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Question about the train, does anyone know if it will be possible to book train and holiday independently, or will it all be packages (if so, where should I look for these please?) I can't find much useful stuff online so far.
snow train bookings are live now, these are just train
https://www.eurostar.com/uk-en/train/france/ski-train
this might be helpful to folks as well
European school holidays
https://snowheads.com/ski-forum/viewtopic.php?t=167136
Thanks @stevie750 for some reason I'd looked at the Friday on the way out, but it's a Saturday out, Sunday return I've read since. Hmm, it's Jan and Feb only (ignoring December as there's not been much snow then), finishes on 2nd March, which doesn't feel that useful.
Look at Travelski for train packages.
You get transfers etc included, and full 7 days skiing - they put you in a hotel in the valley of Saturday night.
We’re heading to Tignes for Xmas (? ?)
Nothing booked as yet, but plans a-foot for something in Jan (old men only) and then I might take the eldest (13) to Tignes at Easter as he's desperate to go and some friends are already headed there at the same time for a family trip (one of the afore-mentioned 'old men').
Have just found some discounted Cartel-X bindings to replace my circa 2006 Cartel's but that's all I really need to update after getting a new board last year.
January trip to Flaine booked (well the accomodation is booked, I need to sort the eurotunnel etc), season passes also purchased to cover that trip and the potential second jaunt in March
Now that we've switched from 'summer' to autumn it's all we have to think about anyway, right?
Season starts
Sitting here in cloud after several glorious bonus summer days, it's only natural one's thoughts turn to skiing. So has anyone any recommendations of places/sites to look for sc accommodation in the NW Alps at half term? Usual moon on a stick requirements of budget/great location apply but not requiring anything remotely fancy.
Should add, this is for adults and kids possibly meeting up with another family based in Annecy, hence approx location requirements. Could meet up in FR or CH but IT Aosta side of MB tunnel) probs out of the equation.
Thankfully not a problem I have to contend with as don’t have kids, but friends who do have gone to Villars Gryon the last few years at February half term and say it’s very good. Really quiet in comparison to French resorts and generally snow sure, though can get a little patchy compared to high altitude alternatives. Only real issue is the price of food and drink according to them especially when eating out.
Consider the Haute Maurienne, friends of ours went there every half term. Quieter than the mega resorts, plenty to ski, and accessible from annecy
^ thanks @nbt and @tuboflard both areas not really on my radar so am checking them out. Probably meant more in terms of where to find the accommodation itself though - ie sites like sunweb, resort websites, interhome, booking.com, that kind of thing. We've got a long list of potential ski areas but not really any idea about finding somewhere to stay directly unless it's a hostel or mountain hut...
Hi everyone. I have Les Arcs 1800 booked for Christmas week, and I'm looking at the best way to get there. The train is very expensive for four people, I've driven it before, but never in Winter. Is it a stupid idea?
@ransos it probably mostly depends where you're starting from as to merits of driving versus train, and who is going.
Driving gives more flexibility especially if you have multiple drivers but factor in holiday traffic (are you fixed to certain days?), will you have to sort a stopover or two, resort parking etc? Will you need to buy chains? All those things to me would tend to favour the train to Bourg IF (big if) you can get to London OK - always the trickiest part of travelling to Alps IMO.
Cheers. The distance and practicalities are fine, I've done it before. It was more about winter conditions. The train is at least £600 more and doesn't come back on a Saturday.
@ransos The road to BSM will be as clear as possible as it’s the autoroute, the road up the hill will also be cleared. If it snows, you may be delayed, but if not then it will be fine. Drive.
@bajsyckel i suggest starting by deciding where you want to go or at least limiting the choice to one or two resorts, then try the things you mention. Add on snowtrex and chalets direct
Driven lots of times, only ever used chains once, that was at Easter.and had to use 4x4 once over the Col de lauteret in Jan last year. A boat would have been more useful when we went at NY a couple of years ago. It was solid rain from Troyes to La Tania. Good tyres and a pair of cheap chains and you should be fine. Gets expensive if your car needs low profile chains or ones that fix only on the outer side.
You have to have chains or socks if you haven't got All Season or winter tyres. That's law now afaik.
Roof box, if you need one, cheap used from Ebay or borrow (from me if you are in Bristol)
Loads of used chains on Ebay too..
I am hoping it will be a snowy drive for you, I'm out at NY so will be nice if there is a healthy dump before we get there..
Just had a quote from our usual place in Mayrhofen for half term next feb (22-1st) I had to call them as I thought there’d been a misprint.
