J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by andyoneil

Been meaning to reply on this thread for a few days:

Well done AllyG for organsisng what seems to have unanimously gone down as a great trip - I know how hard it used to be to organise the lads trip for half your numbers and that was with people who all knew each other (and their foibles) so could have a few more arbitary decisions made ;-)

Like a few others on here I'm sadly not that surprised by the conditions - the Milky Way is a great choice but is prone to this lack of snow. I went about 12-14 years ago and we had hardly anything open in first week of February - they had actually refused to do beginners boarding classes as they were averaging one collarbone break per group on the ice and so the schools shut it down

Your trip to Orelle looks to have been a real day out - I love the "4th valley" though have never tackled it from the very bottom cable car station - only ever over the top from VT. I agree that the piste side stuff in VT can be a bit naughty but thought the hut in the 4th Valley itself was reasonable last year. To be fair though we don't eat in mountain restaurants very often (prefer to keep skiing) so have never subscribed to the "France is expensive" thing as the chalets with free wine are very reasonable and the lift pass - though high priced is far better value in terms of pounds per piste/mile/lifts than most.

Its the age old issue of confusing price with value that I see in my real job all the time. Frankly if people can't/won't see the difference between the two then I simply move on as its not worth wasting time. I'd also be interested to hear the thoughts of people in the group about lift queues. As this wasn't a holiday week I expect they were few and far between in VT - despite some peeps on here saying that you "always get huge queues in France mega resorts". The fact that some of your group went to Courchevel and back in the day puts immediate lie to that one......

Some of the photography has been excellent (we'll quickly gloss over your tendency for a rest on piste - and your skiing in Jeans as a youngster). I remember Sauze being really pretty just wishing there was more snow

Glad you all enjoyed it and look forward to hearing of next year's plan

oh and just a side note - any of the maps I clicked on out of interest on the "alpineskimaps" site that Swingbeep posted sent my Endpoint Protection crazy with threat detections

I know Swingbeep is NOT a spammer and would not suggest so but people should proceed with caution perhaps (though my EP could be creating a false epositive). Again NO offence meant or accusation levelled at SwingBeep

Like you Tony I have only the info I've read in WTSS

And also like you I've always got the impression that its a bit far flung etc - from others' comments it seems that is pretty accurate

Pity cos I'd love to do the downhill there (obviously in about 20 minutes not 2) as I've done some of the other famous ones at Kitz, VDI etc

One day when I get to go more than once a year and so am less mileage focussed (thus my prefernce for EK or 3V - I know your thoughts on those and I respect them but each to their own)but as a once a year trip I think its out for me for now

If you do go to Wengen then I expect a report just as detailed as ever!

Enjoy your second trip, wherever it may take you

on the one hand I think the heads up is valuable - on the other I think that promoting yourself whilst doing so is spam

Adders will perhaps apply a little snip....

There's a great Fondue place in the centre of town called Les Floccons. Reasonable costs

as already said - there's plenty on the slopes so the state of the roads is immaterial (indeed no white stuff on the roads means safer walking round resort)

I think you'll be great using those new uplift devices - unless the whole thread has missed that you're a cross country kind of person.......

it'll be fine - the 3 Valleys is a target rich environment. And if anyone gets too close to you on the slopes you can just put the breaks on and they'll fly right by....

Jerusalem is good - but can get icy / mogully depending on snow cover as its relatively steep in parts so can get some odd accumulations of snow. Best run in area when bashed though