Homeboy Ski Blog - Ski Gear, Ski Resorts, Interviews, Reviews, Tips & Tricks

People love lists.

I wrote couple of days ago how these days we merely surf the web and talk about skiing. However, we’ve had our share of epic pow days and world class resorts too (not to mention the aprés part of things…)

Did I mention people love all kind of lists? So, here we go, our pick of Top Ten Ski Resorts we have visited around the world. Soon we are going to write about the resorts we’d like to visit too but here the ones we have tested and proved:

1. Verbier, Switzerland

Now this is a tough one between Chamonix and the pearl of Valais canton. Chamonix is great and an absolute classic but IMHO Verbier is the ski resort – if you just think skiing and all things related to it: incredible terrain and vertical figures – CHECK, lots of variety – CHECK, snow security – CHECK (with glaciated terrain and Mont Fort at 3300m), extreme terrain, if that is your cup of tea – CHECK, nice intermediate slopes and amazing lift system for the more mortal skiers – CHECK, stunning views and relaxed athmosphere – CHECK, after ski, partying and night life – CHECK AND CHECK, incredible tree skiing (if the resort Bruson is “on”) – CHECK, annual extreme competition that is probably the best at its class – CHECK…

You could continue the above list for ages. Marko did a resort review about Verbier a while ago, check the details there. All I could say life is good in Verbier for sure.

2. Chamonix, France

Almost like a tie with the above. Still, the two have a very different feeling and atmosphere, although Verbier has obvioysly very gnarly terrain too. The vibe is just totally different.

While Verbier is a skier’s resort – Chamonix is that and so much more; the birth place of alpinism. As a skier you often feel very small and get humbled there. But if you are serious about your skiing and like to learn to know mountains (and learn to really respect the mountains too!), I guess there is no other place in the world that would offer similar experience. AK heliskiing might be something comparable but now we are talking abput lift served stuff here.

Many thing are even quite old fashioned in Chamonix. That is part of the picture, in a way. Ski areas are separated throught the valley, you have to use ski bus or car, down stations are often way too crowded, the competion for turns is sometimes too furious and if the weather and conditions are bad, you’d probably be many times happier in a more, modern, “normal” ski resort.

But that is only a part of the truth. In my opinion, what is often missing when discussing about Chamonix is the more small scale, down to earth, even easy skiing or snowboarding. Examples: forget the hassle of pow days in Grand Montets and head to Bruson / Flegere – you won’t be disapointed. Or take the tour to Buet Village, have a nice cup of espresso at the station before taking the train back to the village. Go to skiing the (often uncrowded) slopes of Le Tour and enjoy the views of Mont Blanc while carving wide, quite low angle slopes. There are alot of “secrets” and “secret spots” in Chamonix that are no big secrets at all actually but just tend to disappear under all the hard core mountaineering talk and reputation. Sure you have to learn those, year after year, but after all, as i said, many of the secrets are very easily to be found if you just look a little around and be open-minded (hint: taking a sertified UIAGM guide in Chamonix is not just recommended, it is just wise – very wise even)

Marko wrote a review about Chamonix couple of months ago, check it out here.

3. St. Anton am Arlberg, Austria

To be honest we don’t have too much experience from this area (and those are quite looong time ago). However, you can’t miss St. Anton and Arlberg area when talking about skiing in the Alps.

Skiing and after skiing go hand in hand and probably St.Anton’s legendary Krazy Kanguruh is the big enough reason to get into the list. If you ever skied and lived in the 80’s you know this. And if you are younger than that, ask the older skiers – you might get suprised…

Snow in Arlberg is also legendary. The quality of it and the amount of it. The location of the area gets dumps from many different directions, and often especially the early season is much snowier there thanin the western Alps.

(Image source: www.powdertravel.com)

4. Termas de Chillan, Chile

Now to something completely different. Yes, it is far away. Yes, it is also quite small actually. The Andes have much higher and bigger resorts too (which we’ve visited too btw.)

