Messages posted by : Dan-o
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Hi all. Here's my report – I'm a regular lurker on J2ski although I hardly ever comment as I don't have that much to say. Maybe this report makes up for it…
Pierre and his 2 mates get together in March of most years to enjoy a week on the slopes in the Mont Blanc area. They are experienced skiers who are comfortable on pretty much any terrain. I had 5 weeks snowboarding experience (Espace Killy, Three Valleys and Snowmass/Aspen), comfortable on most terrain but prefer to avoid icy steeps, bumps and drag-lifts. After assurance from Pierre that I would not be out of my depth with him and his mates, and some sweet words with the missus, I accepted the invitation with some trepidation. Getting there: Air France from Cape Town to Paris, connecting for the 50 minute flight to Geneva. Pierre picked me up on the Swiss side, and from there it was an easy 1h15 minute drive to our apartment in St Gervais. The 2 mates made their own way there, driving from their homes in northern France and Germany respectively. Accommodation: Self-catering apartment 3 minute walk from the centre of town. Private rental arranged directly with the owner, 360 Euro for the week – in true French style it is furnished to sleep 7, but really only big enough to accommodate 4 people. St Gervais is quite a change from the typical French resort towns I had previously experienced. It does have ski holiday feel to it but clearly has a substantial permanent population. There was hardly any snow at village level, the snow cover was patchy at best until one got higher up towards Le Bettex. Sunday: St Gervais We drove the 2km down to the St Gervais Bettex lift (there is a regular free bus service but we were chomping at the bit). We initially planned on heading up to the St Nicolas area but quickly found that the shady pistes were rock-hard. We decided to follow the sun and enjoyed a productive day gobbling up mileage all around the Mt Arbois area. We stuck to the pistes as we found our snow legs. The pistes were nicely groomed and the slopes were not busy for a Sunday. Generally the pistes are not very challenging but lots of fun. A good variety of tree-lined cruising, perfect for a first day and more than enough to keep one occupied for several days. My GPS watch recorded that we covered 70km (slopes and lifts) for the day. The snow held up very well considering it was a warm bluebird day, it only started getting a bit slushy on the lowest runs towards the end of the day. The lift system is quite good although there are a number of slower chair lifts, and there is a nice sense of travel, I would imagine even more so if one were to make the hop across to Megeve. We ended the day with a beer at Bettex, followed by a couple of beers on the apartment balcony and a quiet night in. This sequence of events in fact set the tone for the rest of the week. Monday: Les Contamines We decided beforehand that we would buy lift passes on a day-to-day basis, giving us the flexibility to choose our destination, dependent on the weather, slope conditions and our mood. Les Contamines is included in the Evasion Mont Blanc pass, which is the pass that covers the whole area including St Gervais and Megeve. We drove the 15 minutes up the road to Les Contamines and parked at the Gorge telecabine. The pistes were quiet, the snow nice and grippy on a fairly hard base. Most of the skiing is above the tree line and there is acres of off-piste accessible from the lifts. Due to the lack of fresh snow the off-piste snow was quite solid so we stuck to the pistes for the first while. The mountain has a feeling of wide open spaces and big mountain views; what is better than this on another bluebird day? After a few warm-up runs we covered some steepish bumpy off-piste terrain in preparation of what lay ahead on Tuesday. As the snow softening just a tad, I was getting fairly comfortable in those conditions. Due to a navigation error we ended up on the Grevettaz black run late-morning – bad news for 2 reasons from my point of view. Firstly, it was an unpisted soft mogul field end to end, with a few bare patches where the soft snow has been scraped down. No fun on a snowboard. Secondly, the only way out of that part of the mountain is the Grevettaz drag-lift – one of those lifts marked with a yellow triangle on the piste map and a "Teleski difficile" sign when you get to the lift (why couldn't they put the sign at the top of the run??). I had no option but to overcome my mental block relating to drag-lifts. After a false start I made it about 200m up, to where the lift crosses a piste. The change in camber threw me off me feet and I decided to walk the rest of the way up. After a 15 minute walk and 3 false summits (with no end in sight) my friends appeared on the piste that runs parallel. I was persuaded to try the lift again, so we skied to the bottom. I got back on the horse and this time held on until about 150m from the end – sadly the last 150m was the pitch where the gradient was over 50 degrees. I walked to the top and, well and truly knackered, we made our way to La Grange restaurant for sausage and chips - 7.90 Euro. After lunch we made our way up to the Aiguille Croche lift. More magnificent views. There is a tricky traverse about 150m to skier's left from the top of the lift which takes one to a spot where you can peek over the top of