Everything packed the girls are waiting to be picked up and I have my piece of work before holiday, I shall
meet them in the hotel later ... Tat ta ..... Bon sci
J2Ski Holiday 2014
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Seriously, well done Ally on another successful trip. As the usual organizer for my family and a few friends, I have some sense of what's involved but given the scale of the operation, the diverse people and travel plans, etc, I know that you will have put in a very considerable effort to make the trip work for everybody :wink:.
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Started by Felthorpe in Find a Ski Buddy / Group Trips 29-Apr-2012 - 760 Replies
Ian Wickham
reply to 'J2Ski Holiday 2014' posted Jan-2015
Dids1
reply to 'J2Ski Holiday 2014' posted Jan-2015
Have a fantastic time.
GaelOg
reply to 'J2Ski Holiday 2014' posted Jan-2015
Really hope you all have a fantastic time.
We are going there in March so we look forward to reading all your recommendations on the whole Via Lattea area - especially on the best runs, restaurants and how to get about the whole area.
All information will be gratefully received.
Enjoy!
We are going there in March so we look forward to reading all your recommendations on the whole Via Lattea area - especially on the best runs, restaurants and how to get about the whole area.
All information will be gratefully received.
Enjoy!
Bedrock barney
reply to 'J2Ski Holiday 2014' posted Jan-2015
Have a great time. Looking forward to the report on the resort.
slippy slidey snow......me likey!
AllyG
reply to 'J2Ski Holiday 2014' posted Jan-2015
Hi everyone, I only got back last night from Sauze so sorry my report is rather late!
I think we all (28 of us) had a great time :) The holiday was a total contrast to the one last year in Folgarida.
Last year we had masses and masses of snow but we had to ski for most of the time in poor visibility.
This time it was lovely and sunny most of the time, but for the first couple of days we were ski-ing on very restricted pistes confined to only a small part of the local Sauze ski area. This was due to the lack of snow, high temperatures, and the wind.
Apparently (talking to other people in the hotel) on the Friday and Saturday before we arrived it was so windy that they'd shut all the lifts and slopes except the beginner areas!
I was ski-ing the first Sunday and although the chairlift going up to the top in Sauze was going in the morning it was very windy and the chairs were swinging about, and it was very unpleasant right at the top and when I went in a cafe there the only other people in there were the piste patrol! They shut that top lift around lunch time and after that we were confined to only a couple of slopes for Sunday afternoon and Monday.
Tuesday they opened the lift up to the top again but you still couldn't ski out of Sauze, and we were ski-ing on pistes mostly made of artificial snow with mud each side which had bare patches and also some very icy patches. However, it was nice and sunny and I enjoyed myself. It was also very challenging, trying not to fall over on the ice or in a pot hole!
Tuesday night it snowed lots and on Wednesday I skied with the Ski Club of GB over to Sansicario (as the link was open) with a couple of other members from our group, and it took me a while to get my balance right in the powder as I'd got used to ski-ing on hard pack and ice. I was very impressed with the ski-ing in Sansicario. There were lovely long red runs :)
Some of the others were starting to get fed up with being confined to the poor snow in Sauze after ski-ing/boarding on Monday, so I organized a bus trip to Orelle for Thursday so that we could ski the 3 Valleys. It's only 3/4 of an hour from Sauze to Orelle, the 4th of the 3 valleys (if that makes any sense!). And 5 of the gang who'd hired a car from Geneva went over there on a scouting trip on Tuesday to let us know what it was like, before I booked the bus. They reported fantastic conditions with loads of fresh powder, so 20 of our group signed up for the bus trip.
The manager of the Sauze hotel very kindly sorted out the bus for us on the phone, and got a price, and it was only 23 euros per person return. The lift pass for Val Thorens and Orelle was 50 euros for the day including the Carre Neige insurance.
The bus picked us up at 8-30 from the nearest car park, about 200 yards away (Sauze doesn't allow big buses into the centre), and I think I was going up the gondola by about 9-30. It's about a 20 minute ride up to the ski-ing in Orelle, and then there's a chairlift up to the top in order to ski down into Val Thorens, or to ski Orelle itself.
