J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by AllyG

Lizzie-B wrote: You have been a fountain of knowledge Ally and I am sure it has also been useful for anyone else considering going to Tignes.

Thanks Lizzie-B :D

I realize not many people can come with us on this trip, for one reason or another, so I am trying to include information etc. which other people who are going on different holidays to Tignes, will find relevant. Plus, some information which skiers/boarders in general will find useful.

And on that note, I have just checked the Saturday to Saturday indirect ski train prices for 5th January to 12th and a return is now only £129, in case anyone who isn't coming on this holiday is interested.

Bandit - I know what you mean about different coaching styles. I have had a great many ski instructors over the years and they all seem to vary slightly in their ideas - particularly the 2 English ones as compared with the French ones I have mainly had. I guess I pick the ideas I like, and can carry out, and ditch the rest :lol:

Bandit and Lizzie-B,
Here is the part about the skills clinics:

http://www.insideoutskiing.com/uk/skills.html

I am booked on to the Skills for Steep Terrain on Monday 12th November, and there seem to be plenty of places left. The full price is £99. Obviously this particular course is not meant for beginners, and they have their own ability level scoring. I put myself down as being a level 8, rightly or wrongly. I do seem to temporarily forget how to ski, from one year to the next, and start off snow-ploughing, so I thought this would give me a head start when we get to Tignes.

If anyone wants to join me on this course they will be very welcome :D

I'm sure the lift pass is included in the price, but I don't know about priority access to the lifts. I think they told me over the phone exactly what the day consisted of. Their phone number is 0845 890 7979 if you want to check the details. And this is what they said in their e-mail to me:

"Thank you for booking for a Skills Clinic at the Snow Centre, Hemel Hempstead.

Please arrive at least 30 minutes early to get your pass, boots/equipment and
change. On arrival at the Snow Centre please report to Reception on the 1st
Floor to collect your pass. Reception staff will have your name, which will be
part of the "Inside Out Skiing" group. Your slope pass will be valid from
9.00am to 6.00pm. You are welcome to have a few warm up runs before the clinic
if you wish, and to practice after the clinic has finished.

We will meet at 10.00am at Bench 1 in the changing/technical area. Please be
ready to ski, with boots and skis already issued. Your coach will be wearing a
light blue jacket or hoodie with Inside Out Skiing logos.

The course fee includes all kit hire if you need it, but obviously you are
welcome to use your own equipment if you want to. Helmets are optional, and can
be hired free of charge from the Snow Centre if you wish to use one. During the
course we will take some video clips of your skiing to use during feedback. If
you would like to take a copy of the video clips please bring a USB memory stick
with you. Parking at the Snow Centre is free. Storage lockers are available
in the changing area, and require a £1 coin (which is refunded) to use them."

Well done Snapzzz on getting your money back from Crystal for the lift passes :thumbup:

Brooksy intends to video us, and I am a very unstyleish skier and videos make me nervous, so I decided to do a one day technique course here in the U.K. before we go, to see if I can improve my ski-ing and get more used to someone videoing me :lol:

The Ski Club of GB currently have a deal with a ski school called insideoutskiing.com at The Snow Centre Hemel Hempstead, so that I can do my first technique course with them for only £49, after a 50% discount.

The day course consists of three 90 minute coaching sessions with video analysis, breaks for tea and lunch, and free recreational ski-ing afterwards. The whole day is from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. And hire of skis and boots is included in the price.

If anyone else is interested in this there are lots of different courses on different days.

http://www.insideoutskiing.com/

Brucie,
I wouldn't say I can always beat the package price, but quite often I can, and if I can't actually beat it on price I can find much nicer accommodation and a far more comfortable way of getting there than the TO is offering.

I beat the TO total package price for my New Year 2011/2012 ski holiday to Meribel by miles. In fact, we paid about half the amount per person that we would have paid if we'd gone with, say, Crystal or Inghams.

There were 3 of us and we travelled out on the day Eurostar and back in the luxury seats on the night train (which is something you can't do if you book through a TO - or at least I haven't found one I can do that with). We did this so that we could get 7 days ski-ing.

We stayed in Maeva Les Ravines, a self-catering apartment for 4 people. And we got a taxi from Moutiers to Meribel on the way out, and the bus on the way back.

I'm pretty sure I paid £179 each for our return train tickets, and only £750 for the apartment with Pierre et Vacances because I got it as an accommodation only offer through Igluski who got if from IfyouSki. These were bargain prices that I only got because I booked the instant the train and the apartment became available. I've forgotten what the taxi cost, but I know the bus was 15 euros return.

So, total per person was £250 for the apartment, £179 for the train, say £15 for the bus.
Thus total for accommodation, transport and transfers was only £444.
The TO's were asking about £1000 per person for this exact same holiday. And even if we'd flown they still wanted about £900 per person.

Actually, I've just checked, and Crystal are asking £1026 for it this year, over New Year, with train tickets (day train both ways) for 3 people, or £929 p.p. if you fly.

And P&V are asking 1450 euros (full price) which works out about £1160, or £386 p.p. Obviously all the cheap train tickets have gone now, but I suppose I would have been able to get them at £179 again. So I could have bought that holiday again this year (with the apartment at full price this time) for £580 including £15 for the bus.

And I decided to deal directly with the chalet owners for the 2013 J2Ski group holiday I'm organizing because I could get a more suitable deal for us.

I phoned several TO's and was shocked to hear that they would charge group members who wanted solo accommodation the full price of the holiday less about £60 for the flights on top of the basic holiday cost - so say another £500 on top of the original £560 or so. And we have several group members who want sole occupancy of their room. Bonjour are only charging us a £200 surcharge for this.

Furthermore, the chalet owners have allowed one of us to book into a triple room without a surcharge on the understanding that they will try to find someone to share the room with him, as well as us, but if none of us find anyone then that particular person will have a triple room all to himself with no extra charge.

Sometimes the package deals with the TO's can be very cheap, because they do things like one child gets a totally free holiday - free flights, accommodation, ski hire and lessons. I noticed just now that Crystal are offering free first time ski and board packages. I suppose that's because they've realized that less first timers are going ski-ing /boarding and their customer base will diminish unless they can do something about it.

Hi Steve,
According to this, there is night skiing on the Millonex Piste, Tignes Le Lac every Thursday night until 10 p.m.

http://www.tignesnet.com/tignes/questions/page-2.html

tonypants wrote:

Thanks FQ, will I need chains?

Tony,
I'm surprised you haven't seen my 'chains' photo. I took it most particularly so that I could post it up on here every time someone asked about snow chains.

This photo was taken in Meribel car park whilst it was snowing during the evening of Saturday 7th January 2012. There had been heavy snowfalls all week and even the buses had difficulty getting about with chains on.

De rien :D

Sorry, just practising for January :oops:

You're welcome :D