My holiday in Courchevel 1550

I spent quite a long time picking this resort as a holiday destination for me, my 16 year old daughter, and her grown up cousin.

I think the reasons I chose it were something like this:

1. It has easy access by train from London. The Eurostar direct takes 6 1/2 hours to get from St Pancras to Moutiers, and then there is a public bus (takes around 3/4 hour) or a taxi (takes about 1/2 hour) to Courchevel 1550.
The train is, however, quite expensive - £300 for Feb half-term.

2. It has a large ski area - 150 Km in Courchevel itself and a total of 600 Km for the whole 3 Valleys ski area which includes Meribel and Val Thorens etc.

3. There are lots of fancy shops and restaurants in Courchevel 1850 which I thought would occupy my daughter's cousin in case she didn't like ski-ing (she had only skied for one week before this holiday).

4. It is more sheltered than Val Thorens, where we had spent 2 previous ski holidays, and has a very high tree line so that good ski-ing in the trees is quite possible.

5. It has alternative drag lift routes as well as plenty of modern chair lifts and gondolas so that ski-ing in windy/blizzardy weather should be possible. All the lifts shut one day when we were in Val Thorens once and I didn't want to risk wasting another day of ski-ing.

6. The snow is pretty reliable. The upper slopes are high enough for natural snow and the lower slopes are very well covered with snow cannons.

7. Courchevel 1550 is very well connected to 1850 - it is about 1 mile directly below it and there is a fast gondola plus a chairlift plus the ski bus running between the two, and a very wide blue run.

8. Courchevel 1550 is much cheaper than 1850. The accommodation, restaurants, and shops are all far cheaper. And it is pretty much self-contained, with its own ski hire and food shops, tourist information and esf school. For comparison - I had a whole bowl of tasty vegetable soup (potage) with croutons and bread in a creperie in 1550 for 4-50 euros while my daughter paid 7 euros for a coke in 1850 and (even worse) 30 euros just to go swimming in a hotel because there is no public swimming pool anywhere in Courchevel during the winter.

Getting there

This turned out to be a rather difficult journey.
1. None of the three lines running between Baker Street and St Pancras were working on Saturday morning, and we were told to get off and find a bus :shock:

2. The first bus that came along refused to take us because of all our luggage. Luckily we managed to get on the second bus.

3. There were huge queues at St Pancras, but luckily I'd left plenty of time and we got on the train okay.

4. There was a broken down train in the tunnel which delayed our train.

5. There was a bomb scare at Charles de Gaulle airport which our train was going past and again our train was held up.

6. There was then a 'traffic jam' of trains at Albertville.

7. Consequently our train arrive at Moutiers 1 hour and ten minutes late and all the buses (for which I'd booked seats) had left and there were no more that evening. Fortunately I'd made friends with a man on the train who was also going to Courchevel and the 7 of us shared a taxi (total price 90 euros) and I only had to pay 35 euros for the 3 of us.

8. As a result of this, when we got to the resort, at about 7 p.m. the ski hire shop was shut and so was the grocery store. So we had to go out for supper (only a few door down from our apartment and pretty cheap really - total of 20 euros each including drinks and pudding).

The apartment

This was really great. It was a studio apartment for 4 in the Pierre et Vacances residence Maeva Les Grangettes. It had big patio doors with a superb view onto the mountain, the gondola and the blue run. And for a French apartment it was really quite spacious, with actual bath plus shower, mini kitchen, bunk beds and sofa/double bed. It was warm, clean and comfortable.

There were 2 lifts from the ground floor level up to our apartment on the 5th floor. And there was a very nice ski locker room on the ground floor. The reception seemed to have pretty good opening hours and the staff were very pleasant and could speak French and English. All the people we met in the residence were friendly and polite.

And the apartment was only about 20 yards from the gondola and the bottom of the blue run, with restaurants and shops etc. right beside it.

The apartment cost about 1000 euros for the half-term week, which is about double its cheapest rate.

(To be continued)

Not a great start, but sounds like its getting better now you are there!
Nightmare journey, especially after your journey down from Wales.

