Otherwise, crazy 2-4 hour transits are common in skiing, with (IIRC) Wengen/Grindelwald leading the market at 4 trains each way
It seems we’ll stick to Aosta/Cervnia 
there is always a 45 min to an hour ride from the airport to the slopes
We keep exploring but the alternatives seem to require special qualification. At LSZS they offer to take you up the mountain in helicopter and drop you next to the slop in 4-5 minutes from the apron skipping a short taxi ride and 4 lifts. At LFLJ you can ski right from the apron. Both require special qualification but LSZS did relax the rules. They allow you to land first and then take the short qualification flight with a local instructor (they seem to see the danger on take off). Also both places are not cheap which seems to be somehow linked to the possibility to get there by air…
Aosta+Cervinia ticks all the boxes.
I’ve been to about 15 places, including the “supposedly must do” ones like Zermatt, and Cervinia is better than any of the others, with Madonna (via Bolzano) coming in at a good 2nd place.
Hard core black-run skiers take the p1ss out of these locations (they get slagged off on ski forums) but I’ve never seen any evidence of hard core black-run skiers being interested in a meet-up So if we do something, it is better to make it accessible to a wider range of people.
At both you can get hotel → lift very fast, although obviously weather is always an issue in GA.
https://cervinia.panomax.com/matterhorn
I’ve been to Courchevel (airport is LFLJ) but the skiing was nothing special, and it was super expensive anywhere near the slopes, with a 5 min taxi, or a salad, costing €40. Customer service was great – vastly better than at Grand Bornand, reached easily from Annecy, where a French speaker would do better – but at the price you would expect that. Also no way to reach the lifts easily. I wonder if anyone goes skiing directly out of LFLJ because normally when you land somewhere you need to get your stuff to the hotel first – unless doing just a day trip, and the only airport I have heard of where this is viable is St Johann. I planned that (pre brexit; immigration was on a PN) but never went.
I think, with GA, there is normally so much hassle that most people don’t do this stuff, so one needs to minimise the hassles to get a meet-up to work.
I hope for some nice extended weekend in March 2023
While its true those two are closer to the slopes there is the problem of what if weather. St Johann is in the mountains with 9000’ to 6000’ or if you can do the climb then1000’ lower so if you miss you need a lot of power for a safe ascent to the holding point. If you go for 3 days even if the weather is good on the arrival day the departure day might be a challenge and IFR. Remembering the weather in the mountains is hard to predict.
Just a thought.
I did an initial look at Acosta but the IFR routing was a joke. Many extra NM for nothing.
So how do you reserve a room and then cancel last minute due to un-forecasted bad weather without losing deposit or in some cases the whole room fee?
So how do you reserve a room and then cancel last minute due to un-forecasted bad weather without losing deposit or in some cases the whole room fee?
Avoiding high season and looking for appropriate cancellation options on booking.com and Airbnb.
For Aosta LIMW you just fly to near the Matterhorn, cancel IFR, and (from the north) turn right and descend into the canyon.
Or fly to Mt Blanc (MOBLO is near) and (from the north) turn left.
So how do you reserve a room and then cancel last minute due to un-forecasted bad weather without losing deposit or in some cases the whole room fee?
One has to wait for a fairly stable high pressure to form. And go for a hotel which has an adequate cancellation policy.
But some things are just not possible. Sometimes one loses the money.
We did it back in Jan 2022; went perfectly.
For Aosta LIMW you just fly to near the Matterhorn, cancel IFR, and (from the north) turn right and descend into the canyon.
Arriving from east is much easier, canceling IFR around Ivrea and entering canyon.
Peter wrote:
here are exceptions e.g. St Johann (where someone claimed you could just walk) and Zell am See (a very short taxi; I did that in 2016). Otherwise, crazy 2-4 hour transits are common in skiing, with (IIRC) Wengen/Grindelwald leading the market at 4 trains each way
Hi Peter,
From Sankt Johann Airport to a nice hotel literally on the slopes by the lifts is a 1.4km walk (or taxi)
Thanks
I won’t remind the guy who told me (he may still read the forum) that 1.4km is nothing like the claimed skiing straight from the airport 
In fact I doubt many (or any?) people do a fly to ski as a day trip, despite claims, because the days are short in the winter and you have to climb out of the place in daylight.
Arriving from east is much easier
That is what I did a few times – in the video also.
