Best time and place for beginners Skiing?

Question

Hi

My partner would love to go skiing, niether of us have before and Iv no idea where to start looking

Can anyone suggest a good place to go and what time of year is best?

Many Thanks

Answer 1

velka raca, oscadnica in slovakia,  dirt cheap great beginners resort. we go every year. Go any time between december and march. just type in velka raca to google and have a look.  you will have to organise it all yourself but it is very easy to do.

Answer 2

we went to borovetz , bulgaria . most pleasant and quite cheap . Personally , i would suggest you find a resort with dedicated ' beginners only ' slopes . - trying to learn , whilst experienced skiers are skiing by at top speed ,is scary .

Answer 3

No idea where you're at, but go local if you can.  

My only advice as to WHEN: going early in the season gives you colder weather and shorter days.  That's often accompanied by harder snow if it hasn't freshly snowed in a few days.  So my suggestion is to learn in late February or anytime in March.  You generally get warmer weather, longer (and sunnier) days, easy skiing conditions, copious amounts of base (compacted snow on the ground) and plenty of sunlight left at the end of the day to have a drink outdoors, admire the mountains and laugh about how fun the day was.

Answer 4

This depends on where you live.

If your in Europe, Chamonix is a personal favorite ski resort for me, around feburary. However it depends on how much you want to spend.

Avoriaz is fairly cheap and very good for beginners to higher experienced skiiers.

There are loads of cheaper resorts in Bulgaria and the lower french alps.

Also in the pyranees there are many small towns that are good.

If you're in the US I apologise.

Answer 5

if you have never skied before, i recomend going to the nearest hill and trying it out. stick to the bunny hill and take some lessons. if you enjoy it and are considering a vacation, i recomend whistler blackomb. i have been to many mountains and nothing can compare.

Answer 6

If you're a beginner, you probably don't want to purchase a big fancy ski trip, since there's a chance you may not like it.  On the other hand, you don't want to go to some junky place, either.  So I would say find somewhere within about a 6-7 hour drive of where you are, that's medium-sized, if that is possible - I have no idea where you live, of course.

As far as when to go, it varies from place to place, but in the US most places open between mid-November (a handful of high-altitude places for instance in Colorado) and mid-December (Michigan, for instance), and start closing around mid-March.

Lodging will be more expensive when school is out, so perhaps consider February.

If you have problems with altitude, consider New England - the hills are still pretty high in terms of vertical distance from top to bottom, but no so high in terms of altitude above sea level.

I'm kind of on the line between intermediate and advanced.  I have really enjoyed Mont Tremblant (Quebec), Crested Butte (Colorado), Winter Park (Colorado), Snowshoe (W. Virginia), probably in that order.  I also went to Monarch and Wolf-something or something-Wolf in Colorado when I was a beginner, and had a good time, but that was around 1990 and I don't remember the specifics very well.

Go to a bunch of ski places' websites, or look at snow.yahoo.com and ideally find one that has:

* Total elevation difference at least 1000 feet, preferably 2000 (don't get scared - most beginner trails will only be on the bottom part, except usually there are a couple loooong ones that go from top to bottom but are not steep)

* A good number of runs.  Say 50 or so for a medium-sized place.

* Percentage of trails that are beginner trails pretty high, such as 30%

I would recommend against the Tahoe-area places.  I've not been there, but my wife is a beginner and when I checked them out on the web, there didn't seem to be too many beginner trails for her.

Answer 7

First of all, make it a weekend trip. Skiing two days in a row will gain you a lot more than two individual days several weeks apart.

Choose a mountain that has a good "never-ever" program. They have a special discount rate and program for beginners. It will include all lessons and rentals. You can compare their programs online.

Go early in the season. All resorts make snow in the beginners area, where you will be skiing. This will give you time to spend the whole season improving.

Rent equipment the first few times you ski. If you decide to stick with it, invest in a pair of boots. Have them fitted properly. Boots are the most important part of your gear, and a good fit makes all the difference. You can keep renting skis until you are ready to buy.

Most important, don't give up. That first day on skis can be pretty discouraging. Once you have enough control to ski all over the mountain, you will find it's completely exhilarating.