Good review Ally. Looking forward to reading more.

Come on where is the next Instalment :lol:

11 days until I got to Courchevel, although I'm staying in 1850 as I had the luxury of going out of school holiday. Can't wait!!

Thanks for the lowdown. I haven't been for 7 years, and the exchange rate was much better then.

Did you do the luge/sledge thing?

Patiently awaiting update...

Lessons with ESF Courchevel 1550

I'd booked lessons with them months before the holiday, because I knew that at half-term they'd book up pretty quickly. The program looked like this:

Me - English performance lesson (slalom) 0930 - 1130 cost 190 Euros
Me - French ski detente (pleasure) lesson 1415 - 1645 cost 140 Euros

My daughter - English off-piste lesson 0930 - 1130 cost 190 Euros
My daughter - English ski detente (pleasure) 1130 - 1330 cost 180 Euros

Her cousin - English Debrouill (one week's experience) cost 190 Euros

The lessons my daughter and I were having were for 'advanced' skiers i.e. you had to have completed the basic program of beginners followed by four more levels and reached a standard where you could confidently ski on red and black slopes.

I was a bit worried about this, because last year one of my instructors said I should move up to the advanced lessons and the other one said I was still only a strong intermediate. So, I was waiting to see what sort of groups I would land up in and whether I'd have to move down a group or not. The distinction between levels isn't at all clear, and it seems to depend a great deal on the instructor and the standard of the group that turn up that week.

We had a bad start to the lessons because we were running late due to missing the ski hire shop the night before. We had to go out for breakfast as well (cheese omelette for breakfast was certainly a change!) and then rush through the fitting of the skis and boots to try and get up to 1850 for the lessons. For some reason the English 1550 lessons start from 1850 whilst the French 1550 lessons start in 1550. Anyway, I sent my daugher ahead of me to the lessons while I was still stuck in the hire shop and she went to the 1850 esf lesson place by mistake (which is about 20 yards from the 1550 esf lesson meeting point) up at 1850, and they sent her and her cousin all the way back down to 1550.

I went to the esf office in 1550 and tried to sort it all out, and my daughter ended up missing out on a whole lesson, her cousin took the later lesson, and I got an hour of private tuition plus the hour that was left of my booked lesson. What a mess up! And during the extra hour I had that spectacular fall on my back which I have written about elsewhere.

My afternoon lesson was great. My instructor couldn't speak any English, but we managed okay, and I was the only one there because the others were turning up the next day. So he had a whole afternoon to discover that I couldn't do moguls but was kind of okay with everything else.

And my daughter was the only one at her second lesson as well. She says the instructor took her down a red run and could then see that it was too easy for her and spent the rest of the lesson off piste with her. So she had a great time.

The next day we had the esf 1550 manager teaching both of us. Apparently there weren't enough people for all the individual classes so he combined the slalom and the off piste and brought in 3 french people as well. I didn't get on at all well with him and he seemed to be cross with me all the time, although I don't really know why. The group was quite hard but I did manage to ski in it all week. The only thing I totally dodged out of was going off-piste down a mogul run - I skied round it on the red run.

The best thing we got to do was ski slalom in the Olympic slalom course. I went very carefully and wide around all the gates in case I hit them or fell over, but some of the others went quite fast and one of them fell over. The instructor videod me but I don't know if I'm going to get a copy of it or not, because it was on someone else's camera, and he says he will put it up on U-tube and e-mail it to me.

On Thursday night it snowed lots and on Friday we were ski-ing on powder, which I haven't done before, and I was a bambi on ice in the morning lesson - falling and nearly falling all over the place - pretty much like being drunk, a very strange feeling.

My daughter had a great time in her afternoon lessons. There were only 3 of them in the group and they skied all over Courchevel, on and off piste, and by the end of the week the only thing they hadn't skied was the Grand Couloir (apart from the bit at the bottom) and apparently it was because their instructor said they'd get vertigo crossing the precipice at the beginning.

