Nervous skier resort

[Baxdream]

We're looking at going skiing again next year. We normally go to Bulgaria and I'm happy to go again but thought I'd ask here. I'm looking for the following:

Long weekend eg 4 days skiing
Lovely wide green/blues for me
Blues/reds for the rest of the family!
Smaller resorts as we have only had 3 holidays so not experienced
Good ski school for me. I'm nervous and almost get worse as the week progresses!

[Thatwouldbeme]

Avoriaz was a nice place for that I think and such a love place, definitely going to go back there. we did Norway this year which really helped my confidence, but it was literally up and down the hill 🙂 Andorra a good place but I think transfer time mat make it not worth it for you.

[Baxdream]

Thank you. I always think Norway looks lovely so that's good to know!
I don't mind tree lined runs but ones with big drops make me panic. It's madness as I'm not bad at turning or staying upright i just get nervous about losing control!

[crumpet]

My top tip to my dc when they were learning, which gave them confidence was “learn how to stop. Once you can stop you can go anywhere”

[AbbeFausseMaigre]

Montgenèvre?

[Baxdream]

@crumpet I can stop, it's just my mind plays tricks on me.

[milski]

We're going to Trysil in Norway this year, as it has a lot of green and blue runs that don't look like they're going off the edge of a cliff! Our first skiing holiday in France was a bit scary, as a beginner. You can check out quite a few of the runs on YouTube to get a feel of a resort.

[Baxdream]

@Thatwouldbeme that is exactly it! My attention goes to the edges and the fact I might fall off the edge!
I'll do a run fine one day and 3 days later I'm in tears panicking!

[Baxdream]

@Baxdream

@Thatwouldbeme that is exactly it! My attention goes to the edges and the fact I might fall off the edge!
I'll do a run fine one day and 3 days later I'm in tears panicking!

Sorry that should have been @milski

[EspressoMacchiato]

Les Gets or Morzine in the Portes du Soleil are excellent for beginners.

They have lovey big long wide blues and beginners areas.

[WhataPithy]

Val Cenis was a lovely resort. They have a run called L’escargot which is allegedly the longest green run in Europe. I could have happily cruise that run all day long the whole holiday!

[Flatleak]

Are you sure you want to ski OP? Would a resort where there's other things for you do
, work?

[Baxdream]

@Flatleak that's not what I'm asking. I'm old enough to make decisions for myself thank you

[ExpulsoCorona]

Go to Pila in Italy. Lovely quiet wide slopes. I'm nervous like you but enjoyed it a few weeks ago. It's two hours from Milan.

[Radiatorvalves]

Les Orres?

[Flatleak]

@Baxdream

@Flatleak that's not what I'm asking. I'm old enough to make decisions for myself thank you

Wow I genuinely thought it was an idea as I had some places to recommend. Was just asking a question given it's a discussion forum. What a rude reply!

[menohnopausal]

We've just been to Trysil. I'm also a very nervous/cautious skier, surrounded by a family of maniacs. There were plenty of lovely wide blues and greens, and enough reds and blacks to keep the loons happy. Norway was also just generally gorgeous.

[milski]

Les Gets was the resort that I found a bit tough as a beginner. There were only a few green runs and the blues were pretty scary for a newbie like me!

[rookiemere]

Montgenevre is definitely good for wide cruisey Blues. Flaine has a good variety of runs and good for a long weekend. Or Le Grand Bornand which you can do through ski weekender. Or I went to Pila this season which has a good selection of easy skiing organised through PilaSki.

[Havanananana]

Look at any of the resorts recommended above ^^, plus a few in Austria such as Saalbach, Hinterglemm, Kaprun, Zell am See, Maria Alm, Rauris. If the flights to Salzburg fit your available time, it's easy to do a short break/long weekend at any of these resorts. Stay away (for now) from the steeper and/or expensive places like St. Anton, Kitzbuhel, Mayrhofen. Bulgaria is not actually one of the best destinations for beginners or nervous skiers, but it is relatively cheap.

Make sure that you get a good instructor who understands what your issues are and can build your confidence by taking you to the right places and giving you the right hints and tips and move you along at the right pace.

Go over to Snowheads and ask the same question of the friendly folks on that forum - who will probably also be able to recommend suitable instructors in various resorts.

[SleeplessMomma]

Another vote for Flaine, plenty of brilliant green and blue runs (absolutely stunning views if you can take the Aujon lift to the blue Rubis run). We've just come back, it was my second time skiing and I felt really comfortable on the blue runs. I'm exactly the same as you, love the wide runs but hate anything with a drop at the side!

It's about 1h30m drive from Geneva airport and purpose built so everywhere is set up for skiing visitors. There's quite a few ski schools, my daughter attended ESF for a five day course but I took some private classes 1:1 with an independent instructor (€100 for 2 hours) and he got me to improve my technique and confidence significantly over such a short period of time so it was definitely good value for me to make the most of time skiing.

The lift pass system is also set up so that you can buy an all day pass for all lifts or if you only intend on doing greens and some specific blues, then you can load your ski pass card with points and it deducts points each time you use a lift. This may be a very cost effective way if you intend to do some of the shorter slopes.

Flaine has a brilliant website if you want to a bit of research on places to stay, lessons, point based ski passes etc.

Also some very good food and wine to be had!

[EllaPaella]

Great thread OP, thanks for starting. I am the same as you, I like nice green and blue runs to fly down but not keen on steep reds and blacks or very narrow runs.
Alps D'huez is great and has lots of lovely wide greens and blues. Unfortunately it's a pain to fly to for us (we live in the NE). We've just got back from our second year running at Kaprun, Austria. This is a decent resort and has lovely wide blues at Maiskogel and right at the top of the glacier (Kitzeinhorn) there are some great wide blues but you do have to negotiate some steeper bits at times.

[Baxdream]

Thanks everyone, there's been some great suggestions. It's lovely to see I'm not alone. I do enjoy skiing but I just prefer wider slopes.

We are currently looking at bardoneccia in Italy as it's small and reasonably priced. You tube looks good too with some lovely slopes

[NisekoWhistler]

We're just back from Trysil, such a simple resort to get your confidence back. Like others have said it's just up and down really, no real opportunity to go off the runs. Providing you're there outside of school hols and in the week it should be quiet. Good luck

[rookiemere]

@NisekoWhistler I really fancy Trysil - is it possible to do for a long weekend break do you think? What are the transfers like ?

[MaloneMeadow]

Folgaria, Italy! Lovely little friendly resort with fantastic runs to please everyone and a great ski school - there’s a reason it’s popular with schools!