Broxi

Hi, how you duders doing?

Anyone else from the UK ... I'm new to the snowboarding scene too, left it a bit late maybe (30 this month) but I haven't had this much fun since my skateboarding days in my early teens.

Already came across Snowolf from here at another forum I think ... ABC of Snowboarding?

snoeboarder

Welcome! Im not from the UK but riding is definitely some of the most fun I've ever had.

owen

Hi Broxi... I am right down south in England, and I know what you mean I started out at 38... and have just come back from a long weekend in Chamonix... Left on Monday, and tuesday night it dumped about 500mm of fresh stuff.

So where have you been?

Broxi

Hey there ... No where yet, just got started at the local Xscape centre but hoping to get booked up somewhere by maybe end of April. Any good suggestions in Europe?

owen

Hey Broxi

If you are pretty new, there are a couple of places I would recommend, but it also depends on your budget.

You can go to the three valleys, I went to Meribell, it is ok, and there are a couple of nice greens to get warmed up on, and a few decent blues, but I didn't investigate much of the rest of the area outside of Meribell & Mottaret.

Chamonix is regarded generally as a more advanced area, although I would say that Le Tour has a really good small Green with a button lift, and a larger green right next door. I would start off here for the first day, and once you are confortable with that, then take the car upto Flergere and at the top of the cable car there are a couple of more challenging greens, much longer with some more varied slopes and turns, plus some nice long runs for building confidence. There are also some decent blues that you could do there.

The lower runs in Argentierre are blue and there is even a park if you wanted to arse about on some little ramps.
You can get the bus from Chamonix across to Courmayer (30 mins) although the slopes there tend to be a bit more menacing, with no greens and fewer blues....

Chamonix is pretty expensive though, if you are goign to eat out ever lunchtime and evening. If you are looking for good deals, you could try skiweekends.co.uk, I have used them a few times, and they are pretty good.

I have a couple of pics of chamonix up at waxmonkey.co.uk, and there will be some more soon if you want to look at the scenery etc

Cheers
Wax Monkey

Broxi

That's some great advice, we were looking at Chamonix and by your account it sounds like it would be pretty good for us but obviously we need to keep an eye on our costs.

A friend who is a keen skier recommended Sestriere as a good quiet place for beginners.
Sestriere: official web site

Do you know anything of Sestriere?