Europe 24/25

The only time I needed more than a U.S. license and passport was my first arrival into Milan, during peak COVID. I went to pick up my sport wagon -- booked through Fox for only $198/week -- at what ended up being an offsite "local" (Italy-specific) partner which required an international license, noted in very fine print in the rental contract that I never bother reading.

After arguing with them for 15 minutes, I walked over to the nearby Sixt (expecting to get gouged for a walk-up booking) and they rented me a car for a still reasonable $250 -- and mentioned how that runaround happens to visitors several times a month. Lesson learned: if you rent a car in Italy, make sure it's one of the large global companies that don't pull the international license bollocks on you.
 
EMSC said:
Last time I drove ~10 years ago I never even had a second thought and just showed up with my US license and away I went. But all the internet info now says you better have an international permit or some such.
What say yee, Euro rental car regulars?? Needed or not?
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No. An international license is not needed in Europe.

Usually, like you, I try to avoid renting cars when traveling to Europe for vacation or business (My company had a Helsinki-based, Finnish business partner/later acquirer requiring 2 extended trips per year for strategic planning: product and sales & marketing.)

For ski destinations - I have rented from Geneva, Milan, and Zurich (2x), and there is no need for an international license from major rental companies: Sixt, Europcar, Hertz, Avis, Enterprise, etc. at the airport. I have rented off-airport in Ireland, Florence, and Helsinki, and there is no need for an international license.

Destinations where you need an International License:
  • Japan - they clearly stated this requirement when we rented two large SUVs for our group—required to produce it.
  • Caribbean - Cayman Islands, St. Lucia, Dominica (maybe ex-British places?). I got one for the Caymans, but I bought one onsite in Dominica for $10 at a local agency last year. Dominica is remote, inexpensive, and more akin to Hawaii or Costa Rica (waterfalls, jungles, cloud forests, diving, etc.) without major chains - car rentals and hotels.
Note: I did not need an International License in Chile, Argentina, or Mexico. Or New Zealand.
 
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Skied:
  • Wednesday, Feb 5th - Courmayeur. I primarily skied the Val Veny side, which has a long itinerary to the valley floor and some couloirs/bowls from Youla Cable Car to Gabba lift. There are still a few sections of powder/unskied - huge sidecountry area. The Americans I met on one of those runs had equipment but paid no attention to spacing, one at a time, and where they stopped. So, I left them halfway through - despite their big talk about the Tetons, etc. - their ignorance and creating some slough scared me. I did a final run with some Italians down the Dolonne Valley from the lower Checrouit Summit (2258) - faces East, but nice up high first 1000ft. Its runout was much better than last year. There is A TON of snow in Italy. Likely 2-4x the amount (3-6 ft snowbanks) vs. Chamonix town, Engelberg, or Andermatt.
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  • Thursday, Feb 6th - Crevacol. High on St. Bernard Pass - Italian side vs. Swiss - but sought-facing. Cheapest all-day ticket in a while - $35. A local introduced me to skiing off the backside (north) and traversing around using the road. The pistes were soft, and some were untracked above 2000m, but it was getting spring-like on the bottom 1/3 of the mountain. Note: Aosta Valley sells a $100 6-day ticket for its smaller resorts.
  • Friday, Feb 7th - Andermatt. Andermatt Mountain Guides group of 5. We skied a few of the popular classic lines: Felsental and outer lines to get unskied snow, Guspis to Hospental (required a taxi back) and a variant of Unteralp (long traverse into Andermatt proper). These outer lines were new to me. Luckily the weather held off.

North is UP in below Map: Andermatt, Switzerland: March 6, 7 and 8, 2020
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WePowder has restored some storm projections for the Southern Alps. Will need to decide what to ski tomorrow if overcast and/or snowing.

The weather held today, but we could see storm clouds in the south.

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The Valais region of Switzerland has some good storm areas: Bruson/Verbier, Gstaad, Les Diablerets, Vercorin, etc. It is too far due to the train tunnel from Central Switzerland and getting back to Zurich. Likely take the Andermat-Sedrun-Disentis train to the lower areas with few trees (Sedrun-Disentis).

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I looked at some small mountains near Zurich - like Flumserberg - but not a ton of trees, and a bit of a drive - 1-2 hrs.
 
