I've just skied for a couple of days with Mark, Brook and Tim from Utah. They flew in from a weeks surfing in Hawaii, with the airline having lost their skis and then had their jet lag exacerbated by drunken guests in their Chamonix hotel. A tough start and not a great intro to the Euro experience for them.
Meeting Mark on day 1 , he revealed that he works for the winter as a heli ski guide for Mike Wiegele Helicopter Skiing in BC. It got me thinking again about the differences between the European and North American ski experience, given the perennial debate about which is best.
To me, it's not a question of one being better than the other: they're just very different. I ski every year in Breckenridge Colorado at the start of the season in late November. The snow quality is fantastic, even in November: light and consistent. The lifts are well organised (when are the Euro lift companies going to put in singles lines?) and of course the level of service is super high.
In Europe, the big plus factor for me is the vertical interval. I often find North American clients are blown away by both the area and the height differrence in alpine resorts. But above all, the spectacular scenery of skiing in the Alps in general and Chamonix in particular is unparalleled.
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