Will do 
I will email you my #.
Picking up this old thread…
I never went last winter because by the time I was able to, the snow was gone. Also there were unusually high temps.
My colleague has been looking again and says the slopes don’t open until 12 Dec. My Annual will be middle 2 weeks of January (it doesn’t take 2 weeks but my A&P/IA works shifts on Airbuses) so that narrows it down a bit.
I’ve done the indoor (real snow) slope thing and can ski downhill at a very basic level, which also defines the options a bit (the beginner slopes are mostly at lower levels, I am told).
Is Lausanne still a good option? Maybe not in December. The only thing I would need to hire would be the skis.
I note Annemasse is VFR-only.
Incidentally one would easily get skis into a TB20, if one removed one of the back seats. Or even without any mods…
Saanen LSGK is a good option as well.
Peter wrote:
I note Annemasse is VFR-only.
And so is Lausanne or Sion or Samedan…
I’d recommend Sion, VMC almost all the time, then take the bus to any of the many resorts…
Would an IFR cloud-break approach into Geneva, followed by a VFR hop across to lake to Annemasse by a SEP be appreciated by Skyguide?
Yes they are VFR-only but IMHO Lausanne is a lot easier to get into if there is some cloud around.
Sion, Samedan or Innsbruck… not really unless you like doing DIY IAPs on which a screwup will kill you (as many found out).
I did wonder about the Geneva ILS option.
My question was not really about the airport(s) but rather about whether there are any relevant (for a beginner) ski locations which are not too far. Obviously this will get researched but since we have a lot of pilots here from Switzerland or SE France, someone might just know.
Nobody ever got killed getting into Sion, let’s not overexaggerate. It’s the place that gets the most sun in Switzerland, so if Sion is socked in the others will be just as bad if not worse. Let down over the lake and fly up the valley…
Resortswise as @tomjnx said Sion is close to many resorts which you can reach by (Post)bus, most of which have beginner friendly slopes. Lausanne you have a short train ride into say Villars which is also very good for beginners. Saanen is ten minutes away from Gstaad so if your significant other is into high-end shopping that can help -and if people can get a BaE 146 in there, it shouldn’t be a problem for us lawnmower types…
Sorry Peter but to my meteorological experience Sion is a sight easier to get in most of the time in Winter than Lausanne. Sion hardly has got fog, the Valais is one of the places in Switzerland where the weather is most sunny due to it’s unique situation and you do have an IGS approach into the Valais, which does have a bit of a high Initial approach altitude but is perfectly flyable with a plane which has been up to FL200. Chances are however that you won’t need it, whereas in Lausanne you might end up scud running after an ILS in Geneva and find the plateau in cloud or marginal IFR. We used to use Sion as an almost foolproof alternate for our Caravelle Ops into Geneva at the time. Most of the time we would fly to the Jungfraujoch and follow the Aletschglacier down into the valley, quite spectacular to do with a jet but also very easy to fly with a SEP.
If you follow that glacier down to the Valley you are almost on final for Sion….
If you want IFR only and close to some spectacular skiing, try Berne. The whole skiing areas of the Bernese Oberland are fairly close and Bern has got an ILS and flyable IFR for SEP’s. Otherwise Altenrhein is close to the whole Vorarlberg and Graubünden Areas. Both have rental cars on site.
What a super pic
One more Q: what about beginner slopes which open earlier in the season i.e. Dec / early January? Those might have to be at higher altitudes. Maybe I should ask somebody in a ski shop and work backwards?
