J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by msej449

I'd add a few audio books to the list. It's surprising how much faster the journey goes if you can listen to a couple of 2-hour books. Music CDs are OK but it can be hard to find something everyone likes and I find loud music distracting as a driver.

Another recommendation was to have slip-on driving shoes and separate outdoor shoes/boots. You don't want to drive in heavy boots and you don't want to clomp around in deep snow wearing light shoes. Keep the footwear in the driver's footwell ready to change.

Recommendations from previous threads include making sure you have gloves, torch and a mat to kneel on for changing chains; leave with maximum-concentration screen wash (as mentioned); spade, card and brush to shift snow; thermos and emergency food; and sleeping bag. In all, imagine you're stuck in snow somewhere in France or the Jura and then the above list looks reasonable. Ideally, your car will have winter tyres on and you'll carry snow chains for more extreme conditions. Chains alone are no substitute for winter tyres, which all the locals will be using. This is probably overkill for the majority of years but not for conditions as we're seeing now in the North, or which occurred in France last winter. The risk/benefit decision is up to you.
As regards accommodation, many people stop about 4-5 hours out of Calais, which is usually between Troyes and Besancon if you're en route to Switzerland or Troyes and Challon-sur-Soane if you're heading to French Alps. Look for somewhere near to the autoroute, rather than too far off the beaten track. If the weather's bad you just want to get there. I'd seriously consider such a stop if I was travelling with children. If you have multiple drivers and go for a non-stop drive then change drivers every 2 hours, which means 4-5 sessions. Arriving early has many advantages but make sure that you're not just hanging-round waiting for your accomodation to become available.

We often stop off at Le Val Moret motel just below Troyes, only 5 minutes off the A5 Autoroute at exit 22. It's a 3* Logis de France with an excellent but unpretentious, family-friendly restaurant. It's about 4 hours from Calais and another 4-5 hours to the Alps. As already mentioned, Troyes is also well-paced for Campanile etc. accomodation as well.

However careful you are, sooner or later someone else will crash into you. Last year I was standing still on the edge of an unbelievably empty piste with only three other people in a space 300m long by 30m wide. And yes, you guessed it - I was taken out by someone who decided to do some fast carving and "sorry, sorta lost it". That was it for the next two days of my holiday. Unbelievable. Without a helmet it would have been the end of my skiing for the entire season, given the wipe-out.

Update: So at least on the second night (Wed) we got to a hotel paid for by easyJet, albeit 30Kms away, as all the local hotels are full. This morning (Thu), flights were taking off from GVA but all those to Gatwick and Heathrow were cancelled, plus those where airlines didn't have anything on the ground at GVA. One problem on Tues was that the Taxi drivers stayed at home or wouldn't do any journeys outside the area, so even if you had a hotel reservation, you didn't stand much chance of getting there unless there was a shuttle bus. In the end, staying in the terminal was probably the best solution. We're back at our apartment in the Trois Vallees, although car hire rates are extortionate due to the shortage of vehicles. We're on the first scheduled Gatwick flight from GVA on Saturday lunchtime. I hope.

My main gripes aren't to do with the infrastructure but that the 1. the airport authorities closed large parts of the facilities overnight e.g. shifting people out of Starbucks with a 5-person police escort into the Departure area (where there was nothing) and 2. that easyJet kept very quiet about the fact that you could get them to organise a hotel and taxi at their expense and left it to the airport authorities to either put people into a bunker (sic) or coorrdinate private hotel reservations. It was only because we made friends with a friendly French student that we discovered we could get easyJet to organise and pay for these.

After a pleasant ski in Verbier at the weekend (see other thread) we are stranded in Geneva Airport due to heavy snow. Welcoming Swiss kindly checked everyone out of comfy bars and cafes and herded us all to Departure hall (after an hour and a half unloading the baggae onto random carousels.

See

http://www.flickr.com/photos/56501194@N05/5222708860/

for photo just taken of our sleeping arrangements.

We skied Verbier last weekend (27-28/11/2010) and conditions were above average for the time of year with snow down to the town (albeit that the pistes below Ruinettes were closed off). Le Chable-Verbier, Medran-Ruinettes, Lac de Vaux and Las Chaux 2 were in operation and although light on Saturday was a bit flat, Sunday was sunny, with temperatures around -6C to -10C. Got a bit busy in the afternoons but not that bad, with hardly any queuing. Altogether a promising start to the season.