I had a lovely time in my afternoon lessons, which made up for the grumpy manager instructor in the morning ones. There was only me and a Belgian lady on those short stunt skis and two French teenage girls. The instructor was really kind, patient, amusing (we had a lovely time making stupid jokes in French), and a brilliant teacher. He taught me how to ski moguls. We spent a whole afternoon in them and as soon as we'd skied them all he took us back up the lift and we had another go. I must have fallen over about 10 times learning how to ski them (and I've hurt my big toe). I can still only ski the small ones, but it is a big improvement. And on the Friday afternoon he taught me how to ski powder as well, and I can now ski with my legs at that funny angle that shows you are ski-ing on powder.

We were catching the night Eurostar back to London so we had Saturday to ski as well. My daughter and I skied all over the place - down to La Tania and Le Praz and all the way up to the top and down the other side of Courchevel. I skied very carefully because there was still masses of powder everywhere - even a green run we went on had turned into something totally extraordinary with great lumps of powder all over it.

(To be continued)

Continuation


The pistes
Courchevel is an area made up of several villages all connected by ski bus, pistes and lifts (except St Bon 1100 which is only connected by the ski bus and a red run).

So, if you follow the road up from Moutiers the first village you reach is St Bon at 1100m, then the old village of St Praz at 1300m from where you can either turn right for La Tania at 1400m or left for Courchevel 1550. Continuing along past Courchevel 1550 you reach Courchevel 1650 and then finally Courchevel 1850.

While standing in Courchevel 1550, where we were, 1850 is directly above you, St Bon is below, Le Praz is over to the right, and La Tania is well over to the right. 1650 is over to the left.

From 1550 there is a gondola (Grangettes) up to 1850, and also, further along the road to the right when looking uphill, the Tovets chairlift which also goes up to 1850. There is also a small free practice drag lift, called Roys, which is to the left of the Tovets chairlift. This area, to the left of the Tovets chairlift, is the meeting point for the French esf 1550 lessons, and the groups go straight up the chairlift at the beginning of the classes. The esf 1550 office is on the road between the gondola and the meeting point, close to the tourist information office.

The Grangettes gondola goes straight to the centre of 1850, La Croisette, where the 1850 esf office is, and the esf 1850 meeting point is just outside the lift station. The English 1550 esf meeting point is just opposite where the 1850 meeting point is, and it is quite confusing to see which school is which because they all wear the same red esf outfit but they also have the name (or altitude) of the school (there is also an esf 1650 school).

The piste down from 1850 to 1550 is supposed to be a blue one, but it was really hard to ski on practically the whole time we were there. Parts of it were like ski-ing on lumps of concrete, or shingle and my afternoon instructor said it was very hard (dur) and it was because it's made of artificial snow. I really wouldn't recommend a beginner trying to ski down it – it's quite steep as well. We'd just been ski-ing down a black run quite confidently, and that blue run was quite a shock to the system! The only good thing about it was that there was hardly anyone on it. And the bottom bit where it goes down to the gondola tended to get very icy, and lots of people fell on it. The other side, where it goes down to the French esf meeting point, wasn't nearly so bad.

From the centre of 1850, La Croisette, we generally skied down on what is supposed to be a green run to the Plantrey chair lift. There was a nasty turn just before the queue for this chairlift and it was quite tricky, especially for a green run. Once up the top of the Plantrey you can ski pretty much anywhere – turn right and head down the long red bouc blanc (which branches off) all the way to La Tania for example. Or you can turn off the bouc blanc, for example, and ski down the black jockeys to Le Praz at 1300 (we did this one day and we were the only ones on the piste and it was really nice and quiet ski-ing with trees either side of the piste – and it comes out behind the enormous Olympic ski jump in Le Praz).

All the pistes seemed to be very well connected and extremely well signposted, so that there was little chance of ski-ing out of the Courchevel area and off to Meribel by mistake, for example. There were big signs with the name of the piste (and colour) and where it was heading – 1850, Le Praz or whatever. The only downside of this was that there weren't many pistes where you could ski continuously for long without coming to a junction.

