European snowboarding geography question…

Posted: 27 April 2010 11:17 PM

OK, me again with yet another random question… :)

I work as a Massage Therapist, not the most glamorous position but I love what I do.  I’m very lucky in that I have access to get European citizenship through Portugal.  I’ve been kicking around the idea of moving to Europe and practice massage in a country where it’s more common and I can continue to learn and grow.

Here is my question:  I’m totally hooked on snowboarding again…  I cannot and will not part from it.  However living in the mountains of Alberta over the past few months isn’t the best for me, a long winter and dry climate are playing havoc with me.  Which parts in Europe are nice and sunny, close to water etc. BUT not far from the mountains (say 2 or less hours via train)?  I pretty much want the best of both worlds together. :) 

I really appreciate any help on this one, you can help influence my future!

Posted: 28 April 2010 12:08 AM

A suprisingly easy question to answer!

If you’re set on moving to the alps to get tons of riding in, then the 3 Valleys isn’t a bad place to start. It’s France’s biggets resort with over 800km of pistes and unlimited backcountry, trust me I did 2 seasons there. Courchevel is the poshest resort in the 3 Valleys and has lots of Massage therapists - http://www.bodyworkandmassages.com/ ... trust me, there is some serious money in Courch.

If you want to be near the sea then you either want to be in the Southern French Alps, you could base yourself in Nice which is on the Cote D’Azure… beautiful beaches, hot girls and the bluest sea in the world. Then you have ISOLA 3000 about an hour and a half drive away. Think Monaco and Cannes… classy but quite expensive.

You could try Slovenia, although it’s little know and a small resort (only 5 runs), Bovec is up and coming. Bovec is one of only 2 resorts in Slovenia over 2000 meters so it has a long season. You can see down into Trieste and the Gulf of Trieste. You could base yourself in Venice or Trieste.

Another suggestion would be to base yourself either side of the Pyrenees. They’ve had some seriously good seasons over the last couple of years and the resort facilities are getting better and better, especially the parks. You could base yourself in Barcelona for the culture and the mad nights out, or base yourself in Biaritz and enjoy the surf over the summer.

My last suggestion would be Sierra Navada in the south of spain… yep you can snowboard there! Hottest summers and winters in Europe but you can snowboard on some pretty damn good mountains. You could live in Granada or Malaga… just watch out for the pissed up brits on the costa blanca and brava, we’ve got quite a reputation in Spain!

http://www.sierranevada.co.uk

The World Snowboard Guide is a good place to start researching - http://www.worldsnowboardguide.com/

Rich

Posted: 28 April 2010 01:58 AM

Holy cow, I didn’t think it would be that easy but damn Rich…  you have a lot for me to go through!

Personally I’ve always had an eye on the Alps…  dunno why, just probably by the reputation.

If anyone else has any info that would be awesome, especially links to employment opportunities in these areas.  I will hunt around and post more questions (for sure there will be more questions!).

Posted: 28 May 2010 09:18 AM

Did some research and spoke with some people in France…  not a good scene for massage therapists.  Apparently the kines which are manual doctors in France are all over massage even though they don’t really practice it.  If you say your doing a therapeutic massage they’ll hunt you down like the Terminator.  You can walk around this by calling your massage something else but then it gets dicey who will come to see you.

Oh well, still researching away.  Whistler jumped up on my radar as it is the #1 ski resort in North America and I don’t need to jump through too many hoops to get a gig there.

Posted: 28 May 2010 12:10 PM

I’d look at the big resorts in Switzerland if I was you. Resorts like Verbier and Davos all have loads of opportunities for massage therapists. In verbier you could look at the Nevai Hotel or Biosport for employment; I know a couple of people that have worked at these places and they made really good money. Plus Verbier has a decent park in Thyon, amazing freeriding and it’s only an hours drive from Chamonix, Portes Des Soliel, Diablerets and Leysin.

Posted: 30 May 2010 07:09 AM

If you have contacts to those people Pete PM me, I’d really appreciate it. :)