 Poster: A snowHead
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| Lizzard wrote: |
| Bourg d'Oisans. Reasonable property prices (400,000€ will buy you big house with land and leave substantial amount of change); l |
Honestly if I paid more than 200,000KE in BdO I would feel ripped off! Watch out if you buy on the flood plain too.
I would have suggested BdO or Venosc etc but they are cold places to live in the winter, as you should know. If I were in BdO I would probably be further down the valley near where Roger Canac has his place as it is a bit more open. There are some gaffs for sale down there at the moment. Offer 30% below the asking price if you buy. Le Buis I think it is called. You are also right at the bottom of the Malaine singletrack for mountain bike.
Still think Briancon is a better bet though. Serre Che, Montgenevre, les Orres, Puy St Vincent. Snow from early November to the end of May on your doorstep.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Somewhere around Sallanches would probably suit me quite well - Passy, Le Fayet, Chedde, Domancy, etc. Possibly a bit low on ready made community but high on convenience and access to skiing of just about every level, walking, shopping, transport links. I know we found St Gervais a very easy and friendly place to live for a short time which I accept is nothing like living somewhere on a permanent basis. I also rather liked the look of Thones between La Clusaz and Annecy. Could see Bourg d'Oisans working too and certainly it seems less pricy on the property front than the Chamonix valley.
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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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| Quote: |
Honestly if I paid more than 200,000KE in BdO I would feel ripped off!
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Why? It's got all the facilities you need, is 40 mins from a major town and gives fast easy access to access to more skiing than most of the places mentioned. Offers better value than either Chamonix or the Tarentaise, I'd say.
(Not that I'm desperate to turn the place into another English ghetto, mind.)
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| nbt wrote: |
| truffaut wrote: |
| What pam w says. I would love to live in Pau, Toulouse or Nice and have to travel from there to the resorts but I would rather stay in Blighty than have to live in the (ex mining ?) communities I have driven through in the French Alps. |
I used to live in Pau, it's a beautiful place. Bit more than a 20 minutes drive to the ski resorts, though |
As a born and bred Touousain , I was about to say the same. God knows I love and often miss Toulouse. Great location for ski and sea. Vibrant City.
But it doesn't fit the OP's bill. Nearest resort is still about 90 min away. It is a big city (about 900000 people withthe surrounding towns) sot the sense of community isn't all that..
Some suggestions in the Alps do seem much better. In the pyrenees, Spa towns like Ax (close to Andorra and several resorts) or Luchon would probably roughly fit the bill as well... Not as snow sure as the alps though but still plenty to offer with Spain and the mediterannean a short drive away..
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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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| Lizzard wrote: |
| Quote: |
Honestly if I paid more than 200,000KE in BdO I would feel ripped off!
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Why? It's got all the facilities you need, |
that's true, although at Briancon you have the cable car right in the town center where as at BdO you have to drive up the mountain. Same argument for St Gervais, you have the lift access on your doorstep. Main argument for me against St Gervais is that is is incredible busy and the climate is poor - all those valley fogs during the winter would drive me bonkers; as would the Savoyards.
Asking prices in BdO are crazy and the sellers need a good dose of realism, they are almost at Grenoble levels.
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davidof, things aren't selling at the asking prices - I see a lot of properties hanging around in the immobilier windows for months and then reappearing for significantly less.
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the point about places being cold is an important one. Our apartment is south facing and at 1550m, and gets heaps of sun. We don't always need heating in the day even in mid winter. The nearest proper town is Beaufort, down in the Valley round about 700m. It's a lovely place in the summer but it's awful in winter - at least I think so - it doesn't get many hours of sun in mid winter and because of quite frequent temperature inversion it's often a lot colder than we are. You can often see the frost line on trees - freezing fog up so far, then OK above that.
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We've recently returned from 11 days walking the GR54 which starts and ends in BdO. In total, we spent 3 nights there. By the beginning of September the whole place had virtually shut down with barely a restaurant open. We looked in some estate agents windows and concluded that prices were nearly comparable with Warrington. That seems expensive for a small town with very little in it that IMHO doesn't actually look very pretty.
I'd be attracted to the bright lights of Briancon but, for somewhere more 'villagey', how about Vallouise. It's pretty, Plaraud(?) and Puy St Vincent are on the doorstep and SerreChe is not so far.
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Having spent last winter in the area that most people are mentioning I'd suggest the Serre Che town one along from Briancon (Salle des Alpes I think), beautiful looking place and right next to Briancon without actually being in it. I thought Briancon looked a bit grotty tbh although this is based on one shopping trip, two trips to McDonalds and a couple of times passing through either in the car or on a snowboard.
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Swirly, bottom end of town is not the most attractive, you need to buy in one of the areas on the outskirts, or in the Vauban town.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Agree with Helen Beaumont, . The old town is lovely Swirly, but I do know what you mean about the concreteness, especially around that lower end of town.
Anywhere...am getting all dewy eyed about the main places mentioned here - forgot about Bourg d'Oisons - might be less hectic through the town now they have the bypass in I would think.
Serre Che would be great, as has it all for summer as well as winter. BSM has a special place in my heart too. But you have to be doing more than going to the Beaufort factory.
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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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Please excuse my geography, but which resorts are in easy reach of Briancon ? Which would be the 'town' resort ?
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david@mediacopy, er, unless I have picked you up wrong, there is the whole Serre Che Valley, starting with the Prorel Lift in Briancon, with Chantemerle and Villeneuve as the main resort areas, plus all the other accessory villages, hameaus etc, right the way up to Monetier [I think it is about 20k] heading towards the Col du Galiber. You are also easily drivable to Montgenevre and Puy St Vincent. You could even make it to Villar d'Arene for their drag lift, or take the plunge and head for La Grave.
