 Poster: A snowHead
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Hello All,
So little DF arrived in mid March (kind enough to let me get in some January skiing  ) We are looking at trying to organise a family trip with the LDF in January. The thoughts are St Foy or Montgenvre. We will be mixed group - definitely looking for a couple of days of off piste and guiding but others will be wanting nice piste skiing. Would lvoe to get thoughts on either resorts or other options.
Looking for a smallish resort, nice atmosphere and good place to be able to hang out if not skiing/looking after LDF.
Also any tips with going skiing with nippers (LDF will be 10 months)?
Thanks
DF
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Also any tips with going skiing with nippers (LDF will be 10 months)?
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At 10 months the fact that it's a ski holiday is fairly irrelevant. Does your group include other infants? Holidays are never going to be the same again. At present your new addition stays where he's put and has a limited number of ideas of his own. At 10 months it'll be a whole different story! He'll probably be mobile with very clear ideas about what he is willing to eat and where he is willing to sleep....
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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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One tip - take a pack of balloons I your suitcase. When inflated toddlers love playing with them and they take up next to no weight or space in luggage.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Someone might not be skiing much since LDF can't be left alone. Are you and his mother in agreement on who will be with him, when?
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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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@Dublinfella, Les Gets might fit your needs and has a relatively short transfer from Geneva if you could fly there. St Gervais likewise.
St Foy is pleasant but not sure it would suit, especially for a full week. A positive is that it is easy enough to access Paradiski (via Villaroger) and EK from there, if you don't mind the journeys.
Tips for ski hols with nippers? Get good childcare if you can. From our experience, don't use French resort crèches for babies - understaffed, overstretched.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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A "family" ski company might be an idea if budget suits?
E.g. Ski2 in Champoluc, Esprit in many places...
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Tips for ski hols with nippers? Get good childcare if you can
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Not necessarily. Depends on what sort of family you are and what sort of holiday you want (and how much you want to pay). We never had paid childcare on holidays (ski, beach, boating, camping on three continents) though we did take grandmother on a ski holiday once. That worked well. Now I'm the grandmother......
One of my treasured memories was going out for a walk in the snow on my own and passing an obvious grandmother and 2 - 3 year old who had built some roads and bridges in the snow beside the path and were playing happily with toy cars and a tipper truck. Both warmly dressed - and they were having a lovely time. Kids can also play happily on their own in the snow for a long time, IME - though not at 10 months!
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@Dublinfella, another tip, I presume from your post your are looking to DIY? BA give (or at least gave when my 10yr old was 1 so check it is still the case) full baggage allowance for infants and let you take pushchair and car seat.
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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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@NickyJ, Thanks for the tips. Great ideas on the balloons. Very handy and good to know about BA.
@Yellow Pyranha, Don't worry, we have it sorted. I think I am a brilliant skier so will throw the little fella in the back of my rugsack...and not zip it up fully. Don't worry though, cause I will be able to see him as I don't wear a helmet so can turn my head easier! Yeah, not too surprisingly we have discussed who looks after him and where.
@intermediate, cheers - hadn't thought of Les Gets. May i ask why you would think St Foy iwouldn't work for a week? The child care will probably depend on who is going in the group - at the moment a lot of it will be me and the better half swapping days etc.
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@Dublinfella, if childcare is predominantly you and OH swapping, SOME resorts (not many) do a parents lift pass which allows you to swap lift passes. I certainly noticed them in Sälen, Sweden where we are going for the first time next year but there are others I believe.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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If it's just you, OH and small going, then I'd really suggest going with a family oriented TO as @under a new name suggested. We've used Espirit and Family Friendly Skiing for both ours (kids had first trips at 12 months and 7 months respectively) and we'd rate both of them if your budget allows.
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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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@Dublinfella, another toy I highly recommend is stacking cups with holes in. As these stack inside each other they don't take up much space and the also double as bath toys. My eldest daughter has played with them since she could sit up and my youngest is still playing with them occasionally in the bath at 7.
Make sure wherever you stay has a bath. I am personally a huge fan of Esprit but got the impression you were looking diy / self catering and with large group of others which they don't suit. However they do have huge advantages- fantastic nurseries, all equipment available in terms of booster seats, bottle warming, baby food, bobs, children's cups and cutlery, travel cots and baby listening service on evenings.
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@Dublinfella, yes, Les Gets is an attractive ski village, plenty going on, direct lift links to 600k + pistes of Portes du Soleil area.
My view on St Foy based on not enough scope/variety of piste for strong intermediates and above, IMO, for a week. 41km marked piste and 7 lifts. Quite a lot north facing, which can help with snow conditions but lacking sun in January.
