J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by AllyG

OldAndy wrote:
Indeed Ian - but you are a real meanie taking Little Wickers and not letting her ski!!

It's OK Andy, don't worry, she was on my list to hire intermediate skis and boots (adult ones because she's not so little any more!) from the hire shop in Sauze for the grand sum of 75 euros :)

Tony_H wrote:I am interested to hear you say this was a "cheap" holiday. I have to say if anyone got return flights with BA for £100 including bags and skis, then that was possibly the bargain of the century so far. Normally BA are around £150 return into Europe with 23kg bag included, plus £56 for ski bags.

Tony, the price with BA Gatwick to Turin was around £100 return, bags included, if you got it early. The price went up later on. It was the same with the train fare - I got my return train tickets St Pancras to Oulx for £117 only because I bought them as soon as they were available.

I definitely paid only £104 for my BA return flight Gatwick to Verona including luggage, for the Folgarida holiday a year ago.
Yes, ski carriage costs more, but for the base cost for the others I was including the cost of ski hire.

My own holiday was for 8 days ski-ing and 9 nights in a hotel in Sauze/Jouvenceaux. And I have included all the costs - like getting to London from home, and food purchased whilst travelling etc. etc.

Andy, Brooksy was dishing out penalty fines for anyone mentioning health problems (in our holiday FB group), not for poor behaviour. And once we got there he very generously let me off my huge fines :)

And for those of you that don't know, I had to have a lot of acupuncture and physiotherapy for an injury I got when I fell forwards into deep snow ski-ing in our off-piste lesson during our group holiday to Tignes. I tore the supraspinatus tendon in my left shoulder, which is one of the rotator cuff ones that you use to lift your arm. It took nearly 2 years before I could lift my arm up sideways again. I did consider having surgery to repair it but it seems to have healed now, after all the treatment I've had on it. Luckily I could still ski fine even when I couldn't use this tendon, as it's not necessary for ski-ing.

LOTA wrote:£82 for a day out - I've had far more expensive days out in this, and other countries!

Thank you LOTA, that's exactly how I feel! :)

We were on a budget holiday and that was my one extravagance, and as I said it was well worth it! :)

We all really enjoyed it, and we had perfect weather with masses of sun and great snow conditions :)

I don't regret the blueberry pie or the fancy lunch - they were lovely :)

Tony_H wrote:Shocking prices

Well, the day to VT was our treat day out :)

The whole holiday itself was very cheap :)

Most people paid 480 euros for the hotel and 6 days area lift pass, around £100 for their BA flight Gatwick to Turin, 50 euros for the return airport transfer Turin to Sauze (privately booked by us) and 72 euros for advanced ski hire.

So the total for most people = £550

I don't know how much everyone else spent on lunch and elevenses on the slopes in Sauze, but I spent about £12 each day.
Total for 6 days = £72

The final total for how much I spent on my entire holiday, including the day out to VT, the train fare for travelling 250 miles to London and back before I started, ski-ing for 8 days, and 2 days travelling to Sauze and back again, was only around £1,000.

Return train fare from here to London (advance tickets) = £44
Underground tickets across London = approx £10
Return train fare St Pancras to Oulx via Paris = £117
2 RER tickets to get across Paris from Gare du Nord to Gare de Lyon, at 2 euros each = 4 euros = £3.20
I bus ticket from Oulx to Jouvenceaux (the Edelweiss hotel took me back to Oulx for free) = 1.90 euros = £1.52
2 nights in the Edelweiss hotel = 70 euros x 2 = 140 euros = £112
7 nights in the Sauze including 6 days area lift pass = 480 euros = £390
8 days advanced ski hire from Gros Sport in Jouveneceaux = 95 euros = £76
Sharpening my skis in a different ski shop = 15 euros = £12
Trip to Val Thorens, total cost = £82 (as detailed previously)
7 days elevenses and lunch on Sauze slopes = £84
2 extra days lift pass in Sauze = 60 euros = £48
Tip to Sauze hotel = 10 euros = £8
Tip to bus driver for VT = 10 euros = £8
2 hour private ski lesson = 70 euros = £56 (paid for by tips to me from group).
Post cards and small gifts for family at home = 15 euros = £12
Food costs travelling to Italy and back = £30
9 days tourist tax at 1.50 euros per day = 13.50 euros = £10.80
Total = £1048 (plus the £56 for the private ski lesson)

