Christmas 2016 v Half term 2017

[namechangedtoday15]

Having been inspired by lots of skiing FB posts over the last week from friends who were away, we're looking at booking next year.

We had our 1st family trip at Christmas - away over Christmas, went high (Cervinia), had lots of snow (albeit some of it manmade) but it was more than enough for us, especially with the added bonus of skiing over the Switzerland. Empty slopes, never had to queue for a lift, not once. Booked everything independently, easyjet flights, airbnb accommodation at the bottom of the lifts, worked out brilliantly and about £2k for 5 of us.

So decision is do we do that again - resort was brilliant, snow good enough. Real driver is the "Christmassy" feeling (children loved that) and empty slopes.

But having seen the snow over Feb half term, I'm dithering. Don't think we could do it anywhere near as cheaply, although we would have more choice of resort as wouldn't need to go so high but I am really worried that the crowds of people would spoil our enjoyment of the slopes. If children got knocked, think it would undermine their confidence.

Any advice?

We have done it every which way
I prefer Xmas if you go high - much less crowded.
If you have to go lower, Feb is usually a banker, but you have to suck up the cost.

Thank you, decisions decisions

I agree it's a lovely thing to do at Christmas, and we did it one year - well, from the 27th over New Year, but we decided that there's so much else going on at home then, that it's nicer to have something to look forward to in February. January is pretty glum otherwise.

Unless you can do both, of course!

The snow swings it for me so I'd do Feb every time if could only do one. We had 4 days in Italy at Xmas with lots of snow cannons which just doesn't compare to the oodles of powder we got at half term in Austria.

How do the crowds compare Massistar?

Typically British French resorts like Morzine can get really busy but we didn't queue for a single lift in Austria this half term. Had the pistes to ourselves half the time.

We were in Morzine for half term. It was busy near the main access points, but it's such a big area it was quite easy to get away from the crowds. It helps to either get the first lifts up and head out, or have a lazy start (our choice! ) and wait for the queues to die down. We found some runs that were amazing but almost always empty so I'd say in a big resort half term is not a complete waster.

Pros: more likely for your children to be in a totally English speaking class, better chance of good snow, slightly longer lighter days.

Cons: busier slopes, longer lift queues, busier restaurants, more expensive, possibly a bigger risk of child getting lost by ski school(!) (never experienced this myself, but a slightly anxious friend asked a ski instructor if they ever lost children and was told they'd only ever lost one once...and then they realised what they'd said and justified it on the grounds that it was because it was half-term and really busy!)

Personally, Christmas wins for me. The last couple of Christmases haven't been great for snow, so I'm hoping Christmas 2016 will be different.

Yes, queues can be longer at half term, but as someone else said, if you organise your departure times to avoid the start of ski school, then it's manageable. I loathe queuing, but in the week we've just spent in Vars, I don't recall any really. Maybe one or two at around 10 minutes - which gives you time to catch your breath.

Also, there are lots of things planned that week - displays/fireworks etc.. But then, you'd probably get that at Christmas/New Year too.

Massistar- can I ask where you went in Austria? I'm liking the sound of empty pistes!

I'd avoid France in half term, but lots of other places are fine. Spain, Sweden, Norway.

Having said that, we skied at Xmas (Finland) and it was fantastic. We're going at Xmas again this year.

We've compromised on Easter skiing too, which although busy, isn't as busy as half term. It fine if you go high.

We went to Nassfeld. Lovely ski area, lots of long cruisey reds.