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Predicted storms on WePowder and OpenSnow never materialized. Saturday was partly cloudy in Andermatt's Sedrun-Desintis sector, and the Andermatt-Gemsstock was in/out of the clouds/weather all day. Dumping in Southern Switzerland.

View south to Gemsstock from Sedrun
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One might give an edge to Andermatt over Engelberg, given the multi-valley development of Sedrun-Desintis, combined with a free train (that follows the Glacier Express Zermatt-St. Moritz route for 20km). However, you could easily take a train from Zurich/airport to both areas - no car is needed. Zurich daytrippers were easily dumped from the train to Sedrun Gondola (a 5-minute walk with tunnel).

Note: Vail is slowly attempting to implement its lift ticket strategy in Europe. Andermatt and Crans Montana now have the most expensive day lift ticket prices in Switzerland/Europe at 89 Swiss Francs any day and did away with dynamic pricing. (Previously, I was skiing Andermatt for about 60 francs in 2020 through tickets sold via a ski shop associated with Andermatt Guides). Zermatt can be more expensive some days if you do not purchase early.
 
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Two Italian-speaking Swiss were in my ski group on Friday (they commuted from the south via the Gotthard Tunnel).

When not skiing at Andermatt, they usually ski at their large local hill of Airolo - a north-facing mountain on the south side of Gotthard Pass.

I am sure Airolo gets dumped on with southerly storms blocked by Gotthard Pass. Also, it seems like a place James should put on his list. (Likely similar to Crevacol at St. Bernard Pass, but lager and north-facing vs. south-facing).

Airolo Link

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It's too bad that the Super St. Bernard ski area closed down on the Swiss side of St. Bernard Pass.

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EMSC said:
Current plan is to ski on the Sun/Mon at the end of the trip "somewhere else". Of course that will be either 3 or 4 of us doing that instead of the whole group (similar to how 4 of us added Silverton to end of last years group trip). I'm currently pushing for that sub-set to hold off on making any hard plans until we are at least much closer to the trip if not even until we are about to land (eg ~1 week in advance).
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Did you decide where to add to your trip? And what 3 Vallees base?


One complex that we did not reference is Les Arcs and La Plagne. Although La Plagne might be the epitome of the Alps Industrial Ski Complex, both offer good skiing:
  • Les Arcs - The Arc 200 and 1950 bases and slopes above them. The Aguille Rogue, Grand Col and Valet areas/lifts.
  • La Plagne - The highest peak Bellecote, and - to a lesser extent -its south-facing Vail-like Back Bowls.
The problem with Paadiski is its position next to 3 Vallees and Val d'Isere/Tignes, which have higher elevation terrain overall and more interesting off-piste options.
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ChrisC said:
Did you decide where to add to your trip? And what 3 Vallees base?
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We just yesterday booked hotel in Val d'Isere for the extra days and plan to ski there 2 days. I hope to lock in guides this week at both locations (probably 2 guide days in 3 Valleys and one at Val d'Isere).

Our group leader found a chalet a while ago just outside of Meribel that he liked (basically ski-in/ski-out potential depending on snow) so that is where we will be based. Hopefully decent storm cycles still but with plenty of mostly sunny day times (I can just conjure that request out of thin air, right?).
 
EMSC said:
Our group leader found a chalet a while ago just outside of Meribel that he liked (basically ski-in/ski-out potential depending on snow) so that is where we will be based.
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That sounds great! I had one friend who did a chalet at Meribel and loved it - 10+ years ago. I am interested to see your experience.

I think Chalets are more favored by the Brits, so more exist in UK-favored areas: Meribel, Val d'Isere, Chamonix, others, etc. Russian oligarchs prefer Courchevel - initial Ukraine sanctions hurt that resort. I want to try putting something together in the next few years. It's a bit of a hard sell to US-based skiers who think of a chalet as a 'party Tahoe' 1970s ski house relic. Let alone what half-board is....
My UK friends cannot escape for an entire week, so they are a long weekend (4-5 days) in the Alps crew.