Edit
I forgot to include the cost of my travel insurance, which was £65 for the executive level of cover with the Ski Club of GB and only covered that holiday, as I won't be ski-ing again for another year. As well as the usual things it also covered me for off-piste ski-ing without a guide and end supplier failure.

Tony_H wrote:

So it seems to me that the trips over to Orelle and up to VT were a good idea to get some decent snow, until hand its mega resorts popular with UK skiers- miserable self service restaurants, paying for toilets, over priced rubbish food, and expensive drinks.
My impression of 3V area, EK and Paradiski is pretty much of exactly that, which has always put me off going to any of them.

The food and drink in Val Thorens was expensive, you're quite right, but my group of 6 people didn't eat rubbish food from a self-service place (or pay to use the toilet). For lunch we went to a nice restaurant in the Caron district of VT, with lovely views of the mountains, and had a really tasty meal, with quality food :)
The restaurant we went to is supposed to do the best pizzas in VT, and the soup and lamp chops were great as well :)

Here's the bill:



And here's one of Piste Paul's lovely photos of us enjoying our lunch! :)



The only problem we had in that restaurant was persuading the staff to give us the bill! As you can see from looking at it, we were there at 2-30 p.m. and we knew the gondola we needed to get back to Orelle, the Grand Fond, closed at 4 p.m. and we weren't entirely sure how to get to it!

Fortunately one of the group I was with had been to VT before and worked out which lifts to go up from where we were - the Cascades followed by the Portette, and finally the Grand Fond. And we got back to Orelle with plenty of time before the gondola down to the car park shut at 4-30 p.m.

The whole day out in VT was very expensive, but it was well worth it! This is what it cost me:

Bus = 24 euros
One day local lift pass plus carre neige insurance = 50
Elevenses (including blueberry pie!) = 13.50
Lunch = 15
Total = 102.5 euros = £82

I went to have a look at the old, mediaeval part of Sauze, one evening after ski-ing, whilst I was looking for the Post Office.

I'm afraid it was getting dark at the time, and I was using my cheap waterproof disposable camera, but you can get an idea of the narrow streets and the old stone built houses.



Sauze d'Oulx used to be French, until the Treat of Utrecht in 1713, when it was given to the House of Savoy, and later became part of the new country of Italy.

The historical events of Sauze d'Oulx are closely tied to those of Oulx and all of the Susa Valley, that saw firstly the passage of Julius Caesers Roman Legions, and in following centuries the incursions of the Goths, the Lombards and the Burgundys. The region which was part of the Dauphine was conceded to the French Monarchy in 1343, and with the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713 it was assigned to the House of Savoy.

At the time of the Battle of the Assietta (1747), Sauze d'Oulx was the Headquarters for the French army and after the retreat, many of those that were killed in battle were buried in Jouvenceaux in a place, which ever since then has been called Las Fossas. The body of the French General Charles Louis Arnaud Fouqueet de Bellisle was buried in the presbytery of the church in Sauze, three years later he was moved to his homeland,
- See more at: http://www.visitsauzedoulx.it/en/cosa_vedere/sauze-d-oulx-1000-anni-di-storia/#sthash.Zar3ANvU.dpuf

Huwcyn wrote:

I can relate to this. I can't justify the outlay for a custom fitted pair of ski boots at the moment though

I don't know about other boot fitting places, but in Profeet in London (where I got my ski boots) they will fit orthotics in your own boots - you don't have to buy new boots from them.