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Tiberius 
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Post subject: Slovakia
 Posted: Jan 07, 2010 - 06:01 PM
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First post: Oct 17, 2004
Total posts: 9415
Location: 10 mins from Cas
Status: Offline
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A quick review can be covered by saying I’m going back next year, but the location is sufficiently different from the ‘standard’ alp site to warrant a somewhat longer explanation.
First the riding was good, especially for snowboarders. The main resort of Jasna (pronounced yasna) is where we spent all our time. Not as big as the major French resorts, but not small and certainly better equipped than some other places I’ve been to.
The pistes are generally wide and open, certainly nice for snowboarders although we were in more of a minority than at the main French resorts I’ve been to (looked to be no more than 15%). At the lower level, you have 3 main routes up the mountains. A 6 man chairlift, a 4 man chairlift and a brand new 8 man gondola. These take you up to a mid station, from where you can ride back down, or go higher still. Unfortunately most of the higher runs were shut when we went, but conditions are always a bit erratic in December so we can’t really complain. A circuit on the 8 man, from queue, up and a leisurely ride down took about half an hour.
The grading of the routes I found quite lenient. One red served by the 6 man chairlift for instance was steep. I’ve ridden blacks in France that were not as steep, although it was wide and open, so perhaps a fair grading, just not an easy one.
Although the riding is good, the main advantage I found with Slovakia over the traditional French sites was the amount of other activities to do. Generally when you go to France, you ski during the day then get pissed at night coz there really isn’t much else to do. You can do that if you want in Slovakia, but there’s a whole array of other activities to try out as well. Horse riding, Hot water spa (a water park, with hot water – 37 deg), Ice hockey (yes, I paid good money to watch grown men play a schoolgirl sport on ice skates), go-karting (could have spent all day there) to name just a few (most costing just a few euros). We got a 5 out of 7 day lift pass and had a day off to go to the spa, but it’s open until 9pm, so you can go in the evening if you really need to ride every day.
ChaletSlovakia, run by Dan and Claire is the place we went to, and the place we will be going back to again. However, like Slovakia itself, it’s different enough from a ‘standard’ chalet to warrant a longer explanation.
First, it’s not ski in/ski out. In fact it’s not even situated in the resort of Jasna but about 15 minutes drive away in the town of Liptovsky Mikulas. This was a worry at first, but in reality turned out not to be a problem. Dan took us to the bottom of the lifts in the morning and picked us up at night (or stayed and rode with us). Generally we arranged the night before with the other chalet residents and Dan what time we wanted to go and everything really worked fine.
The second ‘issue’ is that the chalet is bed and breakfast, not half board. I was worried about this as all other chalets I’ve stayed in provided evening meal too. Again it proved to be a benefit rather than a problem. Staying in the town meant there were lots of restaurants all within 10 mins walk serving a variety of food generally for between 5 and 10 euros a head. The food was all excellent, although you have to be a bit flexible. Generally what came was often not what you expected. We quite enjoyed the guessing game at the end. Order Spaghetti, and Penne came. Dumplings seemed to cover a wide variety of items depending on the restaurant. But whatever came was always edible and tasty. English wasn’t widely spoken, so ordering food tended to involve a lot of pointing and holding up of fingers, but it was fun. (the thumb in Slovakia apparently counts as one...so if you’re not careful when holding fingers up, you end up with one more than you think you ordered  )
Not having to do evening meal freed up Dan and Claire to do a lot of other things. Whether that was riding with us during the day, or getting involved in other activities in the evening, all of which would have been difficult if they had to prepare evening meals for the chalet guests too.
The rooms themselves were larger and more spacious than just about any Chalet I’ve been in before, but our room did have 4 beds and was only occupied by three of us. ChaletSlovakia do not insist on full occupancy and they do have a range of room sizes. There’s a separate drying room and garage, so your bedroom doesn’t need to be cluttered with riding gear.
Overall, if you want to ride every day, all day, and it’s important that you ride different runs every day, then Slovakia may not be ideal for you. For just about anyone else it’s well worth trying out and I can certainly recommend giving ChaletSlovakia a trial. |
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The Disclaimer:
Tiberius is a socialist. His views may not necessarily be supported by his owner.
Last edited by Tiberius on Jan 07, 2010 - 08:09 PM; edited 1 time in total
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winterfunman
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Post subject: RE: Slovakia
Posted: Jan 07, 2010 - 07:02 PM
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First post: Apr 20, 2008
Total posts: 8913
Location: BANSKO ..........Bulgaria
Status: Offline
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Dam0
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Post subject: RE: Slovakia
Posted: Jan 07, 2010 - 10:52 PM
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First post: Nov 13, 2009
Total posts: 53
Location: Lincoln, UK
Status: Offline
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| thanks, I'm already considering ChaletSlovakia for this year. |
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MissBint37
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Post subject:
Posted: Jan 08, 2010 - 01:00 AM
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First post: Sep 01, 2008
Total posts: 1062
Location: Sunny (I wish) Sheffield
Status: Offline
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I went in the summer...to MTB not board, was lovely, am hoping to get back there last week in easter to ride this time if I can get stuff sorted!
