BEST place to do a season?

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plankpusher

New member
im thinking either Are sweden, mayrhofen, or les deux alpes!? i cant fucking decide to save my life.

i ride park 80% of the time an the other 20% i save for an almighty over night metre of white gold!!!

im worried about accomadation hostels, renting... as ill be scrapng by on next to nothing wages... an also i want to get a shitty night time job eg dish pig so i can slay all day! any suggestions, experiences or advice would be marvellous...

obviously i like to have a few casual ones an the occsional messy one but im not too fussed about party towns more about the skiing!

HELP
 
L2A has a sick park in winter.Quite a bit of night life so you should get a job fine.

Have you compared the price for passes and accomodation, that will probably be the deciding factor.
 
im doing mayrhofen this coming season, defiantly ticks all of your boxes. 1 of the top 3 parks (with a dedicated 6 man chair lift!) in europe along with a huge skiable area included in the zilelrtal valley pass, there is loads of variety with lots of tree runs and more open off piste stuff (all accessible by bus). Mayrhofen is a party town with lots of bars/clubs but also a couple of festivals in the late season (snowbombing). I have heard people finding it dificult to get accomadation sorted early, possibly something you have to turn up in resort and sort out. Austria is also considerably cheaper when it comes to living in general, although your rent may be similar to france, your weekly shopping will be much cheaper.

2 Alpes has much more limited skiing, although its big its virtually all above the treeline so when there is bad weather you cant really escape it. Ive also heard that the park team are kinda lazy and dont actually change the park around that much once its built ( might be false information, not sure). It is also much slower lapping the park as the chair also serves about 4 or 5 other runs not including the park. That being said i think finding accomodation is easier and again there is lots in terms of bars/clubs/restaraunts so lots of jobs i presume.

I dont know anything about are in terms of skiing or jobs etc. so cant help you with that.

Hope this helps!
 
i think sweden has a very high cost of living in general, but i presume as a result you will get paid more in your job, not sure.
 
I'd pick either Mayr or L2A. Åre is nice and all but it cannot compare to the resorts in the alps when it's dumping. plus the weather is waaaaaaay nicer in the alps than up north in Sweden. in december and january it gets dark super early so the lifts close at around 3pm until february.
 
13099414:JibbaTheHutt said:
im doing mayrhofen this coming season, defiantly ticks all of your boxes. 1 of the top 3 parks (with a dedicated 6 man chair lift!) in europe along with a huge skiable area included in the zilelrtal valley pass, there is loads of variety with lots of tree runs and more open off piste stuff (all accessible by bus). Mayrhofen is a party town with lots of bars/clubs but also a couple of festivals in the late season (snowbombing). I have heard people finding it dificult to get accomadation sorted early, possibly something you have to turn up in resort and sort out. Austria is also considerably cheaper when it comes to living in general, although your rent may be similar to france, your weekly shopping will be much cheaper.
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having come off a season in mayrhofen i would definitely reccommend doing a season here. the park chair is a 4 not 6 but its still quick, worst part about the chair is the tourists using it to access a cat track and to gape through the park. the amount of skiable and rad terrain up and down the valley is ridiculous. (down the valley is easiest accessed by the train which you get free on a zillertal pass, up is accessed easiest by either skiing over from mayrhofen or getting the bus up). as mentioned getting somewhere to stay is a little difficult but if you're looking to work as a dishwasher you might get somewhere to live as part of the job in a hotel. If you have a car dont rule out living out of town, it limits going out to crashing on floors etc but there isnt a lot of space in town as its generally smaller hotels and apartments blocks compared to the mega hotels of france. Finding somewhere outwith a job to stay can be difficult if you dont speak german, but still doable. There are 4 parks in the valley with the glacier park opening at the end of the season so if you get bored of the penken park there are lots of other options, of varying size and quality.

In terms of food costs if you have a car or a serious desire you can easily get to the bigger supermarkets to live on a minimal budget but again if you're washing dishes in a hotel etc some meals could be provided. I had limited cooking facilities and a decent paying job so ate out a lot which isnt that expensive once you work out the places to go but is a luxury for sure. because of my job i didnt end up doing as much skiing as i would have hoped (probably good for my acl-less knee) but i would definitely go back, working less. such a rad place and people and plenty of repeat seasonaires.
 
I did a season in L2A this winter.

Pros:

Good park

SOME good terrain

Good bars and clubs

The Pano Bar, its sick!