the ridge down the valley to Megeve. We spent the rest of the afternoon in that area. We skied all the way back to where the cars were parked, but the pistes below Etape (1470m) were quite soft, and distinctly porridge near the bottom – downloading would have been a decent option after an awesome day's skiing. We covered 60km first lift to last run. Tuesday: Vallee Blance I was a bit apprehensive as to whether I was experienced enough to do the VB, added to the fact that I had read that it is not ideal for snowboarding. We met with our guide, Martin, on Monday evening and after a chat about my experience and ability he was satisfied that we can go ahead as planned. Vallee Blance ought to be on the bucket list of any competent skier who wants a high-mountain experience of a lifetime. The Aiguille du Midi 2-stage cable car takes you up to 3842m, in the shadows of the peaks around Mont Blanc. The views from the top are breathtaking and heart-stopping. For the uninitiated, the excursion begins with the guide roping everyone's harnesses and walking us along the ridge… The ridge is about 100m long, 1m wide and a sheer drop off each way; the only thing between you and oblivion is a rope barrier that is strung along the one edge of the ridge. It was quite a rush and downright scary, to be honest. Once the ridge is negotiated and skis/boards are donned, the actual route back to Chamonix is about 20km long and is along a glacier. It starts off fairly steep, followed by long traverses to ensure that you don't immediately drop to the bottom of the creviced valley. The glacier forms a wild mass of cascading natural ice sculptures before it eventually opens up into the Mer del Glace - a flatter glacial area flanked by the glacier walls. Inevitably one must negotiate a narrow gully at some point to make it across the glacier to the Mer del Glace. The narrows were very mogulled and for everyone other than very experienced skiers that section turned out to be a test in thigh burn endurance. The flatter areas have a track about 4m wide where it is crevice-free and safe to ski. The last section consists of windy lines around rocky outcrops, where one finally has the option to hike up to the Montevers telecabine and take the tram to Chamonix, or ski further down the valley all the way to Chamonix. Our guide chose the latter but we found the snow cover got too thin further down and we ended up having to do a 20 minute hike out and then ski down to Chamonix along a jeep track with soggy patchy snow. The snow at the top half of the excursion was of the hard, frozen variety which made the steeps tough going. The tracks along the flatter sections were quite grooved, which made it easy to catch a leading edge on a snowboard. Ask me, I did that twice and went flying. The cost was 150 euro per person, which included the lift pass, (50 euro) and the guide, Martin, who provided the harnesses, rope, transceivers and laugh-a-minute commentary. For an experience of a lifetime it is well worth it at the price. I would however echo the view of many others that the long traverses and flat grooved tracks mean it is not ideal for snowboarders Wednesday: Les Houches Another bluebird day. Les Houches is a small village near Chamonix and is included in the Mont Blanc Unlimited ski pass. It has 17 lifts and 24 pistes, almost all amongst the trees. Most of the runs are cruisey reds and blues. The famous Kandahar world cup black lived up to its reputation and is worth several visits. On the lower sun-drenched areas the snow got slushy in the late afternoon, but generally the snow was good and the pistes were in great condition. There is a timed slalom run open to anyone, we had good fun doing a few runs down the course before better sense prevailed and we stopped before someone's ego caused them serious injury. Sausage, chips and a Pepsi at the Prarion Hotel (spectacular views) was about 13 euro. Part of the charm of Les Houches is its accessibility from the Tramway du Mont Blanc. The tram line starts in Le Fayet down the road from St Gervais and, in winter it runs all the way to Bellevue (1800m) above Les Houches. From the tram stations one has direct access to the pistes. We took the return trip from St Gervais, the cost is a few euro add-on to the lift pass. Thursday: Agentiere Would you believe, the 5th bluebird day in a row. For the first time there is a bit of a breeze, which kept the air temperate pretty fresh. We drove the 30km to Agentiere, main mission being to do the black runs off the Grands Motets lift. Argentiere is a steep mountain known as an off-pister's heaven. The area is included in the Chamonix 'Le Pass', except if you want to go up the Grands Montets lift, in which case you need the Mont Blanc Unlimited pass (10 euros extra). The pistes are generally either steep and fairly wide, or a more gentle but narrow traverse around the hills. The pistes were beautifully groomed, the snow base was solid/hard with a wonderful grippy layer on top. Every square meter of off-piste between the pistes was well and truly tracked out and quite bumpy. The area was by far the busiest we experienced the whole week but, even so, we did not wait longer than 3 minutes to get on a lift. The Grand Montets cable car was initially closed due to high winds, but we were quite happy to cover the available ground. At 12h15 the Grand Montets lift opened and we took the first one up. Just as well, as