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Alps for dummies

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nlamx
Posts: 348 - Karma: 10
It's my dads 60th birthday this year, and he wants to do a ski trip to the alps. The only thing is he is not sure where in the alps. He likes France, Italy, and Switz. but prefers france or italy. He wants a big mountain with many levels of terrain. I was also wondering if all european resorts have parks, and if so or not which mountains have the best. PLEASE leave your opinion. Thanks!
Jan 2 2011 1:41AM
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gombo8
Posts: 726 - Karma: 131
ive never been but my mom used in to  live in switzerland for 3 years and skied the alps. she loved it
Jan 2 2011 2:33AM
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alexg1687
Posts: 1505 - Karma: 1,581
chamonix. that way you have everything. its all connected by free buses (with your guest card) so its really easy to get around. you wont even need a car
Jan 2 2011 2:54AM
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BITS
Posts: 1808 - Karma: 866
I Suggest avoriaz. So much variation, And in 10-15 minutes you can cross the swis border (ón skis) and ski there if you want to. Actually i Can help you finding an appartement, i know one whos Got the Best situated. You just walk out from the ski basement and youre on the slopes and close to everything
Jan 2 2011 4:51AM
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I_Am_Mod
Posts: 13214 - Karma: 3,753
avoriaz sounds great to me, big ffing area, sweet park good backcountry !
Jan 2 2011 4:56AM
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315jibber94
Posts: 880 - Karma: -39

our grandparents own an appt comlex (4 appts) in Lenzerhide switz, im there right now lol skiings shitty, there park is alright, everything is set up perfect, but kind of small, the town is retardedly expensive... but the sport buses they have that go around the lake are free and you dont need a car, cause you take trains and buses everywhere, make sure where you go tho you know the language tho

Jan 2 2011 6:04AM
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unreal.shooter
Posts: 562 - Karma: 52

go to val thorens

has pretty much what your looking for in it

and i has a park, its kinda small but not sure whats in it this year as i havent been there yet

Jan 2 2011 6:16AM
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Toasty.
Posts: 6198 - Karma: 2,330
this, i pmed him also. but the biggest ski area in the world is 3 valleys france. and you can get a ticket to go to the 3 ski area that are connected. i stayed in val thorens right on the hill.
Jan 2 2011 7:07AM
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AviadIL
Posts: 245 - Karma: 30
there are tons of large resorts in france with 200+ km of groomed runs, some of them have nice snowparks as well...
top ones would be:
Avoriaz (@ "Portes du Soleil")- has 4 or 5 snowparks including this eco-friendly park by burton that's supposed to be pretty sweet
Tignes/Val Disere ("Espace Killy")- about 300km of grooms, 2 pretty large snowparks- the one in val disere hosts euro x on march.
Val Thorens (@ "Les 3 Vallees")- has 600km of grooms, pretty high altitude resort, nice snowparks
La Plagne/Les Arcs ("Paradiski")- 420km of grooms (220 on plagne and 200 on arcs), has several snowparks-best one is in la plagne..

All of the above are pretty good on backcountry as well. i haven't seen a lot of backcountry skiers on paradiski though and was always able to find some unspoiled pow...
Jan 2 2011 7:41AM
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Matty_C
Posts: 2598 - Karma: 236

not really bro. don't get me wrong, chamonix is fuckin awesome- unquestionably the most gnar terrain of any resort in the world, but its not exactly easy to access, the areas don't connect well compared to many other resorts, you get way more from cham if you have a car. frankly cham is a poor choice for first time vistors to europe unless you're a keen ski-mountaineer and you have local friends that know it really well. plus its an absolute shitfight on a pow day, and the "who has the biggest skis/who skied the raddest lines" machismo gets old in the bars pretty quick.

a much better choice for an easy access resort that offers everything you and your old man could want is val d'isere or tignes (same ski area). the valpark in val d'isere is now one of the top 5 in europe no doubt check it out from last year http://vimeo.com/16962899

the quantity and quality of lift accessed terrain is incredible, great tree skiing in le fornet and tignes les brevieres, all kinds of huge open powder fields, chutes, cliffs and big steep faces in the high alpine. good snow record too.

avoid 3 valleys, yes in terms of kms of piste skiing its huge but compared to other places the terrain is not top notch, the snow is not as good as other places nearby and if you stay in val thorens where the snow is better, there's no trees so in bad weather its a nightmare.

when are you planning on doing the trip?

Jan 2 2011 9:27AM
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BITS
Posts: 1808 - Karma: 866
Have you ever been there?
Jan 2 2011 1:59PM
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SteepAnDeep
Posts: 81 - Karma: 82
Agreed.

I haven't skid Val Thorens, but I have skied: Cham, Verbier, Zermatt, Courmayer, St Moritz & St Anton. You cannot go wrong with Val Thorens with what you are looking for. They get heeps of snow and have every kind of run imaginable.
Jan 4 2011 7:04PM
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Ski_ThEast
Posts: 1676 - Karma: 272
my first visit to Europe last year i skied Courmayer, Chamonix, La Grave, and Verbier
Courmayer was my favorite like cruisers and an amazing little village, has a tram to the top with some decent backcountry and also really easy to get to Chamonix (like 20 minutes by car) im sure i dont need to tell you about the terrain in Chamonix
La Grave was my favorite because of the huge vertical and good skiing all the time but has no park or groomed runs and was foggy most of the three days
And Verbier was a little of everything had a decent park, some nice long cruisers that were great and also some good off piste skiing

but honestly imo if you are going out there to ski i was not intrested in skiing park at all i can do that back home so dont be too worried about how good the park is
Jan 4 2011 7:29PM
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