Where can I go abroad to ski big stuff?!?!?!

livyjane

livyjane

Member
Yo everybody, I'm planning on studying abroad next spring. Wondering if anyone has recommendations for places to ski big stuff in this great big world of ours. I'm leaning towards University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand (NZ's fall/winter). Honestly all I want to do is ski. If you've skied somewhere crazy in the world , lemme know.
 
Andermatt in Switzerland has some pretty massive descents on it. Actual resort isn't overly big, but the mountain itself is huge, and there's loads of other brilliant places to ski that're in the 1-2 hour range away if you'd ever get bored.
 
topic:livyjane said:
Yo everybody, I'm planning on studying abroad next spring. Wondering if anyone has recommendations for places to ski big stuff in this great big world of ours. I'm leaning towards University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand (NZ's fall/winter). Honestly all I want to do is ski. If you've skied somewhere crazy in the world , lemme know.
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Japan
 
If you can swing Christchurch that would be pretty sweet. The skiing there is sick, although it's quite a ways from town. I looked into trying to do that back when I was in school, it's a really cool place, with ridiculous recreation opportunities.
 
topic:livyjane said:
Yo everybody, I'm planning on studying abroad next spring. Wondering if anyone has recommendations for places to ski big stuff in this great big world of ours. I'm leaning towards University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand (NZ's fall/winter). Honestly all I want to do is ski. If you've skied somewhere crazy in the world , lemme know.
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Christchurch is awesome, if you dont have to live in christchurch look up Methven. I lived in Methven southwinter of 2019 and t’was a blast. christchurch is nice you got busses to the mountain. Look up mt. Olympus ski feild and other nutcracker skifeilds, that will get you closer to big stuff.

Also mt lyford is sick but idk where it is.

its pretty easy to rent a car on weekends to get out of the city. Also strongly recommend flying into Queenstown and going bungee jumping.
 
Heads up, Christchurch is a ghost town since the earthquake and not even that close to skiing. My wife and I moved to Christchurch and quickly did an about face to Queenstown. There’s some cool places around that area but it is very very sleepy and skiing is a bit of a drive.

I still can’t wrap my head around how bars and restaurants are that big in Christchurch yet no one is in them. I did spend some time in Lyttleton though and loved it.
 
14451136:BradFiAusNzCoCa said:
Heads up, Christchurch is a ghost town since the earthquake and not even that close to skiing. My wife and I moved to Christchurch and quickly did an about face to Queenstown. There’s some cool places around that area but it is very very sleepy and skiing is a bit of a drive.

I still can’t wrap my head around how bars and restaurants are that big in Christchurch yet no one is in them. I did spend some time in Lyttleton though and loved it.
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Damn. Thanks for the heads up man.
 
Val Thorens in France is huge and has a lot of cool terrain. Had easily the longest top to bottom runs I've skied before. Lavigno/Mottolino in Italy was really affordable and duty free. The sun would hit a different side of the valley throughout the day so you avoid bullet proof conditions in the morning and avoid slush in the afternoon.
 
I was in the exact same situation as you 2 years ago. I studied abroad in Grenoble, France. best decision ever. It's a medium size city in the french alps, 30-60 mins away from the best skiing in france. 2 hours from switzerland. Ski mountains: alp d'huez, 2 alpes, 3 valles, and more. Can't recommend grenoble enough. There are a few schools in Grenoble. Happy to talk about it more if you want
 
I skied Les 2 Alpes in the summer back in the day. That whole area is so cool

14454763:maxnks said:
I was in the exact same situation as you 2 years ago. I studied abroad in Grenoble, France. best decision ever. It's a medium size city in the french alps, 30-60 mins away from the best skiing in france. 2 hours from switzerland. Ski mountains: alp d'huez, 2 alpes, 3 valles, and more. Can't recommend grenoble enough. There are a few schools in Grenoble. Happy to talk about it more if you want
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Georgia. Lift tickets there cost what they used to cost here in the USA 60 years ago. Probably one of the last truly unmolested places to ski on earth. No visa required to stay 12 months. EU, NZ, and to an extent Japan have long been corporatized and the Jewish pricing has crept in.
 
14454763:max99r said:
I was in the exact same situation as you 2 years ago. I studied abroad in Grenoble, France. best decision ever. It's a medium size city in the french alps, 30-60 mins away from the best skiing in france. 2 hours from switzerland. Ski mountains: alp d'huez, 2 alpes, 3 valles, and more. Can't recommend grenoble enough. There are a few schools in Grenoble. Happy to talk about it more if you want
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Dude I made a decision for university of alps Grenoble !!! That’s so crazy. I’d love to talk to you more ab it & what places you reccomend etc.
 
I live there. 2h ish to most skiing from town. The most commercial hill is Mt Hutt which has usually the only park, i wouldn't go on the weekends its a 5.30am get up to get a carpark. Clubs are sick and if i was travelling here it would be for them. You can leave at a normal time (7am or late) to hit those, and they have accom on site and it can be a pretty good night on the booze too if you have a crew. We do get pretty bad thaw and refreeze, any time its not a storm its usually above freezing on the hill even in the middle of winter. It makes for a lot of coral reef so the clubs aren't always that skiable, quite a few of them are offpiste only.

That said the clubs have sick terrain, check out Craig Murray and @Julianjamesa who post a fair ammount of club action.

Town party scene is rather limited, but if you are at uni the scene is more boxes of beer in a house party garage unless something has changed dramatically.

**This post was edited on Aug 17th 2022 at 12:50:51am
 
14451103:b0ss said:
Christchurch is awesome, if you dont have to live in christchurch look up Methven. I lived in Methven southwinter of 2019 and t’was a blast. christchurch is nice you got busses to the mountain. Look up mt. Olympus ski feild and other nutcracker skifeilds, that will get you closer to big stuff.

Also mt lyford is sick but idk where it is.

its pretty easy to rent a car on weekends to get out of the city. Also strongly recommend flying into Queenstown and going bungee jumping.
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I lived in a methvan at 1 point
 
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