J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by andymol2

Once you get to Turin there a quite a number of trains that stop in Oulx.
Couldn't figure out the ticket office in Turin & saw that there was a train that seemed to be going to Oulx & got on it. No one came along to sell/check tickets & the journey took rather longer than the net had led me to believe so got a bit worried for a while that I might not be on the right train! Nice old lady explained to me that it takes longer to Oulx than they say!

Drove back to the UK with a mate in his classic Citroen SM - only bad thing to say about Sauze was that some thieving git stole his wing mirrors. (Unique to the SM).

Loved Sauze and it produced a great memory - there were 3 Irish guys in our hotel - a middle aged guy, his nephew & his nephew's mate. The younger 2 had been out on the lash and one was struggling with his boots the next morning until his uncle spotted that he'd got them on the wrong feet. That's Grappa for you!

It may be dumb question but how would an insurance company know how many days skiing you've had in a year?

If you have 3 weeks continuously in a resort or a season it's clear cut but what if you have a week in one place and some in another it must be hard to polce how many days you had on the snow. Even if you've bought a season pass - how many days did you ski for?

Pretty academic as I struggle to wangle a second week let alone 3 or more to exceed the limits on my Direct Travel policy. I can but dream.....

Morzine's a nice town but the pistes get crowded and there are queues for some lifts even off peak.
It is probably going to get worse as there was quite a bit of construction going on in Avoriaz.

I've been twice now and have no crushing desire to return. Perhaps I've not been on vintage snow years but even relatively high last March the pistes were more suited to a rock hopper! with rocks & grass poking through even high up.

Can't comment on VT

Andorra has good English speaking ski schools. Soldeu/El tartar would be a good option. The later is quieter at night but if you've got young children then you probably won't want much more than a hotel bar at night.

You can save money on DIY but the savings are not always huge. If you drive down with 4 in a car and plan to self cater it may be cheaper.

The savings of cheap flights can be swallowed by transfers & car hire & ski carriage.

If aren't self catering deals on catered chalets or half board hotels are going to make it hard to beat a package.

The cheapest option is often a last minute package deal but that assumes there is excess capacity but the tour operators have lately reduced capacity so the bargains of 3 or 4 years ago are harder to find. If you are flexible about when you go there's less risk you won't find anything.

I can't see how the tour ops can really know what numbers of us travel independantly.

The airlines don't necessarily know who's skiing on a flight to Geneva & the ferry operators certainly don't. Can they really get data from all of the hotels in the Alps on how many brits are staying?

I'm sure the recession has bitten and many of us are fed up with being ripped off in French resorts.

They may well know that fewer of us booked with the tour operators.

A lot of the European packages are for 1 week & if you want to go for longer DIY is likely to be the best option. It's simple enough to do pick a hotel you like in one of the tour ops brochure, search out their contact details & email or ring them & do a deal. If you are driving down it's easy enough - if flying it's too soon to book the budget flights (and care hire or transfers) until the flight schedules are out.

The tour operators do longer ones to Canada & the USA.

Looks like a giant humbug!