 Poster: A snowHead
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Fellow Snowheads,
I’m organizing a trip for a group of five families with children aged 6 to 11, all of whom started skiing last year with 2 days at Sierra Nevada. This February, we’re heading to El Tarter for five days of skiing.
Looking ahead to next New Year’s, we’re searching for a budget-friendly, snow-sure ski resort.
After gathering quotes, I’ve narrowed it down to three options in half-board:
1. Valmeinier 1800 (cheapest)
2. Montgenèvre 1850
3. La Thuile 1400 (most expensive)
La Thuile, despite having the lowest resort altitude, appears to receive the most snowfall, followed by Valmeinier and then Montgenèvre.
However, Montgenèvre stands out for having the majority of its slopes above the 1850m resort level, whereas Valmeinier has a significant number of slopes below 1800m with its neighbor resort Valloire sitting at 1400m.
Could you share your recommendations or experiences with these resorts?
Thanks in advance for your advice!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@portugal82,
What is your budget, and how many adults & children? Would you be staying over New Year's Eve? Hotel, catered chalet or catered chalet-hotel? In what language would the ski tuition be required?
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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@Kenzie we’ve already received the quotes for good hotels/chalet with half-board in front of the ski lift at each of these three ski resorts.
Our budget is £2,000/€2,400 per family (2 adults and 2 children) for half-board accommodation in a hotel or chalet located near the ski lifts.
Since the children are at different skiing levels, we’re planning to book group ski tuition in English—either with ESF if we choose France, or with the La Thuile Ski School if we go to Italy.
If you have any contacts or recommendations, please let me know.
Hoping for some advice from our friendly Snowheads on which of these three resort would be the most snow-sure for New Year’s and best suited for families.
Last edited by Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see? on Sun 19-01-25 20:11; edited 3 times in total
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Your day to day expenses will definitely be cheaper in La Thuille which will make up for the higher hotel costs , coffee , Beer and Lunch will be cheaper . I. Sorry I do not know about ski school prices .
I’m a big fan of La Thuille .
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Obviously you won't get ESF tuition in La Tuile. Presumably you'll ask for an instructor to take all your kids together, in a group? Otherwise the ESF will split them into age groups and the make up of the groups will determine what the main language will be. Wherever you go, in that very busy week you'll need to book the ski school asap.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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| Origen wrote: |
| Obviously you won't get ESF tuition in La Tuile. Presumably you'll ask for an instructor to take all your kids together, in a group? Otherwise the ESF will split them into age groups and the make up of the groups will determine what the main language will be. Wherever you go, in that very busy week you'll need to book the ski school asap. |
@Origen we always book in advance.
Unfortunately we had to go to El Tarter this February instead of La Thuile because the Ski School at La Thuile only opens in November and we couldn’t get confirmation that we would have ski tuition for the children in August when we booked our 2025 group ski trip.
For New Year 2025, we plan to book ski tuition before the schools close this winter, as soon as we decide which of these three ski resorts is the most snow-sure and best suited for our group of five families.
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BTW the majority of La Thuille skiing also takes place above 1800 . It’s normal to take the Gondola up to Les Suches at 2200m and then go from there .
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I've been to all three resorts early season. I'd say Val Meinier is most risky in terms of snow and while I liked the skiing, I didn't love it. Just felt a bit bland.
Montgenevre has a fantastic ski school, A peak, which have brought my kids on loads. The terrain is great for beginner to intermediate progressing kids. Most years the snow is good. We went in a snow poor year (not limited to monty) and they still managed to get about 50km open on man made snow.
La Thuile resort can be cold, it's shaded that early in the year. Better snow though. The upper mountains can be windy. But I love the mountain restaurants and how the upper half of the mountain is basically some parallel blues of gradually increasing difficulty. Very flattering to relative newbies. Some lovely cruisy reds to progress to. Might need to download in the gondola at the end of the day.
It would be a tough call between Montgenevre and La Thuile. For me, ski school would win, so I'd likely pick Montgenevre.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Valmeinier this new year had bucket loads of snow and bluebird days…any new snow that fell did so overnight giving perfect days. Plenty of varied skiing (150kms in total -75% of which is above 1800meters) with the links over to Valloire giving tree-lined runs if visibility isn’t so great. Lots of eating establishments dotted around at a variety of prices but cheaper than the bigger Brit popular resorts. Also off the beaten path to most Brits so tends to be quieter, especially at the busy time of New Year - longest queue we’ve ever had there was less than 5 minutes following a chair stoppage.
La Thuile- have only visited once and found it a bit bleak and pretty busy.
Montgenevre, never been but hear it’s worth a visit.
Enjoy the researching.
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