Best job ever, paid beer money, no bills, ski most of the day, most of the week, skied more than most of the guests most weeks.
Taken advantage of, I was not.
I was thinking that a business where you take your chalet staff with you could be an option..
We go with extended family, My mum doesn’t ski anymore and can rustle up a Spag Bol or roast dinner no problem.

@bajsyckel we’ve driven quite a few times (actually just got back last week via Eurotunnel), admittedly it used to be easier when I lived in Kent…

In Ayrshire, Scotland now and last winter we used the ferry Hull-Rotterdam for the first time, not really an option now so would look at Amsterdam instead (we actually went twice and the second trip our return was cancelled so had to rebook via the tunnel). It made the journey really easy, waking up fresh at 8am to start the drive down from Rotterdam was so much better than having driven all the way to the tunnel. The drive on the other side is easy to do in one go if there’s 2+ drivers.
Another unexpected benefit of going via Holland was that there were hardly any tolls on the route we took.

@TheDTs I reckon I had best job in resort, company driver, usually moving stuff rather than people – often I could decide when to do jobs, as long as they were done by the deadline didn’t matter if I got there at midnight after a day on the hill as long as someone was still up at the hotel I was going to. Got to ski some different places too.

Obviously transfers were a bit more time critical but I often only did the random Sunday / mid-week pickups so usually got Saturdays to myself.

Fully fed, boarded and vouchers for drink from our hotels. Came home with more money than I left with.

Season passes for Grand massif ordered. January holiday booked. Need to find a place in Flaine for March…

Up until five years ago a long weekend in Chamonix was a regular trip, but of course it was always packed and Geneva airport on a Sunday night was pretty bleak. This coming winter will be my first as a retiree and for a short break I am tempted by the “reverse flow” of out on a Sunday afternoon, home on the Thursday – should be cheaper all round and relatively empty slopes.

Hi from Sweden. My son skis, I surf the white wave (snowboard:) )  Anyhow, the boy manages around 30 days a season on skis. He is 10 years old and intermediate.

If i was to buy him some skis, what should i be looking for…? The previous ones we have bought  have been second hand carving/ piste type skis, not twin tips. He has started to mess around more with sking backwards, spins and so on, plus powder skiing, but he has still not mastered carving.

Should i stick with directional type skis and really get him carving, or twin tips. Or both?    He is 145cm , lite as a feather

I didn’t buy junior anything other than race skis till he was about 14. He had a set of Slaloms and a set of Giants and that was it. He could do just about anything on them. If you work it out kids at that age have more float in powder with a pair of 63 giant skis than you do on a set of 88s.

At 14 I bought him a pair of K2 Iron Maiden park and pipe “double-spats”. They’re ace, still in the cupboard and I love them when there’s a fall of fresh, and you can carve on them, even do the ESF “virage moniteur” – junior uses them for instructing on soft snow.

Who is “teaching” him to ski? 30 days/year is a reasonable amount of time.

Sweajnr is 8.5 and is on “multi-event” race skis but he’s also in a local ski race club. I find that in powder the main issue is a lack of momentum to get up enough speed for the skis to actually plane and I’m not sure something different ski wise would help with that.

@howsyourdad1 – At a guess, whatever you get you won’t get much more than a season out of it as he’ll grow quite a bit between now and start of next season. Based on my last trips to Swedish ski hills, by 12/14 all the cool kids will be blasting round fakie on twin tips and sending it/jibbing off everything in sight, regardless of conditions. But most of them seem pretty handy at carving by that age too and that is handy for everything else.

If you can find a decent set of both second hand at a good price then I’d go for that, but kids learn fast to do whatever they want on the kit they have available so it’s hard to go too far wrong if you go for one or the other. Sizing and condition more critical on race skis than the park end of the spectrum IMO. Any of your mates kids got hand me downs? Or anything local on blocket before the season starts, maybe even try some shops selling off ex-hire if not too abused? New gear is daft money unless you have someone else to pass it on to when he’s done.

Have booked ski train to Val Thorens for xmas.

Did similar at Feb half term this year, but Les Menuires instead. Quite rate the Travelski express, it’s pretty stress free with everything included.

Most resorts have had snow today, love looking at webcams to get excited!

Kids skis, my two just get used kit from eBay. Got a pair of lovely GS and a pair of all mountain 140’s very cheap a week or two ago. Ok a few years old but ski marketing moves at a faster pace than ski tech (remind you of anything?) Also same as bikes, the kids just get a pair of skis to use, never as a present makes hand me downs easier

I have become aware that the “Foret Blanche” ski area, Vars & Risoul, is not operating as single entity this coming season. Essentially, the two operators have fallen out over revenue distribution, and have suspended joint operations for this winter. It could be a disaster for both of them…

Perhaps a resolution will be found, but the clock is ticking.

Takes me back to when I did a season in Les Caroz, There was a weak agreement in place between Les Caroz and Flain, and you couldn’t rely on lifts linking up and lifts ocasionally shut for lunch. Put that with a slightly grumpy head Chef and there were a few tense moments getting back to work in time!

Have booked ski train to Val Thorens for xmas.

Excellent!

La Plagne currently have a flash sale on their website. 10% off skipasses. Ends 18 Nov.

Quick question, do the Burton Step-in bindings work?

Everyone else skis now but my knees are shot so I have no choice other than to board.

