Ski season 2015/16

fannymagee wrote: »

The aul' Skiwelt scrubs up well! ;-)

https://www.facebook.com/SkiWelt/videos/1111061212237619/

3 and a half weeks (and counting)

Just back from a week in Val Thorens, overall a great holiday, but with some minor complaints.

Based on a day trip there, prior to this trip, I had formed the opinion VT was a dump, upon arrival I warmed a bit to it, but by the time I left I'd reverted to my original opinion. It's like Temple Bar with snow, it's probably a great place to go if partying is as important to you as the snow.

Skiing/boarding there is OK, there are some really nice slopes (I really enjoyed the Cristaux and the Combe de Caron pistes, both off the Cime Caron lift) but you're sort of locked into the VT ski area, as getting back there from other parts of the 3V can take a long time in the evening, with long queues forming for lifts to take you back there.

The first three days were bluebird conditions, absolutely fantastic, great snowboarding and I enjoyed every minute of it. On Wednesday it was dull, the light was flat, with no shadows, which wasn't ideal. On Thursday the snow was wearing thin (it didn't snow all week), and was packed, on Friday I had returned to the apartment by 2:30pm such was the progress I had made with sliding on my arse on packed snow, with grass and small rocks starting to make an appearance on the snow.

Eating/drinking out wasn't awful, prices were reasonable enough. €6 for a large beer in the pub we went to, and a main course would be €16-20 in a restaurant, but we mostly ate in the apartment.

If I was going back to the 3v again I wouldn't go back to VT, I think I'd pick somewhere more accessible - Menuires, St. Martin, Meribel etc, because it really felt more like being stuck in just one medium sized resort than being in a massive ski area, as it had when I stayed in St. Martin.

Now, approximately 45 days until Chamonix...

Top tip - in the evening go up the Glacier lift (on the Glacier de Peclet), take the glacier piste down to the Les Aigulles de Peclet restaurant/pub and have a beer or two there while the sun sets (photo below) - the view is surreal. Then when you're ready to go there is a fantastic, wide red, the Christine that takes you back to VT, and it will be completely empty. It's a lovely way to end a day.

maddness wrote: »

Interesting to read your report Cormee as I have always thought that Val Thorens looked awful. I've skied into it from other parts of the valleys four or five times but have no interest in staying there. Apart from the ugliness of the place the lack of tree skiing for bad light days is a negative for me.
If you want to ski the 3 valleys on a budget Meribel Village and La Tania are good bets.

Yeah, I was the same as yourself, I'd snowboarded in from other parts of the 3v, and in fairness to the place, there are prettier parts than those you see when you're skiing in. I did go down to St martin, which is around the tree line and things were getting slushy, so it's a trade off, I suppose.

Just booked a flight to Grenoble for the 27th Feb. Just need to decide between Tignes or Les Arcs, looking to do off piste in the UCPA in one of those places. Help me decide!!

I'll have to check that out, Ben's bus to Tignes seems to tie in with the flights alright.

Anybody been to either Tignes or Les Arcs, just looking for opinions on either, particularly for off piste.

cormee wrote: »

I was in Les Arcs (2000) last year. Every one in the group, including myself, hated it. Monstrosity of a settlement, no night life, and the snow was awful. OK off-piste though.

Thanks, I was leaning towards Tignes anyway and this has just confirmed it!

Just back from the today fm trip in Bad Hofgastein!

Great week! the craic was turbo as was to be expected, got a nice bit of skiing done too! nice resort but pricey (thinking this may be because there was 600 irish descended on the town for the week)

would go back for sure!

If you're on the hunt for a good trip with a big group of like minded people it's well worth a look!

Seifer wrote: »

Looking to get away for my second trip of the season the second week of March. Gonna go with the UCPA again as I loved my week with them last year in Val Thorens. I've narrowed it down to either the Off Piste course in Les Arcs or the Intro to Off Piste in Argentiere.

Anyone have experience with the intro / versus non-intro? I skied with the confirmé group last year and felt it was about my level; we did a lot of off-piste.

I see Cormee's opinion on Les Arc above. Any others? Or comments on Argentiere?

If you want good off piste you'll defo find it in Argentiere! Biggest risk will be avalanche risk though ha! Town itself has about 2pubs so taxi needed down to Chamonix for any sort of nightlife ha. I've no idea about the intro or non-intro, however drop the action outdoors a quick email about it, they are very good at replying with detailed enough answers.

Seifer wrote: »

Looking to get away for my second trip of the season the second week of March. Gonna go with the UCPA again as I loved my week with them last year in Val Thorens. I've narrowed it down to either the Off Piste course in Les Arcs or the Intro to Off Piste in Argentiere.

Anyone have experience with the intro / versus non-intro? I skied with the confirmé group last year and felt it was about my level; we did a lot of off-piste.

I see Cormee's opinion on Les Arc above. Any others? Or comments on Argentiere?

Yeah, my vote would be for Argentiere, my Spring trip is always to Chamonix, that area is lovely at that time of the year and the slopes tend to be fairly quiet. Chamonix town can be nice and mild - so skiing/boarding during the day, then heading out that night into a bright and mild Spring evening is a lovely way to spend a day.

cormee wrote: »

Just back from a week in Val Thorens, overall a great holiday, but with some minor complaints.

The absence of trees is definitely a problem, but in defence of VT when I was in Les Menuires start of Jan, everything below 2500 was slushy and raining. Was very glad to have access to VT to get higher. If you're starting off at 2100 or 2300 (can't remember height) in a period of high temps (which I think is going to become an increasing problem going forward) you're in a good place. The other 3vs don't really have that. Courcheval and Meribel probably top out at 2800 mostly.

Its also not as bad as I remembered it either, in architecture terms, and certainly not as ugly as Tignes. Personally I don't think Meribel and certainly not Les Menuires are attractive resorts visually or architecturally.They're not as ugly as VT but not really nice either. Parts of Courcheval certainly cuter. I tried to book St Martin this year but didn't even get one hit back on the search engines, not sure why.

There is a good range of restaurants too - two michelin starred places down to a delicious 8 euro vegetarian stir fry noodle dish I got on the slopes which I was very surprised to get in France.

Absence of trees are the main problem. But if you have to go that high in the first place its because snow conditions are so bad that you can only ski enjoyably above the tree line. If sun comes out you're in probably the worlds best piste playground (although Mottaret probably better placed for avoiding queues at the junctions, but no atmosphere there).

Rew wrote: »

We did Méribel-Mottaret twice, you have a direct lift to VT, another to Courchevel and a piste down to Méribel.

I think, if you have snow, somewhere central like that in the 3v has the makings of a perfect location.