Most SHOCKING Things About Skiing in Europe (As an American)
A comprehensive breakdown of the various differences when skiing in the European Alps of France, Switzerland, and Italy versus the slopes of North America.
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0:00 Intro
1:02 Stunning Mountain Ranges
2:02 Above-Treeline Slopes
2:53 Vertical Drops
3:27 Size and Resort Interconnectivity
4:08 Getting Between Interconnected Resorts
4:51 Consequences of Ending Up at Wrong Resort
5:20 Signage and Trail Map Differences
6:18 Ski Run Difficulty Rating Differences
7:37 Off-Piste Terrain
8:57 Grooming Operations
9:34 Closed Trail Policies
10:17 Need for On-Mountain Insurance
11:02 On-Piste Trail Congestion
11:29 Lack of Line Management
12:30 Lift Infrastructure
14:36 Public Transportation
15:12 Snow Quality
16:33 Top-Notch Restaurant Scene
17:23 Aprés-Ski and Nightlife
18:46 Ultra-Moneyed Vibes
19:29 Lift Ticket Prices
20:24 Final Thoughts
40 Comments
3:28 haha I've actually worked 1 month in this hostel this clip is from with this exact view all the time 😀
It's in zermatt in the Youth Hostel.
Thanks for the video, but not thanks to going to Europe. I'm not interested in the social or food scene and it just seems like such a hassle with travelling and not speaking the language, etc. And then there's the cost of travelling.
6:00 typical American complaining that signs are not in English. You can learn a few words from another language you know. It's not hard
Saying priests instead of Pisten is so wrong
Like the compare, but my conclusion is that in Europe you need to ski with your brain and actually need to know where you are and where you're going if your not familiar with the resort. My advice, go ski more.
Please please please be careful with saying “in Europe” as a general thing. Norwegian and Swedish resorts are also very popular and very nice and work differently. In Scandinavia there’s single queues, actual control of the lifts and much more not present in Austria and the area around there. Go to Norway and ski, it’s amazing
All European resorts I've been to do have greens, blues, reds and blacks. Even for litlle children there are designated areas for them to learn, so levelling is equivalent.
What is true is that there might be reds or blacks that are not even challenging, or blues that can be as hard as some reds.
You do a good job in your reviews. Very helpful.
The dollar is strong, that's true, but they're probably already spitting in your drinks thanks to Trump.
That was awesome to watch, learned plenty and it was enjoyable. Well done!
Better food on slopes in europe.
What you should have mentioned, is that difficulty in Europe is not based on slope gradient as it is in NA. A reasonably flat route in Europe might be graded black if there are sharp turns (hairpin), narrow sections, exposed rocks, ravines, …
Also, one should mention government subsidies. In France, resorts are often owned by local communes, and Austria and Switzerland have subsidised theirs to make up for funding shortfalls. In Poland, there is a mix of state-owned and private resorts, and the public ones keep the prices competitive. Whereas in Canada, ice hockey is subsidised to the tune of billions of dollars per year while alpine skiing gets nothing. In many Canadian cities, small city-run ski hills were closed in order to redirect the funding to indoor ice rinks. And it shows at the time of the Winter Olympics.
That said, in Poland, white-tablecloth restaurants and adjoining hotels are a major revenue source for many of the facilities. Even the local city-run training hill (200 m long run) in the town next door to mine has a fancy restaurant and small hotel of about 30 rooms on the first (N. American second) floor of the building.
For me, the best ski slops are those without trees. My love language is speed and the last thing I want is having to worry about trees either visible or hidden, or snow caving because it is underpacked due to some tree and breaking my leg.
So I really appreciate long, very visible, obstacle free slopes.
9:47 In Europe you have the freedom to go wherever you want in the mountain. Nobody has the right to close anything because the slopes are not privately owned (at least in my country).
I have seen people who love to go up the mountain walking, and then they descend skiing, and they do that for free.
What you are paying for is the lift, which is privately owned and maintained, and also very importantly for the conversation, the insurance.
