Messages posted by : tin pot
|
Hi,
The forum gave me a lot of good advice before went away two weeks ago so I thought I'd pay back somewhat by posting what our first ski trip was like, hopefully other families thinking about it will gain some insight also. We're both mid thirties, with two kids, 5 and 2. It was all very last minute booking so a few mistakes were made - first tip: Tip 1: Don't hire skis in advance. Unless it's high season, there is plenty of stock. You may get a 'discount' online, but you get them from your accommodation anyway, and anything you might be saving is lost when you decide not to ski one, or all of you. Travel and accommodation was very easy; we flew into Chambery from London City, no waiting at either end at the airports. Car hire was a little slow, and irritatingly you can't park in front of the terminal, like taxis do, to collect your luggage and family. Tip 2: Figure out what code snow chains you need ahead of time! I drove to a Feu Verte to get snow chains, and after some time deciphering the code that is industry standard for what chains suit which car with my ten years unused French - they didn't have any that fit. Tried two of the service stations on the motor way to the Alps and got lucky on the third. Driving into and within the Alps was fantastic. I've never enjoyed driving this much, ever. I can't imagine just staying within a resort now, and with little ones it's essential in my book though I'll probably drive the whole way next time anyway. I was lucky in that we only needed snow chains really at the accommodation. Both chalets had icy uphill approaches, so in 695km of driving I needed chains for about 20 metres. Tip 3: Get winter tyres if possible Though snow chains are easy to put on and off, what you don't want to face in an urgent dash halfway down the mountain at night is a snapped snowchain that just won't bloody come off. Car hire on the Swiss side do this as standard, Hertz wouldn't for me (and tried to charge 200 Euros for snow chains). Tip 4: Accommodation type - catered This isn't really a tip, as I think this is going to be personally preference. We had five days in self catered, and five days in catered, chalets. For me, the catered chalet was a big relief. Shopping for food was mightily expensive, and restaurant eating with kids is only really viable for lunch. Where the kids struggled to sleep in the apartment style chalet, the host family of the catered chalet made them feel at home immediately, and with the cold weather they where asleep very early and silent through the night, every night! Tip 5: Book individual private lessons ahead We had four different instructors over the time - largely due to the late booking. The last was a single lesson my wife had with an ESF instructor that was half price of the others, but a complete waste of time. The first we did as a group, my wife, my son and I - this was a lot of fun, but we didn't make much progress. The second time we tried two at a time, but this really didn't work either with the instructor struggling to support my son and mife at the same time. The third time, we simply took it in turns to have a one to one, one hour lesson and we all made big progress and enjoyed it much more. Tip 6: Prepare your thighs! I got the hang of it on the second day actual skiing on a blue run in Sainte Foy, parallel skiing and turning all the way down with only two stops, jumped back on the ski lift and went higher up to another thinking I've cracked it, let's have some fun! ...But my legs had other ideas. Tiredness put me out of action and that final run was torture, simply because my legs couldn't keep up with what I now knew how to do easily. Tip 7: Find a decent kids slope The holiday was exhausting but a big success. Whilst my son completely ignored his instructors pleading to do the snow plow, he decided parallel skiing was faster and more fun and only nearly broke his neck half the time. We unleashed him on the kids area at Les Arc 1800 which is small but just right to let them play with attendance (it's exhausting catching them, but worth it) Watching him ski on his own made the whole cost/effort worth it :) Hope this helps someone, and any family oriented questions are welcome. |
|
|
Plenty of people viewing, although not posting, so I'll give an update:
I used TripAdvisor to make enquiries at seven chalets, and got a partial positive. Booked the first part of the stay through booking.com. We've now got five days self catering in an apartment in Combloux, near Megeve, and five days in a catered chalet in Planchamp, near Bourg St Moritz. Boy, I'm happy we've got this holiday booked. :D With the driving between them , if nothing else we'll have seen a lot of the alps in our first family ski holiday! Whilst the chalet owner is offering plenty of help in Bourg, I'm struggling to find a way to book skis, skiing lessons and so forth in Combloux, so any advice or help would be - as usual - gratefully received :) |
|
|
Yeah, I'm searching each resort at a time, but there are dozens to choose from!
I've emailed the ChaletGroup as well. |
|
|
Unfortunately driving to the Alps (my previous thread) is out of the question, as our car has recently revealed it's not up to the task!
I've found flights and car hire to get us somewhere, but as we're looking to arrive next week for unusual dates it's a little tricky. We'll be arriving in Chambery Tuesday 28th December, and leaving Friday 7th January... A 2+2 family, we're looking to learn to ski, but I'm well aware the wife and son may not take to it so ideally somewhere near a resort with other things to do. Suggestions would be gratefully received! :) |
|
|
Yeah it's not beyond the realm of possibility for me - but as it's my first time I'll take the advice and check out a stop around Troyes.
I don't suppose anyone can comment on Praz-sur-Arly? I've found a hotel there with our dates, 7km to Megeve. I'm hoping that doesn't mean I have to drive every day to get to the nursery slopes... |
|
|
I'm considering the best western hotel de la foret d'orient. Looks very nice.
|
|
|
@Admin, cheers.
I've done many 4 hour trips with the kids and they're mercifully well behaved. However I want to do this trip overnight to make sure :) I'll plan a stop at Troyes, if I'm leaving Calais at 9 p.m., will anything be open around 1 a.m.? |
|
Jon, Thanks. Rather than a particular hotel though, I'm trying to determine what town or village I should be looking at for a family driving in. So somewhere that has non-ski related activities - something like a cinema would be ideal, and my kids are 2 and 5 so the cold will get to them pretty quick when they're outside so they'll need something to do indoors half the day, I'm imagining. |
|