The snow in Val Thorens was great, and it wasn't that crowded especially on the higher more difficult slopes (like the one I fell over on!) which had lots of powdery lumps. We divided up into groups but met up from time to time. Those in the car had also gone there, so there were 24 of us in Val Thorens, and a few of them managed to get all the way to Courchevel and back! It was cheaper for those in the car because it only cost something like 55 euros return for the car to go through the Frejus tunnel, plus petrol.
I told everyone to bring their passports with them, because Sauze is in Italy and Orelle and the 3 Valleys are in France, with the border at the Frejus tunnel. We could see some cars and lorries being pulled over by the customs people but we got through OK.
The bus left to take us back at 5 p.m. and although I had a few anxious moments worrying about stragglers being left in Orelle, everyone made it back to the bus by 5 p.m.
Friday there was plenty of snow in Sauze and I skied with the Ski Club of GB again, with the same 2 from our group, and we all got videod for their website. That was fun! :)
And Saturday was a lovely sunny day with the links open and most of us skied/boarded over to Sestriere. We went down the red runs on the far side and they were pretty steep and difficult and a couple of people went down the black (not me as I was finding the red runs quite hard enough!). There was still quite a bit of ice on the pistes, under the powder snow, and I saw several patches of nasty hard green ice like marble which I carefully avoided!
We've got loads of photos and Piste Paul's son was most industrious at ski-ing after us and taking photos and films every time we fell over! ;)
I skied the final Sunday on my own, and had a 2 hour private lesson (paid for by the tips the others gave me for organizing the holiday) with an instructor who decided to give me an SAS course in ski-ing as fast as possible over all the trickiest areas of Sauze, whilst trying to do short turns (because I told him it was a waste of time telling me how to ski as I only learn by following instructors). Luckily I managed not to fall over, as I'd had plenty of practice racing down those slopes with some of the others and I knew the lie of the land very well! Mind you, they'd practically blocked the end of my favourite run (nick-named the Arc de Triomphe run by the Dolphin Pool by us) with an enormous heap of arficial snow which later on became hugely mogulled and my ski instructor leaped over the mound and down this so I had to follow! He did give me a 'perfecto' for managing to follow him :)
The Sauze hotel was much better than I was expecting. I think the only criticism anyone had of it was that some of the rooms were rather small.
My room was fine, with plenty of room for twin beds, huge wardrobe, desk and chair, double patio doors onto a balcony, and enormous bathroom with shower. And the bathroom looked as though it had recently been done out.
The public areas were really good - large bar with comfy sitting area, an enormous sitting room with pool table, and adequate ski and boot storage.
The staff couldn't have been nicer to us - they were really great :)
They seated all 28 of us together in the dining room, as I had explained that 6 of the Crystal people were actually in our group. And they did everything they could to keep us happy :)
The food was fantastic! They made amazing little savoury cake things for us at the end of each ski day, and did an urn of tea (watery I admit but that's how I like my tea). And there was a huge choice of food at breakfast with the chef cooking in the centre of room individual portions of eggs etc. for those who wanted them.
And as for the evening meal - well - you could have managed perfectly well with what they had on the buffet in the centre never mind the 3 course meal that followed!
The hotel is only a couple of hundred yards from the Clotes lift, and once there was enough snow to ski down to the bottom of the piste it was only about 100 yards to the hotel. And there's a travellator up from the bottom of the piste for the beginners, as that area is a nursery slope during the ski-ing day.
I managed fine travelling from St Pancras to Paris Nord, and then getting the RER to the Gare de Lyon, although there were hundreds of soldiers in the station riding the escalators because of the terrorist risk. The train to Milan is only about 5 hours to Oulx from Paris, and Oulx is only about 10 minutes on the bus from Sauze and the bus only costs something like 1 euro. And coming back on the Monday the problem with the Eurostar was mostly resolved so my train left on time and only took an extra hour to get from Paris to London because of the queue to get through the tunnel, after the fire.
