Do I carry my skis, or rent? Munich will be destination airport, then car or train to resort?
Anybody have experience carrying equipment to Europe?
I do carry my skis when travelling out west.
Thanks, and Happy Thanksgiving!
The Colonel

I would take mine but that is me. Word to the wise, take your boots and other personal items in your carry on/ski pack. If your skis do not make it you will still have your boots, skins, beacon,clothing and such. You can always rent skis if yours get lost but having to rent boots blows chunks.

ps; skitube

I've done both in Europe, carry and rent. IMHO, I'll rent this time. Most European resorts don't even have a fraction of the snowmaking capacity of US American resorts. As a result - talking from personal experience - you could end up in a quarry at a lower elevations. My new XScream Pilots got a dose of that... Cost me almost $200.00 upon return to have the P-Tex redone. The other good thing about renting is that you could rent a pair of skis for the resort conditions, and as well, demo new high-performance instruments...

As for the boots, I'll absolutely agree with Scottyb. Take the boots as carry-on. I don't mean to sound jaded but, if it's USAir, expect you to fly to Austria and your luggage to fly to Honolulu...

Can't wait for the pictures....

Ditto on the boots... carry on and guard with yout life! We took our skis on our Solden trip a few years back. Snow was sparse but they had a big snow just before we arrived and we were sking white grass at times. Not too much base damage. I found that I didn't have enough Euros and had to exchange for more, costing me additional $$ due to ATM fees. Minor inconveniences such as the need for a 220 volt converter for razor and her curling iron... Little things we take for granted.

How difficult is it to rent up to date tele skis in the alps of Europe, or South America for that matter? My understanding is that tele is pretty much a N. American and Scandinavian thing.

Ahh.... Telemarks. Another question altogether. The selection is indeed less, although if you do your homework and call ahead, that can be guaranteed. Tele is experiencing a resurgence in Europe too, and suppliers are eager to meet the demand.

The other two things that I didn't mention about Europe that now come to mind:

1. The only people who will make a queue (a line) are the Brits (obsessed about queues) and US Americans. No one else does. A "line" in a European resort is a mob of people trying to get to the gondola as if someone yelled "FIRE" on the outside. Don't let that idiosyncrasy spoil your fun...

2. Europeans (and South Americans) consider skiing a huuuuge recreation for enjoyment. Not an obsession as we do. Europeans, by and large, start their morning and take two gondolas, a chairlift, and a Pomma to the top. Ski down a thousand feet... stop at the pension and flavor some chocolate. Gear on again and ski down another thousand feet... stop again, a glass of wine and some carne seca... Down again another thousand feet... Off the gear again, enjoy the scenery, some more hot chocolate or a beer stein... If the weather is nice and sunny, they will undress to their skivvies and lay on beach chairs in the fiberglass-enclosed patios where there is no wind and the sun makes it nice and toasty.

And yet another facet of their living. You may notice that Germans, especially, have a healthy concept of the human body and in many cases, their women don't mind being topless while catching the sun outside... Hotel saunas may be coed and nudity is not only widespread, it is mandatory due to health regulations. If your children are sheltered, they may be uncomfortable...

LOL LOL Yes yes yes. The best "foreign country" for Americans is EPCOT.
Went to Kitzbul with a local rural ski club. Fun-eeee. As much as the guys wanted to do the sauna with the, uh, buxom local girls...they were too prudish to get nak'd themselves! You could see their brains twisting! LOL LOL

Ah... I just re-read your posting. München arrival. Don't worry. I've done Munich twice and it is my very favorite European arrival airport and it beats the pants of any US airport altogether, hands down. Northern Germans like to deride the Bavarians as always thinking that they're in a beergarten. And yes, compared to the Flughaffen in Frankfurt or Barajas in Madrid, or -heaven help us - Heathrow (or Newark or Philly or O'hare, for that matter), Munich is on a different world - for the better. They proudly have signs stating that they have been repeatedly named Europe's best customer satisfaction airport. People are friendly. There are information kiosks everywhere and people DO take their time. Munich is the gateway to Bavaria and much of Austria and they are used to skiers and their baggage and skis and....

