Best European early season resort

Julius_Steezer

Julius_Steezer

Member
Yo ns

So me and some mates are looking to ski in Europe from mid December through to early January. Ideally we want somewhere cheapish as we're dirtbagging it (so probs not Switzerland), has good early season snow levels and has a legit park which is set up to a decent level at that point in the season. Any back country would be cool but park is more important. So far we're thinking about stubai glacier but if you guys know of anywhere better then that would be awesome. We'll have a car so anywhere in Europe can be reached pretty much.

Safe
 
You should check out Snowpark Kaunertal too:http://www.snowpark-kaunertal.com/

Altough problem with Stubai and Kaunertal is that they have a big fall setup but only a small park in winter and if you come in December and stay till January the setup will be reduced in both parks during this time probably. You should think about going to two different locations maybe.

Advantage at Kaunertal over Stubai is that there are usually less people at the lift and it is easier to find cheap accomodations while both parks are great in fall and they have their full setup.
 
i think the hinter tux glacier by mayrhofen will still be running in december, have a check because the park there is fun, real nice jumps.
 
Yeah I think the Tirol region pass covers a number of resorts which have ill parks so I might get that and just hit a new resort every few days. Are there any parks which have more than a handful of rails/jumps other than hintertux?
 
Stubai park is the best at that time of year, if not one of the best parks of the whole winter.

Mid October till 20th November

and

Spring 10th April till 17th May
 
13456603:LOS said:
Stubai park is the best at that time of year, if not one of the best parks of the whole winter.

Mid October till 20th November

and

Spring 10th April till 17th May
Click to expand...

Sorry if I'm being dumb, are you saying those are the best dates for the stubai park? If so, what happens to it on the 20th November?
 
Studai is definitely great. Take a look into Laax and Saas-Fee in Switzerland too. Also Tignes and Les 2 Alpes offer good options in France.
 
laax will no doubt be the best park in Europe that time of year. As you noted though, it's 70chf a day for a lift pass and accomodations during that time of year aren't even affordable if you've just won the lottery

the austrain glaciers kick off big in September but their parks all die down late November to give way to the real resorts

I would check the historical dates for mayhofen's penkenpark, they might be open that early, serfaus might be as well. You could also check livigno (although Italians aren't too famous for being proactive). You could also try and check the timing for the parks of the east Austrian glaciers like dachstein, they might not transition like the tirol glaciers do

To be honest, it's kind of a weird in between time to go, but i'm sure with some research and luck you'll be okay
 
13456640:Julius_Steezer said:
Sorry if I'm being dumb, are you saying those are the best dates for the stubai park? If so, what happens to it on the 20th November?
Click to expand...

the park gets pretty boring, no big jumps. pretty much nothing like the videos you've seen from stubai, as they're all filmed either during preseason or in late spring. you could check out Hintertux or Kitzsteinhorn. Mayrhofen might also be pretty good, depending on the snow conditions.
 
Yeah the Tirol region pass looks good as I guess we can use it to just hop between resorts so the parks change everyday (or if one is way better than the rest then just stick it out in that one)
 
13457186:Julius_Steezer said:
Yeah the Tirol region pass looks good as I guess we can use it to just hop between resorts so the parks change everyday (or if one is way better than the rest then just stick it out in that one)
Click to expand...

Whoops, didn't see I posted that yesterday
 
I would stay away from Europe in early season. I went last year during Christmas and it was disastrous. We has more snow in southern pa. That being said i would look for the highest resorts. Last year Sweden was having a bomber year. Another big problem with euro resorts (to my knowledge) is lack of snowmaking. The most important thing is to look at what the current weather paterns are and decide of that. I went to Val/tignes.
 
13457202:jynx81 said:
I would stay away from Europe in early season. I went last year during Christmas and it was disastrous. We has more snow in southern pa. That being said i would look for the highest resorts. Last year Sweden was having a bomber year. Another big problem with euro resorts (to my knowledge) is lack of snowmaking. The most important thing is to look at what the current weather paterns are and decide of that. I went to Val/tignes.
Click to expand...

Yeah ideally we'd go much later but due to various timing factors we gotta go in this window. The snow was shitty last Christmas in europe but it should be ok on glaciers I guess.
 
13457202:jynx81 said:
I would stay away from Europe in early season. I went last year during Christmas and it was disastrous. We has more snow in southern pa. That being said i would look for the highest resorts. Last year Sweden was having a bomber year. Another big problem with euro resorts (to my knowledge) is lack of snowmaking. The most important thing is to look at what the current weather paterns are and decide of that. I went to Val/tignes.
Click to expand...

we had a late start last year. The previous year it dumped in November and that created enough snow for decent conditions all the way through Christmas. Last year was nothing until January and then it all came in 2 weeks
 
Go to Laax... or Vars in France. . vars is super super under rated.. and probably has the best mid winter park in europe.
 
]Yeah ideally we'd go much later but due to various timing factors we gotta go in this window. The snow was shitty last Christmas in europe but it should be ok on glaciers I guess.

Yeah true that. I was super pissed cuz we left on the day when it snowed a meter. Shit sucked we had to sleep at some friends house and ski over to get food.
 
13457237:dbchili said:
we had a late start last year. The previous year it dumped in November and that created enough snow for decent conditions all the way through Christmas. Last year was nothing until January and then it all came in 2 weeks
Click to expand...

Thats true. I remeber last year there so little snow that only tourist could ski. You just need that lucky break. Still remeber that snow storm late in December with a meter snow. To bad he had to leave on that day.
 
Does anyone know of/have some pics or edits from any of these parks from around the new year/Xmas last year? All these contributions are super helpful (cheers guys/girls) but actually seeing the parks would be sweet (I had a quick check but couldn't find much from after November which is when the Austrian glaciers apparently cut back on their parks)?
 
13457814:Julius_Steezer said:
Does anyone know of/have some pics or edits from any of these parks from around the new year/Xmas last year? All these contributions are super helpful (cheers guys/girls) but actually seeing the parks would be sweet (I had a quick check but couldn't find much from after November which is when the Austrian glaciers apparently cut back on their parks)?
Click to expand...

I actually shot this edit during the 3 days before Christmas at laax two winters ago
https://www.newschoolers.com/membervideo/679501.0/LAAX-stay-high?s=58200&t=6&o=8#TfbT5kf9gGhyf6ZO.97

In addition, for anyone coming over from North America, you'll probably have to adjust your expectations of what a good park is. Even the best parks in Europe I find barely stack up to some of the mediocore parks in North America. The jumps will be fine, but the rail selection is often way smaller, less variety and the setups can be a lot wonkier. A lot of Europeans get offended by such comments, but having skied Whis and Mammoth, and many many parks in the east, the European parks just are not of the same calibre. They're still fun and you'll have a blast, just make sure your expecations aren't too high
 
13457202:jynx81 said:
I would stay away from Europe in early season. I went last year during Christmas and it was disastrous. We has more snow in southern pa. That being said i would look for the highest resorts. Last year Sweden was having a bomber year. Another big problem with euro resorts (to my knowledge) is lack of snowmaking. The most important thing is to look at what the current weather paterns are and decide of that.
Click to expand...

THIS!

Start into last season was a disaster indeed but not uncommon for the Alps, always a hit or miss. Snow wise your safest bet during early season is Norway but have no clue when the parks start to shape up there.
 
^^^^

Basically true, particulary food and alcohol. Thuogh it depends a lot on how you play up there. Catch 22 - snow vs cheap....
 
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