 Poster: A snowHead
|
|
That sounds grim. Geneva the least worse?
|
|
|
|
|
|
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
|
| Quote: |
Coastwise it was £400 for Flexiplus Eurotunnel plus petrol & tolls.
|
Really? I thought Flexiplus was about £200 e/w on its own. We must have paid a total of something like £400 too for tunnel, tolls and fuel but that was on advance fixed booking at around £80 e/w.
|
|
|
|
|
|
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?
|
|
Yes, I thought Flexiplus was £199 each way.
|
|
|
|
|
|
You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
|
Re-reading that it looks like @bettys may mean the £400 is just for the Flexiplus with petrol & tolls on top.
Not sure I could justify the extra £240, but I did wonder if all of the mysterious "delays", "cancellations" and "capacity issues" with Le Shuttle during peak times were actually down to lots of Flexiplus users filling up the trains and Eurotunnel just bumping a portion of the booked users onto later trains and making up a load of spurious excuses.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
|
@Ingemar_Skidmark, welcome to snowHeads  Loving the user name!
|
|
|
|
|
|
You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
|
|
For information. Paris have just started their February break this weekend, it lasts for two weeks. Next year they start their holiday on 4th Feb which is very early. This means it does not coincide with all UK half-term dates (but can't say all) Some seem to be taking the week commencing Saturday 18th February, as I've already had two enquiries for my apartment that week from UK families. This means it won't coincide with Paris if you are fortunate enough to have that week.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Thank you. Been lurking on and off for a few years, mainly for equipment reviews, and got a bit full on prior to recent half-term trip to Flaine so signed up. I'll post some sort of trip report of that a bit later (when I've knocked off work!) as there's probably some things relating to other threads (snowmaggeddon/snow chains/Flaine restaurants, etc) where I can add something that may be of use to someone, somewhere.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| knackered knees wrote: |
As Musher mentioned, there weren't many half terms in Europe last week.
Kitzbuhel and Kirchberg were pretty much queueless. Once had a 10 minute wait for the Gondola for the Hahnenkamm and a bit longer at the Steinberg Kogel chair. The latter when everyone around seemed to be trying to ski above the cloud. The rest of the time, including when we went to Ski Welt, we only had a few in front if at all and often had chairs/cabins to ourselves.
The drive down was OK, heavy traffic from Munich to the boarder - it took about 2 1/2 hours on this stretch. Coming back on Saturday, no problems until the construction works on the A8 near Merklingham when the traffic was stop/start for about 25 miles and delayed us for over an hour. All this in snow making us wish we were back in the mountains.
Stopped over in Reims in a very empty hotel, usual delays at Eurotunnel, but home late afternoon. |
We had a very similar experience. The only lengthy lift queue was at the chair you mentioned at Kitzbuhel, that could really do with upgrading. The rest of the week around all the local resorts were pretty quiet, often skiing straight on.
Our journey down was good and we arrived ahead of schedule. Going back was less pleasant, snow giving way to rain half way up Germany. Our overnight in Ypres was very nice though. There was a fun fair in the main square outside the hotel which the kids enjoyed, which luckily shut down at about 9pm.
We were delayed by about an hour at Eurotunnel, but that was better than the 3 hours last year, so home at 4pm.
|
|
|
|
|
|
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.
|
|
Our experience of Les Gets last week was that it was busy but not as mad as others had warned us it could be. Perhaps the slightly crazy weather helped keep the crowds down. Resort was busy-ish but we always got a table for lunch. Main lift queues for gondola and express chair up to main slopes was busy at ski school start times but at worst we waited 15 mins. Elsewhere on the mountain I would say 5 mins was our worst wait. All in all, better than expected.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Quote: |
For information. Paris have just started their February break this weekend
|
This is as I understand it, but what I don't understand is that Chamonix seems to have dropped dead quiet this week. Last week was busy, but not as busy as I've seen in the past (presumably lack of the Paris crowd) but this week is so quiet it's odd. The car park by the bread shop at 8.30am this morning was the emptiest I have ever seen it during any week of winter or summer season, more like May than Feb.
|
|
|
|
|
|
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
|
| Hells Bells wrote: |
| For information. Paris have just started their February break this weekend, it lasts for two weeks. Next year they start their holiday on 4th Feb which is very early. This means it does not coincide with all UK half-term dates (but can't say all) Some seem to be taking the week commencing Saturday 18th February, as I've already had two enquiries for my apartment that week from UK families. This means it won't coincide with Paris if you are fortunate enough to have that week. |
That is the week we have. North Region in Holland, the two other regions go a week later.... but I may go to the states - but that is Presidents Day week, so it will be crowded there as well...
