Messages posted by : msej449
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When driving down to the Valais, we stop off at Le Val Moret. It's a 3-Star Logis de France motel at Magnant, 5 minutes off Jct.22 of Autoroute 5, just south-east of Troyes. That's a bit north of your preferred area, but it's very convenient and has a great, but not pretentious restaurant. It's in the Champagne region so it's nice to try some of the local offerings. Cost is €53-€86 for a double room, depending on amenities. Rooms are fairly plain with parking outside, and the site is secure overnight, and is a cinch to find from the motorway. Take a look at http://www.le-val-moret.com/ or if it doesn't suit your fancy, take a look at the Logis de France website at http://www.logis-de-france.fr/uk/index.htm.
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Our gym has got a Wave Excite - ideal for skiing preparation: This is the one where you have two pedals which move sideways and down. Its hard work, but progressive resistance, so not as harsh as a treadmill. Plus it seems to emulate that sideways push you need to develop for ski turns.
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If you wear glasses, this might be the time to consider getting prescription sunglasses. Goggles are fine but if it's sunny, you'd probably prefer to wear shades. Reactolite glasses are OK, and work better in the cold than in the summer, but I find they're not as good as my prescription Oakleys.
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Livigno is some sort of special enclave which is tax-exempt, so not only is it cheaper by virtue of being in Italy, but additionally so. My kids learnt to ski and snowboard there and the learner slopes are great, as they comprise a series of graded pistes separate from the main ski runs, but adjacent to them, so it's easy for you to ski round and meet-up with the learners. There are also day-trips available to St.Moritz for serious skiers. The other upside is the altitude: In a bad year it's high enough to guarantee good snow but distant enough for it not to be flooded by visitors from elsewhere. In a good year, the snow is stupendous - the only European resort I've been to that reminded me of skiing in the Rockies.
The Main downsides are (a) the split into two areas, linked by buses (b) the long transit-time from Bergamo airport and (c) Bergamo often gets fog-bound and you have to re-route to Milan. |
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Oops, apologies - I forgot that the j2ski server doesn't automatically adjust the rendering of images. Here's another. Can you guess what it is? Clue: Note the pylon top right. Warning for those of you not on cable broadband: 3.6MB!
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/msej449/LaTzoumazSnowWall.jpg |
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http://homepage.ntlworld.com/msej449/MtFort.jpg
[Remember people - always use the [ URL ] tag to link to FLIPPING ENORMOUS IMAGES - or it makes our eyes cry. Tvm, Admin] The Matterhorn from Mt.Fort, Verbier 3300m. |
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And remember - if you go to a sales outlet in the UK and they say "You only need chains" and as importantly "These will fit" ask yourself whether they don't really have a vested interest in simply selling you some chains. A lot of UK cars are fitted with lower-profile wheels compared to their continental versions and if you look in your owner's manual, you may well find that you can't fit chains at all. Not without risking damage to the steering, driveshaft, suspension, or inner wheelarch. Not something you want to discover up a mountain in the dark and snow. Press that helpful sales outlet and they start to get vague and eventually say something like "You have to try them out" Great - first, just how do I simulate a loaded car in snow and second, what if in 'trying them out' I discover that they have indeed damaged my car?
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Winter tyres: Although you do have a bill for switching them each autumn/spring, they don't cost you any more as such, since your summer tyres will be sitting idle in the garage, and thus last longer. I didn't used to bother, then bought a set, and was delighted - two years running we hit bad snow driving across the Jura mountains to Switzerland. But really, the big advantage was in mixed conditions, or light snow, or on inclines: everyone else is ploughing on at normal speed- without them you're stuck, holding up the traffic, sliding everywhere, or trying to put chains on when no one else is. No wonder the foreign police - especially in France - get annoyed at the Brits. Chains are only really for extreme conditions when everyone needs then, even with winter tyres on. And as pointed out, they're still valuable in the UK when the temperature falls below 7°-8°C both in terms of better stopping distance and better handling.
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