 Poster: A snowHead
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Neil, best of luck with your ski trip.
• Lift Pass: definitely only get the Les Arcs pass (and I'm a La Plagne fan): Les Arcs is easily enough. You will only do the Vanois Express once Because-it-it-there.
• Trailer or Roof Rack: I think you are right to go for the trailer, but make sure it is waterproof. 7 people means a lot of luggage. Your concern about height it warranted. A friend had great trouble finding an indoor parking space in Belle Plagne that would take his Ford Tank plus roof-rack.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Neil,
From personal bitter experience this year it is very hard for people of very different skiing abilities to ski together. It means the better skier has to be willing to sacrifice their holiday.
Best get the GF in morning ski school. You go ski your rocks of in Les Arcs for a few hours and catch up at lunchtime. Thats what will make 1950 a great location as form there you can get some great skiing done in 3 hours and get back easy to meet her.
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| the other option (and seems to be rather a popular idea among most of the party) is for us all to go to ski school and learn to board. Im the only one out of us who doesnt really have an interest in learning to board. Id rather stick with what i know. dont want to go back to being a learner again |
No need to go to dry ski slope before you go for this. Just practice sitting in the middle of your lounge floor. 
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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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half day lessons might be the way to go.
good call.
the only issue with that is that i wont be abled to go to far away. so the all access pas would be usless as i would never have time to go off and explore and get back in time to meet her for the end of her lesson. and the fact that the full access pass isnt that much more than the normal pass in £ ......... mmm think this is going to require some thought.
at the moment im thinking all of us get half day snowboard lessons. and i can revert to my skis in the PM. she can stay with the snowboard if she wants. Then the last couple of days i think i will stay with skis and explore the other areas.
thats the best plan i can come up with so far.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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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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| Neil wrote: |
half day lessons might be the way to go.
good call.
the only issue with that is that i wont be abled to go to far away. so the all access pas would be usless as i would never have time to go off and explore and get back in time to meet her for the end of her lesson. and the fact that the full access pass isnt that much more than the normal pass in £ ......... mmm think this is going to require some thought.
at the moment im thinking all of us get half day snowboard lessons. and i can revert to my skis in the PM. she can stay with the snowboard if she wants. Then the last couple of days i think i will stay with skis and explore the other areas.
thats the best plan i can come up with so far. |
You won't need the all area access pass but trust those of here who say it. If you stay in 1950 and get the Les Arcs only ski pass in a morning you can still get some amazing skiing in and meet your GF at lunchtime.
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| Frosty the Snowman wrote: |
| Which is the best ski resort in the world? Answer - The one that YOU had the best ski holiday at. Simple as that. I have no "best resort in the world" resort because I have had FANTASTIC ski holidays in so mant different ones. |
Exactly right, which is why David's spamming of threads which are clearly about other resorts is such an irritation. But I get the feeling that David doesn't mind irritating other people just so long as he gets his commercial in. A shame, as there are lots of other people, including me, who are quite happy to talk about La Ros' strong points.
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| Neil wrote: |
| the only issue with that is that i wont be abled to go to far away. so the all access pas would be usless as i would never have time to go off and explore and get back in time to meet her for the end of her lesson. and the fact that the full access pass isnt that much more than the normal pass in £ ......... mmm think this is going to require some thought |
You'd be able to get to all parts of the Les Arcs domain and back again in a morning, although some parts of La Plagne would be out of reach if you wanted to get back by lunchtime. But there is more than enough skiing of all grades in Les Arcs to keep you challenged while your girlfriend is in lessons, then plenty of easy terrain so that you can ski together in the afternoon. Just make sure that you book ski school in advance otherwise you might end up with times that are not convenient, or no space in lessons ar all.
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rob@rar, It is possible to ski to Les Arcs from Montalbert and be to back in Trappeurs restaurant in Montalbert for lunch, 
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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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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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gwaelod, will be there. Dates are 17th to 25th for March trip. Sounds fun
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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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You know it makes sense.
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The Delica owners have given me a website and apparantly if you book dover to dunkirk they count the Delica as a car. with trailer and roof box it was £148 return. not to bad. alot better than £300!!!
The price between an all access ski pass and an Arc only pass is £30. Can you buy "top ups" so if i want an all acess pass for a day i can just pay the diffrence between my arcs only pass and an all acess one for that day or does it not work like that?
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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gwaelod, I am impressed, but wonder if you don't have super powers.
Piste map of La Plagne.
Montchavin is far left of the map: Montalbert on the far right, where you stopped for coffee: 10.30?
