 Poster: A snowHead
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Finally making it to one or other of these resorts this April.Looking for recommendations on one or the other.Normally would go to Tigned Val Claret, Val Thorens or Kirchberg.
Skiing as a family.Love covering ground and would go down anything on piste.Would quite happily ski from VT to far end of Courcheval for lunch and back again for a great day. Research so far is suggesting Les Arcs beside the Vanoise Express.
Love to hear your thoughts and recommendations.Thanks.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@GarryC, I don't think there is a big difference, probably more important to find an accommodation deal which works for you regardless of which side of the Vanoise Express you choose.
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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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From my experience I prefer the skiing (and standard of skiers) in Les Arcs but would be buying a full Paradiski pass anyway so would go with the accommodation that suited best.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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@GarryC, I will be in Les Arcs over Easter so of course I reccomend La Plagne. I will not be buying a paradiski pass so will pehaps spend a day in La Plagne (but probably not it depends on the snow approaching the Vanoise Express lift)
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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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@johnE, according to lesarcs.com a decouverte 6 day pass giving you one day in La Plagne is 271 euros. A full paradiski pass for 6 days is 298 euros. For the 27 euros I don't understand why you wouldn't just buy the paradiski pass on the off chance you fancied an extra day/part day over the Vanoise.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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I will be planning to ski both but would like to base myself on the side that I will spend most time on. I know in Tignes the Espace Killy pass gives you an option to ski other resorts for a day but dont see the same offer on Paradski.
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@GarryC, this is what I'm referring to http://en.lesarcs.com/ski/skipasses/paradiski-decouverte.html
It's a Les Arcs pass with an option to ski one day in La Plagne. IMHO it's not worth it as it barely saves you anything over just buying a full paradiski pass allowing you to do whatever you fancy on any given day.
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@swiftoid, 27 euros is 27 euros. Why waste money?
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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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@johnE, on the one day you (might) go over to the other side maybe you'll find some excellent skiing conditions you weren't expecting? Even as a tight Scotsman I'm of the opinion that it's such an insignificant difference (in terms of the cost of a ski week) that limiting yourself over that amount seems silly.
ETA: and if money is the biggest concern you can, IME, save quite a bit more than 27 euro by buying a full paradiski pass and staying in La Plagne even if you want to ski almost exclusively in Les Arcs.
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Hi - just returned from Paradiski. Family same as yourself - love to put in the miles. I like to stay as close as poss to the Vanoise - we usually ski 3 days LaPlagne and 3 days Les Arcs, alternating days gives a good variation.
Monchavin and Les Coches are both only 1 short ski and lift away from Vanoise - although both quite low.
Quite a few very good independent catered chalets in Peisey nancroix (not sure i have spelt that correctly) - which is located below Vanoise - using lobster pots to get up to Vanoise.
Can recommend Chalet Sermoz - skiamis for great location and fab views from hot tub.
Enjoy!
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@Dippy, Thanks for info. Three days in each sounds like a great idea. What were the highlights skiing there. Am very interested to hear your suggestions/ recommendations.
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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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I find both resorts well signposted - so being blond and female helps locating way home easily!
Love les Arcs as seem to be able to achieve a decent amount of skiing withing spending ages on lifts or ques. We were there last week (school hols) - I would never usually ski in Feb - but was pleasantly surprised at how quick the ques did move - and once up and away the ques were less of an issue. Particularly like the black (if it was groomed) from top of Grand Col and also the long Aiguille Rouge run - although did not go all the way down to Villaroger this time. Found some quieter pistes over on Arc 1800. Lots of lovely reds and blues going back down towards Vallandry and Plan Peisey - which are great if visability not good. Grand Renard from Col de la Chal makes a decent run all the way back to Vanoise.
LaPlagne - ques at main resorts were always pretty long - definately improved tho 12-2 and at end of day. Found heading over towards Champagny quieter. Glacier worth the time it takes to get there/back - snow was excellent and ice sculptures, igloo etc an added treat. Lovely easy cruising blues around Belle Plagne / Plagne Bellcote. and if snow good enough runs down towards Les Coches pretty quiet if you avoid 'going home' time!
We love the 3V - was there in January - Paradiski just as good in my opinion - especially if located near Vanoise.
You will have a blast!
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Did a season in La Plagne and I hands down prefer it to Les Arcs. Lots more varied skiing and a real sense of skiing from place to place rather than up and down a mountain.
Highlights for me are Champany on a sunny day, lovely cruisy blues in the sunshine. Plagne Centre bowl around the Grand Rochette and the long ski from the top of the Arpette lift to Montchavin.
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You know it makes sense.
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We stayed in the far side of La Plagne (Aime 2000 area) and didn't even see the Vanoise Express. By the time we'd got across to Bellecote the queues last week were insane, so we only made it up to Roche de Mio a few times, and never ventured further down that valley than the Inversens red (which was nice). Glad we saved the money on the Paradiski pass (when that's x6 those small amounts add up!), but if we'd been based nearer then I think we'd have taken a punt on heading across for more than one day.
Overall prefer 3V, with VT being my preferred option. Can get across to Courchevel and back in time for ski school pick up (on a good day!).
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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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@larkim, Bellecote is always a bottleneck for 2 weeks in Feb (Arpette lift being the worst offender). For the rest of the season it's a case of straight on to every lift in that area. In April it will be dead!
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Poster: A snowHead
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Over the past 20 years my wife and I have been to Paradiski 11 times - staying in Arcs 2000 3 times, Arcs 1800 twice and more recently La Plagne 6 times. We're good intermediates and now in our early 60s aim to ski all open runs. In a week we ski 4 days in La Plagne and 2 in Les Arcs. I recommend staying in Belle Plagne as you are nice and high, but well positioned for the Vanoise Express. If we get the Arpette chair soon after 9:00 we can get to the top of Aiguille Rouge in Les Arcs around 11:00 (in Jan this year there was a 40 minute queue for the AR cable car but we were still at the top by 11:20 and down to Villaroger by 12:00. We find sticking to one resort limiting, so having the flexibility to ski both is what we like (esp if Bellecote Glacier is shut and lower runs are getting bare).
So we tend to do La Plagne in Jan and somewhere else in March. We're off to Val D'Isere this Sat for our 2nd trip of the year - Espace Killy being another favourite, as is VT and the 3V.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@FastCarver74, it was a shame it was bottlenecked like that, and I can well imagine quieter weeks make it a lot easier. We're seasoned (!) school holiday skiers (four kids, wife is a teacher!) but in comparison we've never seen queues like those in Bellecote in the 3V, Grand Massif or Espace Killy, though perhaps those resorts are just better set up for red / black skiers with more intermediate lifts. The problem it seemed to me with La Plagne was that there were so few lifts that just served red pistes, everyone of every ability was queuing for the same lifts. Certainly in VT there is a degree of filtering as "only" skiers confident on reds will go up some lifts.
Don't get me wrong, we had a great time in La Plagne and if we did queue a bit more, it perhaps only amounted to about 30 minutes less skiing per day than we might have managed in previous years in other resorts, so it certainly wasn't the end of the world. Unfortunately (!), we're at that stage of capability and fitness where skiing down a red might only take 4 minutes, so the balance between skiing and queuing is a lot worse than it was when we were gingerly finding our way down blues in about 20 minutes!!
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