7 nights. Self catering. In an apartment for two adults and three kids.
£4840.
I did a Airbnb/booking.com/vrbo sweep just to check they’d not lost their minds. But no seems that’s generally the going rate - more than double what we normally pay. I passed. Also checks a few other resorts around Europe and hit similar results back. Found a place a bit further down the valley for a load less on interhome so just need to sort transport now. Anyone else seeing massive inflation of accommodation this year?
Yeah we’ve done the queue thing but for us at least we only joined the queue just after Albertville. We aim to get to Moutiers before 10 if possible, or after 4pm
Half term cost is why we ski at Easter. It’s cheaper more available and much much quieter than HT. The HT costs seem to gave inflated more than other weeks. (Just feels like that,I haven’t got a spreadsheet to prove it). Easter is late this year so that may have consolidated the family crowds on HT and inflated prices?
I concur with theDTs - Easter is a fabulous week to go, especially if you have young kids but this year it falls late. I have an apartment in Morillon which normally we rent out at half term but this year we will use it ourselves, neighbours seem to be doing the same. For Xmas/NY there have been less enquiries for obvious reason that down low is becoming unreliable. So for half term, anecdotally, less supply / more demand will mean higher prices. Probably be this way from now on.
Yeah it seems that's the case. We normally do Easter, but it's so late this year with Easter Monday falling on the 21st April: the day the lifts shut and halfway through the school Easter break. The Church really need to be told to do one with Bede's stupid formula and fix Easter on a specific date.
The last time we did February week was in 2019. That came in at €1337 for the week s/c. It's trebled in cost in 5 years for the same apartment with the same occupancy.
Easter is a fabulous week to go, especially if you have young kids but this year it falls late.
Yeah we went to Samoens last year, kids were complete beginners so quiet slopes and warmer weather was ideal.
Just had a quote from our usual place in Mayrhofen for half term next feb (22-1st) I had to call them as I thought there’d been a misprint.
7 nights. Self catering. In an apartment for two adults and three kids.
£4840.
Are you fixed on Mayrhofen?
A week in Sainte Foy Tarentaise (a super little family resort) is currently €2910.60 in the Etoile des Cimes
There are activities for the kids and a pool etc includined in that price
Just booked trip 2. Appt in La Daille. Thursday to Thursday over Easter. Leave after School on Wednesday, arrive Thursday. Going to have to hot foot it back as the kids have Ten Tors training the weekend after. I'm expecting the roads to be a bit quieter on Thursdays though.
I would happily drive as BSM is easy and work on the assumption that if the coaches full of package tour people like me can get up then so could you. If your staying at 1600 and don’t have too much stuff you could always park in BSM and take the funicular up.
We are going to Canezi in early march with outer usual group of about 50 people so it’s booked a year in advance to get us all in the same hotel. We might see if we can get a cheeky last minute for new year just the 2 of us depending on the prices and snow. We’ve done it before and got good deals booking a week before travel.
Week booked in Les Gets in Jan with a few friends and their families. First time we've ever done the whole Chalet thing (we're normally slumping it in whatever was cheap or available at the time) so really quite looking forward to a taste of how the other half lives a wee bit.
@nbt - thanks for the extra suggestions.
Currently weighing up a sunweb place in Flaine versus a couple of places in Nendaz/Veysonnaz. Former includes lift pass but less interesting terrain and probably busier in holidays, latter is surprisingly good value but most interesting terrain trickier to access for everyone and lift pass costs will add up fast if going for the whole area.
I love Nendaz / Verbier. But not the friendliest place unless you are happy on more challenging reds. We were there for HT just before the pandemic. Skier standard is high in the 4 valleys, it didn't feel like a particularly forgiving or friendly place to be skiing with the kids when it was busy*. Depends on the group and individuals I suppose. (*Protective dad may have been feeling prickly)
Mrs BH (a decent skier) hasn't allowed us a return to Verbier since she had a tumble on Tortin.
I'll go with you Blackhat, leave all the incumbents behind!
We went to Whistler last Dec and got a few reasonable days skiing in before it all melted. We then hopped over to Verbier (where I had my first ski experience when I was 39). Lucked in with the snow and had 5 really fun days skiing. Played on the blues and reds to our hearts content. Spooked ourselves on 1 black run. Wisely decided not to do that again.
Hoping to get back to Verbier January 2025.
Moving back to Australia next year so ski access will be considerably limited - but MTBing greatly enhanced 😀
We finally found some reasonably priced accomodation in the centre of Bruil-Cervinia in March 25 for our lads trip. We've stayed at three different areas in the Dolomites for the past three years, Cortina, Ortesei and Campitello di Fassa. All of which were great successes and we'll defintely go back....but the draw of the Zermatt and the Matterhorn had to be done.
