Sunday 5 January 2014

Passion. Love. Freedom

Monts Jura
Happy Sunday!

I hope you have well started into 2014. I haven't thought about any resolutions yet and I am not even sure whether I will set up some. In the end I keep them in the first quarter, then forget all about them and eventually, by the second half of the year, start remembering them. Well, let's see what this year will bring. In the very short term, it will be another huge change since I am leaving to my new place in Paris in less than 2 hrs. Oh yes, I am pretty nervous and I cannot wait to explore this beautiful city.

Instead of bombarding you with my thoughts, fears and hopes for the French capital I rather prefer to have a look back and concentrate on my passion: Ski. There was merely no day within the last two weeks that I haven't spent in the mountains which is why I thought of compiling my favourite spots today.
  • Les Portes de Soleil - Les Gets, Morzine & Champéry (France, Switzerland): My favourite spots in the Alpes. The resort is located in France and Switzerland, offering more than 400 km of slopes all in all. 
  • La Clusaz (France): Not only the french fries at "Chez Arthur" are a reason to come back every year, but also the resort offers something for everyone: Powder snow, hard slopes and fun park. My tip: Drive to the parking "La Balme" at the end of the valley. 
  • Les Contamines (France): On of the best spots to start the season since slopes are pretty easy and the resort is located in higher altitude. 
  • Les Monts Jura - Crozet, Lelex & La Vattay (France): Crozet is only 10 minutes away from my home, so I pretty much know every single bump on the slopes. Though, you should be there at 8.45 AM in order to benefit from good snow conditions. La Vattay is my place to do Nordic Skating. 
  • Praz de Lys - Sommand (France): Also here, Nordic Skating and Downhill can be combined which is a great advantage for the family resort. The 4hrs-pass allows you to only do a half day. 
  • Flaine (France): Besides the funny names of the slopes (my fav' is Faust), the skiing experience is amazing. The lifts are well maintained and the slopes exhaust you. Admittedly, the "village" is not very pretty. 
  • Saas-Fee (Switzerland): Saas-Fe has the advantage to be located at a glacier that permits to ski even in April and May. I very much like the car-free village in the Swiss Alps. 
  • Saanenmöser / Gstaad (Switzerland): It is less because of the ski experience but even more for the hotel Hornberg that I like this resort. The hotel offers delicious food, a relaxing wellness area and staff is extremely friendly. 
  • Damüls (Austria): It is where I basically learnt how to ski. It is nearly guaranteed to have snow in this area, the lifts are super comfortable and the size of the resort is perfect for a couple of days of skiing. 
Of course, there are also places that I don't like as for example Chamonix (where the heck shall I park?), Megève (expensive, boring and too posh), Engelberg (overcrowded), Crans-Montana (weird snow) and finally the German Feldberg (overcrowded).

To even more inspire you, I recommend this page for you where powder snow is on the daily agenda. Enjoy!
La Clusaz
La Clusaz 
Shadow Selfie
Monts Jura
Praz de Lys - Sommand

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