Ski Club 2.0 Home
Snow Reports
FAQFAQ

Mail for help.Help!!
Log in to snowHeads to make it MUCH better! Registration's totally free, of course, and makes snowHeads easier to use and to understand, gives better searching, filtering etc. as well as access to 'members only' forums, discounts and deals that U don't even know exist as a 'guest' user. (btw. 50,000+ snowHeads already know all this, making snowHeads the biggest, most active community of snow-heads in the UK, so you'll be in good company)..... When you register, you get our free weekly(-ish) snow report by email. It's rather good and not made up by tourist offices (or people that love the tourist office and want to marry it either)... We don't share your email address with anyone and we never send out any of those cheesy 'message from our partners' emails either. Anyway, snowHeads really is MUCH better when you're logged in - not least because you get to post your own messages complaining about things that annoy you like perhaps this banner which, incidentally, disappears when you log in :-)
Username:-
 Password:
Remember me:
👁 durr, I forgot...
Or: Register
(to be a proper snow-head, all official-like!)

Traffic Back to Chambery from Maurienne Skiing?
 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead

Off for our first trip to Val Cenis on Sat 7 March. Can't wait Very Happy.

Our flight back from Chambery on 14 March leaves at 15.15 so (as we have a hire car) the plan is to ski the morning of departure day.

So the question is, how busy does the Maurienne Valley/motorway get on a changeover day in mid-March? How long should we allow to get back if we aim to be at the airport from Val Cenis for about 13.15? Could it be gridlock?

An alternative could be to ski somewhere nearer to Chambery for a (possibly) shorter transfer? Say Orelle (right next to motorway) or maybe some little resort that we've never heard of - but a snowHead can recommend?

Cheers.
snow report
snow report
 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person

Barring Snowmageddon3, I think you'll be surprised at how quiet the roads are. It'll still take a while back to Modane but, after that, I'm sure you'll be flying along.

For places nearer Chambery, Orelle is the obvious choice with the lift right by the old road. But remember you'd have to spend time in the gondola going up and down. A little more adventurous would be Les Karellis, which, although up a side road, is right by the snow, is probably nearer a motorway junction and also offers easy parking for day visitors.

Also consider:
Albiez-Montrond which is up a long and windy side road but is particularly pretty with very easy parking - often directly opposite lift!
Valfrejus which is back near Modane up a short side road. Easy parking and decent area.
St Francoise Longchamp is furthest down the valley but up a long side road. Big area and enclosed carpark.
There are other stations but none of them strike me as ideal - mostly because of the parking and/or access road.
ski holidays
ski holidays
 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?

it's about an hour from Mondane to Chambery outskirts - given airport is the other side I'd leave 1.5 hours. . . . so from Val Cenis leave 2 hours.

With needing to be there 2 hours beforehand with time for car drop off and a bit of contingency say leave 4 1/2 hours

I think you are being optimistic around skiing on day of travel as you'd probably need to be off the slopes for say 10:30 to be in the car moving for 11 to give you just over 4 hours before flight. Not sure you should venture from Val Cenis on day of travel - Orelle would be great if you had more time but a 15 minute bubble ride to get up to 2500

Good news is rarely gridlock around so be relaxed about that.
snow report
snow report
 You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.

@mountainaddict, I might see you there, we are staying at Termingnon. The Intersection on the AutoRoute with Albertville can get busy, leading through Chambery.
ski holidays
ski holidays
 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Ta for the very helpful responses.

As we have previously skied twice for an hour on departure morning (well worth it - so much better than an hour at Xscape etc!) - I would think we will go for it Smile - especially as an extra day's ski pass (IIRC) for Val Cenis (if we decide to ski there on departure day) is only about €14.
snow report
snow report



Terms and conditions  Privacy Policy