There are basically 5 high peaks; the roc Merlet, the Creux Noirs, the Vizelle, the Saulire and the Col de la Loze. Of these, only the last one has a blue run (and you can get into Meribel from it although we didn't), the rest of them have rather frightening reds and blacks. The hardest run in Courchevel, the Grand Couloir, runs down from the Saulire and it is apparently pretty tough – my daughter's instructor wouldn't let them ski it because he said they'd get vertigo crossing the precipice at the beginning.

There are plenty of easy green runs in several different areas – one we passed while we were on the drag lift runs right past the chalets in 1850 and looked pretty flat (the Bellecote I think it was). And higher up at the top of the Verdons gondola there's a whole area of green runs which are really nice and user friendly, although I rather think that the double drag lift the Rocher de l'ombre which goes from there is the one which caused me quite a bit of trouble. It's labelled as difficult and it's the only draglift I've ever seen with traffic lights. When it's on red you have to wait, and then when it goes green you have to go and catch the bar as you're moving or else you get yanked miles up in the air (this happened to me the first time although I managed not to fall over).

There is also a nice easy drag lift alongside the green run, with a forested area beside it where you can practice ski-ing over bumps and under trees. And somewhere (I can't remember where it is, maybe someone else knows) there are two 'canyons' in a line where you can practise ski-ing what is effectively a natural half-pipe. They are technically off piste, but the ski school took us in there, and in the moguls.

We also went in the boardercross park, and I found it okay, not too difficult, although I have to admit I cheated a bit and reduced my speed with a snowplough before I straightened up for the jumps and up the wall.

There's a very busy private airport and it was quite entertaining watching the planes landing and taking off (Russians my instructor said), as we skied past. They also do the parachuting with skis, and one of these nearly landed on top of my daughter, and came quite close to me when we were ski-ing.

There's a practice slalom park, as well as the Olympic one. We got to ski in the Olympic one, but the general public isn't really allowed (we got special permission) and it was quite fun ski-ing past the sign that said 'competitors only'. The whole area is fenced off.

Also, from the top of the Plantrey chair lift you can ski down the red dou du midi piste (my daughter and I did it on the Saturday) which is all moguls, especially at the top, and takes you right down to 1550.

In other words, there is masses of ski-ing to be had in Courchevel. We were there in Feb half-term and the green and blue pistes were pretty crowded, but the red and especially the black pistes were practically empty. There was plenty to keep us busy for the whole week, and we never felt the need to travel out of Courchevel to Meribel or Val Thorens (even during our free day on Saturday when we weren't in lessons). We skied pretty much the whole area (apart from the Grand Couloir) and we didn't try going down to St Bon at 1100 so I don't know if it was open or not.

Continuation

Prices

We only ate out a few times, but these are the prices taken off my receipts:

La Cortona Pizzeria restaurant in the Rue des Grangettes in 1550 (very nice and quite posh looking but not really very expensive). A meal for 3 people.

3 biere pression (draught beer) = 8.70 euros
1 potage (soup) = 5.5 euros
1 salade tomate confit = 12.00 euros
1 assiette de frites = 3.5 euros
1 royale (forgotten what this is but a main meat dish) = 14 euros
2 patisserie jour (cakes of the day - lemon tart) = 13.00 euro
1 gratins fruits rouge (forgotten what this is - pudding) = 7.5 euros

Grand total 64.20 euros

La Normandise restaurant and creperie, 1550, very nice little restaurant/cafe. Food for 3 people.

1 soupe express = 4.5 euros
1 salad biquette = 8.5 euros
1 crepe beurre/sucre = 3.0 euros
1 limonade = 2.5 euros
1 The au lait = 2.8 euros
1 orange = 3.00

Total = 24.30 euros

Le Caveau 1550 (posh restaurant you may have to book for the evening, but allowed us in with ski boots on at lunch time). Lunch for 3 people.

1 The au lait = 3.3 euros
1 serieux = 6.10 euros
1 orangina = 3.00 euros
1 potage de legumes = 11.00 euros
1 grande salade chevre = 13.00 euros
1 tartiflette maison = 17.00 euros

Total = 53.40 euros.