And if you are really keen, there's the drag lift at the Champ de Mars by the old town 
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You know it makes sense.
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davidof, Grant you, you're not wrong about the fog although I'd call it mist i.e you can drive in it without feeling you're taking your life in your hands - It certainly caught us out in the early days when we knew no better and assumed it was reflective of the conditions on the mountain. Having said that, we didn't find it in any way oppresive though, horses for courses I suppose. We got lots of sun, though I know some of the hamlets suffered under a more permanent gloom I'm surprised however you think it's busy. I was constantly amazed at how 'unbusy' it was with miles and miles of slopes virtually to ourselves most days comparing very favourably with other better known resorts in the same week - The drive from the valley to the St Gervais lift is hardly 'driving up the mountain' in the same way as many valley town to lifts are, it's a very easy unwindy and not often snowy road although pretty horrible on a half term Saturday changeover! I suppose it would depend on where in Briancon you were based as to how convenient the lift station was (only guessing, I've only visited once and my recollection of the geography isn't all it might be - I think I liked the town though)
Actually, I think the areas around St Gervais, Bourg d'Oisans and Briancon all pretty good 'starters for 10' (can't comment on the others as haven't been to them) and wouldn't be too disappointed if someone relocated me in a 400,000 euro property in any of them.
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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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MarjMJ, Cheers - I see now. Google maps let me down the 1st time  Sounds an interesting area. What's the pass like to get over to Italy ?
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Poster: A snowHead
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david@mediacopy, it is very rarely closed for very long, although it was closed just before Christmas last year for about 3 days due to avalanche risk. As it is a main route they try to keep it open.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| Annie wrote: |
| Actually, I think the areas around St Gervais, Bourg d'Oisans and Briancon all pretty good 'starters for 10' |
I agree and I've spent a lot of time in both the Haute Savoye and Bourg d'Oisans. Bourg d'Oisans is a like Chamonix before the people who ruined the place arrived... I can see why Lizzard doesn't want too many people moving in. There are a lot of reasons why it would be a great base but if downhill skiing is your main interest I think there are better locations (ok ok there are two of the best ski resorts in the world on your doorstep not to mention la Grave at 40 minutes).
St Gervais would be a good base if you, say, have a job in Geneva. 40 minutes on the Totoroute. Sallanches is also quite a reasonable town. Cluses and Bonneville are dumps mind so don't go too far down the valley. One good thing about the Haute-Savoye is that there are some great small ski resorts. I'm thinking of Mont Saxonnex, le Reposoir or even Sommand. Places, thankfully, untouched by the dead hand of the Compagnie des Alpes and their bend over and take it where the sun doesn't shine 44 euro lift passes.
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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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Research the village of Les Alberts near Briancon. Within 15 minutes of acess to Serre Chevalier from either Briancon or Chantemerle, there is also the Via Lattea (Milky Way) (Montgenevre in France and the Italian resorts of Sestriere, Sauze d'Oulx. Plus it is at the start of the Claree valley which is little known, but is a beautiful unspoilt valley with large quantities of cross country skiing (it is where the French team regularly train)
Its a village that seems to have a good community spirit. As the bread and cheese festival proved 
This chalet has a pretty good lowdown on the area http://www.maisonclaree.com/index.php?pg=area
I'd also look at the villages to the south of Briancon off the main road to Argentiere les blesse and Embrun, a few years ago there seemed to be an abundance of farm houses that were going for very good prices. This may have changed with the change in value of the euro.
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Christopher, Val de Clarée is indeed beautiful.
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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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Chamomix, Argentiere or La Grave
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It's all about Annecy or surrounding villages!!! Not to far to the slopes in winter and perfect in the summer too. Just get in quick before the Olympic rush! 
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jimberetta, Except that Annecy is one of France's most expensive places to live.
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Lizzard, You cant put a price on quality!
I would of thought that @ the OPs budget it would be attainable in the Annecy, Thones area but judging by your location you'll have a better idea than me.
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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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Wow! Thanks for all your replies - never expected such a useful stack of ideas!
I guess as we've often driven to the Alps we'd been focusing more on the areas near Geneva, but good to learn something about the areas further south. Thones area was already on our shortlist, as well as somewhere low but with access to the 3V. We love hiking in the summer so what to do in the other 7 months wouldn't be a problem we hope. Mind you, if the pound sinks any lower we probably won't be able to afford to live there anyway  ! The attraction of the 3V is that I feel that you could cough up for a season's lift pass and still feel you had places to explore by the end of the winter. If we chose, say Bourg d'Oisans wouldn't we have to chose between season passes for les 2A or Ad'H?
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Lizzard,
Whats this about lift pass covers skiing in seven resorts then ?
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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It is pretty obvious to me the location has to be Chamonix. It is well served by Geneva airport. About 10 miles and one can either be in Switzerland or Italy. Between 50 to 100 resorts available.
A cheaper place would be Braincon where there is road permanently open to Italian, served by the Milky way Domain, has Serre Chevalier at the door step but with La Grave, Put St Vincent, L2A and LDH within a day trip distance.
In winter Tarentaise is a dead end valley and traffic is hellish on the changeover days. It will do but while not skiing the place is less attractive than the above two.
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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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skitow,
2Alpes
Alpe d'Huez
Alpe de Grand Serre
Serre Chevalier
Montgenevre
Claviere
Puy St Vincent
And now I come to think about it, Sestriere and Sauze d'Oulx as well - nine resorts.
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