France: Alpe D'Huez - Ski Total - Chalet La Breche

Hello Everyone, :mrgreen:

I decided to provide some valuable feedback about the three aspects of my recent ski holiday as mentioned in the subject line.

Date of holiday: early February 2012
Ski Conditions: Sunny and good powder this year
Carrier: Flybe (charter)
Period: Sunday to Sunday
Tour Operator: booked through ChaletLine UK - and operated onsite by Ski Total
Chalet: Chalet La Breche - fully catered.
Trasnfer 2 hours from Chambery

Ahead of my trip I was not able to find much about the Chalet - in fact even the tour company could not provide me with directions to the Chalet (a street address or anything) - why - well don;t panic - its because its NEW - really NEW. Only launched in 2010 (October) - and in fact I could not find many reports about the Chalet itself ....seriously - I could not find a report anywhere!

I am sure there will be more to follow - as the chalet gets older - but here goes for those of you going out there anytime soon:

Ski Total: we learned that Ski-Total run around 8 Chalets in Alpe D'Huez - (cant verify that). But suffice to say - they are your regular ON LOCATION Ski representative company. Really friendly group - all between 20-30 year olds - including the resort manager - and all very friendly and eager to help.

We happened to have two of the best chalet hosts and this made the experience of staying at the chalet a really fantastic one. As is typical of any tour operator - there were good points and bad points - and those will vary from one trip to the next.So rather than try and get into the specifics of the things we liked and things we disliked - because it changes with every trip (sometimes the rep you get is good - sometimes the organised trips are poor etc etc) - let me say in summary - they are a good company as a whole and taking everything into account - go with them.

The bigger representation and more prevalent company in the resort seemed to be a company called Esprit ?? I have not heard of them - but they certainly had more reps, had advertisements everywhere in the resort - and seemed to have a bigger footprint. ALL th eother companies were much smaller (Inghams etc). Please note this is our perception versus what may be factually correct - before I see reps from those companies blasting this post ;-)

The menu for the week was well thought out - the food was great on the whole and I have no complaints about the hosts who put on a really good show.

Chalet La Breche: It sleeps 16 - 8 x twin rooms with en-suite facilities. like I said - ok its new - and its NOT on any street - which makes locating it on a map terrible. In fact not even the OFFICIAL WEBSITE for Alpe D'Huez has it on yet. You cannot find it anywhere when you do a Google search - you cannot find it on any forum (at the time of writing this). So - simple question..... is it any good? The answer is simple - YES! It is fantastic.

The location is ideal - on the map its pretty much a stone throw away from the TeleCentre Lift Base station. Is it ski-in ski-out? When I looked on the map I could not understand how it could be advertised as ski in and ski out - when it was in the middle of the village? Well, the secret is - one of the runs is missing from most maps - there is a "green" run - that runs from the main ski school area through a tunnel (under the road) and pretty much straight through the middle of the village past a number of chalets - following the line of the Telecentre lift. So YES it IS SKI IN SKI OUT.

The location in terms of convenience shops is also great - it is literally a flight of stairs down from a local shop (Casino) - for those of you not familiar with Casino - it is literally like a small Co-Operative (for those of you in the UK, or a local Spar for those of you in Europe). Has pretty much everything you need. Next door to the shop is a Autobank/Cash Machine and about 30 meters from a Pharmacy - so everything you need on holiday is right there.

Also it is located slap bang in the middle of ALL of the bars, nightclubs and Apres Ski facilities... but DONT worry because its NOT on a road - it means you do not hear ANYTHING at night - its far enough away from the noise and patrons of the Apres Ski facilities.

The Chalet itself is modern (yet still traditional wood clad style) chalet. What makes it interesting is the floors and ceilings are wood but are "plastered" over - so therefore is a LOT more Sound proof than your average Ski Chalet. So you generally DO NOT HEAR people walking around above you. (note its not TOTALLY sound proof - but its is good). It has a hot tub which is outside and really great after a ski day, and an indoor Infra-red Sauna (I don;t and I am sure many other people don;t like the infra red bit - it just takes too long ;-).

