lal_truckee wrote:
: OswCar wrote:

: Hi,
: We are a group of 8 persons that are planning to go to ski next 17th
: of January for a week.
: We have been in Vail, so we decided to go to Courchevel to visit a new
: place for us, but after reading some posts that talks about the icy
: and lack of snow in Courchevel, we now have doubts about going there.
: The ski and after ski in Vail is excellent and we don't want to be in
: Courchevel thinking about how good was Vail. If you were us, Would
: you try Vail again or you would choose Courchevel?
:
: Vail is not the only good ski resort in N America. It's not even in the
: top 10 if excellent skiing was the draw, although lots of vacationers
: like its "ambiance". For example Whistler in Canada or Heavenly in
: California fit your interests of guarenteed good January snow, lots of
: intermediate terrain, and good apres ski; and they surpass Vail in every
: measure known except expense.

My, my, Vail surely does bring out the strong feelings. IMHO, for
intermediates, Vail is tough to beat if you don't mind some of the added
expense. It's *made* for intermediates. Surely, Whistler is a more
interesting mountain for skiers who want excitement (and there's a lot
of intermediate terrain), but it can RAIN (with a capital R) in January
at Whistler. You have virtually zero chance of rain at Vail in January,
and although snow depth isn't usually anything to write home about then,
it's sufficient. Now Heavenly is on much more equal footing, I'd say,
as far as type of mountain, in general. Plus it has stuff you won't
find at Vail, and there's that gambling thing. But believe it or not,
some people find the "Vail Experience" (ersatz Teutonic village and all)
to be to their liking. And more power to 'em ... that's great ...
keep them tourist dollars flowing. Personally, I haven't skied Vail for
probably 4 years because it's not worth the extra overhead to me, but I
do enjoy it when I'm there, especially the (again, sort of high
intermediate tilted) Back Bowls. And you have Beaver Creek to check
out.

You could try Jackson Hole...but bring your electrically heated
everything in January :-). The intermediate stuff is there,
but it's not real 'friendly' intermediate.

Oh yeah...Vail vs. Courchevel? Well I've never skied in France,
so I guess I'd give that a shot. It's a crap shoot anyway. But
the prices sound even a bit higher than the big V. Probably
better food, though.

Hope it snows wherever you go!

-Paul C.