCE)
HEIGHT: 1850M NEAREST AIRPORT:
GENEVA OR LYON
TRANSFER TIME: 41/2 hrs by coach, 3 hrs by car
Who it’s good for: keen skiers and snowboarders chasing exceptional off-piste. Late-night party-goers and social animals. Heliskiers (although heliskiing is banned in France, it’s easy to heliski in neighbouring Italy).
Hits: vast, challenging ski area linked with Tignes to form L’Espace Killy. Huge array of couloirs and powder fields, as well as seemingly endless piste skiing. High altitude glacier skiing. Boarding parks. Vibrant nightlife.
Misses: long transfer. Not that suitable for beginners, although there are some gentle runs.
Number of runs: 185 miles (with Tignes)
Who goes: lots of Brits, including cricketers Mark Nicholas and Graham Gooch.
Best bar: Dick’s Tea Bar: it’s legendary and doesn’t serve much tea. In Tignes Val Claret you must have a drink in Grizzly’s Bar, with it’s Canadian style log cabin interior – complete with open fire.
Best restaurant: the Grande Ourse, right by the nursery slopes: top of the range. In Tignes Val Claret, head for Le Caveau, a traditional old-style restaurant with live music and excellent food.
RESORT: LA CLUSAZ (FRANCE)
HEIGHT: 1100M
NEAREST AIRPORT: GENEVA
TRANSFER TIME: 2 hrs by coach, 1 hr by car
Who it’s good for: beginners and intermediates. Lovers of traditional, rustic ski villages. And cheese-lovers. La Clusaz, and its neighbouring villages of Le Grand Bornand and St-Jeande-Sixt (which together form the Aravis region) specialise in Reblochon – based on an ancient farming dodge when the cows were secretly milked a second time to avoid the tax inspector, and formed especially rich cheese.
Hits: beautiful and extensive ski area based around picturesque traditional village. Short transfer.
Misses: the three villages are not linked, and by French standards, the skiing does not reach great altitude.
Number of runs: 82 miles (140 miles in Aravis region)
Who goes: families and weekend skiers.
Best bar: The Caves du Paccaly in the centre of the village.
Best restaurant: there are many in outlying villages, but the St Joseph at the Alp’Hotel is very highly rated and only 100 yards from the La Clusaz slopes.
RESORT: ST ANTON (AUSTRIA)
HEIGHT: 1305M
NEAREST AIRPORT: ZURICH
TRANSFER TIME:
31/2 hrs by coach, 21/2 hrs by car
Who it’s good for: strong, hard-core and fanatical skiers (but much easier fare in linked St Christoph).
Hits: stunning scenery, riotous nightlife (could be a miss!) and some of the best off-piste skiing in the Alps. More benign resorts of Lech and Zürs nearby, and available on same lift pass.
Misses: a little off-putting for beginners. Riotous nightlife! (see under Hits).
Number of runs:162 miles
Who goes: every self-respecting skier and snowboarder, including Olympic champions Franz Klammer and Leonhard Stock, along with Princess Caroline of Monaco, and Britain’s Alan Hansen, Kenny Dalglish and Carol Thatcher.
Best bar: the Kandahar, with wonderful music and exotic Afghan and Indian wood furnishings.
Best restaurant: the Arlberg Hospiz in St Christoph if you can afford it. Otherwise try the delightful Museum, with its ski memorabilia.
RESORT: ISOLA 2000 (FRANCE)
HEIGHT: 1800M
NEAREST AIRPORT: NICE
TRANSFER TIME:
2 hrs by coach, 11/2 hrs by car
Who it’s good for: beginners and intermediates. Sun-seekers who like their skiing close to the French Riviera (it’s the most southerly ski area in France).
Hits: tends to be warmer than most Alpine resorts. Handy for escape to the Med.
Misses: rather limited skiing and not very pleasing architecture.
Number of runs: 75 miles
Who goes: beautiful people from the Riviera who fancy a few days away from the fleshpots.
Best bar: The Crocodile – easily the most lively bar in town.
Best restaurant: The Cow Club – renowned for ostrich, escargots and goat!
RESORT: ALPBACH
HEIGHT: 1000M
NEAREST AIRPORT: MUNICH
TRANSFER TIME:
21/2 hrs by coach, 13/4 hrs by car
Who it’s good for: beginners and intermediates
Hits: gorgeous award-winning little village – the epitome of a Tirolean mountain community, complete with delightful onion-domed church.
Misses: skiing not particularly challenging or extensive.
Number of runs: 28 miles
Who goes: British skiers – by the ton. Alpbach is an old British favourite.
Best bar: the Waschkuchl, with a jovial, friendly atmosphere.
Best restaurant: the Jakober restaurant – excellent food and a non-smoking room.
RESORT: GARMISCH-PARTENKIRCHEN
(GERMANY)
HEIGHT: 740M
NEAREST AIRPORT: MUNICH
TRANSFER TIME:
2 hrs by coach, 11/2 hrs by car
Who it’s good for: particularly intermediates and non-skiers.
