J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by andyoneil

forgot to mention the glacier - and if you have real beginners you can get bus to Le Fornet, cable car to Signal, gondola to Glacier edge, ski green run, chair up to top (thus avoiding the scare chair)

Good shout BB

Going to tip my 2 cents in here and perhaps be controversial with it!

I cant comment on St Anton as I have never been (but OP has all the info from personal experience) however I have been to VDI several times (have just returned in fact and will write a full review in due course) and so can give some first hand experience on that:

VDI is renowned for under grading and deservedly so: (Vert - the "green" run down from Bellevarde to La Daille is guaranteed to destroy any nervous beginner's confidence and Santons blue is never a blue).

BUT

My wife learned to ski in VDI and this week we had a friend for only her second week on snow who came on leaps and bounds. VDI is actually very good for beginners in many ways:

nursery slope in town has free chairlift and is a reasonable length (drags are awful as a beginner)
green runs on both sides are long but manageable (meaning beginners don't have to do the same short run over and over like in some places)
plenty of blues that are simple progression from the greens
even some reds that can be tackled (Fontaine Froid etc)
if you want a beginner hooked for years to come then the feeling of travel in a large area like EK will do it like no other
LOADS of excellent ski schools with English speaking instructors who will happily tell you which pistes are and are not unfairly graded and thus build confidence accordingly
You do have to accept that realistically its a gondola down but so what?

Much of the above crystallizes what VSB said and I totally agree with him - though if they can have a choice too then all the better as it will make them come back (you'd hope)

Yes some of it is awful - I'd say the World Cup "OK" red is easier than Santons blue for anyone vaguely competent, I'd not go down Vert at the end of the day with a beginner in a million years (its narrow, has a tunnel and crosses an icy black)

Partying and pricing: depends on what you want. VDI has the legendary Folie Douce on the slopes and there is nothing like it (and I've been to a LOT of different resorts - personally I don't particularly like it but that doesn't make it not an experience). however the Folie is VERY pricy. As can be some other bars. But that's true of ANYWHERE you go (apart from Bulgaria).

What I do know from actual experience is that if you know where to go for happy hour etc then you can get 2 half litre beers and 2 HUGE G and T's for 12 Euros. Less than 8 quid for those drinks would be cheap in the UK - much less in one of the world's premier resorts. Yes I COULD pay more elsewhere but I don't.

Also people say VDI is crowded: I was there week before last (first of French half term, not UK)and was on first lift every day with no queues, quiet pistes and longest I queued all week was approx 1 min and that was cos one turnstile was off

Other things to consider with beginners is that they may not want/be able to ski all day every day so you need some off slope stuff: VDI is a proper town (unlike La Plagne, L2A etc) and so has a market, shops, sports centre etc

All of that said - I don't think its perfect for beginners and I probably wouldn't send a group of newbies there (the lift pass is actually brilliant value for what you get but only if you can cover the ground)but for a mixed group like OP has then I think its a great option.

As I said - I've been to a lot of other pl;aces and like them all for different reasons so I'm certainly not wedded to the place but did want to give some first hand experience

Andy

Get thee gone - its actually justifiable as it makes the purchase of your new helmet more cost effective....

I think that £1000 for the week skiing is a reasonable expectation - unless of course you have kids and have to go in holiday weeks when costs will be significantly more (but you knew that when you chose to have children so arguments are null and void)

This year I paid £875 for flights/transfers/chalet board/premium ski hire/full area lift pass in VDI. Factor in one meal out for chalet host night off, the odd beer after ski before free chalet wine and maybe the odd warm lunch (but we usually just make sandwiches form chalet leftovers which they encourage)- all in all this will come out around Tony's £1000. Maybe a tad more but then I fly from Newcastle not Gatwick so there's £45 or so and I am hiring skis which is roughly twice the cost of carriage with Sleazyjet. I think that £1000 has been the mark for about 4-5 years TBH

Like Brucie though I'm not about "cheap": I'm on holiday so I relax and enjoy - I work damn hard for it the rest of the year -)

I once read that Courchvel has more stars than any other place in France, bar Paris!

In some ways this is ammo to the "France is expensive" brigade - however you don't have to eat in Michelin starred places!

Shows though that there must be a demand for haute cuisine in these places or they wouldn't bother - interesting to see if the collapsing Rouble has an effect on this over the next few years...

I think that VT has improved over the years - its never going to be chocolate box pretty but nor is it the big "Stalag Luft" block at Tignes either. They've made changes over the year forcing people to build / refurb in a more "sympa" style

Les Menuires is certainly no oil painting but is well connected to Meribel and Courchevel as well as up the same valley to VT and over into Orelle.

Ive been 3 times to 3V and have never queued for a lift anywhere bar the first gondola of the day out of the VT valley (but we never go in school holidays). Equally the prices CAN be horrific if you want to eat in 5 star on piste restaurants but out of the way places have great food at great prices. Drinks - don't drink a lot outside the chalet wine but a few beers at the end of the day is never expensive either as there's always a happy hour deal meaning it's usually around 3.5 - 4 Euro a beer which is cheaper than most UK City Centres and you have to accept they have a captive audience to an extent.

You've said you like to cover some ground in a day and you'll not find anywhere better for that - do Orelle to C1650 and back from Reberty in a day and you'll have achieved!


Spoilt for choice for runs all over - the only real thing missing is trees if the weather comes in

AllyG wrote:Andyoneil,
The only fairly large queue I saw in VT during our day out was for the big cable car up to the junction between VT and Meribel, where they only let so many through at once to join the final queue, like for the funicular up to the Grand Motte in Tignes.

I know the one Ally - that can be annoying as it doesn't open first thing so I've been up there and ended up coming back down to Village and do another run up before it opens to avoid getting cold

There are other ways over though of course - down towards Les Men and you can go over at various points

Really glad you all had a good time - I'm off to VDI in 8 days and the amount of snow there is already excellent with more falling (as per the reports and the webcams that I'm watching non-stop). Hopefully it'll come down for the next 5 days or so then bluebirds when we get there - here's hoping...

SwingBeep wrote:Thanks for the heads up Andyoneil, I have changed the link, hopefully this one won't upset your Endpoint Protection.

All seems fine now - dunno if their whole site was infected but would hate for a fellow J2Skier to get done if they don't use something as hardcore as we do at work...