Messages posted by : AllyG
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Hi Karen,
Well, if you organized it all yourself, and went self-catering, I'm sure you could do it for less than that. But you'd have to manage without the support of a resort rep. I like planning it all myself, it keeps me occupied until the next ski holiday. And you get much more choice than if you went with a tour operator. If you look on the La Plagne tourist board website, www.la-plagne.com, they have lots of self-catered apartments. You could probably get a pretty good one for about 600 euros next Easter (although you wouldn't be able to book one yet). I always get one for about 2 more people than what I really have, because they are very 'compact' e.g. you can't eat at the table until you've turned the double bed back into a sofa. And if you booked your flights early I should think you could get them for £100 each, or less, e.g. from Luton to Geneva with easyjet. And then you could get a bus or taxi from Geneva to La Plagne (I haven't done this but I would think it would be a maximum of £200 return for all of you to travel 90 miles). Or, you could do what we do, and get the train. Eurostar's direct ski train goes from London St Pancras to Aime La Plagne, which is only about 11 miles, or a 20 minute drive, from the ski resort of La Plagne, and the bus tickets return would only be about 20 euros each I would think. If you got the train tickets early they shouldn't cost more than £200 each. This is only a rough costing, of course, because I don't know where you live. Flights from regional airports always seem to cost a lot more. And I don't know how important the price is to you. Cheap 2/3 star apartments suit us fine, but you may want somewhere more palatial. We always pick them on location - close to the ski school, ski hire shop, piste, and lifts. And a short transfer time is very important to me, because I get car sick, so I prefer the train because you can get much closer to the mountain resorts. I think Geneva is a 2 1/2 hour transfer from La Plagne, and you'd have to check the price of the bus tickets. Total by train, assuming 1 euro to the pound = £600 + £800 + £80 = £1480 Total by plane from Luton = £600 + £400 + £200 = £1200 Hope this helps, Ally |
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Hi Leigh-Anne,
Well, if you live anywhere near one, I think a 'real' snow snowdome is much better than the mat sort of dry ski slope. I slipped over on a bit of greasy mat (before I'd even got my skis on) and landed on my bum, and I could hardly sit down for about 3 weeks. And then another time I broke my shoulder on the same dry ski slope in a lesson, because my stick got stuck in the mat and caught my ski and over I went. The sort with snow are much softer to land on, and more like the real thing, although more expensive, naturally. Ally |
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Lovely photos, and what a huge jump! It looks like you've just leapt off the chair lift. Thanks very much for doing the report.
Ally |
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I noticed my ski instructor was wearing 2 pairs of gloves, an inner and a waterproof outer pair.
And, incidentally, my other ski instructor seemed to have electrical boot warmers - I wondered what he was doing to start with, adjusting electrical controls on his boots - like was he bionic or what? Ally |
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Hi everyone,
I have terrible trouble with my eyes when ski-ing as well. I am shortsighted so I need to wear glasses all the time. I have reactolites, however you spell it, so they double as sunglasses. But when the light is bad and everything is flat, or when it's snowing, I have to wear goggles. And because I still need my glasses, I have to have huge goggles which cover my glasses, and I can't even see my skis. I have a very limited field of vision in front of me, unless of course I turn my head. I bought good quality yellow goggles, from a proper sports shop (very expensive but I've forgotten how much), so I don't have trouble with them fogging up, but I also have trouble breathing through my nose, and when I'm talking it makes me sound like I have trouble with my adenoids. When I first tried wearing them I thought I'd never manage, especially since I couldn't see my skis and I wasn't very good at ski-ing then. I tried managing with just my glasses but they fogged up, and at one point I had to ski without glasses, in a snowstorm, when I could hardly see anything. But now, I've got more used to the goggles. I'm better at ski-ing so I don't need to see my skis any more, and I've got used to having difficulty breathing through my nose. But I never wear them unless I've absolutely got to. I carry them slung around my neck, for emergencies only. If you find out how to fix the nose breathing problem please let me know. Ally |
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Hi Everyone,
One of my friends always stays in a catered chalet, and she says the big advantage her chalet has, is that they offer ski hosting. Apparently this means that the chalet hosts take groups of guests ski-ing around the resort with them, and they do groups of different standards so that as long as you can ski a blue run OK you can go, and if you're a brilliant skier you go with the advanced group. And they're willing to take the kids, which means the parents can relax knowing that their children aren't ski-ing on their own. This service is free, and obviously saves a lot of money on ski lessons, although it is not directly comparable, because the hosts are only guides, not teachers. I don't know what percentage of catered chalets offer ski hosting, but I think quite a few do. We always go self-catering now, because my daughter has multiple food intolerances, which would be very difficult to cater for in a ski chalet. As it is, we enjoy shopping in the supermarket, and having French neighbours in our apartment block, and it gives us an opportunity to practice our French. Ally |
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Pablo and Clares, I've just seen your replies, thank you very much.
Pablo - the trouble is that different instructors have very different ideas about the levels, in my experience anyway. And I'd much prefer to be fairly competent on the different types of slope before the lessons start next year, in case I get a mean sarcastic sort of instructor. It may be pathetic of me, but I hate being criticised. I always try my best in my lessons, but sometimes it takes me a while to learn something new. Last year, I skied Upper Intermediate at La Rosiere in lessons in the morning and the afternoon. I coped fine in the morning, but the afternoon instructor was ski-ing really fast, more like advanced level I thought, and I got kicked out back down to lower intermediate, which was too easy for me really. And the holiday I've just finished, at Val Thorens, ski-ing level 2 with Prosneige, the morning instructor was really great and I could do everything she asked (including small moguls), and she promoted me up to 'advanced', or group 3, for next year. But my afternoon teacher expected me to ski huge moguls on a very steep bit of off piste, which I couldn't do, and he said I should stay at the same level next year. Clare, thank you very much. What a strange place the snow dome at Manchester must be! Slalom courses and moguls that come and go, whatever next. They must have some very busy scene shifters, or whatever they call themselves. Ally |
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Hi Everyone,
This is what they say on their website: http://www.chillfactore.com/main/Snow_Activities/Ski_Lessons-Prices/Moguls_Clinics And, I just phoned them up to ask how many moguls they have, and the girl I was talking to said they only do the mogul clinics in the summer, and she thinks they specially build them for Mondays, because she says you can only do these special lessons on Mondays, and she thinks about half the slope is covered in moguls. Well, I do seem to have answered my own question, and this explains why you didn't see any Mike - you wouldn't have unless you went on a Monday in the summer! It sounds quite good to me, but they only book 2 months ahead, so I will have to remember to book in April/May. Ally |
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