January skiing

[Yogafire]

Planning to go skiing just me and DH for a week at the beginning of January.
Haven't planned a ski hols for ages. Are there any issues with snow in Jan or are we safe (France, Austria, Italy)?

Also any recommendations for a simple ski trip? Dh is a beginner, I'm intermediate. We don't want to spend a fortunate but it has to be awesome or dh won't want to go again! I want to get the whole fam into skiing

[dontcallmethatyoucunt]

I love Morzine/les gets for a good mixed ability skiing. I think in Jan you'll be fine for snow coverage. I wouldn't go too high though as it tends to be cold. Is it essential that you go Jan? If I could opt for any particular time I'd go the very beginning of March as the weather tends to be better and that can make it awesome

I also like LaPlagne for easy skiing. There are lots and lots of cruisey blues. The transfer is much longer though, whereas Morzine is fast.

Lessons are worth considering, Oxygen at LaPlagne is very good, I can't remember who we used at Morzine though.

Austria has lots of smaller resorts, but I'm not familiar with any as I like large ski areas, but when I was a beginner I would have been happy in one.

Just don't go to somewhere like Chamonix. It's hard terrain and you need to catch the bus to most areas. If anything is guaranteed not to be awesome it's standing around waiting for a bus that you won't get a seat on. When you have very tired legs it's enough to put anyone off.

Try and be close to the beginner runs (no more than 100m) and ideally ski in/out. Take some ski wraps - Velcro ties to hold your skis together, ensure you have warm kit and don't drag him down anything to scare the shit out of him thinks fondly of nearly killing DH on a red icecube on day 3 and I'm sure he'll be wanting to go again.

[lostpurplehoodie]

We always go mid January as it’s so quiet. Check out when Russian New Year is because that week will be super busy. Over the last few years we’ve been to Avoriaz, St Anton, Verbier and Val d’Isere and never had any issues with lack of snow or even bad weather, though the year we went to Val it was so, so cold.

What do you count as not spending a fortune? VIP Ski have not failed us yet. They’re not cheap, but it’s a quiet time so there are deals to be had and the food/wine/accommodation is excellent. We’ve been a bit more budget in the past and it wasn’t worth it for the rubbish food. That said we were impressed by SkiVal too, which was a bit cheaper.

[Yogafire]

Hi this is really helpful - thanks! For cheaper, I am hoping for under 1.5k taking in everything including ski school.

I don't want it to be freezing (except for the obvious fact of being in the snow). DH definitely more likely to be wooed by sun on the slopes and be put off by blizzards. He already struggles to get his head around the uncoupling of holiday&beach

So I'm now wondering about going for a long weekend later. 5 days in Jan works via grandparents would have dcs. Trickier during term but we could do a long weekend, leaving fri AM. Would that be enough for a beginner to master the lifts and get into it?

I did take DH once years ago but he got a football injury the week before the hols and gave up after the first day. So pressure is on to get this right. Two failed hols would be too much!

I'll check out the thread mentioned thanks!

[Yogafire]

Cheaper would be by far preferable. The whole trip seems like a massive extravagance. From the searches I've done it seems you hit 1.5k quickly so I've taken that as basic, but if there are cheaper around I would jump on it.

Would love to take the whole family but it seems to be crazy ££. So the idea is to get dh hooked and then work up to early bird bookings and whole fam. We usually end up booking things last min

[JigglyTuff]

If you want to be him hooked, I’d go later in the year if you can. January can be bitingly cold

[dontcallmethatyoucunt]

Have a look at Baqueira Beret (Skinspired are a good provider) or somewhere like Courmayeur, both are good for long weekends. You could also see if a twin room at the UCPA in Flaine is still available on one of their long weekends. It's basic accommodation, but all in full board is