J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by Wanderer

tino_11 wrote:just on the train home from St. Anton as I write this. Spent a good part of yesterday off-piste with Tony H, Skidaddle, Ellistine and associated others. It was really great.

Nice to see that J2skiers are increasingly hooking up in resort - see also recent thread on Neidereau. The virtual friendships are translating into real friendships which is great :lol:

By the way, anybody in Alpe D'Heuz in the week commencing 31 January?

Iceman wrote:

RossF wrote: :lol:

Got a friend in Sainte Foy, beer €4.50, Jaeger €2.50... are there any other drinks? Could someone please enlighten me :lol:

I think that is pretty reasonably priced?

:shock: Reasonable at €4.50? You are obviously not a typical (*cough* tight) scot then? That is the equivalent of £4.04 a pint......not reasonable I reckon. I will be stuffing my case full of tesco value lager :wink:

Lets get a grip lads 8).

Firstly, its beer - we're going to drink loads pretty much regardless of how much it costs (purely in the interests of rehydrating after a hard day on the mountain, of course) :shock:.

Secondly, even allowing for the extraordinary rise in the Euro, the price of a "pint" has probably only gone up by some 50p. Assuming average consumption of 6 pints a night (a lot given the much higher level of alcohol compared with UK), this means that a typical nights drinking is up by £3 a night or about £20 for the holiday. Unwelcome yes, a catastrophy - I don't think so :roll:.

Thirdly, how can you possibly compare drinking own-brand, chemically enhanced, beer in your room with the joy of downing a beautiful velvety smooth, ice-cold weissbeir in good company in a cosy inn - aaaaaghh:lol: Oops - bit early in the day for such alcholic fantasies :oops:

Of course, I do appreciate that the increased costs also affect other areas of expenditure such as food, lift passes, etc but these are clearly not as important as beer :wink:

blodyn1 wrote:The ski school highlight of the week has to be the races. The ski school organise a race for all the various groups, with a prize giving in one of the hotels in the evening. They really do make an effort. I think the instructors seem to get quite competitive amongst themselves – my instructor insisted on waxing our skis before we raced as the conditions “were very slow”.

I have to say, I get nervous when I hear stories of instructors pushing their students for the end of week race. A number of years ago, a guy in my ski school class suffered a very severe compound fracture in the ski race - the instructor had recommended that people get their bindings set to a tighter level for the race which the poor guy did. At the end of the race course, he ran into some soft snow - the skis stopped but he didn't, the bindings held and his leg was badly broken :evil:. We subsequently learnt that the instructors used to bet on whose students would win the race (the different classes at the same level raced against each other).

I should stress that this happened in Italy not Neidereau.

We have gone with Crystal for a number of years and used their clubhotels - usually in big resorts, pretty good facilities and reasonable prices. Also they are very good for families, often with creche and kids clubs on site. A lot of them are in France but they also have a few in other locations.

Unfortunately, New Year is expensive and with a large group, you cannot afford to wait for late offers. The TOs know this and load up the prices to an outrageous extent, particularly as group discounts and child free places tend to disappear. With luck and perhaps some imagination, going DIY can eliminate some of the seasonal loading. Check out flight costs but do not expect the low fares available at other times. Also consider whether driving is a possibility or even flying to Paris and taking the train from there but be aware that going DIY will increase your job dramatically.

After that, the choice of resorts is virtually unlimited, though for a large group, you will probably need the range offered by the larger resorts.

Good luck in your search.

andyhull wrote:Reps don't recommend a thing unless they are getting something out of it, can't say I blame them!

With all due respect to the Reps, you need to remember that they are typically 19 year old kids with little or no money and whatever they have tends to go on cheap pizza and booze (and good luck to them).

Unfortunately, in my experience, this does tend to mean that they will have little or no first hand experience of the local decent restaurants.

Dave Mac wrote:Should have read:

"so sad Ross. Did they establish the cause of death?"

"if I could get a class that wasn't filled with late menopausal women... "

Should never have to explain the punch lines, I think you are having me on Ross!

Your humour was too subtle for the youngsters :wink:

bandit wrote:What is not so good, is that the photographer is reported to be now looking for another job. Despite taking the photo in his own time with his own camera, his employer, who contracts with the resort, has bowed to pressure over him "showing the resort in a bad light". :evil:

Thats outrageous :evil:

I know that the people who run Augusta where the Masters golf tournament is held are this paranoid - journalists have been banned for mentioning minor defects in the course :!: However, I thought they were the exception. Hope the guy gets a better gig somewhere more appreciative. Maybe now, he can publish all those embarrassing and compromising shots of the resort executives that he has taken over the years :twisted:

Brilliant - I wonder how he passed the time until released:twisted: