J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by PrivateBryan

Hi,
I've been to Foppolo twice - both times on short breaks.
It's a great place if you want somewhere unpretentious and friendly.

It's not a big place and you may get bored if there for a week.
You can ski to Carona - it's very nearby.

There is also another resort nearby but the name deserts me. You can catch a bus there, it's not far.

We stayed at Le Pineta..it was ok but the food was not up to much.
You could see if they do B&B.
There was a great little bar at the bottom of the main slope where they brought out snacks and were very friendly. The Bombadino's are well worth trying.
Also, the restaurant at the top of same slope did excellent lunches. Far surpassed any french mountain restaurant - and not expensive either.

There are some lovely runs through trees off main slope - but not exactly off piste. Great fun if snow is good.

It's a very steep road up to village and when my sister went two years ago the poor bus driver had to put snowchains on at night halfway up it. There was 4 feet of snow all the way up the sides. They were snowed in for the week.

On the whole recommended - but not too often or for too long.

Hi,
I know someone else has recommended them but I also would suggest Gomassif for Geneva/Samoens
We used them last year for a short break and have also booked them for same in Jan 08.
They aren't as expensive as some private transfers and they are reliable and friendly.

We are paying 590euros for 12 adults.
They will store your bags for you if you want to go straight to the Airport.

Look around, i have, but could not find anyone that matched them.

PertyB....
We have just booked a Chalet in Praranger which seems to be about 1 mile from Les Menuires.

We are driving down so will have cars but just wondered how much hassle it will be getting to the slopes.
We are happy to drive and park. As it it will be in early April is it a good idea perhaps to drive to Val Thorens and ski from there?

We not looking to rip it up every night (which I think might be just as well) but a couple of bars in the village would be nice.

Also hoping the slopes won't be too busy at this time. We've been to the Grand Massif in April and it's been fine.

Any comments appreciated.
Thanks,
Bryan.

Thanks for replies which I will look into. I have to say I was probably rather unfair to the Grand Massif area. We normally go there at Easter but circumstances forced us to in Feb this year. The queuing situation was made much worse by the fact that the snow was poor on the Samoens/Morillon side so the crowds tended to head for Flaine. This created huge bottlenecks.
It would be nice to have a change though and go somewhere less known
Regards
Bryan

Having suffered the Grand Massif last Feb half term we swore we would never do Europe at that time again. However, we've been told that not everywhere has hour long lift queues & dangerous pistes. Trouble is we've not been told where those places are!

Can anyone tell me if Italy or Austria are quieter at these times? Or recommend any French resorts that the whole of Paris & Britain do not decamp to, which it what seems to have happened to us

Yours in anticipation
Bryan

5 weeks is a long way off!


If only we could all predict that far ahead..........

We've been to the Grand Massif in April for the last 2 years. The conditions have always been great. We stay in Samoens but you've also got Morillon, Flaine and Les Carroz.

Obviously some of the lower runs will be slushy but in general the skiing has been better than when I went at the beginning of January this year.
At that time of year you have the benifit of longer days.

We had tons of snow whilst we were there and the trees were laden.

Diamant is pretty good, just got back from a few days in Les Saises, knee deep powder on last day so that helped although it has to be said that the snow was ok before the dump when much of the Alps had virtually none. Having said that Flumet and Notre Dame De B were looking Springlike on the way up. Only got as far as Notre Dame de B once but some interesting runs from Cret du Midi towards Praz. We missed our link back to Saises and had to taxi back from Notre D (£25), the link means a chairlift down from Mont Reguet to Notre D 1350 as there is no run - which is unusual. It took us too long to work this out from the piste map which is why we missed the Mont Ronde to Monte Vores chair and had to run back into Notre D. Les Saises has a seriously steep black and some challenging reds - no matter how good you are. Although the runs are not particularly long they all offer some interesting skiing, Crest Voland and Chenoz have the longest runs although we have only tested a couple of these. The link over to Diamant - or the way back - means a fair bit of pole-ing if your are heading Mont Vores - Ban Rouge, it's a high ridge and exposed so watch out for that one, especially if you have youngsters.
Although it's the other end of the system from Flumet/Praz the best value mountain restaurant is the Panoramique at Mt Bisane (where the webcam 1 is on the Saises website) which is really pretty good value. The one to avoid it is Coqs near La Legette which is ok if you have a spare arm or leg, cidre was ok the three quid price tag - cheaper than the coffee though! Go for it - you shouldn't be disappointed.