|
|
|
|
|
|
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.
|
|
@midgetbiker, very strange year.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Just to clarify, I meant the Eurotunnel alone was £400 and the petrol and tolls were more on top of that. When we booked we weren't sure whether we'd be able to leave on the Friday; it takes a lot of stress out of the situation to have the extra flexibility.
|
|
|
|
|
|
You know it makes sense.
|
|
|
|
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
|
|
as Telford Mike said, more French about now but Monday was the best weather and perfect snow - love those extra days after hols
|
|
|
|
|
|
Poster: A snowHead
|
| Quote: |
Just to clarify, I meant the Eurotunnel alone was £400 and the petrol and tolls were more on top of that. When we booked we weren't sure whether we'd be able to leave on the Friday; it takes a lot of stress out of the situation to have the extra flexibility.
|
That's a high price for flexibility. We paid £150 for non-flexible but in practice turned up early for both shuttles and were able to get on the trains at no extra charge (admittedly they were off-peak slots but still). Generally they are happy to feed you on to empty slots on trains because after all it is a wasting asset.
On the broader topic we travelled Friday day time on the way out and Friday night / sat early morning on the way back. Journeys were very smooth. In resort (Les Contamines) there were 5-10 min queues for the bubbles from the valley in the morning peak but once people fanned out around the mountain very little in the way of queues after that (had one 5 minute queue for a "strategic" drag). Off piste conditions were excellent which took the pressure off the pistes and with the exception of the last run home we didn't find the pistes unpleasantly crowded. Only real pinch point were the mountain restaurants where you really needed to book if you were in a group.
It really isn't that bad!
|
|
|
|
|
|
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
|
Don't tell the wife, but I managed to book two places on the Eurotunnel for the same car on the same services on the way out, so our £150 Eurotunnel bookings turned out to be £300. Don't quite know how I managed to do that...
We travelled out booked on the 00:50 train on Friday / Saturday night, but arrived 2.5 hours early so hoped to get across a little bit before. However, when we got through we saw the "1 hour delays" signs, but were taken aback when our letter indicated a 04:20 departure time!! Not being ones to make a fuss, we just decided to try to get some sleep in the car and set the alarm for 02:00. However, I couldn't sleep, and 30 minutes after trying I looked up at the board and our letter had gone from 04:20 to 01:20, and then moved back to 00:50! Good job I didn't sleep. It then drifted back a little, and in the end we were on a train which I think left just after 2am.
On the way back we were booked on a 9:30 train, but having over-nighted in a Formula 1 in Calais we got up early and took advantage of an earlier train.
Travel both ways on the roads was trouble free in the UK, the usual story of delays around the Geneva motorways in France (a non-sequitur I know) which seemed primarily related to toll booths.
Queues in resort (Flaine) were not at all bad, except for the Tuesday when the first blue skies appeared and we headed over the Tete de Saix into the Les Carroz / Samoens side. Longest queue was about 40 minutes which is the longest I've ever experienced, but after that day the queuing was fairly ordinary.
|
|
|
|
|
|
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 seems lots of people drive down.
After our experience this year I'd consider driving if we lived in the south east- unfortunately the 7 hour trip to Calais this side (and the state of our car! ) rules it out.
There were plenty of British cars in the same queue as us to get from Lyon into the mountains around Saturday lunchtime - surely thats madness- the whole point of driving for me would be the flexibility not to arrive at that time!
|
|
|
|
|
|
You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
|
For us, the worst queues were in the UK. We left home at 5pm on Friday just after work - not a great time to be doing battle with the M6/M1. Mama Garmin rerouted us via M40 and south of London (wasted £2.50 on Dartford Xing). Then queued for very nearly a whole hour just to cross Dover and into the check-in. Less than 10 minutes after pulling into our lane we were moving again being loaded on our midnight ferry.
Still it was worth it. So much for the half-term hoards:
|
|
|
|
|
|
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
|
|
We left Morzine at 6:15pm Saturday night and arrived at the Eurotunnel at 2:35 Sunday morning. A friend had texted saying they were delayed from 10:00pm to the 3:17am train, so we were worried, but we got the 3:17 train that we were booked on and it left on time. Got home to North London at 4:15, so exactly 11 hours door to door.
|
|
|
|
|
|
You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
|
Not exactly 11 hours.... 
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
We drove down to Kappl in Austria - first time I've been skiing at half term in 18 years of skiing.
