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With low-cost airlines like easyJet, purpose-built resorts and a willing attitude, a skiing 'weekend’ is – at last – a realistic proposition. Now, you can be in and out faster than you can say 'swoosh’.
Text by Arnie Wilson
Photography © John-Norris.com
Jet in. Ski out. Ski in. Jet out. What could be easier than an easyJet flight to a skiin, ski-out resort? Skiing straight from your front door onto the slopes – and back to your hotel at the end of the day – is the most hassle-free way of skiing in the Alps. Many resorts, particularly those in traditional villages where skiing was never part of the overall plan, cannot offer such a relaxing concept. But the purpose- built resorts in France, constructed much more recently in high, snow-sure locations, saw the advantages of ski-in, ski-out accommodation and made it part of their resort blueprint.
A few high-altitude resorts in Austria, or satellite resorts whose names often begin with the word “hoch” (high) or “ober” (above) – as in Hochgurgl, Hochsölden, Obertauern and Obergurgl – can offer it too. By their very nature, high, snow-sure resorts and glaciers can be a little bleak and remote, and are not always close to major airports, but skiers and snowboarders searching for good conditions are usually prepared to compromise on slightly longer transfers and the lack of picture-postcard villages.
PURPOSE-BUILT RESORTS IN FRANCE, CONSTRUCTED MUCH MORE RECENTLY IN HIGH, SNOW-SURE LOCATIONS, SAW THE ADVANTAGES OF SKI-IN, SKI-OUT ACCOMMODATION AND MADE IT PART OF THEIR RESORT BLUEPRINT
Avoriaz, France
Just two hours from Geneva, this exciting, futuristic resort still has a space-age feel, even though it was built almost half a century ago. It’s also the gateway to a huge complex of resorts scattered along the French-Swiss border – the so-called Portes du Soleil, one of the biggest ski networks in the world. Strong skiers and boarders can tick off up to 15 resorts in a day, including Châtel, Morzine, Les Gets and Morgins. Or you can just try two or three on a daily basis. Avoriaz, with fast, modern, state-of-the-art lifts, is increasingly popular with snowboarders. Its signature run – avoidable if you take the lift down, which many do, or opt for the less-skied, more powdery variant – is the so-called Swiss “wall” at Chavanette, a tough descent into Les Crosets with king-sized moguls! But fear not, there’s a vast selection of pistes in all directions for all, whether novice, expert, or anything in between.
Arabba, Italy
Arabba, three to four hours from Milan or Munich, provides some of the steepest and highest skiing along the otherwise fairly bland, but picturesque, Sella Ronda tour in Italy’s extraordinarily beautiful Dolomites. It’s a great day’s outing. Mountain villages like Colfosco, Corvara and Canazei seem to drift past you all day as you cruise effortlessly along the 30-mile circuit spread across four regions. You can pause for a good lunch and scenic stops (but don’t miss the last lifts!), and still be back in time for tea, without using the same lift twice. You will have passed through four regions en route: Alta Badia, Val Gardena, Val di Fassa and Arabba. At the centre, soaring into a cornflower blue sky, are the gigantic limestone monoliths of the Gruppa Sella. All you have to do is ski round them. You can ski the circuit in either direction, clock-wise (follow the orange arrows) or counter-clockwise (green boards).
La Plagne, France
Few resorts offer so much skiing and snowboarding to Mr and Mrs Average – the vast majority of intermediates – as La Plagne, pretty much equidistant from Lyon and Geneva (21/2 hours). The resort is made up of no fewer than ten villages: some pretty ugly, others, built later almost as an apology for the earlier carbuncular tower blocks, quite pretty. But what La Plagne lacks in the architectural department it more than makes up for in its vast range of slopes and glorious scenery. It probably has more red (intermediate) runs than anywhere else in Europe. Good nursery slopes are a given, so that just leaves advanced skiers and snowboarders. No problem. There’s extensive off-piste, and some wonderful glacier skiing way up at 10,660 feet at Bellecôte, from where – with a guide – you can ski down to Peisey-Nancroix, a satellite of neighbouring Les Arcs, now linked with La Plagne, thanks to a huge new double-decker cable car, to create the vast 'Paradiski’ area.