EMSC said:
We just yesterday booked hotel in Val d'Isere for the extra days and plan to ski there 2 days. I hope to lock in guides this week at both locations (probably 2 guide days in 3 Valleys and one at Val d'Isere).
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Some guide recommendations for Val d'Isere. Last year had three different ones over 1.5 weeks:
  • Marilynne - used to work for TopSki in Val d'Isere, but that outfit went defunct after 25+ years during Covid. I met/hired her in 2018 with my brother. She was born and raised in Val d'Isere, so we hired her for 5 days for my group for (2nd) week in 2024, where she played host/guide in the morning and did more advanced freeriding with me in the afternoon. She runs backcountry touring/avalanche camps in Chamonix this winter, so she is not available and is always all over the globe skiing.
  • During the first week in Val d'Isere 2024, I used Andreas Bjorklund (a Swede with 30 years in Val) from Alpine Experience guide outfit. He's excellent and knows everything about wind, avalanches, snow conditions, etc. Some could find him too descriptive/full of advice, but I learned a lot from him. He knew winds hammered the Val d'Isere side, so he took us to Tignes Tignes 1/22/24. He plays in bands at various bars and restaurants.
  • Henry Schniewind also works at Alpine Experience and would request him as well. I did not ski with him, but I would love to! He runs the English speakers bible site for avalanche safety. Henry's Avalanche Talk is a great reference site for all of the Tarentaise Valley resorts (3 Vallees, Paradiski, Rosiere/Thuile, Ste. Foy, etc). I would ski with him for his encyclopedic knowledge about the Alps and backcountry skiing.
  • Any guides at Alpine Experience would likely be quite good - I saw a few groups out. Guides share a lot of information! Results in best snow and fresh tracks.
  • Another guide during the 1st week was Cedric (I will look up the guide outfit). He was younger (30 +/-) and skied fast, always willing to get you into trouble. I liked his fearlessness and ability to take suggestions, but he was a little sloppy. He ignored lifts on wind hold, etc, but minor points. My partner bailed on him after a few runs. That was fine and meant more extreme stuff. He knew how to get into tight lines and places, but if you wanted some hand-holding - not your guy.
 
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Sbooker said:
For Val this crowd are highly rated. They’ve been around for decades and do daily guiding in groups. 80 Euro for a 8.45am to 1pm session.
alpineexperience.com

Specialists in off-piste skiing Val-d'Isere Tignes and free rando

Discover the most beautiful off-piste skiing sites in Val-d'Isere and free rando thanks to the experience of our specialized guides.
alpineexperience.com alpineexperience.com
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Yes, all my recommended guides above are from Alpine Experience. They partner with a local ski shop but do not have Val d'Isere real estate. It's a bit of a virtual/independent guide operation. The guides are all long-time friends and business partners, and they are at each other's weddings.
 
ChrisC said:
Yes, all my recommended guides above are from Alpine Experience. They partner with a local ski shop but do not have Val d'Isere real estate. It's a bit of a virtual/independent guide operation. The guides are all long-time friends and business partners, and they are at each other's weddings.
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I like they can cater to individuals on a casual day by day basis.
 
Sbooker said:
I like they can cater to individuals on a casual day by day basis.
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That's a nice day: 80 Euros for 8:45 to 1 pm, letting you have lunch and afternoon plans.

I could not secure any days in January 2024 at the last minute before SF friends arrived (so I did partial days), and I split a daily guide among 6-8 skiers during 2nd week of the previous year.

Swiss Guides are now getting expensive to join groups:160-180 Euros/day at Verbier and Andermatt. Alternatively, you can have a private guide in Italy for 1-2 persons for 340-420 Euros/day. Engelberg was a private guide divided by 6 skiers.
 
EMSC said:
We just yesterday booked hotel in Val d'Isere for the extra days and plan to ski there 2 days
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Our neighbor in Telluride was married to a Val d'Isere ski instructor/guide who came to New Mexico/Colorado for a time. The marriage did not last (early 1990s); the instructor returned to France/Val d'Isere, and the wife stayed in Telluride with their son. Son spent three winters in Val d'Isere in the 2010s, so he had lots of advice on bars, restaurants, and on-mountain eateries.