Then you went to La Roche which is up a couple of llfts and down cornegidouille. It must be now at least 11.30.
How you then get all the way over to the Vanois for an early lunch eludes me.
Now you go over to Les Arcs and manage to get to Arc 2000 (from left to right of the map) and back by 3ish for a beer. The same day?
I think this trip might be possible without the coffee and lunch stops, or am I just a very slow skier?
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Poster: A snowHead
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| Neil wrote: |
| The price between an all access ski pass and an Arc only pass is £30. Can you buy "top ups" so if i want an all acess pass for a day i can just pay the diffrence between my arcs only pass and an all acess one for that day or does it not work like that? |
Yes, you can buy a one-day extension to your Les Arcs pass if you decide you'd like to sample La Plagne. A slightly cheaper option than doing this would be to buy the Paradiski Découverte pass, which gives you one day in La Plagne automatically included in your week-long Les Arcs pass. Full prices in the link I gave earlier.
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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 rob@rar for the life of me i cant seem to find that link you put up... am i going blind!
I think your all right though. there looks like more than enough skiing to be done in Les Arcs. and that extra day is a great added bonus to go off to the other resort (providing its not to expensive.)
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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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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Thanks,
Your appartment looks gorgeous BTW!
wish I could afford my own. thinking about it one day. might be abled to stretch to a holiday place. Would be nice to have a summer mountain biking get away and a winter ski get away.
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| Neil wrote: |
Thanks,
Your appartment looks gorgeous BTW!
wish I could afford my own. thinking about it one day. might be abled to stretch to a holiday place. Would be nice to have a summer mountain biking get away and a winter ski get away. |
Thanks, we're very pleased with it. There's a lot which goes on in the summer in Les Arcs: golf (our place is next door to the 18-hole course), mountain biking, walking, classical music festival, lots of kids activities, white water activities down in the valley, etc. They are working hard to make it a 2-season resort. Plus you have summer skiing up the valley in Tignes, and it's easy to drive across to Italy for a change of scene.
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Right, for 6 days....
Les Arcs pass is 198e (currancey converter says) £138
Paradiski Découverte pass is 211e (currancey converter says) £147
the full piste access pass 237e (currancey converter says) £165
(that online piste price list is cheaper than my broucher!) i got a crystal travel broucher and it says the passes for full access were £185! rip off merchants taking their cut.
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| Neil wrote: |
| (that online piste price list is cheaper than my broucher!) i got a crystal travel broucher and it says the passes for full access were £185! rip off merchants taking their cut. |
That's not untypical in my experience. You might find it also cheaper to book your accommodation direct with Arc1950 rather than going via someone like Crystal, especially as you are making your own travel arrangements.
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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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Thats a good point, i will look into that now.
my breakdown so far that i have mass emailed out to my group is
price breakdown so far
£150 Ski pass (depending on what everyone wants to do)
£30 per person ferry crossing (return)
£15 per person tolls (return)
£350 accomodation (rough guide at this point)
£40 Fuel per person (rough guess)
£585 total (I have over estimated on most stuff and i have divided everything by 6 people not 7. so if we have 7 people it would be even cheaper.)
dont forget you have gear hire, food and drinks on top of that. to be honest for what you get so far it looks well worth the money.
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yup alot cheaper if i book accomodation direct.
so the new price breakdown so far
£150 Ski pass (depending on what everyone wants to do)
£30 crossing
£15 per person tolls there and back
£275 per person accomodation
£40 Fuel per person (rough guess)
£510 total
Price breakdown with 7 people
£150 Ski pass (depending on what everyone wants to do)
£23 crossing
£11.50 per person tolls there and back
£236 per person accomodation
£30 Fuel per person (rough guess)
£450 rough total
makes such a differnce. i did pay thanks to everyone on snowheads when i was emailing them! 
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Neil, Listen to Frosty, he's talking sense! My missus did half days tuition and was far happier and more confident (and less grumpy). Meet up for lunch, she can exude confidence about her progress and you can ski together in the afternoons.
BTW I'm glad we're back to helping Neil and away from resort bitching!! If he wants to go to Arc1950 then let him!
Driving is great! I'd do it over the plane thing for France (not tried anywhere else). I also suffer from Teacheritis and understand the holiday limitations, but the roads are far better once you get to France. School holidays are all over the place for this season, makes the easter hols roughly unchanged from last year, although easter itself is march 21st weekend!
