Messages posted by : AllyG
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Christmas is really only 8 weeks away! :shock: :shock: :shock:
I haven't even started thinking about it yet. Glad to hear you're another train fan, Nelly. We'd have gone by train this time, but the trains to Bourg St Maurice aren't running yet. I've got someone coming on Monday to install more roof insulation to 'pay' for our flights. We are thinking about doing this 'camp' again next October half-term, because we enjoyed it so much and it's so cheap, and then maybe having another full holiday in the Tignes/Val D'Isere area one Feb half-term holiday, if we can find anywhere cheap enough. Ally |
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Is that for Christmas then, Nelly?
Ally |
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Oh,
So you'll be in the same area we were in? I think the glacier we were on is the highest point of the Val D'Isere/Tignes region. But I can see from the piste map that it's a huge area when it's all open, and you can in fact ski to and from the chalet we were in, because it all connects up. I hope you have a great time Nelly! Ally |
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Thanks Nelly,
Where are you going for your next ski holiday? Ally |
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Tino,
To be quite truthful, I didn't actually mind the ice at all. The sun was shining, and it was hot, and I could see for miles, so I was fine. What I really hate is when it's very cold, and windy and snowy, and you can't see - because I'm afraid of getting lost and ski-ing over the edge of a precipice. It was just like ski-ing in a very large snow dome, only the background mountains were real, and you could actually get sun burnt. The last day we did the red run once, and the black run 5 times, so it was perfect for practising my technique. And I didn't get bored, because as you said, the conditions changed each time we did the run - only there wasn't enough snow for moguls to form - it actually just got more and more bare ice each time, because the snow got rubbed off. Ally |
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Well,
I am most definitely NOT going to have my feet operated on, just to help with the fitting of my ski boots :lol: Chemmy Alcott must be truly dedicated to the sport to go through something like that. Bandit - do your feet feel warm enough with only thin socks on? One of my instructors had some foot warming gadget in his ski boots. Ally |
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Well,
Having been in the gondola with a great many national and international top level skiers, I noticed them undoing and doing up their boots. And ditto at lunch time. I also noticed they were wearing thin socks (the ones who actually took their boots off I mean), so maybe we should extend this discussion to socks? Do we really need thick socks if we're ski-ing hard and keeping our feet warm? My feet got much too hot and at one point I actually had to take my boots and socks off to dry out my wet socks in the sunshine. Ally |
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Zwee,
There definitely weren't any clubs anywhere near the chalet. I went for a walk around and I found a church, a cemetery, a building site and several closed chalets. I think it's about 3 miles from Tignes Le Lac and a bit further again from the glacier ski-ing. It's still very much out of season and most things were closed. During the winter season there's a free ski bus running between the different bits of Tignes and all the shops and clubs etc. are open. At the moment I think the bus only goes between the glacier (Val Claret I think) and the Lac. The poor staff in the chalet have to drive everyone from the chalet to the glacier and back again. There were 48 people at the chalet when we were there, and they're generally only using 2 mini-buses at once each carrying 8 people, so they need to make at least 3 trips morning and afternoon. And on our second day we were the only 2 people on the early mini-bus at 8-15 a.m. so they must have had to make an extra trip. The first funicular leaves at 8-30 and goes every 15 minutes (I think) when it's busy and then every 30 minutes. I'm sure there are taxis, but they'd be expensive. I think everyone stayed in the chalet during the evening, but I'm not sure. They did have a hot tub, a wii game for the telly, free use of the computer on the internet, wi-fi, a bar, and books etc. From my point of view the most important thing was that they kept the boiler hot all afternoon and evening for my cups of tea, and no-one seemed to mind how many cups I drank! They also did a marvellous job of cooking for my daughter, who has multiple food intolerances. They cooked her a dairy free, gluten free, vegetarian dinner which was really nice - stuffed aubergine, salad, vegetables, and fruit sorbet, and then rice and curry the next evening. The staff work really, really hard and are great. They cook, clean, fit skis, drive to Geneva, drive back and for to the glacier, work at the bar, take bookings etc. etc. They fitted our skis and boots at 11 p.m. ready for an early start in the morning. Ally |
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