I contacted someone who used to be on here and who skis a lot and he said the same: long queues due to not enough lifts. Prices are huge too; when I looked the cheapest accommodation was c. 1k for 3 nights! And this coming week is getting very warm air, then some snow later, so next week is better and free of all school holidays.
I got this: Why don’t you look a bit further up the valley at Bettmeralp / Riederalp /
Fiescheralp – they are three small hamlets on the same side as CM however a
lot smaller and more “authentic”. No car traffic so very quiet – you ride
up with the cable car from the train station and the hotel picks you up.
and it looks a lot better than Crans Montana. 2 trains; change at Brig.
I will look at your suggestions too.
So for me 3 airport options right now are Sion, Aosta and Klagenfurt. All seem friendly airports and all ok for a direct flight from the UK.
The Aletsch Arena, in which Bettmeralp, Riederalp and Fiescheralp are part of, is indeed, very authentic. However, for the technical skiing part, it is imho not so exciting. I like it personally more for hiking and sightseeing.
In my last post, I forgot to mention Grenchen as well. It is not so big, but also quite nice for skiing, and a lot cheaper than Zermatt. If you want to visit Zermatt anyway, I suggest you fly to Aosta and go by taxi or rental car to Cervinia. Ski prices for the same ski area are a lot cheaper from the Italian side.
Peter wrote:
So for me 3 airport options right now are Sion, Aosta and Klagenfurt.
Which resort would you go to from Klagenfurt?
May not be a great idea right now and I am damn glad I got a great week in Cervinia last month, despite a OVC000/10m week at Madonna before that 
Just bumping this thread… anyone interested in Sion? I can’t do before 6th March, and anyway the wx is horrible right now. But there is a lot of snow coming down in the meantime.
Also the slopes should not be so crowded, due to the corona virus business.
A pity one cannot (practically) get to Cervinia from Sion. I know one can cross on skis (in good wx) and I was at that spot recently but not with luggage.
Not sure if @c210_flyer is still out there but currently I am planning 13-16 March, and the Riederhorn/Betten area east of Sion. Except for transport from Sion, the virus risk appears very low. There is some accommodation
Hi Peter, I have a tentative trip planned for Gerlitzen for March 16th flying into Klagenfurt. My US Ski club cancelled their Europe Ski Trip to Italy for this week due to the Virus problem. They were to go to Balzano area.
On a separate issue I am dealing with an AD that requires an Eddy Current inspection. My shop will have an independent shop come in and do the EC. I was given a price for the EC of 1500 Euros Im trying to see if there is another less expensive alternative. In the US they are doing them from $350 to $500. I have 60 days to do the inspection. Do you or anyone else out there have any thoughts or info on a company doing this for a more reasonable cost to do an EC inspection?
You posted the Q here but for some reason nobody in Europe responded.
Gerlitzen is indeed an option for me too. However there are big roads Austria-Italy in that area and I bet a lot of people who cancelled skiing in Italy will be looking at that, so it will likely spread.
I think anyone cancelling Southern Alps (Italy) will also cancel middle Alps (Austria). The Virus dosent respect borders when the vectors dont.
Yes I was hoping to get a few answers but its a problem (Eddy Current) most dont face therefore are not familiar with.
I just looked up booking.com availability at Gerlitzen and it looks like the whole world cancelled everything there. The whole place is showing vacancies!
I would check the temperatures however.
Cervinia is also available, but clearly a higher virus risk. Would be fine if one flew into Aosta and rented a car there, and did self catering
Perhaps the main risk is getting into a hotel where somebody had the virus and then the whole place gets locked down and you are stuck there. Austria and Italy are doing this right now.
