 Poster: A snowHead
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Trip report Espace Diamant 21 Dec – 28 Dec 2013.
We have just got back from a great week staying at Bisanne 1500 near Les Saisies in the Espace Diamant, our first Christmas ski trip and our first DIY trip as a family (me, Mrs Jirac, daughters 13 & 7).
We decided some months ago to go DIY as we have to travel in school holidays due to my wife’s work and the cost of a TO trip was simply too expensive. After much searching on the internet we booked a two bedroom apartment at Les Alpages de Bisanne which is a 4* MGM designed complex with indoor swimming pool.
Les Saisies is a village we are familiar with from summer holidays and the idea of going there to ski was very appealing although we were pretty nervous booking so far ahead with regards to snow, and justifiably nervous given the recent weather since the early snow of November. More on that later.....
We set off from home near Exeter around 2pm on Friday 20th and had a largely straight forward journey to Folkestone which took just under 4 hours including some heavy slow traffic on the M26 road works, checked into the Premier inn had a bite to eat then got to bed early before the early start next morning. We arrived at the Tunnel around 4.30 am and luckily got on an earlier train than planned so we were in France and heading south just before 7 am French Time. The journey down was easy and straight forward, kids well entertained with DVDs and games in the back, that is until we hit Sallanches just off the A40 towards Megeve. Traffic was very heavy and slow. We arrived at Les Saisies around 4pm and I collected our ski passes from the Tourist Office. There were reasonably large queues at the ski pass kiosks further up the road but as we had purchased ours on-line we simply picked them up from the Tourist Office with no queue or wait whatsoever. Probably saved half an hour wait. We bought the ED Family Ski pass (good value).
My first obvious mistake then became apparent when collecting our skis from Intersport Julien Sport in Les Saisies. This was an absolute bun fight. They clearly had some new staff and as this was the opening week of the season they were still finding their feet. Not the individuals fault who served us but he really should have had some better training. Eventually I got the right boots for my two kids sorted (me and wife have our own) and got the right skis but this all took around two hours and lots of people were getting very frustrated and tired, including me!! Now the mistake I made was not listening to the advice of PamW who recommended I use Ducrey Sport at Bisanne 1500. My rationale was that I would naturally hit Les Saisies before Bisanne and was worried about delays in travel times and not getting to the ski shop before closing time. The shop in Les Saisies stayed open later than Bisanne and so I plumped for that one. I have always wanted to get skis and boots sorted on the arrival day so as not to waste time doing all that on the Sunday first skiing day. Well lesson learned, certainly at Bisanne 1500 I could comfortably have left the skis until Sunday morning and really have lost little ski time and if we return next Christmas this is exactly what I will do.
As a consequence of the delays at Les Saisies we didn’t get to Bisanne until around 6.30 pm and I really had wanted to arrive there in daylight rather than dark so again that was a bit stressful. We were met by the local lady who tends to the private apartment we rented and she showed us around. We were over the moon with what we found; it was fantastic and looked way better than the internet photos and description. Good underground parking and access to ski lockers and lifts up to ours on the first floor with stunning views along the mountain range and valley floor from the front and perfect view of Mont Bisanne to the rear. I could not speak highly enough of the apartment and complex. Over the week we made great use of the pool which was lovely and warm and nice to relax with kids having fun after skiing each day.
Our apartment was a short walk to the La Rosiere Chair lift at Bisanne 1500. This chair is pretty long and slow and the only way up from Bisanne other than driving. There was virtually no snow around Bisanne although the blue piste Le Planay back down to the lift actually looked in good shape first thing in the mornings and had obviously been maintained very well by the pisteurs. However once up to the top of Mont Bisanne the whole landscape changed and the Les Saisies bowl was looking beautiful with plenty enough snow. Clearly no off piste but all the pistes were in great shape considering the lack of natural snow fall. It was all hard pack but no ice. Our first three days were spent largely skiing the blues and greens around the bowl. We did venture out towards Notre Dame de Bellecombe but came unstuck when we hit a red off Douce which was so icy and mogulled that Mrs Jirac had a bit of a meltdown as she just couldn’t manage it so we returned to La Legette and calmed down a bit on the Blanchots and Sapins pistes.
Christmas Day was superb, despite the fact that it rained! First time I have experienced rain while skiing but I think that because we were all together having such fun on Christmas it didn’t seem to matter. We got up late did the whole present opening and smoked salmon and eggs for breakfast! Kids were super pleased and excited and then we skied from around 11.30 to 2.30 which was plenty enough. It was clear that slopes were now in dire need of snow though and a lot of brown was starting to show through on the well used pistes. We sat down to a super traditional Christmas dinner that evening with all the trimmings and I think it was probably the best Christmas Day I can ever recall.
Overnight into Boxing Day we had around 5 to 10cms of fresh snow up high but rain and sleet down low. So we again headed for the higher points where it snowed quite heavily on and off all day, the pisted runs were great in fresh powder although all got rather mogulled not that it caused any issue. Under ski it was fantastic and we all enjoyed one of the best days skiing ever. The snow didn’t stop and we woke up on Friday 27th to Bisanne 1500 winter wonderland. It was stunningly beautiful. I drove us to Les Saisies (no need for chains with my 4wd and the roads had been well cleared) and we started from the Carrets Lift at 10 am and headed off under perfect blue sunny sky on powder snow. We skied all day until about 4.30have spent a lot of the day over at Crest Voland and Cohennoz. We particularly enjoyed the runs off Mont Lachat and I and eldest daughter enjoyed some off piste below the Cernix and Darbelots chairs. The powder was knee deep and great great fun. Whilst little’un and Mrs j relaxed at the end at Benneton Restaurant on La Legette me and our eldest really enjoyed skiing the reds Lanches and Girolles down to Chozal and Les Saisies. They were a real challenge as very icy in places and powder moguls in others. My daughter was very impressive as this was the hardest skiing she has ever done and she really handled it well. This was without doubt the absolute best day skiing I have had. I have enjoyed some fantastic times on lads trips but I think perfect ski conditions with the family in such a beautiful ski area just tops everything!
