Tips for Chatel skiing

A group of mixed skiers and boarders are off to Chatel next Sat. Apart from Pre du joux can anyone recommend easy nice intermediate and beginner runs? I know Morzine and Avoriaz a bit but haven't visited Morgins, champery , les champussin (sp?) and wondered how that was for beginners/ intermeds?
Advice and tips appreciated as ever

My mate's dad came to Chatel with us in 2003 with just one week's skiing experience. He would take lessons in the morning and ski the afternoons with us, occasionally sitting out a more challenging run with a coffee or a small beer. He seemed to cope fine with this arrangement and with the pistes that he encountered.

I would say that the long blues off the top of Le Linga and Cornebois towards Plaine Dranse would be ideal for the group you describe. The reds are also nice once they have had a little sun on them. We found they could be quite icy first thing in the morning. The good thing about that area is that many of the runs converge around Plaine Dranse so individuals can choose which piste to take and the group can re-form at the bottom. There are also lots of nice blues around Les Lindarets, just over the next hill. I don't remember these as vividly because we would ski them en route to Avoriaz while my mate's dad was in ski school. In fact, looking at the piste map, that valley looks ideal for early intermediates.

There's lots of good red/blue cruising to be had on the Swiss side too. We would take the Super Chatel lift for quick access to Switzerland and ski the Plan de Croix area. For what it's worth, I think you've chosen a great area for a mixed group. I must get round to revisiting.

Thanks Superchatel lift is very close to our chalet :)

Just went with a mixed group (including total beginners) at New Year. We stayed in La Chapelle d'Abondance at the excellent Le Dragon chalet, but because the schools all go from Pra la Joux we spent a lot of time over there.

We felt the resort was in general steeper than others in PdS, especially Les Gets and Morzine; ask about specific runs before you attempt them. For example one of the runs down to Plain Dranse offers a steep but wide red, or a chute into a narrow blue where it's virtually impossible to turn, so the red is the lesser of two evils...

On the last day when we ditched the newbies we went to the bowl from the Super Chatel lift and it was great - very gentle runs for beginners, open and safe.

BUT watch out for the long and surprisingly tricky way over Torgon and on to the Panthiaz lift above the west end of La Chapelle - old, steep drags and when we went some browned-out and badly marked runs (plus I fell badly on a steep track that was the only way down with one of the connecting pistes closed by the Ski Club de Torgon).

There's been more snow and it's a lot less busy so things may have improved over there - hope so!