Is Les Arcs good for beginners?

is les arcs good for beginners?

http://www.j2ski.com/ski_resorts/France/Les_Arcs.html

this address about the site says there is only one green run! but is 4 stars for beginners!?

is there only 1 green run at Les Arcs? surely there must be more?? Are the schools any good?

cheers

Hello Ashley

Welcome to J2Ski. Get ready for an addiction.

I went to Les Arcs last year with my OH who had a bad experience first time.
I can tell you it is a superb place to learn skiing.
The Blue Runs are very modest and these will be picked up in no time.
You can ski most the mountain on Blues as there are so many.
We stay in Arc 2000 which is better for the learners than 1800.
ESF ski school was superb for my OH but she had a couple of private lessons (€40 per hour) as this is what she prefers.

You will have plenty to do in a week I guarantee.

My comment to my OH was before the trip to Les Arcs was that if she didnt enjoy it this time, I would never ask her to go skiing again.

We have two holidays booked in 2010 to Alpe D Huez and Serre Chevalier.

PS I am not a very good skier either but you will love the wide motorways in Les Arcs

Absolute beginners (very first time on skis) are catered for in Arc 2000. There's one (maybe two) chair lifts that are free and a long (1km+), easy Green. A number of the Blues in the 2000 valley are pretty benign and should be doable by day 2 or 3.

Many of the Blues elsewhere should be manageable by just about any 2nd week skier. By paying attention to the piste map (!), early skiers can get a lot of miles under their skis and feel like they've been around the mountain.

Can't help with specifics for the ski schools, sorry.

Hi Ashley,

I took 18 people to Peisy Nancroix 2 years ago with a group of about 5 or 6 complete beginners (both skiers and boarders) and found it great!

I agree that looking at the piste map there seems quite a lack of greens but there are good nursery areas above Vallandry and Plan Peisy and some around 1800 as I remember.

Also a lot of the blue runs (especially above the main Les Arcs resorts) are very wide and not particularly steep so after a couple of days with lessons you should find people progress quickly.

If you are staying over the Peisy side you will find people meet for ski school at the bottom of the Peisy lift, get the lift up to the nursery areas (which are nicely fenced off from the speed freaks!) and then are advised to get the Peisy lift back down at the end of the morning/day. Your instructor will probably ski all the way down with you but only after a day or so of practice as some of the runs are a little steep and the run in to the Peisy lift can get quite icy at the end of the day.

I would suggest you avoid "Foret" until people are a bit more confident at controlling their speed. It runs from the nursery slopes down through the trees (unsuprisingly!) and gets you back to the Peisy or Vallandry lifts. This is graded green or blue but can get very busy and is narrow in places, not the place for nervous beginners!

Ski school wise, I had a couple of private lessons with New Gen Ski school who I cannot recommend enough. All English speaking and a very high level of tuition. I think they do group lessons but are known to get booked up in advance so be warned! They are more expensive than ESF but in my opinion they are certainly worth the extra. Some of the beginner boarders were very disappointed with their ESF instructor, almost to the point of not wanting to go again and one of the slightly more confident beginner skiers was told to just "Go off and practice on your own" as he was moving ahead of the rest of the group in terms of ability. This was also from an ESF group lesson.

I don't like knocking ESF as I was taught years ago in Chamonix by a proper mountain man called Fred who didn't speak much English but was so easy to follow just looking at what he was doing that I progressed really quickly. However this was a 1 on 1 lesson and the number of complaints I've heard about ESF group lessons has really put me off.

Anyway, have fun the Paradiski area is brilliant, I'm sure everyone will love it!

Paul

I would concur that:-

2000 is great for beginners, some lovely wide slopes
New Generation in Vallandry are supposed to be excellent but I can't comment on the slopes down there
ESF would be avoided by me, personally
1800 is absolutely not for complete beginners, maybe a couple of days in

It's a great resort though, I'd recommend it and I'll be going back one day to cover more of it.

Ashley....it's important to know where in Les Arcs you are staying. Les Arcs is a huge resort linked to another huge resort (La Plagne) together called Paradiski. If you are beginners and are staying in Peisey Vallandry you may never see Arc 2000 and vice versa. Let us know where you are staying and we can narrow down our advice. Gravy (Ski Guide Paradiski)

Took three beginners to Arc 1950 2 years ago and they had a great time on the slopes above Arc 2000 and got them over to 1800 by the end of the week.