Good crew of people in the park that are down to shred and have beers afterwards.

Cons:

Its pretty much all above the tree line and on a cloudy day, you cant see shit. It got to the point where I just wouldn't bother going up if the cloud was bad.

Limited terrain. Theres definitely some goods, but its not plentiful. That said if you ski park 80% of the time then you'll probs be happy with what there is.

People who aren't there to ski or snowboard. So many people who are there just to get pissed.

Lack of females. So much sausage.

Its kinda rough. For a ski resort. I heard of a few people who got beaten up. One of my friends got the shit kicked out of him and was in hospital for a week.

All in all, i'd say go mayrhofen.
 
Les Deux Alpes is one of the most boring mountains I've ever ridden, besides the park, which is just "good" not great unless it's changed a lot in the last few years. Unless you want to learn how to ski La Grave then look else where.

Mayrhofen's park is good and has a lot of good terrain in the valley if they get good snow. A much safer bet. Get there sometime in October and ride Hintertux every other day while looking for housing an a job. Live in town if you care about distance to bars, or towards Hippach if you don't.

Look into Flachauwinkl too - park looks intense. Val d'Isere/Tignes if you're into the seasonaire atmosphere, or Verbier if your budget is bigger.
 
Val d'Isere/Tignes if you're into the seasonaire atmosphere

can agree with this, did last season in val and really enjoyed it. between the val park and tinges park you have some pretty good options in terms of park. the mountains are big and there is lots of opportunity for lift accessed off piste as well as plenty of other stuff if you don't mind some short hikes.

the towns them selves are super lively, val has a couple of ok sized clubs and loads of bars. id say tinges is quite bait cheaper to live in but isn't quite as much of a party town, still more so than lots of other resorts.

They are both also incredibly english, meaning it is really easy to find a job if you only speak english. the main strip of val d'isere is pretty much completely british run pubs and bars with the exception of maybe 1 or 2, i know tinges is pretty similar.
 
Sorry to but in here but i thought you guys could help me out too. What types of jobs are available in the Mayrhofen area if you speak german but have no school training or college? Any ideas would be helpful, thanks
 
13100874:Boax said:
Les Deux Alpes is one of the most boring mountains I've ever ridden, besides the park, which is just "good" not great unless it's changed a lot in the last few years. Unless you want to learn how to ski La Grave then look else where.

Mayrhofen's park is good and has a lot of good terrain in the valley if they get good snow. A much safer bet. Get there sometime in October and ride Hintertux every other day while looking for housing an a job. Live in town if you care about distance to bars, or towards Hippach if you don't.

Look into Flachauwinkl too - park looks intense. Val d'Isere/Tignes if you're into the seasonaire atmosphere, or Verbier if your budget is bigger.
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Just read your blog man, really good stuff, sorry to hear about Dave, absolutely tragic. Myself and 3 mates from Scotland are heading out to Chamonix on January 3rd if your looking for people to ski with, we've never been before so a guide would be cool, do you offer guide services? we're not serious off piste skiers so wouldn't be looking for the gnarliest lines down the Aiguille du midi or that, just good reasonable places to shred.

Looking forward to more from your blog.
 
13101586:.Bobo. said:
we've never been before so a guide would be cool, do you offer guide services? we're not serious off piste skiers so wouldn't be looking for the gnarliest lines down the Aiguille du midi or that, just good reasonable places to shred.
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No, I'm not a guide and unoffcial guiding is illegal in France now, even around pistes! Best thing to do would be to book a guide for your second or third day on the hill (maybe wait to check weather for those days, but inquire in advance to check if that's OK) and get a very quick early lap off the Midi (whatever Valley Blanche variation they recommend for your ability, but try to do Gros Rognon instead of the Classic VB for sure), then bus up to Grands Montets for some guiding there in the afternoon - you'll ski GM most and there are a few areas you'd need to be shown to know they're there. Other areas are pretty easy to figure out on your own. Definitely try to get a day in Courmayeur and/or Verbier too (40/60 minute bus)!

Maybe even think about an avalanche safety course, where you'll be shown around GM a bit anyway. http://avalancheacademy.com do single days for €75 and a free hour-long talk on Mondays too. They're who I did my avi and crevasse safety courses with, highly recommended.

Shoot me some questions closer to the time for some current info anyway. Early January is normally prime for powder and no crowds, good call!
 
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