Messages posted by : jonG
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:D hi,if you sre looking for catered chalet accommadation at a reasonable price i can reccommend Ski Miquel,i have used them many times over the years and have been to St.Anton,Whistler and a couple of times to Serre Chevaliere and have had excellent food(all Ski Miquels chefs are fully trained) accommadation and service at avery acceptable cost(eg two weeks in whistler fully catered,with flights,lift passes transfers etc was £600 per person,but this was a few years ago now).
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:D hi, on the alpine roads there areas every so often which are signposted with a car tyre with snow chains on ,a good indication that they may be needed is that if you arrive at one that has car occupants putting on chains then you should follow suit,also these areas sometimes will have a police officer attending and they will direct you into the laybye
many regards jonG. |
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:D hi, when ski instructors have used this term to try and get new skiers to flex they actually mean bend at the ankles more but have not known the english for ankles.Flexing/bending forward with the ankles to keep the soles of the feet flat on the bottom of the ski boot and the buttocks over the heals of the feet is what they were trying to achieve.
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:D hi,driving down to La Plagne need not be a nightmare if you are prepared,i would advise you to get a service (winter) for your car before going,you will also need by french law the following ,snowchains,a full set of spare bulbs,headlight beam adjusters( these can be purchased from any car shop and fit onto the lens to either block the bright spot or divert the full beam to the otherside of the road,these come in the form of sticky backed patches and have instructions on the back and come in different shapes for differetnt makes of car),and a warning triangle.the drive from calais is straight forward -calais-reims-troyes-dijon-macon-lyon-chambery-albertville-moutiers-aime-la plagne.Also if you have someone to share thedriving with this is also helpfull as with multiple drivers the trip can be done in 9hrs with a couple of quick stops,but with just one driver around 12 - 14hours would be better as this will enable the driver to get some much needed rest,alteratively you can break the journey up by stopping overnight enroute although this will eat into your holiday skiing time.
As for fly driving if you fly to either grenoble or chambery and hire a car from there (autoeurope 0800 169 9797) you can get a flight for around £50 -£60 per person and a weeks car hire will be around £140 - £200 depending on the size of vehicle,and will take about 2 hrs to drive to la plagne. many regards jonG. |
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:D hi, you can also reach Bourg-Saint-Maurice train station (end of the line for the Tarentaise/Savoie resorts of Les Arcs,La Rosiere,Ste.Foy,Tignes and Val D'isere) by Eurostar ,if you go to www.eurostar.com (ski train) you should find more info.Also you do not say where you are travelling to CDG from,but if you are comming from England the Eurostar ski train will be going direct from St.Pancras train station in London from November 14 and prices start from around £140 return i think.
many regards jonG. |
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:D ,Hi i always have the the last week in Les Arcs in france (last day this season is 26th april i think), out of the last five years there has been good snow for the last four,although this year i had to go up to Arc 2000 to get on the lifts as the last part of th erun back to Arc 1600 was patchy so they stopped the Arpette lift.This year is going to be good all over the alps i feel so if no one books my apartment for the last week i shall go myself again,with a return flight luton to geneva from around £50 and a weeks car hire through autoeurope 0800 169 9797 for about £135 this can prove a cheap week.Also in the last ski week all lift passes are half price and usually on the last day they are free,with the added attraction of the last week three friends and myself this year only met about 50 people skiing all week it seemed,and was like having your own personal ski resort.
but wherever you choose to go have a pleasant safe trip. jonG. |
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:D hi,yes Tignes is in the french alps (Tarentaise/savoie region) ,and shares the L'espace Killy ski area with Val D'isere,the ski area is vast with around 320km of piste and unlimited off piste possibilities.It is at the end of the N902 which also serves the Ste.Foy,La Rosiere and Les Arcs ski areas(all within 25- 35 minutes of each other) also all the resorts can be reached via Eurostar to Bourg-saint-maurice(linked directley to Les Arcs 1600 by a 7 min funicular) and then bus or taxi to each of the resorts.The skiing in Tignes goes from 1650 metres up to the glacier La Grande Motte at over 3300 metres,there is also the Pissalaise glacier above Le Fornet (a small village just outside Val D'isere at the end of the N902 which then goes over the Col de Iseren) so is one of the most reliable areas in the alps for snowcover,with a season that starts around the beginning of December and this year will finish about the 5th of May,also the Tignes/Val D'isere area hosts the the Premiere Niege (first European Downhill) of the FIS World Cup Ski Season,this is run on the OK Downhill run which starts above Val D'isere and finishes in La Daille which is a small hamlet containing apartment blocks just before you arrive in Val D'isere propper.But for a great ski area which generally gets overlooked in favour of Val and Tignes if you where interested in going to the area i can reccommend Les Arcs(although i am a little biased as i now own an apartment in Bourg-saint-maurice),this area is now linked with La Plagne creating one of the largest ski areas in the world but never seems to get crowded in even the busiest times of the season.
many regards jonG. |
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:D hi ten or twelve years ago when i had only been skiing for a few seasons i decided to ski The Wall in Tignes,after a few turns i over rotated and the next thing i new i was laying in a heap around 300 yards from where i had fallen,i had lost both pole,skis,my goggles ,hat sunglasses (which were all strewn down the route i had cartwheeled down the mountain).Luckily the only thing damaged was my pride,after breaking out in spontaneuos nervous giggling and laughter i called it a day and went to the nearest bar and lost a fight with mr guiness.But the next day made the effort to go out again and ski what ever piste was below me,if i had not done this i think i would never have progressed to the level i am now and would have been perminately stuck as a lower intermediate skier(although there would have been nothing wrong with that as it is being in the mountains that is just as rewarding as skiing them).
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