Is there such a thing as affordable skiing? Well we think so and some resorts do cater for the budget conscious. With the Euro against the Pound its always going to be an up hill battle, but here are our suggested top resorts providing affordable skiing.
Mayrhofen, Austria
Mayrhofen sits between the Penken and the Ahorn mountains which provide ski runs in the winter and mountain biking, hiking and paragliding in the summer. The Ahorn offers mainly easy and intermediate runs, but also has a long, steep red run which was once on the World Cup Downhill circuit but was removed as it was deemed too dangerous. The Penken mountain offers Austria's steepest piste, named Harakiri, as well as a large range of ski runs at different levels of difficulty. It is connected by lifts with the villages of Finkenberg, Lanersbach and Schwendau. The Penken is reached by a Gondola system which located on the main street next to the Sport Hotel Strass, in the centre of the village, while the Ahorn Cable car, which as of 2008 is the largest cable car in Austria (160 passengers) is situated at the southern end of the town.
Pas De La Casa, Andorra
El Pas de la Casa is a ski resort (part of the Grandvalira resort), town, and mountain pass in Andorra, lying on the border with France. Literally "the pass of the house", the pass marks the watershed of the Pyrenees and at an elevation of 2408 m, is one of the highest points on the European road network. The pass is bypassed by the Envalira Tunnel.
La Thuile, Italy
La Thuile is situated in the Alps at the extreme north-west of the country, close to the French alpine town of La Rosière. La Thuile is situated along a road going from Pré-Saint-Didier in the north-west up to the Little St Bernard Pass in the south-east linking Italy to Bourg-Saint-Maurice and the Isère Valley in France.
La Plagne, France
La Plagne lies at altitudes between 3250 metres and 1250 metres (in the village of Montchavin). La Plagne has 100 km² of ski area spread across four communes (Aime, Bellentre, Champagny-en-Vanoise and Macôt-La Plagne). La Plagne has 225 kilometres of slopes (134 slopes : 15 black (expert), 30 red (advanced), 72 blue (intermediate) and 10 green (beginner)), and a large off-skiing area including Bellecôte's North Face. La Plagne is a modern ski resort with 2 cable-cars (the Telemetro, linking Plagne Centre and Aime-La Plagne and the Vanoise Express, which links La Plagne to Les Arcs and was opened in 2003, 8 gondolas, 36 chairlifts (1 8-seater, 11 6-seaters, 19 4-seaters and 5 2-seaters) and 38 drag lifts.
Les Deux Alpes, France
Les Deux Alpes offers approximately 220km of pisted runs and 2300m of vertical drop. In terms of pistes the resort has been termed "upside-down", as the lower slopes down to the resort are steeper and more challenging than the higher ski areas, including the wide and forgiving glacier runs. Less advanced skiers either take a gondola down to the resort or follow a lengthy, gentle but narrow, track on the path of the access road. A wide area at the very bottom by the town is given over to nursery slopes. In total there are 100 marked runs spread across the resort however, in addition, it is said to have as much off piste as groomed piste.
Cervinia, Italy
The Breuil-Cervinia Valtournenche Zermatt district is one of the largest in the Alps, with a varied “domaine skiable” beyond compare, which stretches through three valleys in two countries, Italy and Switzerland, from the 3,883 m of the Piccolo Cervino descending to the 1,524 m of Valtournenche. 350 km of ski runs offering the chance to ski all day without ever repeating the same run twice, alternating easier runs with those of increasing difficulty. www.cervinia.it
Klosters, Switzerland
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