If you go outside of the marked slopes, your insurance is void, meaning that you will still get rescued, but you will most likely have to pay for it. So if you are going off the track, keep at hand a very good mountain communication device to call for help, and about 10k euros ready for the helicopter rescue bill in case that you need it.
On the other hand, you can have private or sport insurances, like those taking by mountaineers. If you are often going off track, I would suggest to look into that option.
19:33 Damn, and here in my station (Sierra Nevada, Spain) we were protesting because the price of the window ticket for a day went up to 65 euros for the single day during peak season (it is usually around 50 for off season, like March and after). And it is considered one of the priciest in Spain (It is also the largest ski station in Spain, so you have access to more slopes, but still).
There are also "skiier days" which are specific dates in which you can get the day ticket for 45e or so.
They are also usually cheaper during working week instead of weekend (and there are significantly fewer people), so if you are going to take a holiday, I would recommend doing your skiing Tuesday to Thursday.
If you really like cheap, you can buy the half day or the night pass for 25e.
In fact, the cheapest option is to stay near the end of the slopes and ask people who seem to be going towards the town if they are done for the day and if so if they will sell you their forfait.
Well, that is not true. The cheapest option is being 70+, because then you can get your season pass for free.
200+ for a single day ticket is crazy. That is literally the price (206e) of the 5 independent day tickets to use in whatever days you want during the season, whether on or off peak, and they do not need to be consecutive (usually if you buy consecutive days you get a better pricing).
I assume that must be some discount for more days, but just going by the daily rate, 5 days at 200+ is about the order of pricing of the seasonal tickets: 1000 is the weekday season pass for adults, while the full one is 1300. Or 1000 for 20 days at whatever time of the season.
Some resorts also have a red diamond marking, marked with an R followed by a number. These are for the few marked of piste runs which europe features.
(Found these in Silvretta Montafon)
Oh i have snowboarded down Aguille de midi, it was crazy, jumping over glacier cracks.
Hundreds of dollars? Try thousands of dollars for rescue. The old way of doing it in Europe On the trail, they will come and get you. OFF the trail,,even just a short distance, you pay for your rescue. Off the trail, off piste, break a leg,, you will be rescued by a helicopter. That helicopter could cost you anything between 5k and 100k Switzerland has rescue insurance,,, other countries possible too. Switzerland before you hit the slopes,, any Swiss Post Office buy your rescue insurance. I don't know what it is now,, used to be about 10 bucks. If it is 50 bucks now,, BUY IT.
millions of years ago lol….more like thousands bro
This is a great video. I really enjoy the PeakRankings videos. I live in Switzerland and only started skiing and snowboarding when I moved here, for the most part. I've been skiing in Austria and Italy. I don't have a general knowledge that the makers of the video possess. My local experience is that you can literally ski or snowboard out here for almost nothing, as long as you go to the smaller "places" (aka ski resorts in the US, but I wouldn't call these places resorts). Half day fares can be as little as $18 if you limit yourself to part of the park, or $30 for half day of everything in some "resorts". I have a couple of splitboards and I don't pay anything but $4 to park when I go splitboarding, and about $10 to take a tram or gondola up the side of the mountain to start higher in some places. The snow conditions have gotten pretty bad over the 9 years I've been in Switzerland. The smaller slopes at the beginnings of the alps aren't getting snow like they used to.
I can't imagine skiing in Colorado at a "resort". That doesn't look like much fun. And to me, off piste is the best way, especially snowboarding. Piste is like skateboarding on the street. Off piste is like surfing in Hawaii. But like they said in the video, if you're crossing boundaries, you have to be extremely cautious. It's better to scope out your off piste run as you're heading up on the lift. I wouldn't recommend going further off than you can see. I've gotten into some very scary situations going too far off piste, getting stuck at the top of the mountain for the night in one case. The trail apps for back country skiing and snowboarding are the way to go. Make sure to investigate whether your phone will work in the back country area you plan on being in. Based on my own experience, better to have an advanced guide when going for a back country adventure.
north american policies for search and rescue is so wrong it should not be free or volunteer based … they charge in europe and this more likely a better deterrent for peeps to out of bounds … you go off bound or be a dumb ass mountain explorer you should pay for your search and rescue for your ignorance and yolo …
RIP Fatmap.
