Suggestion for the best of the best!

I would have to go with St Anton as well but I do get where Wickers is coming from. While the skiing in St Anton is fantastic (not to mention the amazing apres ski), the resort is not without its flaws. The resort is generally a bit up itself and seems oblivious/indifferent to its shortcomings :evil: . The skibus service is poor, especially the links to Lech which are completely inaquate - maybe Lech rations the number of St Anton'ers it will let in :roll:. The apparent monopoly on ski hire means it is probably the most expensive in the alps :evil: . Overall costs are extremely high by Austrian standards :evil: . While overall lifts are high quality and efficient, there are still a few old, slow lifts around the place :evil: .

.... did I mention that I am planning on going there in about 3 weeks if I can find accommodation :lol: :lol: :lol:

I don't understand how a resort can be "up itself". If you mean the PR talks about how good it is, add to that list everywhere in France, and pretty much any large resort across Europe.
Every resort has its flaws and problem lifts, it doesn't have to be a small slow 2 man chair to be a problem, many chairs across the 3 valleys are fast 6 or 8 man chairs but have huge queues for them. Les arcs is the same.
Neither has the scenery, skiing or life to match st Anton though.

As for buses, we got round to lech and zurs and on to Sonnenkopf in the other direction without any problems, but you need to avoid trying to take the bus out of st Anton and ski down to stuben in order to do that.

I do agree its expensive for Austria, something we complained about last march at times, but it means you have to find places with better priced food and drink, that's all. Hardly something you don't worry about in France, is it?

If you're worried about ski hire costs, why not buy your own and never hire again? That's a cost saver over a few years, especially if you ski more than once a season.......

All of those issues with St Anton are valid, though I don't believe any of them prevent the resort being the best for expert skiers. The terrain and extent of the off piste more than make up for the odd queue.

If you're worried about ski hire costs, why not buy your own and never hire again? That's a cost saver over a few years, especially if you ski more than once a season.......

I think if you do the maths it is much more beneficial to hire skis than buy the.

Ski Hire Cost / Week €114 or £97

Ski Carriage / £70 (£35 each way)
£27 to depreciate your skis per trip.
10 - 15 weeks skiing to get to break even point depending on the cost of your skis.

Then add the cost of Service each trip or year is another £20 ~ £30 depending on what you have done (unless you can do it yourself).

I think the most I've ever paid for ski carriage is £20 both ways.
I'd never go back to hiring skis, unless I fancied renting a pair of powder skis for a day.

Stewart Dowling wrote:

If you're worried about ski hire costs, why not buy your own and never hire again? That's a cost saver over a few years, especially if you ski more than once a season.......

I think if you do the maths it is much more beneficial to hire skis than buy the.

Ski Hire Cost / Week €114 or £97

Ski Carriage / £70 (£35 each way)
£27 to depreciate your skis per trip.
10 - 15 weeks skiing to get to break even point depending on the cost of your skis.

Then add the cost of Service each trip or year is another £20 ~ £30 depending on what you have done (unless you can do it yourself).

Cost of skis: £350
Transport per flight: £30 (twice a season = £60)
Edge and wax: £15 if you dont do it yourself = £60 for 2 services

Added benefit of knowing your own skis and what they can do, and avoiding being given rubbish or broken skis, or for those not in the know skis which are not really suited to their ability.

Ski rental: £100 a week = £200 twice a season

In 5 seasons you'll have paid £1000 to rent and have nothing to show for it
Whereas if you buy you'll have paid out £800 and have your own skis to show for it

Ok. you can pay more to buy some skis, and probably slightly more in some resorts or less in others to rent. But I think the obvious thing is that your skis pay for themselves in 5 seasons.

Don't you own ski's Stewart, and sometimes not go more than once a season?

Also, I haven't paid anything like £35 each way for ski carriage. Its usually £30 return, but does vary with who you fly with.

andyhull wrote:I think the most I've ever paid for ski carriage is £20 both ways.
I'd never go back to hiring skis, unless I fancied renting a pair of powder skis for a day.

Some of the budget airlines are £60 round trip :shock:

Ian Wickham wrote:

andyhull wrote:I think the most I've ever paid for ski carriage is £20 both ways.
I'd never go back to hiring skis, unless I fancied renting a pair of powder skis for a day.

Some of the budget airlines are £60 round trip :shock:

Your favourites are £100 for ski carriage.
This is why I for one don't use them and as many people take package holidays they get £30 return ski carriage.
Monarch, Thomson, jet2, Thomas cook etc who provide a high proportion of uk ski flights all charge pretty much around the £30 return mark.


I was also wondering how the figure of depreciation on skis could be calculated to £27 a year. Any ideas?