The journey back home was sadly arduous. It took three hours to get down from Les Saisies to as far as the Cluses junction on the A40. Traffic was horrendous particulary around Sallanches and approaching each Peage. I was however very pleased with my Sanef TelePeage and skipped a lot of queues using the doofer in the windscreen. Not having to queue whilst everyone else is can be strangely satisfying!! I think next time I may try returning via Albertville, Annecy and Frangy rather than Megeve & Sallanches as I can’t see that being any slower at worst.
Overall we had great trip and I would definitely go back to Espace Diamant and probably do Christmas week again despite the early lack of snow which of course is the one thing beyond control. We took all our evening meals with us and picnic food for during the journeys
The total cost of our trip inclusive of absolutely everything (all ski, travel, food, accommodation and misc spending) came in at just under £1800 for a family of four.
I am sure I have missed out some information but I hope others reading this will gain some experience and ideas about a DIY trip and skiing the Espace Diamant. If anyone has any questions I’ll do my best to answer them. Happy New Year all Snowheads especially PAMW who gave me some sound advice and valuable information about the area and generously offered herself as a local point of contact whilst in resort. Apologies PamW for not taking you up on the offer of meeting up but our week was hectic but I really hope next time we will!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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jirac18, great report. The traffic was probably just as bad through Albertville and Annecy! The weather was certainly very mixed, but I suspect the skiing up here was better than in many of the surrounding areas, judging by other reports. I had a very hectic week too, with some unexpected but very welcome last minute visitors so probably couldn't have been much help - not that it sounded as though you needed any help at all. Your report is a useful illustration that it's possible to do a family trip, in a nice apartment (I do get tired of all those references to rabbit hutches.... nobody needs to stay in a rabbit hutch unless they choose to do so.) without breaking the bank.
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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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pam w, I think it also served us a valuable lesson in that we all tend to get very uptight in the run up to our holidays about snow conditions and that we should probably relax a bit more. Unless the weather is severely dire there is always some snow to ski somewhere howver good quality. A bad day in the mountains on skis is in my opinion better than a day in the office. Enjoying valuable time with family especially at Christmas is sometimes taken for granted. When I was getting a bit fussed over the snow conditions and when it started raining I strangely found comfort from being with the kids who cared not a hoot about the condistions because they were having the time of their lives and laughing and skiing! I appreciate that the real hard core off piste skiers probably won't share my sentiment as their hols are all about the powder.
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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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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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marmotte16, No, I won't be here at half term. My very keen niece and family (who were here at Christmas but renting another apartment) will be borrowing my place. Hopefully the pistes will be in better condition in February. Girolles was very good when I did it with one of my visitors, but I can't remember which day it was - they all blend into one after a bit!
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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marmotte16, Girolles was certainly challenging but have to say we were really pleased once we did it the first time so we did it again. If ever a red was black then that was it for sure
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jirac18, with decent snow girolles is not difficult - steep at the bottom, but also very wide. But any piste can be difficult when conditions aren't right. the reds up on Mont Bisanne (Chamois, Eterlou) are considerably harder but still red, in my view. The Perdrix black is really red too - it's steep at the bottom but super-wide and normally groomed every night. The black down to Bisanne 1500 is harder but not, of course, skiable last week as it is south facing and was mostly grass! The Espace Diamant is known for cruisy intermediate kind of skiing and not an area for those looking for big challenges but there are some harder bits of you look carefully! The reds at the top of Notre Dame are more "technical" (the word always used by the locals) than the ones in Les Saisies.
My son, who is an expert skier, reckons there is some very good off-piste to be found around the area, which doesn't get tracked out immediately as it would in, say, the 3 Valleys. I'm not really an off piste skier but have had some enjoyable private lessons off piste - and I hope to be able to do a bit more after the "On2Off" week in Les Deux Alpes later in January.
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jirac18,
Nice trip report - have good memories of skiing at Les Saisies a few years ago. We benefitted from a complimentary week there whilst waiting for our long overdue MGM apartment at Le Grand Bornand to be built (another story!) I remember being relieved at the high standard of accommodation on offer and the lovely pistes.
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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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pam w, I would agree with all that, for cruisy blue which my wife appreciated it was perfect and then the odd challenging run for me superb. Girolles was very icy when we did it, the black down to Bisanne certainly was grassy so maybe next time I visit it'll be good for a go. I would say we probably covered about 50% or the domain so plenty more to discover.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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marmotte16, sounds like mrs jirac who also lost her nerve on Douce and sadly fell quite a bit  the kids found it all rather amusing which didn't help matters
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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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jirac18, no chance of your getting here outside peak weeks, I suppose? Still, with better snow cover down in the Val D'Arly, Les Saisies itself would be less busy - everyone was up here at Christmas.
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pam w, no sadly not as mrs j is a teaching assistant. We are out again in Feb half term but staying in Morillon and doing the GM........can't wait already 
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You know it makes sense.
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Great trip report. Sounds like you had a great time. We went to les saisies in 2011 which was a bad year for snow but we had some great skiing and enough for us. Going back in march and leaving the kids behind this time eek but very excited as its a lovely place to ski.
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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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jirac18, What a great report, well done and thank you. An area I've never been to to put I have a feeling that will change next year.
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FAQ
It was sheet ice, manmade snow on top, bumps, and M25 traffic at speed. Lots of falling skiers and racing types buzzing through them. I didn't fall, but I lost my nerve big time 
