 Poster: A snowHead
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Here is the requested report from last week.
If there are any questions/thoughts etc feel free to ask.
PRICE
Everything was as per my post last week.
1. Ski hire for two days was 19E and boot hire 2E!
2. Mountain restaurants for lunch were outrageously cheap. My mate and I had a large bowl of ravioli, a coke and a foccaccia to share and it came to 18E AND it was as tasty as you would expect in Italy. Compare that to just about anywhere else and you will see what I mean.
3. We teamed up with Roger C and his mate Matthew and had dinner together in the hotel. The three courses were fantastic and we had two bottles of lovely Merlot at 8E each. We then went out on a pub crawl and found large beers to be 1 or 2E except in the disco they were 5E.
In summary, price wise it was a shock. Ski holidays are about overpriced everything and being fleeced and this wasn't. It was superb in that respect.
TRAVEL
The transfer from Bergamo to Foppolo in a mini bus took about 75 minutes and without snow or ice on the roads. This was a touch disappointing but not so bad in realty.
ACCOM
The Hotel Deux Alpes is located right next door to a drag lift and can be skiied to at the end of the day. Sadly the drag which was the entry point to about 1/3 of the runs, was not running and all those slopes not used. The hotel itself was actually very smart and well superior to the shabby ski lodgings I am so used to! It was clean, tasteful and the proprietors couldn't do enough to help. The breakfast and the dinner were both very good, and the staff very friendly and helpful. I would go back just to stay there as to me it had a lot of the personal touches that others lack and it was such good value for money. 192E for bed, half board, ski pass 2 days and transfers.
Another 3 star hotel which is supposedly on par is the Hotel Cristallo right at the base of the main entry point chair.
SNOW CONDITIONS
As Ray Zorro reported last week the wind seemed to have taken much of it and it really does need a good dump. The surfaces were very hard and the amount of traffic (particularly learner snow boarders) didn't help matters.
PISTES
Roger C would be better placed to comment on this as he skied virtually everything open BUT he did rent a snowboard for the Saturday afternoon for the first time in his life - conclude what you will!
From my view point and by virtue of background I am a 10 year boarder and a week and a half skier who doesn't wish to board again. I can ski parallel but will struggle with technique and confidence when I get tired or if it gets too steep, icy etc. I found the first slope a blue a little tricky at places to be honest due to enormous traffic and true beginners flopping about everywhere. To get away from that blue involved some trickier, thin and quite steep reds I understand. I didn't venture but asked quite a few people, locals and ski school included. They all said stick to the first blue. This was gutting as there is only so many times you can do one piste.
MILANESE
By the car load and lots of cars at that. Heaving to say the least. Many good to look at.
THE UP SIDE AND CONCLUSION
There is a club called Grizzly which is hugely entertaining. The 40-something barman was worth the visit alone. Again, ask Roger C! The punters were like a zoo's inhabitants. For example a young lady that closely resembled Wayne's mate Garth in Waynes World made me feel very fortunate to be there!
The weather was gorgeous - cold but sunny.
Nursery slopes and sled run are small but look really good for kids and there were loads of them. I would take my family there just for that.
I would say that I would go again if I knew all slopes were open and it had snowed. Very convenient, very cheap and good fun. I'd say don't take a beginner and don't go for longer than a weekend as you will ski it out quickly.
As I said - queries welcome. PM or otherwise.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Peter Leuzzi, well done a very comprehensive report. I'm tempted as I can fly Dublin to Bergamo direct as my mates live in Milan anyway, although unfortunately one of them dislocated his shoulder boarding recently in Madonna. You said the transfer was included in the price of the hotel, did the bus pick you up and send you home close to your flight times? Also why did you give up snowboarding? 
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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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Peter Ross, the transfers were so painless in that respect. Swapped a few emails with the hotel and so when we arrived my name was up in lights and they were waiting for us. On the way back our flight was 730pm I think and we left the hotel at 4pm after they gave us access to a room for a shower.
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Also why did you give up snowboarding?
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I got sick of spending so much time sat in the snow; bindings on/off; chair lifts etc Also as I approach 40 I thought I'd best get skiing now as I want to be on the slopes for many years to come and don't think my body could handle the pounding it was getting as I get much older. It was hard to resist getting hold of a board at the weekend as my problems would have gone away, but I really want to learn the skiing discipline to the same level I can/could board. Learning is fun in itself.
If you are tempted you should give it a go. Midweek might be best if you can manage it.
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Peter Leuzzi, brilliant report, thanks for the info. It sounds like you'd say that the hotel transfer was better than self-drive (speed versus time and hassle parking, I guess)? What time did you make it onto the slopes on the first day and leave the slopes on the second?
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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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slikedges, Def hotel transfer.
We flew in on Friday night so by the time we had breakfast (where we were handed our lift passes), got a lift to the ski shop, dealt with the hire (which was painless) we were on the slopes for 10am. We came off at 3-ish and Roger C did an extra hour beyond that and was on the slopes about 30 mins before us.
Not that we did it, but we had sufficient time the following day to ski to the hotel and go inside and have a shower and get on the bus. Roger C arrived back at around 3pm I think doing all that, and had time to spare.
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to reinforce the comprehensive report from Peter Leuzzi....
Foppolo is a great place for a cheap weekend's skiing but a bit limited if you like cruising miles and miles of well groomed piste. To be honest i dont think we visited when snow was at it's best.
Would also recommend the Hotel Des Alples, very friendly. Most of the hotel staff actually seemed to be in the aformentioned Grizzly club on Sat night but still all appeared to be on good form on Sunday morning (unlike Peter/Steve/Matt and I!!!)
This coming weekend i'm off to Champoluc so will be able to compare and contrast.....
My skis have just arrived back on Saturday after the Foppolo weekend, BA had misplaced them!!!!
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