One NEGATIVE point - the rooms have en-suite facilities GREAT - the en-suite facilities involve a Seperate Toile and Seperate Bathroom - GREAT..... the only problem is they contain BATHS! Yes - check the pictures on the agent websites - it looks really cute and chalet typish - but they are Baths! NO SHOWERS, NOW STAND IN BATH SHOWERS, ...its a bath! So take note - for some this will nto be a problem - and for us... we made do and did some sort of a handheld in-bath hose down, but its not ideal. It takes forever to fill the bath and forever to empty the bath - so if you are two singles living in the room (each room has two single beds) - then forget about getting through a full proper bath routine in the morning. Most of the girls in our group went downstairs into the basement (where the Sauna is) to SHOWER. There is a full proper shower in the basement which is supposed to be used for getting in and out of the Sauna/Hot tub - well this became a bathing shower for a number of people in the Chalet.

HOWEVER- the bath/shower thing aside - this is a GREAT chalet and all things considered - we would definitely stay there again.

Alpe D'Huez: Hmmmm, going to try and be objective here. Yes it is a good resort. From a ski'ing perspective - there are enough runs to keep us busy for a week. But certainly no longer. It is a Beginner to

Intermediate resort NOTHING more. There are only a Handful of Black runs - and the so called Longest Black Run in Europe - apparently 16KM. Is certainly NOT a Black Run. The first 50 meters may be with a couple of moguls. but from there on its a gentle Blue - with two sections (drops of about 20 meters) being classified as bordering on Red. One added attraction is a run called Tunnel (apparently the 6th or 9th or something - Harderst Run in Europe - not my comment) - which is a proper Black run with man-sized moguls - again for about 50 meters and then eases out into a Red. So if you are an advanced ski-er looking for challenging runs - and off-psite - in my humble opinion this is not the resort for you. If you are starting off ski'ing or just want to work on your technique - then fine.

Also, the runs are SHORT - there are a handful of runs that are fun and keep you going for a bit longer - but they are situated on the far side of the resort (runs like Poutan - if you are looking at a ski-map). So what this means is - we ended up sitting on lifts (or buttons) - for more time than you ended up ski'ing. Sorry guys thats a fact. The biggest factor contributing to this was the resort itself.

As many resorts do - in off-peak times they SLOW down the lifts (to save electrcitiy blah blah etc). So the Lifts were SLOW - I mean REALLY SLOW. Now the one thing we thought was ..... perhaps its the infrastructure..... its old - the lifts are old - and therefore OPEN (exposed, no bubbles). From memory I can remember 2 yes - thinking of it now only 2 BUBBLE Chair lifts. (the main Gondola's/cable car excluded).

And the Charilifts are LONG - so you get cold - be prepared NO bubble, big wind, long sit. From memory sitting here typing - I think the 2 were: Marmottes 1, and one on Auris side of the mountain (can't remember the name).

However, that being said - sometimes you will appreciate the break on the lift. So not the end of the world but just be prepared. Perhaps they are better in peak times.


So all in all - a GOOD resort - and one you WILL enjoy if you are a beginner to early intermediate ski'er - some lovely LONG green runs for those learning to ski). But its not an experienced intermediate to Black runner resort.

Would we go back.......... here's the thing - before I say NO definitely not - lets face it - if you are looking for a nice solid resort to ski at - if you are like us that try something new on every ski-trip - then YES - do it. But its not worth more than a week in my opinion. If you like the security of knowing what you are getting before you go somewhere - and enjoy going to the same place then - yes its fine.

The people on the whole were very friendly in the resort - and do value you as a customer realising most of their revenue as in any small ski-village comes from the ski trade. So no complaints there. Some really cute restaurants and food on the whole being a French resort was good!

Family friendly and child friendly from a ski-perspective with 2 or 3 ski-schools offering services. And a good bus network to get around.