Termas de Chillan just puts a spellbound on you. I don’t know if it is the trees (weird ones for a Scandi!), the smell(!) in the air (honestly I think nowhere else have I felt the air so fresh!), the luxurious powder we had or the people, who are warm hearted and friendly. Or the odd ski bum travellers you met suddenly, and the faraway feeling that makes you feel like immediate friends…or the Andean Condores flying above you when you’re at the old one person chair lift…

The Condores themselves are a reason to travel that far. Patagonia is also relatively (yes, relatively) quite close, although the winter (our summer) travel possibilities to it are extremely limited. But all in all, I can’t but recommend Chile – beautiful, interesting country with lots to do and very friendly people.

5. La Grave, France

La Grave isn’t actually a resort at all. It is just a sleepy old french alpine village with a gondola and few other lifts higher on the mountain. But what mountain that is! La Meije is another of those thing every skier should experience at least once in their life. Not that many mountains get the name for their typical snow type but La Meije Windbuff is a well known concept – meaning the almost carvable, wind packed snow that is smooth and fast…

The legendary Doug Coombs (R.I.P) chose LaGrave to his home area for the latest years. That says something about the possibilities around.

I think we are going to write another whole review about the place sooner or later. I had the greatest and gnarliest runs of my life while there back in 2001. (You know the skiing is good when you are nor sure all the time if you are scared for life or stoked as hell…)

6. Jasna, Slovakia

Well, from now on the list start to get interesting. The reason we pick these more unknown, little resorts is that we have grew to love them for various reasons. These are probably not for everyone but compared to your everyday, bigger resorts, these also offer something unique and different.

About Jasna and Skiing in slovakia I allready wrote quite alot. You will find much more info on my series of Jasna posts: part 1, part 2 and part 3.

We just dig Jasna and skiing in Slovakia. Find out if you do too!

7. Narvik, Norway

Skiing above the fishing harbours. Alaska? No, but Norway is pretty close. Even the weather is pretty similar, meaning you can get more down days in a row that you ever even cared to imagine.

(picture source: www.funracing.no)

It has said about Narvik that when it is good, the skiing is clearly world-class. But the weather does its tricks as in Norway everywhere and the sad thing is you can’t ever be sure if you are lucky to have epic days or if you have to sit in the (quite boring, have to say) town and drink the most expensive beer you’ve ever had, or the most expensive pizzas,kebabs, stakes…but hey, fresh fish and sea food is cheap, and if you don’t mind (who does?) cooking your own food, gourmet food option is always possible. I had one of the best shrimp pastas ever on a small log cabin of Narvik Camping few years ago (thanks Ekku if you ever happen to read this – those were good times, good times…)

8. Pyhätunturi, Finland

Well, Pyhä is no giant by any means. It is not even the biggest or highest resort in Finnish Lapland. But it is the skier’s “mountain” (or fjell) Finland. People go there to ski , not just party and/or to enjoy nature and other activities (not that there is anything wrong with that…). Vertical metres are surely not too high but the varying and interesting landscape hides some nice features, even resonable sized cliffs, short(ish) steep runs and pretty enjoyable tree skiing – all this if the snow is good (which is quite often but you can’t take that for granted these days).

I wouldn’t say it is the resort you should travel to from another part of the world. But if you are around in northern Finland and have that itch to go skiing, check it out, you might be suprised. More info on the resort’s English web site.

9. Flachau, Austria

I wrote a pretty comprehensive review about Flachau and Ski Amade area few weeks ago. Small resorts in Austria are great if you want to ski powder without any hassle and furious competition for tracks. Flachau and the surrounding area is also great for families. But Ski Amade offers also something for everyone, like this. Snow security is pretty high too. I am a big fan of Austria again, after this year’s trip to Flachau.

10. Talma, Finland

Well, we have probably wrote way too much about this odd little mole hill. As Marko said, old school skiing at Talma is pretty much a joke. Still, the probably highest ratio of produced pro snowboarders per vertical meter (or centimeter!) is something really respectable. Talma is the every day stomping ground for us. And a very humbling and schooling place for almost 35-years old office rat skier!

Bubbling under

Åre, Sweden – another great family resort

Engelberg, Switzerland – “softer” than Cham or LaGrave but still very good, easy access, off-piste skiing