We left home at 4am on the Friday and caught the 8am ferry from Dover. Spent an hour or so in Diksmuide looking at the restored trenches to give the children an educational compensation for missing the last day of school, which they thoroughly enjoyed! Got to our overnight stop-over in Ulm slightly later than expected at about 10pm due to managing to hit an area of roadworks at rush hour. Otherwise the drive down through Germany was fine.
On Saturday we left Ulm at about 9, after a leisurely breakfast, stopping off at Fussen on the way to Austria to walk up to the Neuschwanstein castle (much to my children's disgust!) Traffic was slow over the Fern pass, but no stoppages and we made it into resort at 2. Plenty of time to get settled into the apartment and then head off into resort to pick up lift passes, skis and sort out lessons - and then head back down the valley with an empty car to do a food shop for the week.
Kappl was a great resort for a family with young children - and is well set up as such. The compact ski area had (just about) enough to keep us adults happy for the week, and meant that it was easy to get back to the ski school meeting point to collect the children after their lessons. There were no queues worth mentioning at any point during the week - I think the longest we may have had to wait for the gondola at the bottom was about 5 mins.
We left resort at 7am on Saturday morning and drove back through Germany - there were no hold ups at any point, traffic was free flowing all the way. We had trouble with our daughter who had come down with some sort of D&V bug - so we had several stops (and changes of clothes) on the way back for vomiting/emergency dash to a toilet. Dreadful trip from this perspective - but it may have been even worse if we had flown I guess!
We did manage to stop off in Ypres on the way back and show the children the Menin Gate (daughter had rallied by this time) and got to Dunkirk in time to get the 6pm ferry.
Cost - Ferry £84, Fuel £272, Accommodation £604, Ski passes £320 (children free), Ski hire £130, children's lessons £270, overnight stop £88, food £236 - total cost just over £2000 
Who says skiing at half term has to be expensive?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Where were you @altis?
|
|
|
|
|
|
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.
|
My niece and family borrowed my apartment in Les Saisies. They've done every half term for some years now and found this year much less busy than before. The snow was terrific, every piste and lift was open, so it wasn't that. But reports coming in from all over do seem to suggest that this was a particularly quiet half term. There were certainly lift queues - and at some (predictable) times they were quite bad, but not like other years.
I'll be back there next week and there won't be any queues at all!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I was in Argentiere 2 weeks before half term, and for half term.
The queues were worse in the non-half-term week. In the entire half term week I didn't queue for more than 60 secs in Argentiere. Le Tour, the easy area at the end of the valley, peaked at a 15minute queue at the worst chair at the worst time. This was avoidable by taking a couple of drags instead.
Then again, I was there for the supposedly awful Paris+UK Feb half term week last year, and as I posted at the time, it wasn't at all bad.
I think many people's views of half term are influenced too much by history (I can also remember hour long queues in days gone by!) and not always updated by the reality of modern lifts.
|
|
|
|
|
|
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
|
| pam w wrote: |
My niece and family borrowed my apartment in Les Saisies. They've done every half term for some years now and found this year much less busy than before. The snow was terrific, every piste and lift was open, so it wasn't that. But reports coming in from all over do seem to suggest that this was a particularly quiet half term. There were certainly lift queues - and at some (predictable) times they were quite bad, but not like other years.
I'll be back there next week and there won't be any queues at all! |
I think everybody was in Bansko!
|
|
|
|
|
|
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.
|
|
Went to Avoriaz for half term and had a great time. A few long lift queues at hub areas and bottle-necks at busy times of day but on the whole it was fine. Weather and snow were very good too on the whole.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
@annaa, sorry, that was Pila. It's reputed to be rammed with British kids on Interski trips at half term but they weren't visible most of the time.
|
|
|
|
|
|
You know it makes sense.
|
|
This last half term saw some very good conditions, with all or most runs open. That makes a big difference. Daughter and BF (teachers) spent a half term in Flaine some years ago when snow throughout the lower areas of the GM was poor or non existent. They found Flaine horribly crowded. Not the lifts so much as the pistes. They are good skiers, and were in the highest of the UCPA ski lesson groups on offer and found it quite scary - very hard, slick, fast, pistes crowded with people, many of whom had little control.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
|
@snowdave, the situation at Grand Montets (and therefore to some extent everywhere in the Chx valley) has been massively eased by the new Plan Joran gondola, especially at peak times.
The only significant queues I've seen recently have been for the Flegere cable car (though Idris has posted up some impressive pics of queues down at Les Houches).
edited as 'GM' abbreviation was being used differently to in the post above
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
FAQ