Les Verdons (very nice mountain restaurant above 1850)

Americain (my instructor had it whatever it is) = 3.00 euros
Chocolat chaud (hot chocolate) = 4.5 euros
Assiette frites (plate of chips) = 8.00 euros
Soda pression = 4.00 euros






Ally

Crikey Ally, all jo0king apart and that, I do feel sorry for you with the problems you had with lessons.
However, I do think I should add that you really need to ENJOY your ski holidays, and whilst you may get a lot out of the constant lessons, I dont believe you are relaxing and really feeling your own way around. Its all lessons all the time. I think you might benefit a lot more from having a weeks worth of all mornings and then going off to do your own thing in the afternoon, explore around, try different techniques and disciplines, and get to know how you ski.
Otherwise, its like being on a school trip every time you go, no time to really wind down and chill, which is really important in life.

Tony,
You have to remember that you and I are very different people, and clearly we enjoy ourselves in different ways. I have had a really lovely holiday :D :D :D

The only thing I would change if I could, would be to make my morning instructor more relaxed and less critical. Quite honestly, he looked like someone who could do with a holiday himself :cry: I think he was only teaching us himself because they were so short of instructors at half-term. He also had all the work of managing the other instructors and trying to sort out the problems with people who were in the wrong group etc.

I like having two lots of lessons, and two different instructors, because apart from anything else it means that I have two chances of getting a nice instructor. I'm not sure how I'd have stood up to the constant criticism of my morning instructor if I hadn't had my afternoon instructor praising me and my efforts all the time. And it wasn't just me, the morning instructor criticized everyone. I only heard him say once 'parfait' (to one of the French in the group who was a brilliant skier - he'd been ski-ing for years).

Our morning instructor kept testing us all the time - making us ski individually while he watched us, after he'd given us some new technique instructions which generally didn't make much sense. And he made me very nervous. Like one morning, Thursday I think it was, he watched us turning individually on a steep slope (me first) and told me that I moved up and down too quickly (I bobbed up for a very short time to make my turn and then went down nice and low and secure pretty fast). My daughter did exactly the same thing as me, and also got told off, and then he said we'd all done it wrong like that.

So he said for an exercise we were to stay up and 'dive' down the mountain before turning. I don't think any of the English except me knew what he meant. And in French he said something like 'faire le grand virage et tout droit et controller la vitesse', which meant make a big turn and go straight ahead in the middle of it but control your speed. I only knew what he was talking about because I'd seen the excercise in my ski book, and I'd done something slightly similar but much easier in a previous ski lesson.

I was feeling really cross with him because he'd criticized me for going too slowly the day before, so I thought I'd let rip, and it was the most fun I'd had all holiday. I was sure I could do it under control because the slope was almost exactly like the bottom of the black one we'd spent 3 days ski-ing on in Tignes (when it was covered in ice). He skied down to the bottom and waved his ski stick and some others went down ahead of me (one of whom lost her ski and fell over).

Anyway, when it was my turn I thought I'd really go for it and 'dive' down the mountain. I stood up totally straight (like he'd said) and went straight down the mountain until I thought I was going fast enough to frighten him a bit and then went low into a carving turn and across the slope and then did exactly the same thing at the other side and all the way down, going really fast but not out of control so that when I reached the bottom I could ski slowly across to him. And he said I'd frightened him because he was afraid I'd lose control and I said 'Je gagne la medaille d'or?' which means 'I win the gold medal?' but even that hardly made him laugh. He had a totally useless sense of humour. So I said I'd buy him a drink to restore his nerves. And I said he should congratulate me for not falling over. As far as I could see I'd done the exercise perfectly but he could still only criticize.

I suppose I have a nasty sense of humour because I was laughing about it to myself for ages afterwards - because I'd frightened him a bit.

I do really like the social side of lessons. We all have a really good laugh together, and everyone is very kind at helping each other when we fall or we don't understand something. And I like improving my French.

Ally