Peter wrote:
I am open to suggestions. I will be doing Madonna in January so would be interested in trying elsewhere, where there are decent wide long blue runs, etc. Lots of locations have come up earlier in this thread.
I was thinking Zell Am See Kaprun. But to be honest after having been run over 2 years ago (after being warned not to ski on a weekend) I want to do mid week. Never been to that airport or Kaprun. So I dont know if its for beginners or experts skiing. Perhaps someone can chime in.
https://www.zellamsee-kaprun.com/en/activities/winter/skiing
I’ve been there and my view is that the area is good for very good skiers, which is around 99% of the people skiing there 
Probably like you, I also don’t like places which have narrow runs and which fill up with kids. My best (not that I have done many) fly to ski was Annecy and then to Grand Bornand but I would not do GB again mainly because of the narrow runs and the kids. Annecy is however a good airport for a lot of ski areas; avoid weekend movements (per winter AIP).
I would not want to hold back a fly-in to a hard-core destination but actually any attempt here to organise any kind of ski fly-in has failed totally, so anything is worth trying
Maybe someone can pipe up that skis and give us a report about Kaprun or of the surrounding area.
Personally flying into Augsburg as an alternate in case Zell Am See is unavailable due to weather. It has customs and Imm. plus good winter ops so you wont get snowed in for a week or even a day but yet they have rental cars which are 3hrs away by car.
Ok after looking at the map and google directions a dark cloud came over me with the following thought:
But do you think there could be an airport with decent facilities closer to the mountains for Alpine activities in southern Germany? NNNOOOooooo. Heaven forbid making GA a practical means of transportation.
That felt good.
Perhaps one of the German pilots can set me straight and explain to me I am wrong and that there is a Shangri-La of a GA airport similar to Augsburg an hours drive from the Alps.
What about LOWS? Long thread and not sure how to search the thread, so may have been mentioned.
Salzburg LOWS is a good alternate to Zell LOWZ for skiing in the area.
Best way to search for an airport is by the ICAO code. I spend a significant amount of my mod time putting in ICAO codes so people can find stuff
There are lots of locations not far from LOWS.
As regards places to ski, this thread contains zillions of suggestions. I suspect most of the people who posted them got fed up with posting stuff because not many were responding, except me who could/can barely ski, and most of the suggestions were from black run grade skiers. Such is the ski scene…
From memory, St Johann LOIJ is another “ski airport” which some Germans use for day trips due to the proximity of the ski lifts to the airport, but I don’t know if there is anything easy there.
Then there is a bunch of stuff in France near Annecy – do a search here.
There are as many suggestions as there are skiers, but one thing I learnt early on is that most skiers cannot usefully recommend a place for a beginner skier. On ski forums you just get ridiculed and told to get lessons until you are good enough to do black runs and for going off piste because anything lesser is just for wimps. Certain pilots who used to be here kept telling me anything less than a black needs tailwind And most articles in the press are planted adverts; the other day I was reading a glowing review of some place in the Guardian online, only to find next time I looked at it it had been removed because the resort paid only for x days’ exposure
If we can decide who might be coming then we can look at locations.
It is nice to get an airport with an hour or less of transit (if a taxi) because skiing in the Alpine area is characterised by ridiculously long transfers. Zermatt was 4.5hrs, Wengen same (and 3 or 4 trains). Madonna is the easiest I have ever done with a 2.5hr bus for £35 (weekends only, from Verona) which is sometimes direct. Verona is not geared up for light GA; I’ve just been there.
Recently been to LSZS for a day trip. As usual not cheap and they have their pilot qualification stuff but besides that a near perfect day. Perfect weather, good snow, good food, not too crowded, very nice flight in and out. Only thing which upsets me a bit is if our plane shares the apron with some cleptocrats airplanes.
If you want a ski fly in why look any further than LOWZ? It’s one of the nicest ga airports and close to Schmitten and Kaprun. Prices are fair at the airfield as well as at the ski resort for accommodation etc..
I’m not an expert skier myself and as a beginner I wouldn’t focus too much on the ski resort, types of pistes etc… You just pick the most convenient ski area close by and get an instructor for a few days. Pretty much all austrian ski resorts feature beginners that take ski courses and gradually work their way up to the more difficult slopes and pistes. Avoid holidays and weekends and you will feel alone on the piste.
I would attend a sky fly in at LOWZ!
Peter wrote:
Salzburg LOWS is a good alternate to Zell LOWZ for skiing in the area.
Isnt the problem with Salzburg that there is no parking? I believe that is what I read. So how would that be a good alternative?
I was flying over the northern tip of the Alps on my way from LHTL to EDMV and just south of me it appeared that the valleys were fogged in.
That is a risk one faces when departing early with minimal weather reporting when you leave for the airport.
Isnt the problem with Salzburg that there is no parking?
Yes that is the problem. Every winter they have a NOTAM. But you can ask and I have parked there several days in winter in the past:
A) LOWS B) 1901170848 C) 1903312359
E) ADDITIONAL PROCEDURES, REGULATIONS AND RESTRICTIONS DURING WINTER
SEASON 2018/2019 – SEE AIP SUP 009/18
it appeared that the valleys were fogged in.
That is a constant issue with the northern Alps. Several times I wanted to fly to LOWZ in winter but the valley was fogged in each time. And each time LSZS was CAVOK because it is higher up in the middle of the Alps where the weather can not flow in.
I have also flown home from the central Alps having taken off in sunshine and over LOWS ATC was asking all the airlines about their RVR requirement and only the guys with about 400m did get in…
That is a risk one faces when departing early with minimal weather reporting when you leave for the airport.
They have webcams you can see as soon as the sun comes up a bit. Flying from Berlin we have to leave home before we can see anything on the webcam. But at the airport before we leave we can see the webcams and then it pays of to have prepared at least two destination ready to go…
I’m not going to read the whole thread again……
Has Sion/ Crans Montana been ruled out?
