J2Ski logo J2Ski logo
Login Forum Search Recent Forums

J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by AllyG

Messages posted by : AllyG

December skiing
Started by User in Ski Chatter, 20 Replies
My daughter skied Tignes/Val d'Isere with her uni, the week before Christmas, and I think most of the ski area was open and there was masses of snow. And they are going to Val Thorens this year, for the same week.

As far as I know they economize by not opening all the lifts at the beginning of the season, even if there is enough snow, because they don't have enough customers for it to make sense, from the financial point of view.

This is what the Guardian had to say (in 2007):

http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2007/sep/27/skiing.top10
Mobile phones, piste maps (I dropped one myself once), orange peel (I've seen some of that), and water bottles ...
cigarette ends, hankies, woolly hats ...
J2Ski Holiday 2014
Started by User in Find a Ski Buddy / Group Trips, 760 Replies

This is a quick summary of the situation at the moment:

Ian W - wants January or maybe March
Nelly - can't do January but OK for Feb and March
Me - I'm not too sure whether I can manage March or not
Snapzzz - prefers last week in Jan or early Feb but could probably manage Jan, Feb or March (as long as we hurry up and organize it before he books his family holidays)
Icy - wants March
Tony H - Thinks it's too early to consider 2014
Old Andy - said he'd love to come if he could manage it
Bandit - possibly might be considering it - I don't really know
Dids - would like to come 'one day'
Old Boarder - wants Feb or March
Felthorpe - doesn't seem to mind which month
Daved - wants last 2 weeks of Jan or 1st week of Feb
Far Queue - wants January or March
Bedrock Barney + 1 - wants late Feb or early March
Tonypants - not March
Joe Colin - wants January or February
Brooksy - doesn't want school holidays and prefers the cheaper holiday dates if possible
Randyrat - has a group of 4 people, and prefers the last week in January and somewhere not too expensive.
Catp - is interested in coming and hasn't got any preferences for the date
Billip 1 - is fairly flexible on dates

Have I left anyone out, or accidentally included anyone I shouldn't have?

I have added Billip 1 to the list, because he asked me to :D

If anyone else is interested in coming with us in 2014 would they please let me know - either by posting on here or by sending me a pm :D

Here are the places we are considering for 2014:

Zermatt
Sella Ronda (Gardena etc. in the Dolomites)
Les Portes du Soleil (Morzine)
St Anton
Alpe d'Huez
Milky Way (Sauze d'Ouix)
Paradiski (La Plagne and Les Arcs etc.)
La Clusaz
Les Deux Alpes
Grand Massif (Samoens)
Andyhull - chalet The Lodge in Val d'Isere with Skiworld (around £700-£750 all inclusive except ski hire, January prices)
3 Valleys
Cervinia

I have tidied up the list of ski areas/resorts. We are checking to make sure we can find a reasonably priced chalet/hotel for each of them. And if we can't, (or there is some other reason we feel they are not suitable) I am deleting them from the list.
J2Ski Holiday 2014
Started by User in Find a Ski Buddy / Group Trips, 760 Replies
Brooksy,
I think Tony is a bit confused.

After he'd been to St Moritz he wrote this, in his report (page 1 part 2):

So, overall the experience gets 5 out of 10 from me. I don't think I'd go with Club Med again.

Anyway, to get the thread back on topic again I'd like everyone to know that we've been trying very hard to find nice chalets/hotels for 2014 that come in within budget.

Apart from St Moritz, Zermatt, and possibly St Anton, we're not doing too badly, although we may have to increase the budget by £100 or so for February and March. Generally speaking, January seems to be the cheapest month. The easiest resort on our list in which to find a reasonably priced ski in/ski out chalet seems to be La Tania in the 3 Valleys :D
J2Ski Holiday 2014
Started by User in Find a Ski Buddy / Group Trips, 760 Replies
Hi Billip 1,
If we can find a date, price, and resort that suits you, would you be interested in coming on this 2014 group J2Ski holiday with us?

I'm sorry to hear about your car. I hope you eventually got some ski-ing in Tignes. I left plenty of snow for you :wink:
J2Ski Holiday 2014
Started by User in Find a Ski Buddy / Group Trips, 760 Replies
Bandit,
I've just tried 'pretending' to buy the Club Med holiday with Igluski, and they say the flight is from Heathrow to Zurich (I don't know why they say Geneva as their standard airport for St Moritz). I think the transfer time from there is around 3 or 3 1/2 hours.

Snapzzz,
I think that makes Igluski even less likely to care.

I rented accommodation through Igluski for our New Year holiday in Meribel, solely because it was cheaper through them than I could get directly from Pierre et Vacances.

It was pretty strange, because I paid them, and they paid Ski Horizon, who paid P&V.

And it was pretty bad, too, because Igluski didn't give me any details about the accommodation, even though I asked them to, before I left on the holiday. Yet in the past when I have rented an apartment directly through P&V they have sent me details about the opening hours of the reception, phone numbers to ring if I think I will arrive late, all their terms and conditions, prices for cleaning at the end of the stay etc. etc.

Fortunately for me I know how P&'v works, and I survived Igluski's neglect.

This St Moritz holiday with Club Med seems rather similar to this. If I was to try and book it directly with Club Med (I've just tried doing it), it costs £100 more per person than booking through Igluski, who, as you say, are just an agent acting for another company who has bought the holiday from Club Med. It doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

Anyway - I shall return to trying to find potential resorts and accommodation for the 2014 group holiday :D
J2Ski Holiday 2014
Started by User in Find a Ski Buddy / Group Trips, 760 Replies
Bandit, I wouldn't count on it being a joke (or a mistake). It wouldn't surprise me at all if Igluski flew people into Geneva to get to St Moritz and it resulted in a 5 hour transfer time.

I lost faith in the TO's when we were made to walk right past a perfectly good ski hire shop in Zell am See to one the other end of town (and back carrying all our ski stuff) because it was the one the TO 'preferred' :evil:

How about Celerina for St Moritz? Does anyone know of a nice, large, catered chalet here that is hopefully much cheaper?