 Poster: A snowHead
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Dear all
After spending lots of time taking advantage of everyone else writing trip reports, I thought it was about time I returned the favour for our trip to Val Thorens, so here goes...
Us.
Family of four, two girls 6 and 7 (second proper week skiing), one female friend (first week skiing) and two male friends (experienced skiers), who stayed in a hotel.
The Plan.
We prefer self catering/DIY because a) its cheaper, b) like doing our own thing and are in control of our own holiday c) don't want to pay extra for four courses and canapes-food is fuel. So got Easyjet flights to Geneva on the morning they were released(£300), drove ourselves into resort (2 1/2 hours) and booked the apartment over the internet. Car hire at Geneva with Firefly (£220)-all worked very efficiently.
I was out in France beforehand so I did a big shop in St Julien de Bonneville before picking up the wife and girls at Geneva.
The Apartment.
We needed somewhere with three sleeping areas as the beginner friend was staying with us so this limited options. We rented a 60 m2 place in L'Hermine through the VT website-number 71 on the map-for £700. A bit dated and not ideal ski in/out but it did the job and was quiet. Next time we'll only need one or two bedrooms so will get somewhere directly on the piste.
Ski Lessons.
We spend the money saved going DIY/not eating out during the day on private lessons. This was a great investment as the girls really enjoyed it and made massive improvements-both parallel turning top-end blues by the end. We used SkiCool and stuck gold with Chloe as their instructor-she was young, enthusiastic, friendly-the girls loved her (so did the chaps....) . 660 euros for 11-1 x 6 days, but they did an early booking deal of 545 euros which I missed by faffing about and not booking in time. We will definitely stick with privates in the future-a better investment than daily 15 euro pizzas in mountainside restaurants.
Our beginner friend had a private lesson with Denis to start her off and was not so impressed-she found him quite uncommunicative and just expected her to follow him around the slopes. My wife had a private lesson with Joelle and really enjoyed it-so perhaps the luck of the draw?
The Skiing.
Despite the recent warm weather....fantastic. We just took the VT pass which was perfect for us. All 150 km was open and although there was no off-piste to be had, it was one of the best weeks of piste skiing I can remember. I had skied the week before in La Plagne on a school trip and VT was far better in every regard. A world class lift system-no slow chairs, well planned and very little queuing. Pretty much all skiing is above 2100 m whereas in LP, there is a lot at low altitude meaning VT had more servicable km. Snow was great quality through the day with only Plein Sud and the runs through the resort getting soft by the end. Quitet a few idiots hooning down the resort runs and Plein Sud-we had a number of near misses with the girls.
We generally did half an hour before lessons @ 11, picked the girls up at one for lunch/film...then back out 3-5. We couldn't hold the girls back from going back out and had to drag them back in at 5.
Val Thorens.
We didn't warm to the resort itself as much as the skiing, but it's got everything you need. Despite staying there a few years ago, we found it initially tricky to navigate and ended up finishing skiing at the wrong end of town a couple of times. It seems more like two villages joined at the commercial centre. If you want a quiet week, there are definitely some streets/apartment blocks you'd want to avoid-use the excellent interactive map on the resort website to identify where the bars and nightclubs are.
For ski hire, we used Intersport (Ski Sarl) as it was nearest. Everyone was happy with their equipment although they weren't exactly effusive in their welcome when we entered.
Conclusion.
All in all, a great week-all done for £2600 all in. We could find a smaller/lower/cheaper resort, but no one ever regretted going high at Easter and as adults, we like plenty of piste skiing for ourselves. We will definitely be back next year!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Great write up - we were out in VT last week too and had a fantastic week's skiing. We got a 3 Vallees pass, but soon realised all the best skiing was in VT anyway (we got soaking wet with rain on a trip to Meribel!). The runs in Orelle was a particular highlight, some cracking red runs on quiet pistes. Perfect!!
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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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snowhound, Great report. Thanks
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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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Nice report - plenty of useful info for anyone planning a trip.
| snowhound wrote: |
| All in all, a great week-all done for £2600 all in. |
IMV that's a bargain for a week's all-in ski trip for 5 adults & 2 kids. I'm impressed! Or doesn't that include all of you?
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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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Sorry-the £2600 was our cost-total was about £3000 and our beginner friend paid us the difference for a larger apartment and car, her food etc.
Didn't get over to Orelle at all last week; I vaguely remember skiing down there about five Easters ago and it being really soft (even at the top) after 11 o'clock?
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