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Alps vs Car

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charchar
Posts: 83 - Karma: 60
I've got to make a tough decision, so I thought I'd hear some NS opinions to help me choose.  Pretty much, I'm working all summer to save for one of two things
1) My school is taking a trip to the Alps in March, its costs $2250 not including food.  Its an 8 day trip with 4 days of skiing.  Its a week before March Break so I miss 4 days of school.  Everyone going from my school is a racer or groomer skier (except me, of course).  Also, I'll have to continue saving all the way into March to pay for this.
2) A shitty car, say $1000 - $1500.  I'd have it by September, I'd be able to ski every single day of the season without having to borrow my parents car or worry about rides. I'd also be able to ski bigger resorts on weekends, since my hill is tiny! However, I know with a car, there are so  many other costs ie. insurance, gas, maintenance, repairs etc. etc.

Anyway, I'm still undecided... what do you guys think? Ski trip of a lifetime or freedom to ski everyday?
Jul 27 2009 1:19AM
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sirskizalot
Posts: 4370 - Karma: 161
Freedom to ski erryday for sure!
Jul 27 2009 1:27AM
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traylortrash
Posts: 1935 - Karma: 2,450
Jul 27 2009 1:31AM
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Sir_SkrillALot
Posts: 1736 - Karma: 668
2250 is seriously like enough money to ski everyday and live off of for a month.
Jul 27 2009 1:38AM
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Kilgore_Trout
Posts: 189 - Karma: 89
Yeah, fuck just go take that money, buy a shit ass car, and ski forever. Just make sure the shit ass car is legit so that you don't spend the extra money meant for skiing fixing the car.
Jul 27 2009 1:45AM
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dave44
Posts: 11052 - Karma: 113
Car, for sure.
Jul 27 2009 1:51AM
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Dylan_
Posts: 9824 - Karma: 1,403
alps would be a once in a life time thing. but i don't know. personally i'd take the alps
Jul 27 2009 1:53AM
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Blandct
Posts: 1858 - Karma: 37
im sure the opportunity will come again...imo get a car
Jul 27 2009 1:58AM
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Shredneck
Posts: 2051 - Karma: -32
you could get thought a season guaranteed with that much, assuming your living with your parents which it sounds like the thread creator is.


To be honest I would go on the trip, I'd regret it for a while when I was bumming rides but when your 30 with two kids a career and all of that bullshit what would you rather remember from this year a shit box car or a baller trip to the alps, groomers or not it's still the alps.  Its something you'll regret when your older if you dont go.
Jul 27 2009 2:51AM
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Twig
Posts: 6407 - Karma: 60,033
I live in europe and go to the alps every year. I have been for the last 17 years to a bunch of resorts, and my favourite place I ever skied... Colorado. Point being the alps are very impressive to look at, and yes at its best the skiing is incredible, but the snow is less and less consistent, and the groomers are pretty much just like american groomers. The pow is wetter and heavier than in CO or Utah.
Anyway get the piece of shit car, ski every day and try to get a cheap trip west rather than over the pond.
Jul 27 2009 5:07AM
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dave44
Posts: 11052 - Karma: 113
Or some awesome ski-bumming experiences from living in yuor car while skiing all sorts of locations across North America

I'd take the car, still.
Jul 27 2009 5:24AM
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michael_bc
Posts: 1386 - Karma: 720
4 days of skiing in the the alps is not a "ski trip of a life time." It's shit. Chances are you will have shitty snow or bad weather. It's too short.

$2250 don't do it. Be patient and go at another time when you can go for a couple of weeks and go with really close buddies.

And that guy saying that he skis the alps every year and Colorado is his favorite place and the snow is wetter and heavier in the Alps: Bullshit. I have friends who live in Utah, and will say the Alps are their favorite place. Everything is relative and there is a reason why pros keep returning to St. Anton, Engelberg, Chamonix etc.. If you plan shit the right way, the snow and the lines you can ride in the Alps are incredible, and Colorado has nothing on it. No offense, but Colorado are foothills compared to the Alps.

But just 4 days, you would need a ton of luck, and you won't be with the right people.
Jul 27 2009 7:54AM
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dilla_says_go
Posts: 5333 - Karma: 168
get a car, then get a job, make some $$$, go to the alps for a month.
Jul 27 2009 8:35AM
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DrStrangelove
Posts: 1948 - Karma: 3
definitely best advice, the alps can wait until you can actually afford it

and seriously, ive been there before, hell i was even there a month ago, and while it's seriously one of the most gorgeous places on the planet, it's extreeeeemely hit or miss with the ski conditions. pretty much wait until a time in your life when you can afford to just go over there and suck up the atmosphere without being super pissed if you don't get good snow, cause that's definitely a likelihood.
Jul 27 2009 9:23AM
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niels043
Posts: 814 - Karma: 184
i hate to be a negative niels but you are right, there are alot of costs associated with with a car as you stated above gas, insurance, registration, and any car for 1000-1500 is going to need some work in the first few months or so. i've done both skiing in the alps and bought a cheap car and in my opinion i would go to the alps, it really is an incredible experience there isn't a day that goes by that i don't think about it. where in the alps are you going?
Jul 27 2009 9:39AM
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Twig
Posts: 6407 - Karma: 60,033
Sure there are great days in the alps, I never said there wasn't. But the snow is heavier and wetter than in colorado. And just as many of us Euros would say CO or Utah were our favorite place as US pros would say europe.
Its all about preference as you sayy, I'd personally rather have a wide open powder field with a few drops and fluffy snow to play around with than ski a gnarly couloir in La Grave. The best is to get to ski both, but if I had to pick one for my life it'd be the Rockies or maybe japan, but I have yet to go).
This is deviating from the point though, because despite our different preferences, we would both take the car and a full season over a few days skiing in the alps.
Jul 27 2009 9:50AM
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MAPLE_SYRUP
Posts: 1910 - Karma: 68