Just sorted Tignes out for the mates trip in Jan because it was the cheapest option.
Have also booked Tignes again at Easter for a surprise trip with our eldest as he's learning at the mo and is desperate to go to an actual mountain, it's high up and a mate's going with his family at the same time so hopefully there'll still be snow, but there'll definitely be someone to go to the pub with.
There’ll definitely be snow at the Easter in Tignes. Probably one of the most extensive areas at that time of year, been late April before and everything was still open.
Got a session booked at the Snozone in Castleford next week. Its 14 years since I was last on a snowboard but I want to see if my knee can handle some general riding. My days of freestyle/trick riding ended when I tore my ACL in 2006 but hoping to be able to wear a brace (got a cheapish Donjoy one but will replace it with a better one if necessary) and just do some piste bashing, hopefully some powder in the long term.
Also looking at maybe a week away somewhere in December so I can get some proper snow experience other than the indoor centre. I can only do December as Jan-April I'm unable to take time off but have seen some reasonable deals for Mayrhofen (right over Christmas on a B&B basis which could be tough food wise), Courmayeur, Passo Tonale, Bulgaria and Norway (these are earlier in December, around the 14th). Anyone been to any of these in December? Good enough for a weeks riding?
I've got a mate who runs a ski company in Japan and I'm heading out there in Jan 2026 for a 10 day trip. Japan has been on my list of places to snowboard since I was working ski seasons from 2002-2006. Hoping my knee can manage this hence the Snozone trip and also a week away somewhere.
My first ever trip was Bulgaria at Christmas (albeit Dec 1997 so some years ago). The resort was green.
I adore Courmayeur, and I've enjoyed Passo Tonale a couple of times. I reckon both would be fine by Christmas in terms of snow covers, though not sure about mid-dec. THey're not huge resorts - you could ski every piste in Courmayeur in one day if you go hard - but there's enough to go at for sure
@Creg which knee is it? I always find that if anything is going to ache after an indoor visit it's either the knee or hip of my leading foot because of all the twisting you have to do on the drag lift as a snowboarder. I guess I'm just saying that if it hurts, try and note what made it hurt.
Oh and have fun!
It's my left one, I ride goofy so my "back" leg so to speak. I overshot a jump and landed badly, twisted the knee out and broke my ACL and partially tore two others. I had surgery to correct it but that failed and I'm now left without an ACL at all. Last time I was snowboarding it held up fine without a brace but I'm now a lot older, more unfit (read fatter) and have had some knee issues over the last 5 years. I'm also really lazy and don't do enough physio, which I keep get yelled at for by a phsyio colleague.
Hopefully it'll hold up OK, I can build some strength in it and I'll be fit and capable enough to enjoy Japan as best I can...and hopefully some snow in December if I'm lucky.
Plus I also get to go snowboard shopping.
Where/how do people buy skis these days? We have been serial hirers as it was cost effective vs cost of carriage and servicing, but hire costs have rocketed in recent years. So, we think we have identified what we would like to buy but the number of physical retailers is severely limited. Do you trust/use online or buy in resort or make a very long journey in the UK to an actual shop? I'm based in Suffolk which doesn't help but prepared to make a day trip to pick up if viable.
Ellis Brigham. Go to one of the indoor snow centres and have a go on a few pairs after giving honest appraisal of your skiing to an experienced sales person.
Biggest issue they have is getting customers to be honest about their ability so they can advise what would suit and what length.
That or do your homework online and get some ex hire off Ebay.
Agree with DT, I have sold some good skis on ebay that have been well looked after.
Ellis Brigham (there is one in Chelmsford) and Snow and Rock tend to be the big shops we go to.
An independent is Snowfit https://snowfit.co.uk/collections/skis which is in Norfolk. I narrowed down the skis I was interested in to Blizzard black pearl, nordica wild belle and volkl kenja. Spoke to Snowfit, ended up buying the Wild Belles and they were/are perfect. I regret selling them to a friend but she has given them a good home (except when she skied onto a road in them after a spot of apres action).
My latest skis and boots came from Ekosport in France, I bought them online and they have been fine. I know buying boots online is risky but try finding a boot in size 21.5 that is not made for a child in the UK proved to be an impossible task.
https://www.glisshop.co.uk. Have a online tool to help you pick your skis which is pretty good. Its called "5 secs to find my skis"
Hope this helps