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Europe! Where to ski early season?

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BrewskiJr
Posts: 5738 - Karma: 1,478
Im studying in Luxembourg and want to book a ski trip the weekend on December 2nd. Where would the best snow be? I probably won't be doing much park and am going with other experienced skiers. This is my only ski trip over here unfortunately, so something with a sick landscape would be a big plus. I've never been to the Alps before.
Oct 28 2011 4:52AM
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kingskier
Posts: 1045 - Karma: 11
anywhere in europe? hinterux seems to get good snow early season ( as it did this year and last year). or go somewhere high.
Oct 28 2011 5:19AM
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TheGnarwhal
Posts: 871 - Karma: 49
everywhere had good snow early last season, in fact, it broke records... Then it stopped.. For good.


Seriously though, I think somewhere high like Tignes or Chamonix is your best bet
Oct 28 2011 5:26AM
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Newschool_Pope
Posts: 2473 - Karma: 267
you could go to stubai glacier, hintertux glacier, kitzsteinhorn, kaunertal glacier, saas fee, or some frenc resorts. if i were you id go to kitzsteinhorn or kaunertal. they have sick ass parks.
Oct 28 2011 5:31AM
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xoxxooxo
Posts: 462 - Karma: 31
Val Thorens is pretty sick and high up so you are pretty much guaranteed snow. There are 3 valleys there so you get access to a wide range of terrain that is pretty good on the eyes.
Oct 28 2011 7:39AM
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GBS
Posts: 1386 - Karma: 33
Hintertux is amazing! Best jumps and pretty good rails too!
Oct 28 2011 7:41AM
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miketheskier88
Posts: 749 - Karma: 66
It's really a choice between Hintertux and Tignes...
Oct 28 2011 11:27AM
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I_Am_Mod
Posts: 13214 - Karma: 3,753
for me it'd be stubai, dachstein or hintertux .....

dachstein has the horsefeathers super park, pro line should be ready this saturday :)


Oct 28 2011 11:34AM
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luc
Posts: 1000 - Karma: 607
i'd recommend stubai! u said u prolly wont shred the park, well stubai has a good one, but the terrain ist pretty cool too, and with a little luck u have tons of fresh snow to shred without hiking! it's pretty big for an eraly season skiresort!
Oct 28 2011 12:40PM
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yaqwsxcde123vfr
Posts: 371 - Karma: 145
tignes or tux.
Oct 28 2011 4:19PM
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disastertourism
Posts: 2402 - Karma: 135
We've been getting snow recently but it's freeze thaw, but according to locals and previous seasonairres mid november is dumping time.
Ski area opens 26th november and with Tignes you have all the Val D'isere ski area too, and you can ski over to D'isere and see the town which is really nice to look at, Tignes seems for functional than traditional alps town.

Chamonix is really beautiful though, the ski area is amazing especially for off piste and the town is phenominally pretty.


Possibly look into Zermatt, it's pretty high and the skiing is pretty decent.
Oct 28 2011 4:26PM
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pastysmasher
Posts: 780 - Karma: 664
Small(ish) resort in Austria called Nassfeld. Has a fairly long season and some sick terrain and some big snowfalls!
Oct 28 2011 5:42PM
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Ghini
Posts: 2230 - Karma: 2,883
check www.wepowder.nl
Oct 28 2011 5:47PM
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Thenowhereman42
Posts: 5682 - Karma: 65
Hintertux is ballin, holy shit. You take a gondola ride roughly the length of the one at Mammoth just to get from the parking lot to the base. Then another two even longer gondola rides to get to the top. It is so.fucking.big. Its seriously awe inspiring. Its also a glacier so the snow is good all the time I guess (I was there in April and the other local resort, Zillertal, had really crappy snow but up on the Hintertux it was amazing. There is a lot of cool sidecountry stuff you can get to easily as well.

The whole experience is great too. They have weird like gypsy/punk/traditional bands with accordians and shit playing at the bar, and they have STROH RUM which is like 90% alcohol but still goes down smooth somehow. There is a bar in the town at the base of the mountain with a weird game where you try to hammer a nail into a tree stump with a hammer that has a massive hole in the middle of it, its like a drinking game. If you get it in on one hit apparently everybody in the bar has to buy you a drink.

There is no park at the Hintertux but there is quite a good park at Zillertal. When I went I stayed in Mayrhofen which is an amazing little town, and the gondola to Zillertal starts literally in the middle of town. Then the Hintertux is like a 20 minute cab journey.

I have never skied anywhere else in Europe so I can't compare it to anything, but I would seriously recommend the Hintertux. If you do end up in Mayrhofen, there is a butcher across the street from the Zillertal lift with a bunch of meat hanging in the window. Get a ham sandwich there. Don't even think about it, just do it.
Oct 28 2011 6:06PM
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mklammer
Posts: 388 - Karma: 610
dude i love it how stoked you are on our country/mountains/traditions!! :)

Check out my vimeo channel for some videos from hintertux and kitzsteinhorn.. next 3 days i will shred stubai glacier! video is gonna be online soon!!

www.vimeo.com/rudo
Oct 28 2011 6:29PM
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Thenowhereman42
Posts: 5682 - Karma: 65
Yeah I was lucky enough to be basically the only American at Snowbombing last year.
Oct 28 2011 6:50PM
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Newschool_Pope
Posts: 2473 - Karma: 267
really nice videos!!!
Oct 31 2011 4:05AM
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vauban08
Posts: 575 - Karma: 119
Hintertux DOES have a park. In fact, that's the main reason many people go there. It's an early/late season park though, so it's opened from September to mid-December and then again in spring season.

But seriously, if this is your only weekend in the Alps, don't focus on park!! Go to Zermatt, enjoy the Matterhorn view at 3900m (12.800ft) and shred the slackcountry.
Oct 31 2011 7:44AM
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Jibberino
Posts: 2088 - Karma: 1,333
I'm gonna have to correct a few things in this post.

There is indeed a park at Hintertux.

Zillertal is the whole valley, not just one resort. The park you refer to as the Zillertal park, is probably the Mayrhofen Vans Penken park, and it's one of the best in Europe. However, it probably won't be open this early. The lift you refer to as the Zillertal lift is probably the Penkenbahn, which leads into the Penken ski area.

With that being said, I would personally go to Hintertux, Kaunertal or Stubai. They're all glacier resorts, and should have the possibility of pow, even this early on. Please don't go to France, the mountains are amazing, but the resort towns, and the people in them often make it a subpar experience. For the whole package, Austria is the way to go. Sweet mountains, picturesque towns, nice people, good food, and relatively cheap beer. And above all else, the schnapsel! Go for marillen or obstler.

Oct 31 2011 8:14AM
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mehregan15
Posts: 779 - Karma: 741
i'm in spain for the semester and im looking to do a little shredding too... lots of good info in here, thanks!
Oct 31 2011 9:57AM
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250r
Posts: 2274 - Karma: 1,020
saas fee and zermat normally have some good early season parks
Oct 31 2011 3:02PM
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miketheskier88
Posts: 749 - Karma: 66
Stroh never goes down smoothly man... That shit is killer.
Oct 31 2011 5:38PM
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Jibberino
Posts: 2088 - Karma: 1,333
You didn't really read the OP, did you?
Oct 31 2011 6:45PM
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250r
Posts: 2274 - Karma: 1,020
haha no i did not
Oct 31 2011 7:21PM
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