 Poster: A snowHead
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@greggy500, no, my lot are all over in Bisanne 1500 and you'll be best in Les Saisies village.
I don't think there are accommodation/pass deals. Not approaching that bargain in LC, anyway.
Some of the accommodation which comes up if you do a search on the website is in Hauteluce - not a good idea at Easter with small kids. Something in LS village would be much the best. If you find anything that looks suitable I'm happy to advise on location.
Kids group ski lessons will be largely French. Didn't bother my 5 year old grand-daughter at Christmas, though; she loved it and got on well.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@pam w, Thank you, very much appreciated
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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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Thanks for your addition Greggy500 .. I had put a short list together so was going to wait for a week or so to see how weather goes. Will look into Les Contamines, as accommodation and lift pass sounds very good. Lift pass for VT and the other areas are just mega high ... although I do have Val T. on my list, along with Tignes, La Plagne, Flaine I think Les Saisies, La Thuile, was on there, and couple of others (list in other room). My preference is small but high / north facing just to try and avoid too much heavy going in the afternoons, all the brochures / web pages seem to focus on the larger areas.
We are driving so ideally somewhere an hour closer to Calais would be great ... if Snow is good. We don't need big resort, the elder one will probably out ski us, but the younger one will tire. we are looking last week of March, I know UK schools are off, but I think we escape the French half term, but probably coincide with some Northern European countries... will the slopes be still busy or just pleasant social?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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VT has worked really well for us for a number of Easters-the only thing I get nervous about (with young daughters) are a few busy runs where some idiots like to straightline past the kids-there is a bit of a bottleneck through the resort itself and I would avoid Plein Sud towards the end of the day.
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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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| Quote: |
will the slopes be still busy or just pleasant social?
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From my experience the slopes will be fine, with no significant queues. Few queues of any sort. However, that's in a predominantly French resort (Les Saisies). The French have finished skiing, broadly speaking, at the end of the "vacances scolaires" in early March. There will be some Belgians (they have holidays that week and the following week) but few Brits. Possibly the resorts where lots of Brits go will be busier - certainly airfares from the UK are sky high.
This is such a weird season for weather that Easter conditions are even more uncertain than usual. But I have little doubt that Easter will be better than Christmas and New Year were. Les Saisies has excellent snow right now (the Beaufortain has had more snow than any other area in France) and there's a lot more coming this week.
It would be foolish for me to give any guarantees, obviously, but late March has been OK up to now. Varied from exceptionally good, some years, through perfectly acceptable to "just about OK". But that's been the same for other areas. One year in April, when we had a visitor who was keen to ski, and our snow was pretty poor, we drove to Val Thorens. The whole valley was green to Les Menuires. We found good skiing in VT but it was very busy. And mega expensive for lunch, compared to what we're used to.
Easter is low season in France. You can afford to wait and see how things are going.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Easter will be fairly quiet in France. The French tend not to ski at Easter so there is proportionally more British than usual. As @pam w, says there may be a lot of Belgians. Having driven down many times overnight on Good Friday and noticed that the french autoroutes are packed with Belgian cars I suspect that Belgium is completely empty that week. Judging by the stuff on the roof most are heading for the Med and some warm weather.
My main advice about skiing at Easter is to use lots of factor 50 sun protection.
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In regard of Les Contamines. Few words of warning in terms of going with young children:
You need to be in Hameux de Lay if you want to avoid getting a navette to the lift.
You may wish to download in the gondola rather than ski home.
There are several steep drag lifts not suitable for light (younger) skiers.
You can't easily ski home for lunch.
Here is my trip report from 2012.
Don't get me wrong it's a great ski area.
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We drove to Montchavin a few years back at Easter. Son was 6, we booked the accommodation through Erna Low and got a pretty good deal, we booked it about 4-6 weeks previous I think. As it was our first time driving I liked that we weren't heading too high in the car, roads we're fine and not too many hair raising bends. We had access to the high resorts of la plagne and Les arcs though. Son went to Evolution 2 ski school and they were fantastic.
We could ski back to the apartment every day, only towards the end of the second week the snow on the final trail to the apartment was getting bare and stones showing through.
The downside is the ski pass in expensive as its a large area, but we made decent use of both the La Plagne and Les Arcs side so it didn't feel a waste of money.
We are intending going back this year (first 2 weeks in April) hoping to stay Les Coches this time, will hopefully book something late Feb, early March just keeping an eye on the snow for now.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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| davkt wrote: |
| Rather than high how about north? Places like Åre or Trysil will still have plenty of snow. |
I was just going to suggest that.
We are going to Geilo. BIL's company has a place there we can use for free - - a scale tipper for us.
But I'm thinking, longer days, they've had great snow this year, what's not to like?
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| Quote: |
what's not to like?
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limited downhill skiing, if that's your thing.  But loads of cross-country - that's what I'd do, if going there.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| pam w wrote: |
| Quote: |
what's not to like?
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limited downhill skiing, if that's your thing. But loads of cross-country - that's what I'd do, if going there. |
We have a short-ish holiday Geilo has enough to keep us amused for 4-5 days... wouldn't do it for a week though, given our ability. But if I had kids that were beginners - intermediates, I think it's a great option.
We might do some cross country skiing too....it is a winter holiday after all.
And we have 10 days coming up, end of the month....
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Doing a week in Trysil at easter, mostly because my 16yo broke her wrist snowboarding on New Years day so wants something a bit less full on than L2A for her first rides after recovery but looks like a fun place.
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Hemsedal is worth a look too....
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