A few more pics, this time with the white balance fixed
Apparently they started the snow machines on 1st December and ran them 24/7.
Peter wrote:
However, it turned out that a lot of them fly to Innsbruck, which is a 3hr taxi or hire car drive, and some even fly to Venice.
How relevant are airline passengers to skiing resorts anyway? Obviously from the UK that is the choice #1 – but for continental Europe, from my experience, the default option is to drive down a personal or rental car to whatever resort in Austria, France, CH, Italy. With any group I went skiing (apart from one, where we flew into ZRH and continued to Laax by train) we always drove. It is the most cost effective (if the car is full) and most flexible option and most people I think don’t even consider (airline) flying to ski. Of course, the airlines are fighting this by offering free ski equipment transport etc.
How relevant are airline passengers to skiing resorts anyway?
Only in that it translates to the availability of relatively low cost buses, going all the way from the airport to the resort. Well… if they actually turn up… the one I booked didn’t!
Justine and I have booked transport for about 100 quid (total, 2 trips, 2 people) from Verona to MdiC and that was about 1/5 of the next “apparently reliable” option.
For example there appear to be none from Bolzano to anywhere.
I saw almost no skiers on the trains or regular buses, despite the near-zero costs. Maybe they know something… or they drive.
Driving is indeed popular for those relatively local, and is great because you drive to the car park at the base of the slope 
But again there is a cultural difference here: Germans I know seem happy to drive for 8hrs. Here in the UK most people would hate to drive for more than 4hrs – maybe because the UK has so many crap or bottlenecked roads. I would not want to do a 2hr drive.
Of course, the airlines are fighting this by offering free ski equipment transport etc.
Maybe this has changed recently but Ryanair were (last I looked) charging 80 quid each way for skis, Easyjet were about half that, and BA is free for a sub-190cm package, which is why I use BA, plus they depart at relatively civilised times whereas for EJ I need to get up about 3am.
On a peripheral matter, the temp at Corvara was -10C to -15C and that would be an issue for engine starting, but Bolzano was only just sub-zero. They have no hangar availability but say that there might be a space if somebody is away.
After doing every permutation over the years, short of flying myself, my all-time best route was Waterloo to Bourg St Maurice for the big French resorts. Now it would be from St Pancras, but the fact remains it’s the happiest possible journey to the slopes.
Leave Friday night after work, beers on the snowtrain, a few hours kip in the couchette, clipped in the skis by 9am.
Cheap and very, very cheerful.
But then I do live in London, and obviously this would be impractical from other areas in the UK.
Patrick wrote:
How relevant are airline passengers to skiing resorts anyway?
If you were to fly into GVA airport on a commercial airliner like I do every Friday evening during winter, you would realise it is pretty important. Grenoble LFLS were I did my instrument rating goes from 4 commercial flights/day to 96 commercial movements/weekend on peak days in winter. That is a lot in my view.
LFHNflightstudent wrote:
Grenoble LFLS were I did my instrument rating goes from 4 commercial flights/day to 96 commercial movements/weekend on peak days in winter
2 years ago they were clearly not dimensioned for that capacity. On the saturday after NYE, the queue for security “snaked” inside the building and then continued outside the terminal!
Much better to self fly and rent a car, resorts are about 1h30 drive away which is short.
How much is car hire collected at Bolzano airport for a few days?
Hertz appear to be there but clicking on their site just goes around in circles. Other rentals involve getting transport into the town first.
Patrick wrote:
How relevant are airline passengers to skiing resorts anyway? Obviously from the UK that is the choice #1
Massive. I worked dispatch for weekend ski charters for years in Geneva. There’s not only the UK but also Scandinavia (interestingly) and Russia. Britannia / TUI are a huge ski package operator.
PS. Good luck packing the skis in the Fiat Punto :-)
I usually rent the skis (this way I don’t worry about maintenance, and I know the guys of the shop well so I can call in advance and get the most recent material they have), but normally when renting a car they have the roof bars where you can put skis. I’d be surprised if somewhere close to a resort they don’t have the things to cater for skiers.
