J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by msej449

As a postscript, I took a look at the menu board of a major, in-village-but-on-piste terrace restaurant in Verbier today as we waited for the link bus. It also gets a lot of clients who turn up by car and, I suspect, do little or no actual skiing. Mains were between CHF 33 and 55. Entree salads around CHF 30. A glass of decent wine around CHF 4 to 6. There are good 4-Star restaurants in central Verbier that aren't as expensive: it's a nice place in summer, specialising in local mushroom dishes, but obviously in winter, is happy to pander to those prepared to pay high prices to 'be seen'.

I'd suggest that you select a desired location and contact some rental agencies direct. We have an apartment in the Swiss Alps and every so often ourAgency will ask us if we want to rent it out for the season. Generally, both sides benefit as you pay much less than the standard weekly rate and the owner gets a guaranteed rental. The problem is that most owners will want to use their place for at least a couple of weeks.

Today we paid CHF 4 (£2.85) for a coffee, same for a hot chocolate at an on-piste cafe in the Savoleyres sector of the 4 Valleys. Earlier at lunch, it came to a total of CHF 25 (£17.60) for two people to each have a large glass of apple juice, thick veg soup with crutons and cheese, and a roll. This was at the summit station of the sector. A beer would have been CHF 7 (£5). You do have to be careful once you start eating more interesting food e.g. champignons en croute would be CHF 20 (£14).

Here's the menu and prices middle-of-the-road on-piste restaurant where we stopped for coffee/chocolate, called 'Chez Simon':

http://www.chezsimon.ch/chezsimon/index.php/nos-menus/carte-d-hiver

The rabbit (lapin) is very local - they live outside in their huts. I've always wondered if - as with lobster - you have to go outside and choose the one you want to eat.

Of course, if you decide to stop at one of the on-piste, up-market restaurants right in the middle of the Verbier slopes, then you'll probably pay a fair bit more. Chez Simon is somewhat out of the way in terms of the Verbier ski area, so it's probably the minimum you'd pay for that standard of food.

Ummmm, rather suspicious that the images are visualisations, not actual photos. So either it's not even built yet or is just a concrete shell until they find a buyer. Which is not very reassuring and why I'm leaving my €9m in the bank for the moment. And as you say, all a bit too arriviste .....

I'd also recommend a checkup. I had big back problems after skiing fine for a few years. The doctor found I had one femur shorter than the other. Even after three or four medicals for new jobs, no one had picked this up. Turned out my right femur is 12mm shorter but the body compensates and when I went to the sport medics they did some gait analysis and all I needed was a 3mm insole in my right boot. After that, all was fine. If you think about it, a lot of people have one foot 1/2 size smaller than the other, so it shouldn't be a surprise that you might have differences between one leg and the other which might cause problems.

I'd also recommend the lessons as well - they make a huge difference and are well worth the cost, in my view.

@Ianm: This is from the Verbier piste map for the coming season.

My view is that this is a sensible approach to discouraging careless drone use: Verbier already has experience in using drones for ski team training. The feedback from earlier trials covering the Freeride event is that you need a fairly powerful, pro-class drone to handle the thinner air plus a camera payload. And anyone who wants good footage would do better hiring an experienced operator who's done it before. In the cold conditions, most recreational drones aren't going to fly for very long before the battery dies. So all-in-all, the service should hopefully discourage people from bringing their own devices, given the hassle of just getting it there and then carrying a dead drone 'round all day for probably just 10 minutes of active flight.

Another possible approach is to stay in the valley at a central location, and accept it'll be a holiday driving to the nearest good resort for the day. I know, this isn't for everyone, but the upside is that you can pick and choose where to go and try out more than one resort. Being in the resort has many advantages, of course. But if you're after keeping the cost down, you may find this saves money against being somewhere that's on-piste. This might not work if you have children in the group, or mixed abilities, or if some of you are likely to want to call it a day well before others. But if you have a group of more experienced skiers who generally stay out most of the day, it might be an interesting alternative as well.