I think we all (28 of us) had a great time :) The holiday was a total contrast to the one last year in Folgarida.
Last year we had masses and masses of snow but we had to ski for most of the time in poor visibility.
This time it was lovely and sunny most of the time, but for the first couple of days we were ski-ing on very restricted pistes confined to only a small part of the local Sauze ski area. This was due to the lack of snow, high temperatures, and the wind.
Apparently (talking to other people in the hotel) on the Friday and Saturday before we arrived it was so windy that they'd shut all the lifts and slopes except the beginner areas!
I was ski-ing the first Sunday and although the chairlift going up to the top in Sauze was going in the morning it was very windy and the chairs were swinging about, and it was very unpleasant right at the top and when I went in a cafe there the only other people in there were the piste patrol! They shut that top lift around lunch time and after that we were confined to only a couple of slopes for Sunday afternoon and Monday.
Tuesday they opened the lift up to the top again but you still couldn't ski out of Sauze, and we were ski-ing on pistes mostly made of artificial snow with mud each side which had bare patches and also some very icy patches. However, it was nice and sunny and I enjoyed myself. It was also very challenging, trying not to fall over on the ice or in a pot hole!
Tuesday night it snowed lots and on Wednesday I skied with the Ski Club of GB over to Sansicario (as the link was open) with a couple of other members from our group, and it took me a while to get my balance right in the powder as I'd got used to ski-ing on hard pack and ice. I was very impressed with the ski-ing in Sansicario. There were lovely long red runs :)
Some of the others were starting to get fed up with being confined to the poor snow in Sauze after ski-ing/boarding on Monday, so I organized a bus trip to Orelle for Thursday so that we could ski the 3 Valleys. It's only 3/4 of an hour from Sauze to Orelle, the 4th of the 3 valleys (if that makes any sense!). And 5 of the gang who'd hired a car from Geneva went over there on a scouting trip on Tuesday to let us know what it was like, before I booked the bus. They reported fantastic conditions with loads of fresh powder, so 20 of our group signed up for the bus trip.
The manager of the Sauze hotel very kindly sorted out the bus for us on the phone, and got a price, and it was only 23 euros per person return. The lift pass for Val Thorens and Orelle was 50 euros for the day including the Carre Neige insurance.
The bus picked us up at 8-30 from the nearest car park, about 200 yards away (Sauze doesn't allow big buses into the centre), and I think I was going up the gondola by about 9-30. It's about a 20 minute ride up to the ski-ing in Orelle, and then there's a chairlift up to the top in order to ski down into Val Thorens, or to ski Orelle itself.
The snow in Val Thorens was great, and it wasn't that crowded especially on the higher more difficult slopes (like the one I fell over on!) which had lots of powdery lumps. We divided up into groups but met up from time to time. Those in the car had also gone there, so there were 24 of us in Val Thorens, and a few of them managed to get all the way to Courchevel and back! It was cheaper for those in the car because it only cost something like 55 euros return for the car to go through the Frejus tunnel, plus petrol.
I told everyone to bring their passports with them, because Sauze is in Italy and Orelle and the 3 Valleys are in France, with the border at the Frejus tunnel. We could see some cars and lorries being pulled over by the customs people but we got through OK.
The bus left to take us back at 5 p.m. and although I had a few anxious moments worrying about stragglers being left in Orelle, everyone made it back to the bus by 5 p.m.
Friday there was plenty of snow in Sauze and I skied with the Ski Club of GB again, with the same 2 from our group, and we all got videod for their website. That was fun! :)
And Saturday was a lovely sunny day with the links open and most of us skied/boarded over to Sestriere. We went down the red runs on the far side and they were pretty steep and difficult and a couple of people went down the black (not me as I was finding the red runs quite hard enough!). There was still quite a bit of ice on the pistes, under the powder snow, and I saw several patches of nasty hard green ice like marble which I carefully avoided!