queues soon formed and a 30 minute wait was in the offing for people who went up later. From 3300m the views of Mont Blanc and surrounds are as good as it gets. We took the Point de Vue run down; it is classified as 'high mountain glacial terrain' so it is dangerous to venture outside of the marked (but ungroomed) area. The marked area is however several hundred meters wide, so you do get a true high mountain feeling. This one run alone made the day in Agentiere an unforgettable day. Friday: Megeve Although one can ski from St Gervais to Megeve, we chose to drive around to the furthest end of Megeve called Cote 2000. Once again the theme of the week prevailed: quiet, well-groomed pistes under blue skies. Megeve offers a large ski area in itself but we stuck to the area around Cote 2000. The lifts on this part of the mountain offer some limitations – the only way to access Cote 2000 from the rest of Megeve ski area is via one of 2 'teleski difficile' drag-lifts. It is also the only place where we ended up having to wait longer than 3 minutes to get onto a lift. I overcame my demons and mastered both lifts flying colours. An added bonus was that a World Cup Ski-Cross and Moguls event was being hosted there, so there was plenty of atmosphere around the place. We reserved a table at the Auberge Cote 2000 for lunch, from where we had a perfect view of the pro's showing us how it's done down the competition courses. Delicious steak was 25 euro. The good lunch and waning energy levels meant that we were happy to do the same runs we did in the morning. St Gervais is a perfect base to enjoy the Mont Blanc area – whether one sticks to the Evasion Mont Blanc area or whether one ventures across to the Chamonix area. For those who prefer ski-in/ski-out, there are plenty such options around in Bettex, Megeve, Les Contamines and Les Houches. For me this holiday ticked all the boxes. |
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I used them in January, booked 5 afternoon lessons for a group of 3 of us. I was completely happy with them, and would use them again without hesitation. They are a smallish set-up but the 2 instructors we got to know were good technicians, their English adequate and generally quite happy to accomodate our particular requests.
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Steverandomno, I heard stories about this bar but we hardly ventured out in the evenings - mostly we were pretty knackered and happy to stay in. Iceman, I had read somewhere on this forum about how flat Ours is, so we took the Plan de Mains lift on both occasions |
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There's probably not much new to be said about Val Thorens and the Three Valleys. In preparation of my trip to VT I lurked around these pages quite a bit to gather info and tips. So here's a report of my holiday, hopefully it will be of use to some here.
THE BACKGROUND It was time for the 3 brothers to take holiday together, without the families in tow. Our kids are too young to appreciate the trip, yet old enough for the wives to handle them in our absence. We're around 40 years old and owe ourselves a bit of a break from it all. It was always going to be an alpine holiday. Brother 1 has 5 weeks skiing experience and is a competent intermediate. Brother 2 has never set foot on a ski slope. I am an intermediate with 3 weeks snowboarding experience, though the majority of that was back in 2000. Brother 2 fancied himself as a hot-shot skateboarder back in the day, so he decreed it had to be a snowboarding trip. For the sake of solidarity and the 'brothers together' theme Brother 1 agreed to give snowboarding a bash, so there we were - strapped to snowboards. WHY VAL THORENS? As we live in South Africa, an alpine holiday is never going to be an annual affair, and it involves quite a bit of advance planning, not to mention budgeting. We couldn't take any chances with lack of snow, so our main criteria was to pick a snow-sure resort. We wanted a minimum of 100km of piste as 2 of us were staying for 2 weeks, we wanted reasonably easy access from an airport and some options in terms of securing self-catering accommodation. Avoriaz, Serre Chevalier, Le Arcs, Tignes, Val Gardena, Cervinia, Skiwelt and Sauze were all on the shortlist of destinations, but ultimately VT came up tops in terms of meeting our criteria and budget. GETTING THERE We flew Turkish Air from Cape Town to Istanbul, and on to Lyon (around 900 Euro return). From Lyon we took the train to Moutiers - a 2.5 hour journey. The train was really easy and comfortable, the station at Lyon St Exupery airport is linked to the arrivals terminal. The train cost around 28 Euro each way, thus significantly cheaper than a coach. We planned it so we would arrive in Moutiers on Friday evening 6 January; this would enable us to take an early bus up to VT and be on the slopes by 10h30 on Saturday, thereby gaining an extra day on the slopes. On arrival at Moutiers on Friday evening, we tried to book our bus tickets for the next morning, only to be told that the road up the valley had been closed 24 hours prior due to the mother of all dumps, and there was no certainty as to when it would be re-opened. We were relieved to find on Saturday morning that the road had been re-opened; the 40km up to VT took 1h15 minutes, we spoke to a Dutch guy on Sunday, he had left home by car early on Saturday morning, arrived