Arrival is a cinch. If you're terminating there, the airport has an easy connection process. One thing and it's happened to me twice so I figure it is their process... If you're bringing ski gear (another reason for renting), ski gear gets taken off and brought together at the end of the baggage run. None of this throwing your gear on a conveyor belt as in the US. An attendant brought a cart with about ten ski tubes and ski bags all at the same time. Which of course, gets you to the end of the immigration processing line. But compared that to the ill-treatment of your equipment you get at US airports, I'll go with it.

Transportation from München is a godsend compared to US airports. There are two rail lines connecting to the Central Station departing directly from the airport. And from there, you make your easy train connections to any place in Germany, the Czech Republic, or Austria. Cars are really not needed... Their trains are by class and run on the second.

If you're going to Munich, spend a day or two touring the place. A wonderfully charming medieval and yet, extremely and eco-progressive city. The Central plaza is arranged around the Glockenspiel with its bells and rotating figurines dating back to the 1500s. The entire Marianplatz (sp) area is probably what Disney had in mind when he built his parks, except that this is for real. Of course, beer flows and flowers bloom even in the Winter...

On the somber side, yet very, very educational, if you have the extra time and want to give your kids the history lesson of their lives (and they're old enough to handle it), the Dachau concentration camp is right outside Munich on an easy commuter rail ride. It stands as a testament to man's inhumanity to man. I was powerfully affected on my visit.

Munich is one of my favorite places in Europe, if not the world. It is a ski town, a beer town, a food town, a history town, you name it...

In our case it was a little more contentious... Several US Americans were asked to leave the sauna as someone complained and the manager came down citing health regulations. His point was that towels and swimming gear had bacteria and germs etc. etc. etc. and that either they went nude or they had to leave the sauna.

We are indeed very sheltered - if not prude...

Colonel, sorry for not seeing your post sooner. I've been skiing in Colorado since Monday and haven't looked at the forums since late last week.

When I fly to Europe to ski, I always fly to Munich.

I've both carried my skis and rented. Both work equally well. Remember though that the airlines are "baggage fee crazy" nowadays. If a bag is over 50 lbs, you'll be hit with a big fee. They might hit you with a fee for a second bag on the international flight -- and if you start on a domestic flight with an international connection you'll probably get hit with a fee for the first bag, too. The fees just might make renting over there more palatable.

I agree with the comments about carrying your boots as carry on luggage. If they'll fit, try to get one change of clothes, gloves, goggles, helmet, etc in the bag. That way, if everything else gets lost, you'll still be good to go as long as you rent skis.

Also, get the biggest darn computer bag you can find and make it your purse. Put everything else that you really need when you get to get to Europe in the bag - notebook is optional.

I like to drive in Germany and Austria, although as several other people have mentioned, train service is good, and getting to the Munich main station is exceptionally easy from the airport. I'm a speed freak on skis and on the road, and being able to go as fast as I want on the autobahn is as much fun for me as the rest of the ski trip is. Be aware that automatic transmissions are considered a luxury, and you pay dearly for them. If you can drive a stick, you'll find the prices cheap and you'll do fine. Also be aware that lots of Bavarians ski. So expect lots of traffic on Saturday mornings going to Austria, and coming back on Sunday afternoon/evening.

My company put me in Freising as an expat 17 winters ago, and I had reserved an auto tranmission car. My flight was late, and Avis gave me a brand new baby Benz to drive. I stuck the key in the ignition, turned it and the car lurched forward and died. I looked at me feet, and saw three peddles. Went back to the Avis counter to complain, and they told me that was the only car they had left. Now you need to know that the extent of my stick shift experience up to that point was driving a pickup across a field in second gear. So I tried to remember what I had been told decades earlier in high school drivers ed " depress clutch, shift, depress clutch, shift." I said to myself " I can do that" So I decided to take the car. I basically self taught on that Benz 190. The first road I was on: the autobahn to Central Munich in a traffic jam. Then I had to find my way to my destination and learned that all the damn highway signs were in German!
Drove that 190 about 1500 miles before turning it back to Avis, but the poor clutch probably had the equivalent of 10,000 miles on it. At the time, the experience was probably the most stressful one in my life. Now, well now it's just funny as heck!

Have a good time in Austria. Have you decided where you are going yet?

Munich tip: I usually take Luftansa and do the Munich/Frankfurt connection. As the connection (due to weather) is missed often...I stand by their Cusomer Service desk to monitor the flights. They give the first people there a hotel room/meals/bar tab at a hotel the airline owns!!! The delay to the next flight out the next day is made quite bareable!