Winter for me is about skiing as much as i can and having the most fun every time i go. so after i get out of work or school ill come back home, sit down for 10 minutes and say "fuck homework im going skiing" Hop in my car, smoke a j going up to the mountain with my friends, and stay as long as i want.

not having to have my mom give me rides to the mountain has been the best thing.

car fo sho.  you can always go back to the alps when your rich and then you can take park and pow skier friends instead of racers.

just get a big car that will hold a lot of shit for road trips : )

Jul 27 2009 10:32AM
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michael_bc
Posts: 1386 - Karma: 720
This is a fairy tale / lie.

Snow-technically speaking, the snow in Colorado is very light because it first passes the desert and mountains in Utah and deposits most of its humidity there. This is why Utah has a ton of snow, and Colorado has very little but very light snow.

In the Alps, storm systems can come from all directions, you have wet storms coming from the West/NW (mostly hitting France) and you have dry storms coming from the North/NE (hitting Austria/Switzerland) and from the South (hitting Italy). With snow coming from all directions, you get all kinds of dumps, including the ones which already lost all their humidity like in Colorado (for example when a storm comes from the south, first pounds Italy and then hits St. Moritz or Laax, the snow will be identical to Colorado).

Believe me, my girlfriend lives in Aspen and I live in Laax, in her experience Laax has better snow quality. In my experience Colorado is more consistent, but I've had much MUCH better days in Europe and in Utah.

The difference is that there are places in Europe which catch all possible storm directions (like Andermatt, Engelberg and St Anton)... while Colorado almost only gets storms from the West, which are light but small. Look it up. Resorts in Colorado have a lot less average accumulated snowfall per year than say Alta/Snowbird or St. Anton.

Its not about a preference pow vs. gnarly mountain like you say. It's that to make this kind of eurotrip into "the trip of a lifetime", you will need more time than 4 days and be with people that are willing to look for the best pow with you.
Jul 27 2009 10:37AM
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smuggs
Posts: 6561 - Karma: 1,375
you get a car, you can work more, and ski more. wait till you are older and you can really appreciate the alps instead of going when you are young and dont appreciate certain things about life yet. and going with racers just sounds like a bad time.

im not even going to touch the utah colorado thing goin on. but it seems like there are always alot of euros around utah having a great time skiing some different terrain.
Jul 27 2009 10:55AM
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Twig
Posts: 6407 - Karma: 60,033
Well of the resorts you've mentioned, I've been to Engleberg and Andermatt but not St. Anton. I've never been to Laax or Aspen. But I've been to Vail, Beaver Creek, Araphoe Basin and Wolf Creek in CO and I've been to Alta in Utah.

In the weeks I've spent in CO, I have always had dumps of at least a foot or more of light fluffy snow. In Europe I have occasionally had huge dumps of heavy snow, and even more rarely a dump of the soft stuff. I skied maybe 7 weeks in the alps this season and I didn't get one day of really perfect soft pow. Don't get me wrong I had an amazing season with great dumps but the dumps were mostly heavy snow more akin to California. On the day I arrived in Saas Fee in March, there was a meter of fresh snow, and an empty resort because the roads were closed. It was an incredible day but the snow was fairly wet and heavy.

The terrain is different too and I didn't mean to suggest the gnarly mountain lines don't come with great snow sometimes but in CO you do get 1000m vert (roughly) of powder slopes and glades that go on for miles wide. And when that is covered with a foot of soft stuff every week or so then that works for me.
I am not trying to knock Europe, the alps are incredible and I am lucky to ski there so much. In Colorado I just feel like I more consistently get the snow I want to ski the most, and Utah is just better again.

Of course you can have the trip of a lifetime in Europe, but to guarantee a day of that fluffy stuff, you need to be there for a long time.
I guess what I really mean is that.. in Europe you can get some of the very best skiing the world has to offer, but you are less likely to get the conditions you dream of. In CO the skiing is less exciting, but your chances of a really good day are better.
Jul 27 2009 11:03AM
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charchar
Posts: 83 - Karma: 60
5 resorts are posted below, but the trip will only take me to four of them.

Grands Montets (http://www.compagniedumontblanc.fr/plan_grandsmontets.php)
Flaine (http://www.flaine.com/en/index.php)
La Cluzas (http://www.laclusaz.com/hiver-winter10/)
Le Grand Bornand (http://www.legrandbornand.com/?hiver)
Chamonix (http://www.chamonix.com/page.php?page=0&r=accueil&ling=en)
Jul 27 2009 1:05PM
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followCam
Posts: 1907 - Karma: 446
Thats because its Laax, its awesome no matter what haha. i lived in les deux alpes for 5 months, and the weather was rarely good, if there was a dump, it was flatlight/windy for the next couple days so it all got blown over, maybe 1 or 2 bluebird days out the whole time.


Get a car instead.
Jul 27 2009 1:47PM
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