Fotos Lech Zuers Tourism
Obergurgl, Austria
This old British favourite, 31/2 hours from Munich, is a small, and in this case, picturesque village, close to the Italian border. Even so, like Obertauern, it successfully ensures that its bars and hotels are extra cosy to compensate for the village’s somewhat remote location. Obergurgl (6330 feet), which has a great tradition of repeat customers, is linked by gondola with the slopes of Hochgurgl, where there is skiing as high as 10,000 feet or more. Although most of the runs are fairly easy, there’s some excellent off-piste, including a spectacular run down the back of the Hohe Mut. Obergurgl, surrounded by glaciers, is also a wonderful ski-touring centre: excursions across the border into Italy with a guide are popular.
Lech (Oberlech), Austria
The picturesque Vorarlberg village of Lech, 21/2 hours from Zürich, and linked with Zürs, is famous for all kinds of reasons: it’s Austria’s most up-market resort (where 'Kings are guests and guests are kings’!); and it was a firm favourite with Diana, Princess of Wales. Its satellite, Oberlech, was once the summer home of local shepherds. It now provides a car-free ski-in, ski-out area, with access to some of Lech’s most interesting slopes. Access to Oberlech is via tunnels, through which guests can bring their luggage straight to hotels which also receive their supplies underground. The easily-accomplished circuit between Lech and Zürs is a very pleasant day’s outing. There’s excellent off-piste, and the opportunity to visit neighbouring St Anton, Austria’s most challenging resort, and its charming little bijou neighbour, St Christoph. Both are available on the same Arlberg lift ticket.
Obertauern, Austria
Just 21/2 hours from Munich, this high-altitude Salzburgerland resort lies on a high mountain pass – an old Roman salt route – in the spectacular Niedere Tauern range, where it attracts unusually generous snowfalls. The resort, chosen by the Beatles as one of the locations for their film Help! in 1965, has a slightly bleak, frontier-town feel, but it’s far from unfriendly, and its snow record makes up for any lack of exterior charm. Once inside the assortment of bars, you’ll find the Gemütlichkeit (Austria’s traditional welcoming ambience) as warm as in any other cosy Austrian mountain village. The nightlife, as if compensating for the rather austere ambience, is pulsating and continues 'til late. The skiing, on well-groomed pistes above the tree- line, tends to be of the energetic motorway variety, although after frequent heavy snowfalls, the off-piste really comes into its own.
Tignes, France
Tignes, with neighbouring Val d’Isère, forms the terrific Espace Killy ski area, regarded by many “serious” skiers as one of the finest in the world. Some 31/2 hours from Lyon or Geneva, Tignes is high, with hardly a tree in sight. Its celebrated Grande Motte glacier provides skiing as high as 11,340 feet. Tignes has a superb snow record and skiing is possible most of the year. It may not be the prettiest place in the Alps, but the skiing in Tignes, and indeed throughout the Espace, is just about as good as it gets. Although you are unlikely to run out of skiing permutations in Tignes itself, you should certainly ski across to Val d’ Isère and enjoy some of the gladed pistes, mountain restaurants and village atmosphere. With such extensive slopes spread between the two resorts, there truly is something for everyone, but the skiing undeniably suits the more advanced in search of some of the best off-piste in the Alps. But do take a guide.
Ellis Brigham and The Snowboard Asylum have fifteen shops, including major outlets at the UK’s indoor ski centres at Milton Keynes, Castleford/Leeds and Tamworth. The massive, new Tower House Covent Garden store features a real ice-climbing tower running between the shop’s two floors. Whilst opposite, they’ve opened Europe’s first concept store with The North Face.
Two lucky readers will each win a head-to-toe North Face snow sports outfit from Ellis Brigham, including jacket, pants, gloves and hat with a retail value of £305. To enter, simply answer: Where is Ellis Brigham and North Face’s new concept shop located?
Submit answers at www.ellis-brigham.com/easyjet.htm by March
10. Please see contest terms and conditions on our website.
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