We've got loads of photos and Piste Paul's son was most industrious at ski-ing after us and taking photos and films every time we fell over! ;)
I skied the final Sunday on my own, and had a 2 hour private lesson (paid for by the tips the others gave me for organizing the holiday) with an instructor who decided to give me an SAS course in ski-ing as fast as possible over all the trickiest areas of Sauze, whilst trying to do short turns (because I told him it was a waste of time telling me how to ski as I only learn by following instructors). Luckily I managed not to fall over, as I'd had plenty of practice racing down those slopes with some of the others and I knew the lie of the land very well! Mind you, they'd practically blocked the end of my favourite run (nick-named the Arc de Triomphe run by the Dolphin Pool by us) with an enormous heap of arficial snow which later on became hugely mogulled and my ski instructor leaped over the mound and down this so I had to follow! He did give me a 'perfecto' for managing to follow him :)
The Sauze hotel was much better than I was expecting. I think the only criticism anyone had of it was that some of the rooms were rather small.
My room was fine, with plenty of room for twin beds, huge wardrobe, desk and chair, double patio doors onto a balcony, and enormous bathroom with shower. And the bathroom looked as though it had recently been done out.
The public areas were really good - large bar with comfy sitting area, an enormous sitting room with pool table, and adequate ski and boot storage.
The staff couldn't have been nicer to us - they were really great :)
They seated all 28 of us together in the dining room, as I had explained that 6 of the Crystal people were actually in our group. And they did everything they could to keep us happy :)
The food was fantastic! They made amazing little savoury cake things for us at the end of each ski day, and did an urn of tea (watery I admit but that's how I like my tea). And there was a huge choice of food at breakfast with the chef cooking in the centre of room individual portions of eggs etc. for those who wanted them.
And as for the evening meal - well - you could have managed perfectly well with what they had on the buffet in the centre never mind the 3 course meal that followed!
The hotel is only a couple of hundred yards from the Clotes lift, and once there was enough snow to ski down to the bottom of the piste it was only about 100 yards to the hotel. And there's a travellator up from the bottom of the piste for the beginners, as that area is a nursery slope during the ski-ing day.
I managed fine travelling from St Pancras to Paris Nord, and then getting the RER to the Gare de Lyon, although there were hundreds of soldiers in the station riding the escalators because of the terrorist risk. The train to Milan is only about 5 hours to Oulx from Paris, and Oulx is only about 10 minutes on the bus from Sauze and the bus only costs something like 1 euro. And coming back on the Monday the problem with the Eurostar was mostly resolved so my train left on time and only took an extra hour to get from Paris to London because of the queue to get through the tunnel, after the fire.
Edited 1 time. Last update at 21-Jan-2015
Admin
reply to 'J2Ski Holiday 2014' posted Jan-2015
Great write-up; thanks Ally. Well done for making the most of the conditions and for managing to sample so many resorts in the week!
Sounds like you were well looked-after by the hotel which is always good to know... although you might have all put on weight by the sounds of it... :lol:
Sounds like you were well looked-after by the hotel which is always good to know... although you might have all put on weight by the sounds of it... :lol:
The Admin Man
Ranchero_1979
reply to 'J2Ski Holiday 2014' posted Jan-2015
Sounds like another good job with the planning and glad you all had fun despite being a challenging winter for a lot of the Alps. What is the plan for next year?
Wanderer
reply to 'J2Ski Holiday 2014' posted Jan-2015
Come on Ranchero, give the poor girl a chance to catch her breath :roll:. I'm sure she will be ready to unveil her plans by the end of the week :mrgreen:.Ranchero_1979 wrote:What is the plan for next year?
Seriously, well done Ally on another successful trip. As the usual organizer for my family and a few friends, I have some sense of what's involved but given the scale of the operation, the diverse people and travel plans, etc, I know that you will have put in a very considerable effort to make the trip work for everybody :wink:.
Topic last updated on 24-January-2015 at 08:25