Try Austria next
4:58 Do American not have maps???
Every you mention is 100% accurate
The few views of old american mountains got me curious though!
No trees in Europe => expect windy experiences. I just skied in Big Sky Montana. Last day was a foot (1/3 meter) of powder over several prior meters. The wind was absolutely brutal, but as soon as you dropped into the trees — it was very pleasant. Also, US ski resorts charge so much in order to get you to do season passes. Since I'm older, I got my pass for $450. With 2 weeks of skiing, it makes it just above $30/day.
I don't know about not mitigating avalanche hazards EU vs US — maybe the amount of snow makes it more of a necessity out in Western US. At Big Sky, you awake in the morning to what sounds like war — explosions all over. But, if they didn't do that, probably half the resort would have extremely dangerous conditions on one of their frequent powder days. I really like the ordered lines in the US — it makes things move very efficiently and almost every chair full. If you give them gifts of candy (or weed) or funny hats, they'll tell you were the secret unofficial ski shacks are hidden (there are dozens of places where you can have a private lunch pad out in the forest, some have cooking grills, propane etc).
Few notes:
1) french resort 4 valleys (meribel, courchevel etc..) is more tourist kind a skiing – very expensive and crowded
2) Hardpack – we love it. Its ideal terrain for curving on perfectly diamond brush sharpened GS/SL ski. You can get up to 100 kmh (60+mph) and thats the real exctasy. Thats why perfect grooming of the slopes every night is so praised here.
3) ad 1 and 2 -> france isnt ideal place for modern kind a racing like skiing – its packed with tourists, snowboarders and freeriders. Visit AUSTRIA! whats black slope in italy is red at most in austria. Also not so many people here and prices in restaurant on mountain are half compared to France. Also slopes arent that packed – you can often do crazy full-speed GS runs on empty icy slopes – the REAL adrenaline. (if you have technique and physical abilities for it – otherwise its ticket to chairwheel at the best) Also you will meet a lot of pro ski racers training there.
What's shocking about any of this? That's a silly clickbait title. Was this narrated by Kermit the Frog? Weird voice.
10:00 what were you thinking why the pists were closed…
The last item was the most shocking…. $300 for a day? I love skiing, just came back from a trip, but that is an insane price that I probably wouldn’t go for. I just came back from an area that’s consists of 4 connected “resorts” that’s €280 ($300) for 4 days
Is this video and whole channel Aimade? Same aivoice and generic script with generic facts from other videos
“Universal” in North America 😂😂
Awesome video! Where's the one about South America?
notably; they do avalanche stuff, but only if it might bring their slopes in danger (and the people on it)
0:13 i'm pretty sure i've been there in one of the Rainbox Six Vegas games
Just going to the Alps and generalizing every single point as "Europe"
classic american haha
Gotta try the dolomites
the maps have never been a problem to me so maybe they might be different if you are accustomed to american ones, all the information is always there. I'm also a bit confused on the focus on piste distance, what does the length of the piste have to do with anything? sure you might want a longer run but you can infer that from the map. To which, those piste numbers help you navigate the maps and plan a route. As for the off-piste discussion, there is a difference between managed and unmanaged off-piste. I've never done it but I would guess that really dangerous drops would be marked on a managed off-piste run. Those are often those yellow slopes.
12:08 not loading to capacity during a busy period is sometimes a problem that occurs yes, but the social etiquette is to fill it to the max and split groups. Many people don't hold to it but you are perfectly in the right to squeeze in using the solo rider queue and make sure capacity is being used.
As for my impression of the places you visited, it seems those are the fancier & 'bigger' places, there are a lot of other places with a better culture than those.