 Poster: A snowHead
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So, now I am home I thought it might be nice to jot down some thoughts about my recent trip.
Just a little background on me, I've only been skiing 3 times before. And these have all been to USA/Canada and to resorts in the Rockies. So a trip to Europe is a novelty really. My last trip was in January 2011, and I was just starting to feel confident about my ability and was skiing most of the mountain without incident but 2011 was the year my family expanded. So skiing has been at the back of my mind for a while.
Given we now have a wee-un, a trip to the US/Canada is out of the question for us so we thought we would look closer to home. Granny & Nana offered kindly to babysit so we started looking for a short break somewhere close to Geneva as I had sourced some cheap easyjet flights. Friends had mentioned Morzine was a cool place to go with some excellent skiing so that is where we decided to look. First issue encountered was finding some accommodation for Sun-Thurs. It seems its not as easy to get a hotel/apartment here! Possible of course, but at a reasonable price it seems not. Hotels were coming back at £800 plus for 4 nights for 2 star accommodation which seemed poor value for money. We managed in the end to stay at a friends place in Morzine 1000 which was towards the outskirts of town and quiet but on the bus route and about 20mins walk back in the evening. It was perfect. Transfers were arranged with skilifts.com and away we went.
Luckily before we went there had been a decent snowfall on the Saturday night so the pistes were in a reasonable condition. We picked up our gear from the Intersport next to the Super Morzine lift and away we went on Monday am. It was a glorious day, lovely blue skies which we haven't really had the luxury of skiing in yet as it has mainly been overcast/snowing on other trips. A few runs around the Zore lift to find our ski legs and away we went up to Avoriaz (which I t.hought was a rather strange place) Now, we have obviously been spoiled in the past as our trips have all been in what would be considered as off peak times as we thought it seemed quite busy on the lifts, we had to wait 5-10 mins to get on the Proclou lift and people seemed to be pushing in, elbows and poles everywhere so I was a little shocked. Having spoken to people at lunchtime it seems it is quiet! I'd hate to be here if it was busy if that was quiet!
OH wanted to see 'the wall' so we headed up towards that way and up the Cubore lift and did the run under it first which was full of sizeable moguls.
We had lunch at Le Yeti and then spent the rest of the afternoon down towards Les Lindarets where it was really quite warm and the snow seemed to be melting a fair bit. We went up the Chaux Fleurie lift and back down into the valley and that run was carnage, there were folk lying in the middle of the piste and one girl threw her helmet at her partner  it was heavily mogulled and a bit icy/tracked out in parts and seemed to catch a few people out. We called it a day after that and went for a bit of après. Apres has been practically non existent in the other places we have visited and given we were baby free we were looking forward to hitting some of the bars etc. We went to a few of them including the Buddha café and got a pizza and headed back to the apartment.
The next day we decided to head to Chatel. So up the super morzine again and back towards Les Lindarets, the visibility was quite poor today and it was snowing lightly for a while which made me a bit nervous hitting the red down into Plaine Dranse as I couldn't see too far in front! It turned out ok, I actually really liked the part of the mountain over that way. The journey to Chatel was probably my trip highlight. Tuesday night was a trip to L'etale for dinner, I really recommend this place, we had a hot stone meat platter thing where you cook your own meat and it was very very tasty.
The last day was spent over in Les Gets. It was snowing quite heavily and I didn't enjoy the conditions really, I'm not all that confident when I can't see where I'm going. We spent a bit of time around the Charniaz? Tetes lifts and headed up to the top of the Le Ranfoilly. We had lunch in Les Gets and then headed back out. We took a wrong turn at one point and ended up at the bottom of Nyon near to the bus stop. Didn't realise there was a cable car just up the road for a while so wasted a bit of time here, lesson learnt re: checking the piste map! I didn't enjoy the lift back up, the cable car stopped at one point and was swinging in the air a bit too much for my liking!
It was nice to ski back down into the village towards the Pleney lift and the bridge we crossed added to the fun.
All in all, it was a brill few days skiing. I'd love to come back sometime and explore a bit more, it is vast this place. Much much bigger than anywhere I have skied before. I think I have learnt that I must never come skiing here during any public holidays if it was quiet when we were there. Oh, and I have also learnt to book a restaurant on a Wednesday  lol
Last edited by Poster: A snowHead on Wed 12-02-14 15:07; edited 1 time in total
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Aw, it seems my trip report isn't worthy of any comments! 
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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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Comment 
Give em time. They are too busy sliding or watching the lympics
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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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But if you really want comments, mention that you did or didn't wear a helmet!
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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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haha, thanks!
FWIW, I did wear a helmet. A nice shiny POC one acquired from TKmaxx at a bargainous price.
I'm waiting for my OH to edit the clips from the gopro into a video so I could share that, though my skiing will get picked on probably lol
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Nice report. Somewhere I have never been, but intend to go. When the little one is old enough to learn, Try Les Arc, we taught our two there, and found it to be really friendly and quiet (At Easter)
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| ansta1 wrote: |
Comment
Give em time. They are too busy sliding or watching the lympics |
...........or at work.
But I now need to divert my attention from work before I kill someone. So hello there. Glad you enjoyed the trip on the whole. I have only been to Morzine once and it was quiet then - first week in January. Not been to US / Canada so I can't compare it with those sort of places. Why not have a look at somewhere like SkiWelt - Ellmau for example - for your next trip. Big enough area, not as big as Portes de Soleil I don't think, but big enough. Lots of diverse opinion on this forum about prices, and whilst it is true that you can find cheaper places in France, I have personally found Austria and Italy to be a bit cheaper when comparing resorts of similar size / appeal.
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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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My wife and me are just back from our first trip to Morzine we loved it and will defo be back next year.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Having been to Les Gets in half-term (and skied over to and through Morzine) the lifts are no worse than we have seen all over Europe for a British half-term. However I have skied outside of the holiday period and in my opinion the two experiences are complete polar opposites. It is difficult to describe the experience to people that have never been to one (or the other).
The list of eateries in Morzine might be useful (we're self-catering there next week), but I guess that Wednesday is "Catered Chalet Night Off" day, when large numbers of people will be out looking for somewhere to eat. Again... this is one of those things that you only tend to notice when you're stuck in the middle of it.
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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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Great report. I love Les Gets/Morzine/Avoraiz area. I'm there in 2 weeks.
I have booked a chalet weds to sun for the last 2 years without problem but I am not fussy on location. Chalets Direct have lots of owners that have chalets just outside of resorts. They are less popular and have spare weeks outside of peak season. I do not know what your budget is but you can get 4 nights for about £350-£450 per person in a catered chalet. This often includes transfers from the airport and shuttle runs to your preferred ski area. I think this is great. I do not need to be in resort late and we get picked up whenever we are finished skiing/drinking. No walking to lifts, no buses, no storing equipment in town etc.
And I now wear a helmet.
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