Arabba March/April 10

We're back from our week in Arabba, sort of in one piece. Here's what we thought:-

Neilson: Awful in the uk at every stage of the process but, thankfully, brilliant in resort. One of the girls in our group had a lost bag and we were continually told it had to be dealt with in resort and they were getting nowhere. Three days into the holiday I spent 10 minutes on the phone to them in the uk begging them to call Gatwick as we knew it was still in the airport (no ticket for it) but they wouldn't do it. We got it back when we arrived at Gatwick, which was no surprise to us. The poor girl lived the week on borrowed clothes. They gave her £25 a day in resort as a goodwill gesture.

Moral of the story, count the little green tabs they give you for your luggage when you check in.

Chalets: We stayed in chalets Brigitta and Belvedere. Brigitta had fabulous bedrooms but the lounge area wasn't very inviting. Shaun and Wendy, the hosts in Brigitta were out of this world, they even spent their night off with the lads and stayed up in the chalet with us another night playing guitar (but didn't look too great the next day!). The extra help, Junior, was also wonderful. Chalet Belevedere didn't fair so well. The rooms were quite dark and dingy and there was no lounge area at all. The chalet host in there didn't go down too well unfortunately. She was more mature and was very set in her ways. She was very keen to tell us she'd never do it again! The location was good, close to the town centre up a slight incline so good for the heart! A short ski/walk to the main lifts. Lovely views.

Weather and conditions: It was a tale of three holidays. The first three days were dull and warm so it was water skiing conditions. Two days of blizzard conditions and a huge amount of snow then left us with our last day, beautiful sunshine and perfect snow, a good way to end.

Arabba: We all absolutely fell in love with it, it's a beautiful village and extremely friendly. There seemed to be accommodation on the outskirts of the village and, with no village bus service, I can only assume they run shuttle buses as it's not a walk to some of these places. Mister X is the bar at the bottom of the Burz lift where we tended to congregate. Bar Peter was the most lively place. Lovely restaurants and bars in hotels (Sporthotel's piano bar was very comfortable). It wasn't as quiet a town as I was expecting, quite a nice level of the liveliness. Saying that, with 27 of us in our group it's lively wherever we go :lol:

The mountains: Jaw droppingly stunning. A word of warning, off piste skiing has become illegal in Arabba without a guide. We did see the odd tracks here and there where people were just having a cheeky go to the side of the piste but, since 8 deaths in one incident (this season?) they've clamped down and could take your lift pass off you. Aside from that, the skiing is awesome. It is a steep resort in places. A lot of the group had a blast doing the Marmolada in blizzard conditions and then the orange sella ronda on the last day in perfect conditions.

The lifts: Were absolutely fine, very well organised and we only had to queue once. Very, very helpful lifties. We had an awful experience on the last day though when a german girl got on between me and two of my friends. At the top she got her skis caught on the lip and she fell off the lift. She nearly took me with her but my friend managed to keep hold of me and she just took my poles. She didn't seem hurt thankfully/hopefully although her helmet took a knock. It was bloody scary!

Moral of the story, keep your tips up :shock:

Prices: Unbelievably cheap, we came back with euros for the first time ever! At Mister X a small beer was 1.80, large 3.20, glass of white wine 1 euro, I kid you not! Even up the mountain in a beautiful new restaurant/bar at the midstation a half litre carafe of white wine, 4 euros. Unbelievable. Bombardinos generally 3 euros. If you've never had a bombardino you've got to get yourself to Italy to try one, omigod, heaven in a glass :mrgreen:. Pizzas and pasta 7/8 euros, steak 13 euros. Cheap and delicious.

My experience: I had a private boarding lesson on the first day which was good, straight up the Burz blue. Went back up in the afternoon to practice and took a bad fall which I felt on my knee immediately. Woke up the next day limping and decided not to go for my lesson so mr-a had it to himself. Rested my knee. I couldn't actually move my arms after that from all the pushing myself up on day one (I'd been exercising my legs but not my upper body because of my strained shoulder, who knew!) so on Tuesday I switched back to skis and broke myself back in gently. A couple of lessons with my friends which I really enjoyed. Managed the steep blues ok and a few of the nicer reds. I had my one and only full day on the last day when I totally stacked it at the top of red 1 from the cable car on the Arabba side (it was busier than the m25, not good). I pulled it back together-ish.

I'm still limping a bit but I can feel that there's no damage. It was worth it.

In summary, disappointed with the boarding, the knee, the amount I skied and my stack on the last day but delighted and buzzing from a superb trip. All 27 of us (children included) agree that it's the best ski holiday we've had.

Would we go back? Absobloodylutely :thumbup:

Photos to follow

Thanks Caron,
I'm pleased you had a good time, but disappointed for you that you still managed to hurt your knee even though you were boarding. It's a good thing you brought your ski boots with you :D

Glad you're now back on track ( using skis )& the boarding experience didn't do any permanent damage,lets hope this is a lesson to others thinking of replacing there skis with a tray. )

Great write up Caron. But now you have given me some serious food for thought. I was hellbent on going there next season, and to Chalet Brigitte too, but I am now going to reconsider. I have been with Neilson just the once, and didnt find them too good either.
It seems as if the chalet gets a far better brochure write up than it really deserves, and maybe too much focus is put on it being an enhanced menu with the Moulton Brown bathroom accessories???

As for the scenerey and the ski area, I have no doubt the Dolomites are stunning and need a visit from me. I think it was MFC who said he stayed in both Arabba and Selva, and thought Selva was by far the better place?

It sounds to me like you had pretty poor conditions - 3 days of water skiing? Oh dear. And then 2 days of blizzards? I love fresh snow to ski in, but its not so good when its blowing sideways and you cant get around anywhere! Luckily your holiday memories were enhanced by the last sunny day.

Not sure what happened to you to put you off boarding and return to skiing, but I do know that learning to board involves much more physical strain and contact with the ground, so with your knee history, I am hardly surprised to be honest.

Now, what are these "steep blues" you refer to???? :wink:

Looking forward to the photos. Glad you are safe and well. I reckon with a group of 27 you could have spent a week skiing in Scunthorpe and had a great time...... :mrgreen: