The STW Ski & Snowboard thread. The 2018-2019 season

mahalo wrote

Anyone stayed at Club Med La Plagne? hugely conflicting reports on Tripadvisor…

There are two club meds in La Plagne – they’re fairly close to each other. One’s 3*, the other 4*. I’ve not stayed at either but have considered them

bloody hell i was looking at the wrong one! thanks

its the Club Med Aime. i assume its the 3* as it does not appear to have half the facilities of the other one!? the reviews are much more favourable tho…

(wonders whether to use this or start a needy new thread)

… looking for 3-5 days, prob midweek, somewhere easy to get to in Mid January (2 of us)

Cheapish, in at least a small town and half board preferred

Anyone got any great tips (including best ways to get there – are midweek airport transfers easy & cheap to sort/can I get a train there/how bad would the drive be from calais) ?

Ta !

(may just get 3 trips in this year, after a very poor 2018 showing)

Where is your nearest airport? I live in Bristol so the easiest for me is anywhere near Geneva (Austria flights tend to be weekly) – several flights a day between BRS-GVA.

probably Gatwick so ought to have decent options

Easyjet flights to (Mon 14th – Fri 18th) GVA <£50 return ea

Cheapest transfers you can stomach to Morzine c.£25 e/w

http://www.chaletmontana.org £65/pn/pp

Alternative to £70 for a board bag in the plane hold is €84 to hire in Montriond  https://ardentsports.sport2000.fr/uk/rent

Ski pass c. €50pd

Total pp c. £650 + apres ski

PDS ski area starts just a 5minute ski bus trip from the front door of the Montana. From Telecabine Ardent, you’re 1 lift from Chatel, 1 lift from Avoriaz and two lifts from Switzerland.

Skibus going in the other direction will take you into town where you can go up Pleney and spend a day in Les Gets/Chamossiere/Nyon

Slightly biased because we’ll be there for the season but flight to Geneva then accommodation in Samoens, les Carroz and ski the Grand Massif. Transfers from GVA take an hour and are about 40 euros per person.

We’ll be based in Flaine which has the best skiing but probably the worst nightlife although our local bar is really good. L’Encolie in the Hameau De Flaine – cracking beer, good happy hour (or was last year), takeaway pizza to die for – pizza tartiflette – so wrong but oh so good and a great (and expensive) restaurant.

thanks all

you may have me there, stoner

Are there any walkable “decent” bars (for my daughter, so bangin choons more than pastis’n’boules) ?

Best bar in the valley d’Aulps!

Home

Morzine source bar of the year many years in a row so they didnt enter for a few years to give some other’s a crack 😉

WINNERS: The 2017 Source Awards for Excellence

Run by a great couple with orzum staff, it has a healthy mix of French and British & Irish locals, saisonnaires, and trippers. Live music once a week and it’s heaving. 5min walk. And it’s my local 😉

Good food if you fancy a change from the Montana, but you’ll be well looked after by Zeb and Amie at the montana. It’s a very chilled, vibe there too.

Morzine is only a 20min walk away so its not a big deal strolling up to the bright lights of the metropolis 🙂 If you’re really lucky there will be an ice hockey match on one evening in town (check the HCMAG calendar, there’s a home game on the 19th Jan) . Well worth the walk for.

And it’s my local 😉

I knew it couldn’t all be silver lining !

(I’ll bung them an email, cheers)

Winter is here but with a slow(ish) start in Western Canada. I heard on the grapevine limited snow for opening day at Whistler.  However wanted to get sweajnr back on his skis to see how much he’d forgotten over the summer (a couple of months worth) before he joins a ski club in January.

A couple of runs down the main piste was all that we managed but still nice to be out and about.  Sweamrs is on some new carving skis with a “racing tune” and said trying to ski with sweajnr was a bit like a sports car in rush hour.

*taps fingers waiting for snow to arrive*

base coming along nicely in the PDS…

https://www.morznet.com/webcams/portes-du-soleil

Morzine is only a 20min walk

Yeah, course it is. 🙄🙄🙄🙄

😁

20min for normal sized legs, obvs.

🖕

You walk into them DD.

Admittedly, v slowly though.

20min for normal sized legs, obvs.

😂😂

Season lift passes – tick

Tunnel booked – ticked

Insurance sorted out – tick

Accommodation – tick

All ready to go on 5th January until 6th April with a break mid Feb to avoid the worst of the French school holidays.

Any singletrackers who fancy a meet up and a ski in the Grand Massif-drop us an email

Not getting excited (much)

sproot – will bear that in mind if we have time in Jan or Feb on a weekend visit. We’ll miss you at xmas/new year though. Enjoy the season.

Just ordered a pair of these. I do love a good pair of bibs, but can’t help thinking that they have a little too much of  the 90s German Porn star plumber about them 🙂

Looks like snowmageddon is coming this weekend. Safe travels to anyone heading out to the slopes! 😳😄

^Those bibs remind me of Super Mario 😄

I’ve posted this up on the Chalets Direct Solutions Room, but reposting here just in case any STW regulars have some suggestions to make

We are 2 skiiers travelling by plane from UK (room 1), plus one OAP non-skiier in her own room (2), travelling from Zurich – mode of transport to be determined depending on destination. Rooms must be en-suite. Pref valley location so non-skiier can go walking / sight seeing in the day, close to slopes for ease of access for us to ski and for her to perhaps join us for lunch on the mountain. Last such trip was Courmayeur, love it but looking for somewhere else. Been considering Les Arcs (1600 for access to BSM), Morzine (or elsewhere in PDS), Serre Chevalier, Val d’Isere? Happy to consider France or Italy, Switzerland, perhaps Austria. Travel from UK and Zurich will play a large factor in final decision. Looking for 1 week (might possibly do 8 days Saturday – Sunday) but aiming to be back in the UK by Sunday 23rd march

Serre Chevalier might be a good option for you – Briançon in particular has lots to do for non-skiers. It’s a proper town with lots of history. I think there is also a big spa at the other end of the valley which is probably accessible by bus.

aiming to be back in the UK by Sunday 23rd march

Lateish in the season then – you might want to take that into consideration.

Cheers @Wallop – it’s on the list. Stayed in Briancon many years ago, but not been back for a while. We’ve looked at CFH’s favourite little hotel there the Plein Sud. One of the issues though is getting there from Zurich, there’s no direct flight to Turin from Zurich

oldtennisshoes

Lateish in the season then – you might want to take that into consideration.

We often ski late march and have skiied into April (and even May) before now. Happy to go early march of course, but there’s a trade-off of the price being SO much higher

We’ve stayed in the Plein Sud as well – would definitely return.

Off to Morzine at New Year (wouldn’t have been my first choice for NY skiing, but it’s a family \ large group) Getting a bit nervous there’s very little snow, even up at Avoriaz. 😤

I know the thread title is about ski and snowboard, but I’m off to ride the fattie for 45 days and then hitting the slopes every day for a spot of legendary powder in Fernie.
5″ studded tyres and riding in the dark each morning for 2-3 hours is perfect winter base training for the HT550….

Tkid – you seen the Berfex for this weekend ? A decent drop happening now.

Oh yes, at least a metre coming into each resort in the western alps this weekend. Avoriaz will be fine!

PS – what are the concerns with Morzine? Personally I love the place.

195cm forecast over next 9 days at Avoriaz.
It will be fine.

A few years ago, the only snowfall before Xmas had been in November. The Serma team did an amazing job, pisting the November snow and looking after it all the way until Xmas. We had a great few days on the pistes on our own.

On boxing day I was walking mountain tops at 7,500′ without putting a foot on snow. But the pistes were perfectly skiable.

Booked a Black Friday special with Rocketski.
£299 for flights , transfer and half board accom in a hotel in Risoul. Stayed there 2 years ago and its only 200mtr to the main lifts so very easy start to the day.
12-1 so cheap week , but that is not alot of dosh really
Only drawback is that there will be schoolkids in the hotel, but that dooesn’t really bother me that much.
One problem is that my boot insoles have gone in the bin at my old job, I used them in my wellies. Then left and forget to collect them, so I will have to get some superfeet greens and maybe mod them a touch. New ones not in the budget anymore unfortunatly

nice. never heard of Risoul
as long as the kids arent getting in the way at the bar you’ll be alright.

linked with Vars , which was a TDF finish last year i think. about 200km pisted , alot in the trees
Its quite far south though , near Gap, so south of Briancon and keep going
High enough at 2750m but no glacier. Some cranky chairs but most are fine , just dont expect heated covered 6 man high speed ones like St Anton

Turin flights?

garden drop in ramp built. kicker and rails tomorrow

http://i.imgur.com/mMGO1TIh.jpg