I’d like to keep up off the lifts (and need all the help I can get).

And it’s snowing 🙂

https://www.windy.com/-Webcams/Italy/Aosta-Valley/Breuil-Cervinia/Plan-Maison/webcams/1292518449?45.951,-5.537,5

Unfortunately Val Thorens has delayed opening due to lack of snow. Apparently it is fine at higher altitudes, but there is not enough lower down.

We have booked a last minute deal for Valmeiner for New Year, so a little twitchy. There is time though…

got a lads weekend to Chamonix lads booked for Jan (doing Fri-Tues to avoid Sunday night in Geneva!) And then to La Plagne with all the family in March. managed to find a catered chalet in the end – 20 of us in it!! we have taken non skiers before who can cook but its still hassle of shopping, washing up and appeasing everyone… its their holiday too.

Our ski club is planning a weekend trip in February to Annecy.
Hopefully through the twinning group we will go on a day trip with Cran Gevrier Ski Club.
Maybe even manage a session on Semnoz as well!

One for the Francophiles

https://12ft.io/proxy?ref=&q=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/ski/advice/10-best-ski-resorts-france/

Anyone done Courmayeur for the day while staying in Chamonix? any good? worth it?

Yes, definitely. If Chamonix (especially Grand Montets) is tracked out, you’re still very likely to get freshies in Cormayeur. Look at Lorne Cameron blog or on Instagram for inspiration.

It’s also got arguably the best on mountain restaurant anywhere in the world (no, not an exaggeration) in Chiecco.

Check forecasts though, what falls in Chamonix doesn’t mean the same amount of snowfall in Courmayeur.

It can be mild and drizzling in Chamonix, while “dumping teh pow” in Courmayeur.

Love Courmayeur. Done a long weekend and three * one-week trips there over the years, it’s been great. Chiecco is fantastic, Maison Vieille is also worth checking out

Quick question, do the Burton Step-in bindings work?

@ign
Yup, very good response, as comfortable as the boot you buy (varying degrees of stiffness)

Only caveat is if you’re likely to get stuck in deep powder they can be a ball ache to release.

Unfortunately Val Thorens has delayed opening due to lack of snow.

The weather has a month to get cold and get some snow dumped up there otherwise it will be a sad Christmas for us.

Webcams looking pretty green still…

We had a stunning sunny day in Courmayeur last year as part of our Aosta trip. Th views across to Mt Blanc were just amazing. For variety and expanse of pistes I would say that La Thuile-La Rosiere just a few miles up the valley are better skiing, but if you’re into offpiste there’s Val Veny at Courmayeur to consider.

Week away in January with White Room booked really looking forward to it, so the way this year has gone will be green slopes and 20 degrees!

Blimey, shit got expensive!
We used to budget between £2.2k and £2.8k for a family of four all in for half term. It looks like this year is going to be twice that, the prices are nuts.
Question is whether we bite the bullet now and get the flights booked for ~£300 each now or hold on in the expectation that package holidays get reduced substantially once cost of living hits…

Had probably my best day ever on the board in Courmayeur. Think it was 1998 and we were staying in Chamonix. We had a biblical dump. It was almost a metre down in the village. We did the day trip to courmayeur as chamonix wasn’t open. Chest deep powder absolutely everywhere. I imagine the only thing that came close to the feeling was pure heroin.

package holidays get reduced substantially once cost of living hits

I’m assuming that the sort of people most impacted are not likely to be the sort of people you’d see booking a ski trip each year.

Also, where were you going to spend just £2.2k on a week in half term? Usually spend that for a week out of half term and there’s only 2 of us!

Also, where were you going to spend just £2.2k on a week in half term? Usually spend that for a week out of half term and there’s only 2 of us!

yeah, I used to be happy with 1k all in per person. its looking 1.3 to 1.4k now – not in school holidays.

Webcams in Flaine are looking white today…

Webcams in Flaine are looking white today…

VT looking fairly cold / snowy with less muddy tracks 🙂

Encouraging to see lower temps and precipitation in La Tania. Off on Boxing Day which is much earlier than we usually go..
https://www.latania.co.uk/webcam/

Winter arrived in Austria today.
View from our webcam at around 900m

https://www.apartmentamade.com/mariaalmwebcam.shtml

Hoping for some advice from people who know things about skis…

My brother lives in Jackson hole (yes, I know) and junior and I are hoping to get out for a week over Xmas. As you can imagine, between the exchange rate and the location, hiring kit is eyewatering. I’m already reaming myself with flights and ski passes.

So, my thought was to buy some skis and poles from Facebook marketplace or ebay out there and get them delivered to my brother’s ready for us to use. This would save money and mean we wouldn’t have to faff for so long on the first day.

Both of us are beginners, with 1 day of intensive lessons and then 3 days each of practice last winter. We can ski blues easily with the odd carve and could get down a red without dying. We generally use an ‘i can MTB blacks easily’ over-enthusiastic approach to everything gravity related.

He’s 12 years old. 165cm and 50kg. I’m old, 175cm and 75 kg.

I’m expecting to rent boots so they got our hobbit feet.

So, stupid idea or not? If it’s not a stupid idea what on earth do I buy?

I fully realise that the equivalent question rephrased into MTB speak would result in a stream of that’s a stupid idea’ answers. Please feel free to respond in that way, it’ll save you typing!