at Moutiers at around 17h00 and it took him a further 3 hours up to VT from there. ACCOMMODATION, EQUIPMENT AND LESSONS We rented a one-bedroom apartment in the L'Orsiere block, right next to the piste that runs along the Castor & Pollux magic carpet. The ski room has direct access to the slopes, so true ski-in and ski-out. The apartment is 32sq/m, fairly generous by French standards, and is kitted to sleep up to 6 people. At 650 Euro for 2 weeks it was good value for money. We had done some research on-line for the best equipment rental prices but decided not to book in advance. On arrival we popped into a few ski shops (VT is quite compact and everything was within 5 minutes walk of our apartment) and, by playing them off against each other, we managed to negotiate good prices. We went with Skimium and they offered good service and were happy to let Brother 1 swap his snowboard for skis after the first week, at no extra cost. Due to the mixed reviews I've seen of ESF's service, I decided to try one of the other schools. Free School Attitude offered really good rates for a private small group, so we opted to go with them. We booked 5 sessions of 1.5 hours, total cost of 315 Euros. FSA were happy to accommodate our request that the first lesson should be on Saturday afternoon, meaning we spent 1 less day stuffing around by ourselves. We were instructed by Chloe for 2 days, and by Arsene for 3 days. Both instructors have several years experience, were very encouraging, communicated well and in my opinion were particularly good at identifying mistakes with our techniques and giving the relevant person individual attention to rectify the mistake. I would not hesitate to use their services again. COMMUNICATION AND GADGETS I bought an Orange (France) sim card on arrival at Lyon airport for 5 Euro, and for a further 5 Euro I had unlimited data usage for 7 days – certainly a whole lot cheaper than the roaming charges my local cell provider charges. I struggled with Skype so I bought wi-fi access from one of the paid providers. This was a waste of money as the signal was not very strong and the band-width was not great either. I used an app called Alpinereplay to track my distance, speed, vertical meters etc. It overlays onto GoogleEarth and did the job for me. I managed to borrow a GoPro camera for the trip. They are very easy to use and great fun, particularly when reviewing the slope action in the evenings. A word of advice when filming other people: unless the camera is within 5 meters of its subject, the subject tends to get lost in the image due to the fish-eye nature of the lens. THE SLOPE TIME What can I say: record dumps followed by 10 straight blue-sky days. The snow was fantastic, the slopes were generally well groomed, and I hardly ever felt crowded on the slopes. At most of the lifts we would have no more than 3 groups in front of us. Worst case we might have had to wait 5-8 minutes on the odd occasion. It was not the kind of trip where I was going to try my hand at off-piste, but it was evident that there was a lot of fun to be had for those who are into it. Some routes, like the one over the back of La Masse looked more like an ungroomed piste than an off-piste route, though. Val Thorens: As we had lessons for much of the first week, we decided to get Val Thorens-Orelle passes for the first week. While my brothers honed their skills on some gentle slopes in the mornings, I would go off on my own for a couple of hours. I managed to ride more than 80% of the slopes in VT and quickly found a few favourites I would return to. In the Caron area the Col de L'Audzin is a fantastic red, a bit exposed near the top, but it opens up into sweeping switch-backs, well worth a few runs - if not for the rush, then for the great views from the top of Cime Caron. Below the Boisment lift there are some nice fast runs, particularly Tetras, a blue. This part of the mountain seemed to generally be quite quiet. In the Peclet and Thorens area, Moraine, Genepi, Christine, Les Vires and Lac Blanc are fairly wide runs, great for cruising, carving or to strech the legs a bit. The biggest disappointment of the trip was our excursion over to Orelle. Besides the fact that it is nice and sunny there (but then it was sunny on VT's south-facing slopes as well), there is nothing to commend about it. It is not the 'out of the way' spot it is said to be - in fact the routes there and back were quite busy. The 2 main runs down to Orelle are a blue, Gentaines, and a red, Mauriennaise. These 2 pistes zig-zag across each other on about 6 occasions - it does not make for an enjoyable ride when you have to slow right down each time you approach an intersection. The route back, via Chamois is also a disaster. It is marked blue, but was narrow, steep in places, icy and tracked out when we did it. We did it on our 6th day and both my brothers decided it was safer to take off their boards and walk down the first 300m. Meribel and Courchevel: Brother 2 returned home after the first week and when Brother 1 swapped his snowboard for skis, we were on equal footing. We therefore decided that we would get the 3 Valleys pass for the second week and we clocked over 40kms on the slopes each day. The main route from VT over to Meribel is via the Col de la Chambre, on a red run called Lac de la Chambre. It is an invigorating run early in the morning with a couple of long shcusses, where one has