Hits: chocolate box scenery, including Germany’s highest mountain, the Zugspitze, 2962m (9,718 feet), magnificent old buildings. Scenic mountain railway journey to the glacier. You can ski into Austria from the summit: but the descent to Ehrwald should only be undertaken with a guide. Lively nightlife, wonderful old hotels.
Misses: fragmented slopes – the four main areas are not connected. And the towns are some way from both mountain railway or cable-car to access the slopes – bus or car required.
Number of runs: 75 miles in the combined areas.
Who goes: World Cup racers, and US soldiers: American skiers visit Garmisch in their thousands. There are four American-owned hotels, and the Americans even have their own mini-resort, complete with its own ski hill and T-bar, for US Army and NATO forces.
Best bar: so many! The Irish Pub at the corner of the Haupstrasse and Banhofstrasse has a lively, international crowd.
Best restaurant: any with “Post” in their names: Clausings Posthotel (Garmisch), the Post Hotel at Partenkirchen and the Hotel Post in Wallgau, 12 miles from Garmisch, are all excellent.
RESORT: KITZBÜHEL
HEIGHT: 760M
NEAREST AIRPORT: MUNICH
TRANSFER TIME: 23/4 hrs by coach, 11/2 hrs by car
Who it’s good for: intermediates
Hits: a magnificent medieval walled town-centre, and a wide- ranging ski circus. Plus the notorious Hahnenkamm, the most feared World Cup downhill: few advanced skiers, let alone intermediates, will want to ski the steep sections, but they’ll enjoy the less hard-core parts of the descent.
Misses: Kitzbühel is a low-lying resort, and sometimes struggles for snow. In general (apart from the Hahnenkamm) the skiing offers few major challenges.
Number of runs: 100 miles altogether in Kitzbühel’s ski circus.
Who goes: international celebrities, including our own Konrad Bartelski, who recorded Britain’s best-ever World Cup downhill result (and learnt to ski here) and Cecil Parkinson, the former Tory Party chairman.
Best bar: unless you like your bar boisterous, stay away from the Londoner, where the World Cup skiers go a bit wild after the Hahnenkamm, and go for somewhere more subdued like the Goldener Gams.
Best restaurant: at the Hotel zur Tenne, where the trout is “outstanding”.
powder rush
RESORT: ALPE D’HUEZ (FRANCE)
HEIGHT: 1860M
NEAREST AIRPORT: LYON
TRANSFER TIME:
21/2 hrs by coach, 11/2 hrs by car
Who it’s good for: everybody, particularly strong intermediates and experts, and skiers who like skiing from resort to resort.
Hits: huge ski area with every kind of terrain, and links with little villages like Vaujany and Oz.
Misses: little charm (except Vaujany), little tree-skiing, can get crowded at weekends.
Number of runs: 145 miles
Who goes: skiers in search of off-piste adventures and long black runs, including the Sarenne, the longest black run in the Alps – around 10 miles – which descends from the tip of The Pic Blanc to the Sarenne gorge.
Best bar: Lily Muldoon’s – a quaint Irish-themed pub with a vibrant atmosphere.
Best restaurant: Au P’tit Creux is universally acclaimed, but it gets busy at weekends.
RESORT: SÖLL (AUSTRIA)
HEIGHT: 703M
NEAREST AIRPORT: MUNICH
TRANSFER TIME:
21/2 hrs by coach, 11/2 hrs by car
Who it’s good for: beginners, intermediates and skiers who relish skiing from resort to resort in the leisurely, picturesque SkiWelt Wilder Kaiser-Brixental circuit
Hits: pedestrianised centre. Söll’s skiing is linked with a number of pretty little villages which can be visited in a single day.
Misses: Söll’s location isn’t the best – right by the main road, and a bit of a haul to get to the slopes. It is still living down its 1980s image as a cheap-and-cheerful ski location with a bit of a lager-lout reputation
Number of runs: 21 miles in Söll, 156 miles throughout the SkiWelt circuit.
Who goes: loyal regulars who are in the main happy to remain on the intermediate plateau.
Best bar: the Whisky Mühle is a long-established and lively favourite with scantily-clad go-go girls at weekends.
Best restaurant: the Schindlhaus serves gourmet food.
RESORT: AVORIAZ (FRANCE)
HEIGHT: 1800M
NEAREST AIRPORT: GENEVA
TRANSFER TIME: 2 hrs by coach, 1 hr by car
Who it’s good for: intermediate and advanced skiers, and those keen to clock up mile after mile of skiing in the huge Portes du Soleil linked area. Lovers of space-age architecture.
Hits: Vast, interesting ski area linked with several resorts on both sides of the French/Swiss border, and dotted with good mountain restaurants.
Misses: some find the architecture ugly. Many “shoe-box” apartments too cramped.
Number of runs: 94 miles in resort; more than 400 miles in Portes du Soleil.
Who goes: Avoriaz hosts the Fantastic Film Festival, which attracts film stars from all over the world from Donald Sutherland to Jeanne Moreau. Some ski, some don’t.
Best bar: Le Tavaillon, dubbed “the nerve centre” of Avoriaz.
Best restaurant: La Reserve at the Hotel Dormonts, which serves set-price, six-course gourmet meals.
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