 Poster: A snowHead
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We are planning on renting for the season this year, we won't be there full time but a few weeks and most weekends.
We're considering Morzine which will give us access to PDS or Morillion (near Samoens) for Grand Massif.
Which is likely to offer the best/most varied skiing for good intermediates? We've been to Morzine/les gets a few times and are happy with it but thought perhaps we could try somewhere different.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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897sma, While we very much like the GM and the Samöens valley, I find the PDS significantly more varied, but then I've skied it a lot more. Only probably skied about 40-50 days in the GM vs ~450 in the PDS (something like that anyway).
PDS has (technically) more skiing though it's actually a big enough collection that it's not super easy to ski all of it. I.e. in 26 years of visiting I have never driven down to Gd Turche to ski and only skied Torgon a handful of times.
Morzine is a much bigger village and got quite a bit more going on. Although it is certainly doing it's best to compensate for all the French moving into central London - it seems difficult to find a native francophone there these days - even some of the aging, very, very French hotels have started to establish anglophone management. Not that that's necessarily a bad thing regards customer service, imagination, motivation, etc.
Bear in mind that Morzine is ~20-30 minutes longer drive from GVA than Morillon, especially in heavy traffic e.g. busy season Sunday evenings...
[P.S: I don't think either would be a poor choice!]
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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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We've never skied PdS, so can't compare the two, but one thing to think about is the relative costs of season passes. We were trying to decide on an area to visit multiple times last year and landed up in GM, based partly on lift pass price.
Last year the GM pass was €465 if bought by early December, which equated to about two weeks 'normal' ski pass purchase. PdS was more complicated, with the following options, again for purchase by early Dec
Whole area - €778.50
Morzine, Les Gets - € 340.00
Avoriaz - € 431.00
In each case, your season pass brings you a few days out at other resorts, too.
For absolute flexibility in GM you may want to think about Les Carroz, especially if you will have a car. Les Carroz is a proper town 'up the mountain' but still only about 20 mins from the autoroute. Once there, we think the bus system is better than Morillon (which has big gaps in the middle of the day), and you can park for free right by the telecabine, or drive about 6 or 7 minutes up towards Flaine and step straight from your car onto the slopes. If there is a shortage of snow, or the links are closed due to wind, it only takes about 15 mins to drive right up to Flaine and ski from there.
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897sma, my vote would be with Morzine - simply for the huge variety of terrain that you can access. IMV it also has the benefit over the GM that there are less places you can get caught in a bottleneck or stuck by a lift closure.
Some alternatives to consider:
- Chatel - still on the Portes du Soleil, but getting a new lift to connect into the Avoriaz side this year
- Megeve and associated resorts - cruising heaven
- Les Houches - Les Houches itself is great for intermediates and you then have access to the rest of the Chamonix valley if you fancy variety.
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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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sj1608, sound thinking. We almost bought a GM pass two years ago in addition to our Chamonix passes as we were very marginally going to make that worth while (and arguably could have done).
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Interesting the different views! In GM, you never get stuck as a result of a lift closure as they guarantee a free bus back to where you came from. PdS don't, and it was another reason that we chose GM. It only takes one or two expensive taxis a season to rack up some serious overspend!!
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I hadn't thought of Les Houches, FlyingStantoni. Good shout and I would imagine that rental properties would be quite good value there. Chatel is just that little bit further to drive without (IMV) adding anything particularly super-appealing.
Megeve (or indeed, somewhere like St Nicolas de Veroce) worth considering.
sj1608, what an odd guarantee. I have never been stuck anywhere in the PDS as a result of lift closure.
It's a lot easier for the GMs to get someone from Les Carroz to Morillon for example, than for the PDS to get someone from Torgon to Morzine, & frankly, if you aren't managing your time correctly...it's hardly the operator's fault is it?
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Ah, under a new name, think we're at cross purposes! I didn't mean lift closure due to you getting to the lift too late, but due to the weather.
We got stuck in Flaine when lifts closed after the wind suddenly picked up in the middle of the day and we were very promptly delivered back. Someone told me that if that happens in PdS they just smile and shrug their shoulders.....
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| sj1608 wrote: |
| they just smile and shrug their shoulders..... |
I didn't even get a smile when I got stranded down in Les Gets last year when I asked how to get back to Morzine 
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897sma, if you had bumped into us we would have smiled and told you about the bus that runs along to Morzine.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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sj1608, ah, sorry, I thought that was what you meant initially, but then changed my mind.
I've never had a wx related problem either...I don't think I've even heard of it happening in the PDS although I'm sure it must have done. Maybe they're just a little more cautious about opening the liaisons? 897sma, did you miss the last lift or did they close due weather without warning?
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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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under a new name, they closed the lifts due to windy weather, the only route was down to Les Gets, I asked at the the ticket office if they we likely to re-open and they just shrugged, then asked if there was a bus or taxi and she just shrugged again and turned back to her screen.
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You know it makes sense.
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897sma, that's particularly unhelpful. And impolite even if she didn't have a clue. The Tourist Office might have been a better call.
Were all the lifts out? as if you could at least have got yourself to Lhotty's you could have got back to Morzine, with only a teeny, tiny, little uphill walk. Although if she didn't even know about buses... 
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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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GM Season pass this year is Euro 475 if purchased by 10/12 with a cheap insurance option
Don't bank on getting into the les carroz gondola carpark if you arrive after 9am, especially february
Bus Line A is frequent, every 15 mins or so. much more frequent in the morning, its does the main areas of the village, BUT if you are at the edges then the other routes are much less frequent. eg Araches
As its higher les carroz tends to be brighter in mid winter and less prone to valley fog than morillon or samoens.
The queue of cars through the village at end of play at the weekend is grim
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Poster: A snowHead
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| carroz wrote: |
| The queue of cars through the village at end of play at the weekend is grim |
897sma it's worth saying that IMV you get much better value out of a weekend if you can fly back first thing on Monday morning. You (well, I) otherwise spend the weekend worrying about traffic. It does involve getting up "quite early" though...
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| Quote: |
The queue of cars through the village at end of play at the weekend is grim
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I can attest to that.
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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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But at least it's only 10km of queuing from Les Carroz to the bottom of the mountain.....just think how far it is from somewhere like Tignes until you hit a decent road.
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sj1608, aye...
Only took me an hour and a bit to get to the A40 whereas we have done a 7 hour Geneva to Vd'I journey. Which was our own stupid fault...
I would note that Chamonix has rarely taken us any more than an hour... 
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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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| Quote: |
As its higher les carroz tends to be brighter in mid winter and less prone to valley fog than morillon or samoens
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a useful point - I often sit on my mountainside at 1550m in bright sunshine looking down either on a sea of cloud or a deep Beaufort valley still in shade. And with frequent temperature inversions it's often warmer up the mountain too. Beaufort town can be perishing cold - there is often freezing fog with the trees clearly marking the lower inversion level, white up to a clear demarcation line, then black above. Rather beautiful but not where I'd rather be spending my time.
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We're able to do long weekends so late flight Friday out and late Monday back or early Friday/early Monday so should be able to miss much of the weekend traffic.
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Worth mentioning that getting across the border for a pre 10.30 flight can be a real time consuming hassle. Mondays are particularly bad. It is caused by people working in Geneva who live in the Annecy area going to work. The road into Bardonnex from Annecy is joined by the A40 turn off and, bang, huge queues down the A40 and a missed flight. That was me five years ago and never again. Get a nice late morning flight.
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"people working in Geneva who live in the Annecy area going to work"
Imagine. Selfish Fitzwilliams.
Why don't they get proper jobs in London and enjoy the queue free M25?
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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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I would pick PDS over GM. Skied both and enjoyed both, but I think if you were going to do a lot of ski ing over a season it would be more varied in PDS. Of course if you get bored and fancied a trip to the other it is not the longest of drives as well
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