Also, one recommendation is to take advantage of the Ski Shuttle (that runs once a week about 11 Euros including return) - to Les2Alpes - for a days ski'ing - this provides a good break away from the slopes at Alpe D'Huez - just a change of scenery for one day helps - and restores enthusiasm to return for your last day or two back to Alpe D'Huez.

So in summary:
Ski Total: tick
Chalet La Breche: big tick
Alpe D'Huez: semi-tick

Hope this helps :-)

Any questions - feel free to PM me!

**edited - a couple of spelling mistakes corrected :-)

Thanks for posting this. :thumbup:

The more information the better when making a choice.

Cheers,

Owen.

Thanks - a really interesting read. I was considering Alpe d'Huez this year, except we got a good deal for Saas Fee instead. Having read your review, I would still consider Alpe d'Huez - it sounds like it would be ideal for our standard of skiing. It's good to hear about Ski Total as well as we haven't ever used them before. Your comments about the chalet were excellent - the sort of things I would definitely want to know about, such as the bath/shower thing.

Very interesting read indeed.
I went to the Chalet Hotel Mariandre, through Ski Total but operated by Esprit Ski. I would not go to a child friendly hotel again after that experience, shame as the hotel was decent. This was located one block down from the Casino supermarket, behind the Edelweiss restaurant, so I know the area you were in, a very good spot in the old town.

As for your summary of ADH, how much of it did you get to see exactly? Suggesting it is a beginner/intermediate resort at best is IMO way off the mark. Its got some really tough runs, and a lot of fantastic off piste.
I do think however that its a good resort for beginners as the bowl above town is all greens (which IMO should be blues) but these are fabulous for beginners and timid intermediates to get comfy.

There are good long reds down to Oz and Vaujany, none of which I would send anyone but strong intermediates down. Theres some lovely sweeping blues down at Montfrais too, but again these should IMO be reds in many parts and beginnners would be terrified on them. I have a friend who is very early intermediate and he poohed his pants on a lot of the ADH slopes other than the greens around town.

The other thing is that the runs are anything but short. I particularly liked a lot of the runs as they were longer than in other resorts. Compare them to, say, Mayrhofen and they are 3-4 times the length. Interesting you thought this.

Sarenne is a blue at the bottom part once you get over the short steeper sections. IMO this should be classed as a red from the glacier down, but the top part - saying its 50m of black and nothing more is a complete nonsense. I took a friend on it for the first time, he is a strong and experienced intermediate skier, and he struggled for the first couple of KMs. Open bowls, no marked piste, big moguls, steep sections.....no way is this anything other than a black at the top.

As for the Tunnel, thats the hardest run I have done to date, and I include the Hari Kari at Mayrhofen in that. Massive moguls, vert steep and narrow sections, and then it opens up IN PLACES to open off piste skiing akin to the St Anton ski routes. But again this run has to be classified as black.

Maybe you are a vastly experienced and advanced skier, and to you these runs may be matter of fact. But I can assure anyone else that these runs are tough, and there are other red and blacks spread around the resort which are not easy for your average intermediate skier at all.

I had a full week, and 4 days prior to that, and I havent skied all the runs on the map yet. Its a brilliant place to ski for a week, as it has 4 distinct sectors which take you away from the village bowl, and give you a feeling of travelling around.

This business of the lifts slowing down.....never heard such dross in my life! There are some older slow lifts which can slow when numpties dont get on them properly but suggesting they run them slow deliberately to save electricity.....well, I'm frankly astonished! None of the lifts are REALLY slow, but compared to some Austrian resorts they may seem slow thats true. But compare them to some of the lifts in Serre Chevalier and they are quick enough!! I think you'll actually find there are 11 lifts in total which are either gondolas, bubbles or cable cars. I alweays thought it was "normal" for most other lifts to be chairs.....????

I'm not trying to be argumentative, but I have to say your assessment of ADH seems somewhat incorrect and it also contradicts what WTSS think about the place. Maybe you just have a different outlook on resorts?