J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by AllyG

Snapzzz wrote:

Watterski wrote: Is skiing alone too sad? :!:

I'll tell you next week.
I need to Ski, and Mrs doesn't want to go so i had a mad moment the other day and now i am going to Morzine on weds next week. ALONE for 3 nights.

Hi Snapzzz :D
I hope you both have a great time, and find some lovely people to ski with, or manage to enjoy yourselves on your own :)

We have finally decided where we're going in 2014 :D

We are going to Kronplatz in the Dolomites, to stay in the chalet hotel Diamant with Mountain Sun on Sunday 2nd February 2014.

I decided to pm everyone who was on the list as being interested in the 2014 J2Ski group holiday on 1st/2nd February, and go by the majority vote, after we'd made a final shortlist of the resorts and chalets that we were considering.

This is what the Kronplatz mountain looks like:


(Photo taken from Kronplatz.com)

And here is the piste map:



(taken from Kronplatz.com)

And here is the chalet:



(photo taken from http://www.mountainsunltd.com/chalet/chalet-hotel-diamant- )

Kronplatz itself has 116 Km of piste, and is connected by free ski bus to the rest of the Dolomites ski area, which has an enormous 1,200 Km of piste :)

This is another DIY holiday (like the one we have just come back from in Tignes).
The full price of the catered chalet for the week is £499, but we think our group will be large enough to qualify for 3 free places, which will bring the price down to £424 per person.

As before, the price of flights, transfers, and ski hire/ski carriage will vary according to how individual group members travel there.

However, I think the whole holiday will cost about £900 including the area lift pass, if one takes the cheapest options each time, (like sharing a basic room).

Catered chalet = £424
Return flight Gatwick to Venice with BA = £104
Return chalet transfers = £60 (might go up slightly for 2014)
In-house ski and boot hire for top grade = £105 (depends partly on currency rates)
Area lift pass = £219 (depends on currency rates and if it increases from the 2013 rate)

Grand Total = £912

EasyJet flights might be slightly cheaper but they're not on sale yet so I can't price them up. And the chalet also does return transfers from Innsbruck.

We already have 18 people who say they would like to come, 4 people who want to come but can't commit yet, and 2 people who are 'interested' in coming :)

Like last time, I have paid a £400 retainer fee to reserve the rooms I think we will need, for one month, with Mountain Sun.

I have reserved 8 twin/double rooms, 4 single rooms, and one triple room.

I already have customers for the 4 single rooms, the triple room, and 6 of the twin/double rooms.

If anyone else is interested in coming with us, would they please let me know either by sending me a pm or posting up on here :)

If necessary I can always ask to reserve more rooms (except for the single rooms as there aren't any more in the chalet!).

List of J2Skiers off ski-ing/boarding this season (Brooksy has an exemption certificate so he's allowed to be down for next season as well), with the number of sleeps/days left updated to today, Thursday 7th February.

Shipjack and Nelly are sharing the joint honour of being at the top of the list :D

Happy ski-ing/boarding everyone :)

Shipjack going to Les Arcs in 1 days on the 08/02/2013
NellyPS going to La Plagne in 1 days on the 08/02/2013
Wanderer going to Moena, Dolomites in 2 days on the 09/02/2013
Caltonhat going to Arabba in 2 days on the 09/02/2013
Dobby going to Risoul in 3 days on the 10/02/2013
Catford going to Livigno in 8 days on the 15/02/2013
AJMCA going to La Plagne in 9 days on the 16/02/2013
Bald-eagleman going to La Thuile in 9 days on the 16/02/2013
Lizzie-B going to Morillon in 9 days on the 16/02/2013
Tin Pot going to Megeve in 10 days on the 17/02/2013
Dan55 going to Yllas (Finland) in 10 days on the 17/02/2013
Michelle63 going to Sauze D'Oulx in 10 days on the 17/02/2013
MogulMonkey going to Arizona Snowbowl in 11 days on the 18/02/2013
Globalhobo going to Alpe D'Huez in 16 days on the 23/02/2013
GreenGoblin going to Chatel in 21 days on the 28/02/2013
AllyG going to Tignes in 23 days on the 02/03/2013
Gareth Fair going to Sauze D'Oulx in 27 days on the 06/03/2013
LOTA going to Reith im Alpbachtal in 27 days on the 06/03/2013
Melbatb going to Andorra in 29 days on the 08/03/2013
Brooksy going to Obergurgl in 30 days on the 09/03/2013
Wanderer going to St Anton in 35 days on the 14/03/2013
Tony_H going to Serre Chevalier in 37 days on the 16/03/2013
Stewart Dowling going to Serre Chevalier in 37 days on the 16/03/2013
Gaz C going to Val Thorens in 72 days on the 20/04/2013
Brooksy going to Chamonix in 317 days on the 21/12/2013

If you don't mind sharing a room with strangers, some chalets put single travellers (of the same sex I mean!) in shared rooms so that they don't have to pay the single supplement.

This is basically what we did on our group ski holiday, but we did have plenty of time to find out about each other before we got there :D

I don't like to ski on my own, but there are ways around it - like going somewhere where they do ski hosting, or doing group lessons, or joining a group of people before you go.

Ian Wickham wrote:Tend to use cash myself .... but in France the French always seem to use credit/Debit cards all of the time.
Perhaps speak to the local tourist board 8)

I only use cash myself on ski holidays to pay small bills, like in restaurants, because my bank charge me a lot to use my debit card :(

They use the Visa rate to convert euros to pounds, and then charge another 2.99% of the total amount, and then charge me £1.00 each time I use it.

So if I spent, say, £15 on lunch it would cost me:
2.99% x 15 = £0.45 plus £1.00 = £1.45 :shock:

And if I get money out of the ATM whilst I'm abroad with my debit card, they use the Visa exchange rate again, charge me 2.99% again, but then charge another 1.5% with a minimum charge of £2.00.

So if I was silly enough to get £20 out of the ATM whilst abroad on holiday it would cost me:
2.99% x £20 = £0.60 plus £2.00 = £2.60 :shock:

Usually I buy about 200 euros before I go on holiday, trying to catch the best exchange rate I can, and use these in restaurants etc. and use my card to pay for anything over about £100.

I have thought about getting a special card to use on holiday, with cheaper charges, like the one the Post Office do, but I've never got around to it ...

Lizzie-B wrote:So pleased it all worked out well and everyone got on and had a good skiing holiday. Enjoying the photos - Thanks.

I'm glad you've been enjoying our photos :)
Here's another one for you Lizzie-B, from our meal out on Thursday evening in the Armailly restaurant (http://www.armailly.com/) in Les Brevieres:

shipjack wrote:Hooray! Thanks Ally, I knew I'd washed my best pyjamas for some reason..
V. Excited!

I hope you and Nelly have a great time :)

Just remember to pack them - I forgot mine once and I looked all around Gatwick airport and I couldn't find a single shop that sold pyjamas :shock:

I had to buy some men's long cotton sports shorts and manage with those for the week, and a T-shirt :oops:

Tony_H wrote:I knew these spreadsheets would cause a problem sooner or later ;-)

Tony - there's nothing wrong with the spreadsheets - it's me I'm afraid :oops:

I've just been doing too many things at once today, and I made a mistake :cry: