Pondering Ste Foy

A snowHead

Looking for a little bit of validation/thoughts on going to Ste Foy. First some basics/background:

We will be heading to France christmas week, 20th to 27th December. We being me, the wife, son aged 9, daughter aged 7. We've been to small resorts like Le Norma and Les Contamines and also large resorts like ADH and Paradiski (several times). Me and the wife have done plenty of skiing before including off piste. The children are good on piste skiers and have done a fair bit of lift served off piste. The 9yo wants to do some snowboarding - he did a couple of hours on our last trip but is effectively a beginner. We intend to get the children bleepers to wear this year as we gradually increase off piste activities, perhaps even take a guide for a half day or two.

I've read the multitude of trip reports on Ste Foy on Snowheads. Attracted by the general consensus of being laid back, not too busy, more extensive than it looks, accessible off piste, etc. Still find it hard to believe 4 lifts can facilitate a whole weeks skiing but the report tell me otherwise!

But I'm also thinking about the tree level skiing being a boon in bad weather. IME christmas week always throws up some snowy, bad vis, windy days. We got away with it a Les Contamines, suffered a bit in ADH last year. Les Coches in Paradiski has been good to us for the tree skiing reason. So am I right in saying that Ste Foy is good for tree skiing in poor weather and that the lifts tend to stay open, etc?

Also thinking my son will enjoy the pistes for learning to snowboard? I get the impression there isn't too many flat sections?

I am thinking this could be the time for us to try Ste Foy out as we can spend a couple of days getting to know the place. My son can dabble with snowboarding. And then as the week progresses we can use the lift served off piste, maybe more. What do people who know it think?

I guess as a back up should off piste conditions be a bit tame or the family feels things are getting a bit repetitive is to drive to one of the nearby bigger resorts. How many days do you get included n the Ste Foy lift pass?

Finally, are their plenty of cheap shoebox self catering apartments close to the main lift station?

Thanks in advance for any thoughts and replies.

A snowHead

Not finding much cheap accomodation in Ste Foy! I think last year I paid 450 Euros in Oz (ADH) last christmas (private rental) and 422 Euros in Les Contamines the christmas before (Contamines agency).

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

Layne, I was in St Foy last February with my family (children 8 &15 years old). Going back this coming Jan with a group of guys and again in February for a repeat family week. I know, I should not shout about it since I loved the place a lot and would prefer to keep it 'secret'. Before coming to St Foy I was also hesitant and thought that nearby Tignes (been there many times) or Val d'Isere would be an escape option should I found St Foy boring ... I did not even think of Tignes or Val d'Isere while in St Foy Smile

Its great and relaxing.

Xmas week is very expensive though ...

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Take a look at Premier Neige, Private Chalet Company, or the White Room Chalet.

Also a place with apartments called la ferme I think. Christmas week isn't cheap anywhere really. One option could be to stay in Bourg and drive up in a hire car, only takes 20 mins?

St Foy itself is amazing. I live in Bourg and ski up there whenever it dumps. Drop me a message if you want to know anymore about the area or fancy a deal on some ski hire... Wink

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Layne, What mooney058, says on St Foy.

Christmas week is busier there and more expensive, also try the St Foy Chalet Company he has a few apartments as well in St Foy and has expanded since last season, if you say Tim from Snowshepherd put you in touch he may smile on you, but then again he may not being Christmas week LOL.

One word of note is that St Foy is WHY i do what I do, the off piste is very easy to get to, but do not try it without the right gear, it can slide very close to the piste, the run of thumb for St Foy is usually if there is a lovely bit of off piste you can see from the lift and no one has skied it, beware !! there is a very good reason!

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timlongs, any advice on a specific taxi company for a week of 10-17 Jan? We are ariving by train to Bourg and need a transfer to St Foy, but nobody could offer this so far (I am a control freek, booking everything well in advance - I know ...) A deal on ski hire would also be nice, if you could kindly extend this offer to me as well wink

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

Layne, all your assumptions are correct. Go for it! I went last year; loved it.

If you have transport, it's very easy to have a day trip to other resorts. Paradiski and Espace Killy day passes are reduced price with a Ste Foy pass, but not included.

I'll be there between when you and when mooney058 are there, staying at the White Room Chalet. Sorry to miss you both.

I had a great day out off piste with Dimitri from Snocool http://snocool.com/. He can lend you avi gear if you don't have it.

mooney058, my group last year got ski hire from Zig Zags, who were very good.

After all it is free

Layne, do it. Like most people here, I've been to many of the big name resorts in Europe, but IMO none of them beat Ste Foy for a family holiday. Your 9 and 7 year old don't need loads of nearly-identical piste motorways. If they're like my kids at that age, they'll want to keep repeating the same few runs until they're intimately acquainted with every bump, every fun diversion through the trees, every place to get air.

From your point of view, it's hard to lose your kids in a small resort so you'll be more relaxed. There are no crowds and no queues so your temper won't fray. And, in the unlikely event that you get bored yourself, you can easily do a day trip to Les Arcs, Val d'Isere or Tignes.

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Thanks all for your input. I think I've just got to do it!

To be fair I've had some great trips to big name resorts though I've learnt for me it's crucial where you stay, especially with the kids. But I liked Les Contamines a lot and am confident Ste Foy will be a winner.

All I've got to do now is source an apartment. I've been at Christmas several times so know it's a peak week second only to new year and Feb half term. Finding something in our price range that ticks our boxes takes a little bit of hunting but Ste Foy appears to have plenty of luxury accomodation and not too many "rabbit hutches". Still, I will persevere. I guess the cost of the lift pass gives some leeway.

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

Looks like Ste Foy is going to have to wait. I was struggling to find any budget priced apartments. Started looking at other smaller resorts (Chamrousse, Devoluy) and some large resorts I want to get back to (3V/Killy) but in the end we decided to take a punt on Les 7 Laux. 120k of piste, some good lift served off piste, 1k of vertical. It's easy to get to, 40km east of Grenoble. We've secured a private let apartment for 300 Euros and there is family deal on the lift pass. Seems to tick all our boxes, lets see how it works out. Thanks all, I am sure I will be in Ste Foy at some point.

snow reports

Sorry to crash this thread Layne, but I'm considering Ste Foy for the first week of Easter and was wondering if any of you lovely folks (timlongs) could advise on how well conditions hold up at this time of year (I know nothing is certain!)
Thanks Smile

As a owner in Ste Foy of over ten years in a normal winter I would expect all runs to be open , great cover off piste above the second lift , expect hard pistes first thing softening up though out the day to slush on the home runs in the afternoon , spring rules apply ski 10 till 2 and have a long lunch , one of the best times of year . Normally at this time of year we ski one day at Ste Foy and the next visiting the other local resorts , La Rosiere for a trip in Italy , Les Arcs via Villaroger , Val/Tignes via Tignes Le Brev . In the higher resorts you can still find winter conditions above 2500ms in the afternoon at this time of year , Ste Foy doesn't have much skiing above this level .

You know it makes sense.

As a owner in Ste Foy of over ten years in a normal winter I would expect all runs to be open , great cover off piste above the second lift , expect hard pistes first thing softening up though out the day to slush on the home runs in the afternoon , spring rules apply ski 10 till 2 and have a long lunch , one of the best times of year . Normally at this time of year we ski one day at Ste Foy and the next visiting the other local resorts , La Rosiere for a trip in Italy , Les Arcs via Villaroger , Val/Tignes via Tignes Le Brev . In the higher resorts you can still find winter conditions above 2500ms in the afternoon at this time of year , Ste Foy doesn't have much skiing above this level .

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

What Rob Mackley said!

Easter usually sees full cover throughout the resort, all pistes open, no worries. It can get slushy lower down.

I've been living here 7 years and have seen deep powder and full winter conditions at Easter on 3 of those years, classic Spring conditions on 3 years and one year of which we shall not speak (disastrous throughout the French Alps).

A snowHead

Don't ponder.... Do it!!!

It's a fab resort for families with young children.

Been coming for six years or so and booked for NY and Easter.

Snow is normally reliable.

Accommodation - try owners direct.

A snowHead

To add a little balance, I spent last New Year in Ste Foy with my wife and children, 16 and 11. I enjoy skiing off piste and the kids are just learning to go off piste so Ste Foy seemed like a great choice. However, the unanimous verdict was that although we had a nice holiday we would not bother going back for the skiing. While all resorts are busy at New Year, the tiny number of lifts meant that it was very hard to avoid the queues at rush hour, plus the very limited piste was quickly repetitive and always busy. The off piste was good and easily accessible but very quickly tracked out in the obvious areas. It was not until I spent a day with a guide that we found some untracked snow. In a similar vein, the limited ski hire in such a tiny resort meant that my kids had to hire old skis, in poor condition and not the type they were looking for ( learning to go off piste) as they had run out of better stuff.

Aside from the skiing, the resort seemed flooded with English tourists, to the point where it felt like they were the only people in resort, even in the ESF office! I realise that for some this is welcoming, but we felt that the resort was missing that 'foreign holiday' feel. That said it is a beautiful location, we had some excellent meals out, and had very nice accomodation at a reasonable price, but overall, we have had much better holidays in small resorts in Austria or Switzerland, where we really felt like we were just visiting the locals private playground, rather than joining the rest of the Home Counties on tour.

On the positive side, we stopped in the Etoile des Cimes self catering apartments and were very impressed for the price, they were new and very clean, well equipped and very close to the slopes.

I hope this does not come across as too negative, but we chose to go there last year based partly on what I had read here last autumn, and it was not quite what we were expecting. It certainly isn't a bad place to go and offered a completely different, and at times very pleasant experience compared to the mega-resorts, but I'm not sure we will go back in the near future.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

Critical_Al, New Year is the busiest week of the season in Sainte Foy. Amazed that you couldn't get decent skis for the kids - there are 6 ski hire shops in a very small resort!

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Yes, you are quite right. Queues at New Year seem to be the same everywhere these days, but the bottlenecks did seem to be more pronounced due to the single point of uplift for the lower two lifts. The same was true with places to eat at lunchtime, even our guide gave up after 45 mins of searching for a lunch stop that had spaces, and suggested a quick snack at the little shack at the top of the second lift before pressing on.
The issue with hire was that we had pre- booked kit, but on arrival they were literally the last pairs in the shop, take it or leave it. We could have gone elsewhere but it was lot of money to throw away.

I found a lot to like about Ste Foy, and for the off piste would come again and hire a guide, but the sheer quantity of Brits everywhere combined with the infrastructure not quite catching up with the (presumably recent)levels of popularity made it feel like trying a little too hard at the moment. Maybe another visit during the quieter weeks would show another side to it, I'm always looking for excuses to go skiing more often!

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

There is a new, additional chairlift from the resort, linking up to the Marquise planned in the very near future which will reduce the holiday-season, ski-school start-time bottle-neck.

There are indeed a lot of Brits in the resort, especially during the holidays. Guess you either like that or you don't! I still automatically speak French to everyone I meet on the mountain, I'd say the French are still in the majority, but only just. It's nice that most of the resort businesses (shops, bars, restaurants) are all still French owned and run.

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Critical_Al, welcome to Snowheads. Looks like you chose the right username wink

I've never been skiing New Year week, Christmas suits us so I couldn't say if it's the same everywhere or if Ste Foy suffers more. I suspect it's a bit of both tbh. New year is certainly a peak week on a par with Feb half term from what I can tell but also Ste Foy has been "on the radar" for a few years now and having a "resticted" lift system is going to get hit.

Regarding the skiing it's interesting to hear your views aswell so thanks. Perhaps a quieter week and knowing the off piste seems to be the way to go.

Things like your hire ski issue and not being able to get lunch don't help enamour you to a place either.

Help!!

Pondering Ste Foy

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