The advice about breaking your journey might be good for a group like yours, seven people in a car for 12 hours will be cramped, we usually do a late tunnel crossing and stop a couple of hundred miles into France for a night (very cheap hotels), then carry on in the morning. Get into resort early afternoon, settle in, get food/skis/passes/drunk then get up fresh the next morning and away you go.
On the learning to board thing, I understand you not wanting to be a learner again! Spent Xmas with a couple who could ski and were learning to board, the bruising and tales of pain were enough to put me off. (for now!)
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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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Neil,
Great work. I don't think those that go on group skiing holidays realsie what hard work it is for the organiser.
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You know it makes sense.
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Thanks gwaelod, and no they dont! and whats more its always me organising it! i have left the arrangements to them before because I got fed up with always doing it. trouble is nothing then gets done and we dont end up going because no one does anything. the other option I had was to take charge and deligate jobs to people. guess what, still nothing got done! doh!
And we are planning on doing the whole drive without and over night stop. our plans are to leave at about 4am and everyone sleep. the reason i want the trailer and roof box is because it will make so much more room inside for people to stretch out and have the seats back so they can sleep. with the seats back blinds and curtians close i rekon most will sleep fine in the back of the delica. i wil lshare the driving with a mate and he can take over for some of france and i will get some sleep. then when we hit the mountains i will most likely take over again.
With x2 11" roof mounted screens and a 7" screen in the front all with TV, DVD player and PS2 (also got the option of connecting my laptop and 500GB hard drive full of films, tv and music stuff to keep the occupants happy. I dont imagine the 12/ 13 hour drive to be an issue.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Neil, 10 hours at legal speeds with 1 stop for diesel should get you there if the roads are quiet (done it in a Citroen van in 10:15 to La Ros) but that is with no other stops for coffee etc.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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grey moment?
as long as its less that 14 hours we will be happy. we will most likely stop for coffee and toilet breaks at least twice
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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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Neil, Unless you're very unlucky it will be less than 14 hours. We used to go down for weekend breaks and reckon it was an easy 8 hour drive from Calais to moutiers - including stops.
We now take 2 days as we have kids bit aren't driving more than 7 hours a day
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Neil, We reckon on 8-9 hrs from Calais to Peisey-Vallandry including 2 stops. Last time with our telepeage it was nearer 8hrs 
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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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You'll need to Register first of course.
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Neil, you need to get a move on! I've just booked a large apartment for two families at Arc 1800 for the week of 2nd February and availability of quality accommodation is getting scarce.
I started leisurely enquiries 10 days ago and completed a nervous search late last night, beyond which I think we'd have been condemned to worn out shoe box apartments. I accept that Arc 1950 is all new but, when I looked, the Radisson, etc were filling up quick.
Interesting thread this. La Rosiere and its new suburbs are an obvious commercial spread from the other Tarentaise resorts but it is cute and a little less crowded than Paradiski. But its small and relies too much on the La Thuile link as its USP.
Les Arcs ticks nearly every box except high altitude (apart from Rouge and Bellecote, there's not much over 2600m) and sheer mileage (to do this, you need to use a lot of long slow lifts in La Plagne). And it has a real town 15 minutes down the hill for a change of scenery. And some of the world's best resorts less than an hour away for days out. And... Get the drift?
rob@rar, are you or any Snowheads customers at your place in the week of 2nd Feb? If so, be good to say hello at some point.
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sproggski, I don't know where you got your information from but La Rosiere is not a an obvious commercial spread from other Tarentaise resorts, the first lifts in La Rosiere were installed in 1961, before many of the larger resorts nearby were even built. It's part of the commune of Montvalazen which is a very old Tarin community. I'm glad you think the village is cute, we think it's small and friendly and in marked contrast to certain of the mega ski stations nearby. You bet we think the link to Italy is unique, because it is, there isn't another resort in Savoie with International skiing and it has been since 1984. It's also got one of the best value lift passes in the Alps, six days in France and Italy for 155 Euros, for which you get a patrolled, dedicated off-piste area, a superb snow-park, a dedicated kite skiing/boarding area, the only French resort that can offer heli-skiing and some of the best off-piste skiing you'll find anywhere, including one of the top 3 off-piste descents in the world, but what do I know, you're obviously much more of an expert than I can ever be.
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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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David@traxvax,
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Without wishing to stir yet another La Ros debate the original poster was asking about skiing with a beginner at Easter. La Ros's nursery slopes face south Les Arcs are more north facing, I know which ones I would recommend to beginners at that time of year.
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FAQ
But flying and hire car 