Just some top-of-mind recommendations with more reasonable price points and good food:

On Mountain - Val d'Isere/Tignes - These 2 restaurants are owned by the same family and are much cheaper, self-serve, with great views/decks, and high-quality food. Basically, I could split a salad, pasta, antipasti, and wine/beer for two persons: 30-40 Euros. Plus dessert $ if necessary. The same family owns these:
In-Town Restaurants - Val d'Isere
  • My favorite Restaurant: La Baraque. Great Food, Atmosphere, and a Live Band after 8 pm in Front. It's not too formal, not too casual, and has a great vibe. Food is not cheap, but not too expensive. Does not get busy until 8 pm. Reservations are a must days before, or else you will eat at 9:30pm+. Restaurant site for reservations: https://www.restolabaraque.com/ Tripadvisor Link It's our Telluide's friend with Val d'Isere connection favorite too.
  • Le Garage - Locals. Very reasonable.
  • Ski Gallery and Fondue Factory. Very reasonable: Salads and Chinoise or Cheese Fondue. It's also a part ski history museum! https://www.fonduefactory-valdisere.com/ or Tripadvisor Link If you are done with raclette and fondue, you could pass.
Overall, Val d'Isere is less expensive than any typical Swiss resort and most American resorts (Park City, Vail, Telluride, etc).
 
ChrisC said:
That's a nice day: 80 Euros for 8:45 to 1 pm, letting you have lunch and afternoon plans.

I could not secure any days in January 2024 at the last minute before SF friends arrived (so I did partial days), and I split a daily guide among 6-8 skiers during 2nd week of the previous year.

Swiss Guides are now getting expensive to join groups:160-180 Euros/day at Verbier and Andermatt. Alternatively, you can have a private guide in Italy for 1-2 persons for 340-420 Euros/day. Engelberg was a private guide divided by 6 skiers.
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If conditions are conducive I’ll get a guide when I go to Saint Foy for the first time next month. Decent value at 250 euro for 4 and a half hours think. Kylie will come with me so 125 euros a person works out ok.
 
Sbooker said:
If conditions are conducive I’ll get a guide when I go to Saint Foy for the first time next month. Decent value at 250 euro for 4 and a half hours think. Kylie will come with me so 125 euros a person works out ok.
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Eventually, I will make it to Ste. Foy. There are even buses from Val d'Isere/Tignes for the day. Last year, no one wanted to travel when you had so much at your doorstep.

Guides in Austria are higher now, too: Piste to Powder - Euro 169/day for a group.

I am still slightly amazed at how reasonable Italy is for food, skiing, lodging, and guides. If they only got reliable snow! (see Dolomites, Monterosa) However, Courmayeur, La Thuile, and Cervinia always seem to have primarily decent/good years. Courmayeur/Monte Bianco are well above average this year! (Aside: In an interview, a reporter asked Bode Miller his favorite European ski resort - he responded Madonna di Campilgio - primarily due to the vibe, scenery, atmosphere, and food. Interesting).

Strangely, Austria has not received a decent snow base. The lower resorts are going to be in for a brutal spring. Likely, south-facing St. Anton will not be very good either. Typically, western Austria is one the best!
 
ChrisC said:
Strangely, Austria has not received a decent snow base. The lower resorts are going to be in for a brutal spring. Likely, south-facing St. Anton will not be very good either. Typically, western Austria is one the best!
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I did notice that. I guess there is still a short window of time that could deliver snow for them.
 
Sbooker said:
I did notice that. I guess there is still a short window of time that could deliver snow for them.
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Anyone going to Austria, Western or South Switzerland, Dolomites or Monterosa should just cancel and go elsewhere.

France/Aosta is 120-150% above normal.

Meanwhile, Zermatt/Gornergrat, Davos, Lenzerheide, etc, are tracking their worst seasons since record-keeping on Swiss snowfall sites.

The next 10 days in Alls are dry….snow fell last 48 hrs up to 20-50 cm.

Some people are content to cruise red/blue pistes, eat great lunches - sure a day or two. But rather drive, cancel, or wait.

I looked at Austria in mid/late January; it didn't look nice/underwhelming. Going ski Courmayeur/Aosta with 1.5 m new on a 1-2 m + base was a no-brainer. Even though I have only been to the Arlberg and Ischgl mega resorts in Austria, and repeated a few places in Switzerland and Italy.
 
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