UKC

Hi All
I was asked by a freind of mine who is planning a winter trip of couples with babies which ski resort i would recommend that had sufficient X country ski trails (ski du fond, not ski touring) a good lift system for downhill and interesting off piste.
Can anyone help with a family friendly resort? I can think of plenty to go at that can give good steep and deep but don't know too many that have good X country trails that the mums and dads could pull the small people round in pulks. The ones i have been on in the 3 vallies and Chamonix haven't really floated my boat and may not have good cover at Easter.
The trip will be in April (Easter), any thoughts?
Cheers
James

In reply to James Edwards: have a look at the Queyras, maybe St Veran although Easter may be a bit late although would have been fine this year.

Ax les Thermes (Pyrenees) has downhill & xc close by but not exactly together, and again maybe Easter would be late.

Otherwise maybe somewhere in Norway ?

In reply to James Edwards:
Early April is probably a bit late for most Alpine cross-country trails, unless it's unusually cold and/or snowy. By its nature, this type of skiing tends to be based down in the valleys at an altitude range of about 1,000m - 1,500m. You might still be ok with places where the cross-country is on relatively high altitude plateaus, for example Alpe di Siusi / Seiser Alm in South Tyrop. The downhill thereabouts (Val Gardena) is ok for beginners to intermediates, don't know about off-piste.

Otherwise Norway or Finland as Doug suggests, cross-country is meant to be ok there into April. The only time I've been there was still lots of snow but it wasn't in great condition, thought that was meant to have been unusual. The challenge might be finding somewhere with decent downhill (significant vertical drops) and cross-country close together.

In reply to James Edwards: Tignes maybe. XC around the lake, go snowcover as it's high & excellent piste & off-piste skiing. It is a bit of an ugly purpose built resort though.

In reply to Misha:


In Finnish lapland definitely - April can often be the best time, a bit warmer, longer days. Most of the Finnish resorts are very set up for XC with hundreds of kms of well prepared tracks with shelters/huts along the way with firewood ready so you can grill sausages etc. Lots of people also take kids in pulkas as well so you'd be able to hire locally. The "but" to all this is that even the best Finnish resorts would probably only give a couple of days entertainment to a good downhill skier (unless you are well into pipes 'n' park malarky as these tend to be very good and extensive for all the teenage boarders and free skiers), and off piste is limited. I've skied at Ylläs and its pretty nice with massive amounts of XC and snowmobile trails around, but I've heard aggressive skiers prefer Levi which is steeper.

In reply to TobyA: I skied at Koli which is a bit further south than Lapland but the snow was still good in late March. The xc looked very good but although I only skied for maybe 3 hours (I was there for a conference rather than a holiday) I was starting to get bored with the downhill. A many of the Finns were claiming it was one of the bigger resorts in Finnland- no idea if that's true

I've also skied at Oppdal (Norway) at a similar time of year - the downhill was good as was the touring but I don't know if there's much xc there

In reply to James Edwards: Have a look at Hafjell (Lillehammer) in Norway - there is XC on the hill above the runs and the Winter Olympic runs are in this resort and its neighbours (all on the same lift ticket). Not sure about off-piste. Was there in April this year - good conditions.

Book cheap flights into Oslo, then train connections to Lillehammer, taxi transfer to resort. Recommend the Hafjell Quality Hotel as child-friendly and very good food.

In reply to Doug:

One of the biggest in the South of Finland, but not as big as the Lapland resorts. As I remember Koli only has a couple of main runs doesn't it? I did a day there, maybe a day and half and got the same feeling. It was also -25 when we were there!

In reply to TobyA and all.
Many thanks for all the info.
Basically the want list is for baby and child freindly activities that some of the parents could do whilst the other parents are out 'aving it' on the slopes and off piste. So these activities could include swimming pools, cafes, indoor play etc etc.

Cheers all
James e

In reply to James Edwards: There's a monster swimmingpool & leisure centre in tignes.

Davos?

In reply to James Edwards:

Hi James, hope you're well! How about Crans Montana. Not sure the resort skiing is the best, but the X-country tracks are high and the touring is potentially good in April.

Give us a shout if you're in Wales the next few weeks

Toby

In reply to James Edwards:
Hey James, was going to suggest the Jura, albeit a bit late at Easter time.

However the downhill is limited and not much great ski de rando, unless you take heavy nordic kit, i.e no big steep stuff more x country skiing away form the prepared trails. Also not developed to the point of swimming pools etc.

We spend most of our winter weekends there. Coldest place in France and the best x country skiing in France by a longshot.

In reply to James Edwards:
Verbier? Great off piste & downhill. Never did any cross country but there definitely is some.