J2Ski Holiday 30th January 2016 - Alpe d'Huez

Flexibility is really important to this group holiday.
Flexibility with all grades of skier and boarder and even non-skiers have been with us and had a good time.
Flexibility over age - from 12yo to over 70!!
Room choices and sharing.
Transport - a big one, flying from wherever in the world (not all are UK residents).
Driving and train - so not being penalised for no flight.

A big reason that I am looking forward to Alpe D'Huez is the enjoyment of spending time with a group of equally mad snow-sports enthusiast - both on and off the slopes.
ADH seems to tick the boxes!
:)

Well done for taking on the challenge of being group organiser OA. I know that AllyG spent many hours in previous years trying to "herd the cats" and we are very grateful to both of you.

We have 18 ready to pay deposits this week.

Another 4 umm'ing and err'ing (technically not yet confirmed)

7 wanting to come but not in a position to book yet.

Then 4 more sort of around the edge, as very interested but.......

3 couples, a few parent/child (well - 17yo + "children" anyway) combos and then singles.
Only 5 women so far !

No newbies (to skiing/boarding) yet.
A wide range of speeds in the rest - from the let's enjoy the view and where is the next Vin Chaud (other drinks/beverages are available) to "we can get three more runs in before the last lift".....

Looking forward to the trip already (sad I know), should be a good one.

felthorpe wrote:Well done for taking on the challenge of being group organiser OA. I know that AllyG spent many hours in previous years trying to "herd the cats" and we are very grateful to both of you.

Thanks Felthorpe :)
It's very kind of Old Andy to agree to taking on all the work involved in being group organiser. I can sit back and have a nice rest now!

Well I've now booked my Jan 2016 trip as well so we can all be happy!!

AllyG, have you decided how you're getting there? Know you usually travel by train and we would prefer to do this, trying to get husband interested.

ttski wrote:AllyG, have you decided how you're getting there? Know you usually travel by train and we would prefer to do this, trying to get husband interested.

It would be great if you decided to come with us :)


I have looked at the train time-table as I am thinking of doing this as it's a very easy journey to do by train. You can get the Eurostar to Paris Nord, then change stations to Paris gare de Lyon, get the TGV direct to Grenoble, and finally either get the public bus to Alpe d'Huez (costs 15 euros each way this season and takes 2 hours) or use the hotel's transfer which should be much quicker and costs £45 return for Grenoble airport so it might be cheaper from the station, as it's closer to Alpe d'Huez.

The current Saturday time-table for the direct Paris to Grenoble train looks like this:

Going out
Eurostar departs St Pancras 11:01 arrive Paris Nord 14:24 Direct TGV departs Paris Lyon 15:38 arrives Grenoble 19:03 Public bus departs Grenoble 19:30 arrives LDA 21:30

Coming back
Bus departs LDA 07:23 arrives Grenoble 09:45 Direct TGV departs Grenoble 09:56 arrives Paris Lyon 13:07 Eurostar departs Paris Nord 14:10 arrives St Pancras 15:30

As far as I could see, according to the time-table for this season, if you wanted to get to Alpe d'Huez earlier you'd have to change trains again between Paris and Grenoble, at either Lyon or Chambery. But if you manage to find a better route/train do please let me or Andy know!

The cheapest train this season between London St Pancras and Paris Nord is £69 return. It's too late to buy cheap TGV tickets this season for Paris to Grenoble but the currently available tickets cost £128 return.
I can't see any reason why it wouldn't be possible to buy return tickets between St Pancras and Grenoble for the same/a similar price as I did going to Sauze when I went to Oulx, and it cost me £117 return, as long as you bought them as soon as they were available.

http://uk.voyages-sncf.com/en/

I may well go by train leaving London Friday evening and doing the overnight.
It is not as convenient as the route to Bourg St Maurice as I would need to change at Chambery in the middle of the night.
The advantage to me is best part of two days extra skiing :)

The first group are paying deposits now - 18 so far - with a number sorting out the practicalities of "persuading" significant others that the holiday is a great idea or dealing with time off work.

I have never booked a ski holiday this far in advance but learnt my lesson last year when I missed the trip to Sauze because of a diary clash!! I have forgiven MrsOA for this as she was happy to get this date - 30th Jan 2016 - in the diary :)

Wanted to go to ADH for ages - it looks like a great ski domain and we are sending 3 of the group out this season with a list of things to reccie for the trip next year.
:thumbup: