J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by andymol2

Dave Mac wrote:After 10 years out, suggest you discount buying at this stage.

Skis change, year on year, but that is only part of the consideration.

After 10 years, you will have changed. Reading between the lines, you are experienced, but do not consider yourself expert. You have aged by 10 years. Are you as fit, strong, mobile as before?

The benefit of renting is that you can start the holiday on a softer ski, then as you regain your previous capabilities, move on to a faster ski.

You can trial skis that you might potentially buy.

I own about 11 pairs of skis, (I had a clear out a few years back), but I still take an occasional hire. It is a good way to keep up to date.

Are you coming out of the closet as a hoarder?

Last minute booking is a lottery - sometimes you win and sometimes you don't.
The more in the party the harder it is.
The gremlin is often the flights - those at sensible times go first and even if the bargain holiday is there you may have a 6am flight from an airport miles away.

School hols are always busy but that is often useful as the airlines have a lot more seats available.

As a serial late booker nor my children have grown up, my experience is that holidays start expensive and gradually drop up to about a month away
After that the prices climb again, particularly the hotel based ones where the hotel may sell rooms to many tour ops or independently.
Very last minute bargains do come up at a few days notice - usually where a party has cancelled in a chalet or hotel, providing there are flights. The problem is if you have fixed weeks that you have to go on you may have to accept something to make sure you get a holiday. If dates aren't fixed you just move on to next week or the one after.

They had some snow in the Alps in the second half of last month - about the time the hot weather broke here.
We drove down to Tuscany over the Petit St Bernard which takes you near Les Arc and over through La Roziere and La Thuile - not much snow on the way down but coming back via the Mont Blanc Tunnel there had clearly been a dump of snow and the tops of the mountains were stirring thoughts of Skiin. A friend went back via Stelvio said there was quite a lot of snow up there.

I would concur about Courmayeur.
I might get shot down for this but I'm not convinced La Plagne is that suitable for beginners. There are seemingly a lot of blues into resort but they are not in the "easy blue" category and probably would be reds in the linked resort of Les Arcs.

Apartments in French ski resorts take being small to the extreme.

Morzine is just about in reach of a day's drive from the tunnel although far more relaxes with one stop.

Having just driven to & from Tuscany via the Aosta valley last week (in my old Triumph TR - actually went over the top on the way down via the Petit St Bernard pass which takes you through Borg St Maurice (access for Les Arcs) and over the top to La Roziere and La Thiule) and back down again into the Aosta Valley. Coming back via the Mont Blanc Tunnel (£40)
If you are sharing the driving you could do Chamonix, Courmayer & La Thuile with one stop.

Perhaps she was confusion skiing holiday with "non-skiers going ski jumping"

The actuaries would suggest otherwise - winter sports doesn't attract a huge premium over regular travel insurance.

Celebrities making ill informed comments on matters they are not qualified to is a pain as it tends to reinforce prejudice and drive up the workload of those who have to bat off the inappropriate demands on service like health care that they generate.

To be honest it's easier to get in and out from the Swiss side by car even if you are going to many of the French resorts.

The important thing with car hire is that if you book it here to be certain of what is covered as things like "winterisation" and insurance are included but the car hire desks are often very persuasive in telling you that this that and and the other are not included and you have to pay a shed load to cover them. Printout your documents and be familiar what is covered so that you can shrug your shoulders and point to the line on the agreement when the hard sell comes on.

To be fair the only extra they tried to sell me on a long weekend out of Geneva last winter was an upgrade to a Cayenne!

I would keep hassling them for the return of the fee.
If they have no proof of an enquiry from the authorities then they have no sound basis to charge you. Make them work for their admin fee. As it stands they have come up with no proof of any request from the Police or authorities and you don't seem to have received a fine (may well never arrive as I don't think their is any reciprocal agreement for collecting speeding fines with Switzerland so the authority may not bother to send it) The arrival of a fine might just weaken your argument.
I would also take it up with the credit card company.