J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by Dids1

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23909910-british-skier-63-dies-after-hitting-rock.do

Very sad news.

Hi Tin Pot,
I have a bit more time now so I'll take some time to post what we do now that we don't drive through the night.

We've driven 6 times, 4 to Samoens and once to Val Thorens and Les Saisies.

The 1st 2 times I've mentioned were the times we drove all night.

Apart from those 2 we found this worked for us -catch the 8am crossing and drive through the day. If you're lucky enough to be able to use a dvd player in the car beg, steal or borrow some films they haven't seen, give them a DS or on ipod and they should be fine.
Because you won't be so tired your stops won't need to be so long and they can enjoy the stops you make rather than half waking every time - which they do in the night.

The other main problem with driving through the night is what you do when you arrive in resort. If your room or apartment isn't ready where do you go? You have to hang around, exhausted waiting to get in. Tempers will fray!

You don't say how old the kids are but ours are in their teens and they love the journey.

When you arrive after a nice relaxing journey around 5.30 pm you can make yourselves at home, grab a cuppa and then go and get your hire equipment (sensible to book in advance online).
Get a good nights sleep and be raring to go the next day.

If you have plenty of time to stop overnight it's not a bad idea at all, but we do find it drags the journey out.

Coming home last year we left Samoens at 9am and got to the tunnel at 5.30 and were back in Gloucestershire by 10pm ish.

It's a great way to do the journey if you plan it properly.

Hope it works out for you.

Tony_H wrote:Dare I say it, but you were obviously doing it wrong?
When I drove in April, we did the following:

Drove down to Canterbury and stopped over with an early night at a cheap hotel 20 mins from the channel tunnel.

Got up at 5am and got on the 7am crossing, on the road in France by 9am, and drove with several stops down to Grenoble, no stopover in France required. Arrived in Briancon at approx 8pm local time, unpacked, had dinner and a bottle of wine, and were in bed by 11.30pm.

Up the next morning for first lift, no tiredness and raring to go.

On the final day, we skied our nuts off and had a good drink at the end of the day. Had a good dinner, and were in bed by 10.30pm. Left Briancon at 6.30am the next morning, and were back on the Channel Tunnel with a few stopovers at around 4pm, and we were sitting down to a curry in Bushey at 8pm.

Driving through the night is seriously bad for your health, especially if you plan on doing something the next day.

If you're referring to me - then yes of course you can say we did it wrong - I was saying exactly that same thing.
My whole point was - I don't think it's a good idea.
It bad for your health and could be dangerous. We drive through the day because our budget with 2 kids doesn't run to 2 overnight stops.

Good luck with this venture - hope it works out.

tin pot wrote:@Admin, cheers.

I've done many 4 hour trips with the kids and they're mercifully well behaved. However I want to do this trip overnight to make sure :)

I'll plan a stop at Troyes, if I'm leaving Calais at 9 p.m., will anything be open around 1 a.m.?

The 1st time we drove to the Alps it was great...the kids slept the whole way and we made it in great time.

Then the trouble started...we arrived absolutely shattered at 10 am. Luckily the hotel let us in to our room...but we (adults) were knackered and the kids were up and raring to go. It was horrendous. We had to take it in turns to get them out of the way so we could share sleeps. My daughter always gets exhausted from travelling, so was fractious and stroppy!
We did it again the next year and the same thing happened - we've never done it again, but caught the 8am crossing and travelled through the day. If you drive on a Sunday the roads will be quiet.
Either way you lose a day - either travelling or recovering.

Ian Wickham wrote:

colinlambert_1 wrote:Sorry Ian,
I'm there 5 weeks later, the same as Charlie26.

Maybe you and CWagner could let us both know what the best bits of the resort are.
My kids are hoping that the play park has enough jumps and canyons to keep them busy.

You could always pay a beer on for us both!! :D

Cheers

I have skied the Grand Massif before, I do recommend the place :thumbup:

Me too...

I can't remember the snow parks at Samoens, Morillon or Les Carroz, but there's big one at Flaine.

It's quite way out tho and it's only got a very long drag lift to the top of it - bit of a pain on a board. There was a party going on when we went there last year, loud music, BBQ and the occasional teen getting some big air. Now I know why it's tucked away!

Try and go on the Fred (red run) if you can at Flaine - the chair lift is amazingly high and it's a nice run. Can be closed often though due to wind blowing the snow off.
The Marvel at Morillon is nice tho gets a bit monotonous in places if the snows patchy. It's got wildlife pictures and facts along the way.

Les Carroz skiing is lovely as there are quite a few tree lined runs and make sure you dress up really warm if you're going on the Lanche chairlift which is at Morillon- it's really exposed.

Have a great time :mrgreen:

I've had a rummage around and found a golf bag on wheels. If it snows enough I'm going to use that to drag my skis up some hills. It WILL be worth it!

Emma, don't worry about it - you can't change it and it'll only spoil your anticipation.

Take a look at this site -

http://uk.franceguide.com/Special/Affordable-France/home.html?NodeID=3071

Prices don't include travel so not how good a deal they are really, but worth a look.
We just google apartments and book direct with the owners.
Last year we used owners direct for a week in Samoens in a really nice apartment.