Keep up the good work Dan and Clare |
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chaletslovakia
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Post subject:
Posted: Jan 10, 2010 - 02:41 PM
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First post: Feb 22, 2008
Total posts: 301
Location: Jasna, Slovakia
Status: Offline
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Hey Tiberius,
Thanks for the review....
If you've any climbing questions or other summer stuff, just let us know. If you do come back in the summer, I'll be expecting at least a second off your karting times (warm track)....
Dan |
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It's cheap, a great all-round hill and LOTS of easy access off-piste...
Plenty of great riding, guiding, grub and beers without the hefty Alp pricetag.
visit www.chaletslovakia.com
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wakeyboarder
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Post subject:
Posted: Jan 10, 2010 - 04:16 PM
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First post: Apr 21, 2005
Total posts: 531
Status: Offline
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| good review mate, been going to slovakia for last 4 years, mainly jasna and i love it for all the reasons you stated :O) not just me who thought that red was steep either :O) |
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photos etc:
http://uk.geocities.com/mjwhitta/
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bong69uk
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Post subject:
Posted: Jan 11, 2010 - 01:55 AM
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First post: Nov 27, 2007
Total posts: 524
Location: edinburgh,scotland.
Status: Offline
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| Nice review dude, im heading there in march so i will add to it afterwards , prob just be all about the supposedly stunning women out there tho lol. |
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MissBint37
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Post subject:
Posted: Jan 11, 2010 - 10:26 AM
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First post: Sep 01, 2008
Total posts: 1062
Location: Sunny (I wish) Sheffield
Status: Offline
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That is true most of the women were really hot...
But the men no such look....it was summer when I went and I was hoping for hot men with their tops off, but the ones that had nice bodies had uuuugly faces...bad times...but you guys enjoy! |
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Tiberius
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Post subject:
Posted: Jan 11, 2010 - 10:37 AM
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First post: Oct 17, 2004
Total posts: 9415
Location: 10 mins from Cas
Status: Offline
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wakeyboarder wrote:
...not just me who thought that red was steep either
It's vertical and not just one bit, about half of it is like that.
Having said that, it is a good run to learn to ride steep runs on as it's wide, open, and the steep bits are pretty straight with no camber or other complications.
At the end of our last day therre, Oliver rode it in 10 mins coz he wanted to catch the lift up again for one last run. I think he musta pretty much straightlined it...I'm almost glad I didn't see most of that run |
_________________
The Disclaimer:
Tiberius is a socialist. His views may not necessarily be supported by his owner.
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wakeyboarder
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Post subject:
Posted: Jan 11, 2010 - 12:30 PM
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First post: Apr 21, 2005
Total posts: 531
Status: Offline
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bong69uk
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Post subject:
Posted: Jan 11, 2010 - 05:41 PM
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First post: Nov 27, 2007
Total posts: 524
Location: edinburgh,scotland.
Status: Offline
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| Tell me guys how did u all get to jasna? im trying to find another way apart from the joke that is ryanair!! |
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DJb
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Post subject:
Posted: Jan 11, 2010 - 06:35 PM
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First post: Aug 19, 2009
Total posts: 107
Location: Scotland / Slovakia
Status: Offline
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MissBint37 wrote:
That is true most of the women were really hot...
But the men no such look....it was summer when I went and I was hoping for hot men with their tops off, but the ones that had nice bodies had uuuugly faces...bad times...but you guys enjoy!
From my experiences just across the Caparthians in south easy Poland I agree. Most of the men look like Bouncers or Chavs, although most of them are good people once you meet them. My ex said the local women have a saying along the lines of 'Just better looking than the devil'.
And as for the women - I had a hard job keeping my eyes to myself  If only I could of spoken the lingo... |
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Tiberius
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Post subject:
Posted: Jan 11, 2010 - 07:02 PM
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First post: Oct 17, 2004
Total posts: 9415
Location: 10 mins from Cas
Status: Offline
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bong69uk wrote:
Tell me guys how did u all get to jasna?
Danube wings. Fly from Luton, Manchest and Dublin I think. Alternatively fly to Bratislava and take the train. |
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The Disclaimer:
Tiberius is a socialist. His views may not necessarily be supported by his owner.
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ChasKi
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Post subject:
Posted: Jan 11, 2010 - 07:33 PM
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First post: Mar 04, 2009
Total posts: 2481
Location: Plymouth/Stroud
Status: Offline
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Wanted to go this year, but ChaletSlovakia is booked up for the only time I have  |
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PropagandaSnowboards
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Post subject:
Posted: Jan 12, 2010 - 02:40 PM
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First post: Jun 27, 2005
Total posts: 276
Status: Offline
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Tiberius wrote:
bong69uk wrote:
Tell me guys how did u all get to jasna?
Danube wings. Fly from Luton, Manchest and Dublin I think. Alternatively fly to Bratislava and take the train.
You can also fly to Vienna with BA or Easyjet etc from more places in the UK, its also a direct train to here that goes through Bratislava on the way...... alternatively Krakow but its not so easy on public transport to get here, but car transfer is about 2 hours |
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Check out the chalet and pics from Jasna, Slovakia
Not only that, we have the cheapest wakeboarding set up too
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