to point the board/skis down the hill and hope you have enough speed to make it through the valley. Our favourite runs in Meribel were below the Col de la Loze and amongst the trees around Meribel 1450. We found the runs below Saulire quite tracked out, even early in the day, and sadly this put us off ever considering booking a holiday in Meribel. It seems that that part of the mountain carries more traffic than it can handle, and as a consequence was not much fun. We spent 2 days over in Courchevel and enjoyed it tremendously. Creux, a red run off the top of Saulire is fantastic, as are most of the runs over Chanrossa and the area above Courchevel 1650. Incidentally, how insane is the GD Couloir, a black run off the top of Saulire?! We watched a few people venture down there and wondered about their mental state. We were quite excited to explore the wooded area above La Tania, but when we got there we found that the slopes were very icy. It is really picturesque, though and I would imagine that with fresh snow it must be a great area to ride. Les Menuires and St Martin La Masse is neither the open secret nor the gem it might have been at one stage. We arrived at the Masse 1 lift at around 10h00 one morning - there were queues and as a result of the traffic it was carrying, the sunny slopes were pretty busy and most of the groomed snow had been carved away, leaving the slopes quite icy. The runs that were in the shady areas were a lot quieter and the Fred Covili and Les Enverses runs were in a good condition and good for a few loops. On the other side of the village we found the runs higher up above Les Menuires quite good, but the lower runs were extremely busy. The runs above St Martin are amongst my favourite. Jerusalem lived up to its billing and is a must-do. The Grand Lac - Pelozet - Biolley run from 3 Marches all the way into St Martin carries on forever and is guaranteed to leave one with burning thighs and a huge grin from ear to ear. IN CONCLUSION If I had to pick a negative, my biggest issue would be the apparent absence of piste patrol. VT does attract quite a lot of students and with that comes some immature and reckless behaviour (geez, that sentiment makes me feel old). People who go way too fast on crowded pistes and busy intersections need to be reined in. The positives however far outweigh the negatives. Piste preparation was generally good, and in poor weather (our last 2 days) lifts are kept open as long as it is safe to do so - they are not closed at the first sign of snowfall. Lift queues were never really an issue and the variety in pistes is mind-boggling. Lastly, there seems to be quite a bit of misinformation on the cost of things there. In VT the prices in supermarkets are quite fair, and even in mountain restaurants you can pick up an espresso for 1.80 Euro and a Spag Bol for 7.80 Euro. Beers at La Folie Douce were 3.50 for a small draft, and 6.00 for a large draft. We stayed in in the evenings and drank supermarket beer, so I can't comment on the prices in the village restaurants and pubs. Would I go back to VT and the 3 Valleys? Yes, it ticks my boxes and in my book is worth more than 1 visit. I would however like to perhaps go somewhere outside of France before I go back - variety, spice, life and all that. |
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In Val Thorens at the moment. I bought an Orange (France) sim card at Lyon airport for 5 Euros. For a further 5 Euros you can get unlimited data connectivity for 7 days. Working well for me.
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You get 4 mountains to play on, all linked by a regular free shuttle service.
Snowmass is an intermediate's heaven, with lots of wide cruisers, set amongst the aspen and fir trees. Several pistes are seriously wide - probably close to 100m - so it never felt very crowded. (I was there mid Feb 2009). I particularly liked the Elk Camp and Two Creeks area. You have a choice of several groomed or ungroomed runs and the pistes have a gentle natural undulation which is ideal for wide carving turns. Buttermilk Mountain is where the Winter X-Games is hosted, so the terrain parks are obviously world-class. The rest of that mountain is graded mostly green and blue, but here too I found a great sense of space, perfect for cruising and a bit of speed (if you want) on the steeper areas. Aspen Highlands is a bowl,where the locals go - lots of off-piste and back-coutry opportunities. Although Aspen town itself is pretty, the pretentious set-up put me off a bit and consequently I didn't ski the 4th mountain, Aspen Mountain. Quite a few good black runs, I hear, but it also looked by far the busiest area. I'm sure you'll have a great time, I certainly did. |
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Has anyone here used Ski-Cool or Freeschoolattitude for lessons?
Any feedback about them will be appreciated. We are 3 guys in our late 30's going to VT in January. Two will be first-time snowboarders, I'm an intermediate snowboarder and we're all looking to do school for a week. Thanks |
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Judging by the piste map, one would have to use drag lifts from time to time to get the most out of the ski area. Particularly the Theodul Glacier over on the Zermatt side. Not ideal for the boarders in our group.
Is this a fair assessment? |
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