Also wonder if enough activities, in January, when not skiing, compared with larger villages? Depends how much you want.
Positives - attractive village, relatively quiet pistes, very good off piste if conditions favourable. Also, if vehicles available, easy to do days in EK, Paradiski, La Rosiere, if practicable with childcare responsibilities. Not too far to Bourg St Maurice if you want to visit a larger town.
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You know it makes sense.
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@Dublinfella, hope you enjoy the holiday. Great skiing with kids. At 5, you'll want them to hurry up. At 10, you'll be wanting them to slow down, 'cos you're worried they'll kill themselves. At 15, you'll want them to slow down so you can keep up. At 20, you'll want them to hurry up peeling themselves out of bed with a stinking hangover (maybe), but at least they'll go on a skiing holiday with you...
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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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I've done two family trips, both with Mark Warner. First with a 1yo (who could walk) to La Plagne and the second with a 3yo and a 1yo (who couldn't walk) to Val d'Isere. Had a brilliant time on both occasions.
Things that make a difference
- Transfers - get them as sor as possible. My two are very good at travelling but Val D'Isere pushed then both. We took our buggy with a car seat option so we could put the 1yo in the car seat for the transfer, seemed safer and saves trying to wrestle a 1yo on your knee for three hours. Turns out our youngest gets travel sick and vomited on my wife on both transfers so an easy access travel vomit kit plus change of clothes is a good option.
Childcare - Both nurseries with Mark Warner have been very good, the Val d'Isere on was excellent. Our plan has to been to put the 1yo (on both occasions) in in the morning a bit pre-morning snooze, let them have a snooze and then maybe lunch then pick them up and have a family afternoon. This gives a short-ish skiing window but was enough for us. Buy the end of the week on our second trip we actually left our youngest in nursery a bit longer because she loved it so much.
- Expectations - We went on holiday with the attitude that it was a family holiday with some skiing, not a ski holiday. With that frame of mind, we got enough skiing in between us, though not enough skiing together.
We've already booked for next year and looking forward to it, though family ski holidays don't feel relaxing. Whilst trying to juggle a baby and get a 3yo to ski school whilst carrying skis and making sure sun cream was applied, nappies were cleaned, toilet trips sorted etc it made me think no one would take kids skiing unless you really loved skiing!
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Poster: A snowHead
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My few pence:
- Short transfers are helpful with very young kids
- Look for childcare in your actual accomodation (some creches are shared by a few chalets and it's a pain to decamp to drop them off imho)
- Avoid hotels/chalets where young children can eat with adults (pet and very personal hate of mine - when I went with a 11 month old (who wasn't always sleeping through), I enjoy having some peace and quiet without being subjected to the elder kids who do run riot all day! Some of the Esprit hotels have recently changed their policy)
I think that what you want for a young child will be somewhat different to elder kids who are more self sufficient - hence my first 2 points above. Also, they will be in your room so the additional costs are less of a factor - once you've got 2x kids needing a flight and another room between them, ski passes etc... Not looking forward to that!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@Dublinfella, you have a PM
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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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Book a private nanny to come to the chalet of funds allow. We've been ok travelling without a bath - he just sits on the floor of the shower so it doesn't have to be a deal breaker 
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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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Hey All,
Thanks for the info. Will definitely look at getting the stacking cups - they look like fun so might have to give it a go myself! We have always done DIY - so it is just my first thought but will look at the kiddie friendly tour operators, having all the kit would make the travelling much easier. Thanks for the dinner thoughts @Badbobby, I wouldn't have thought of that at all but could imagine it might get a little tiresome when feeding might be our relaxing time.
@galpinos, Good attitutde change - I will have to have a stern chat to myself on the wanting to get out on the snow too much!
Childcare/nanny - I think we will get a better idea of that when we know the group that is coming. e
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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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@Dublinfella, personally, I'd recommend using an tour operator for your first trip with a kid. We always do DIY, but felt that the safety net of using a specialist would be good for the first time; and we were happy with that decision in the end. Little things like the baby listening service with Esprit plus being able to pay very little for baby sitting was a real plus when it's potentially the first time you've left a young kid.
Now we've done one trip we're back to DIY - helps that the kids will both be over 1 next year, which means we can use a number of Austrian hotels that have free childcare that kicks in from age 1 (although most are 2 or older).
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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@Dublinfella,
I know you've sorted out who will be doing the childcare and when and depending on that this may not be relevant but it can be really important to be able to quickly swap over or just nip out for an hour or two if the opportunity arises. When our kids were very young we really wanted to have a place on the piste and near a key lift and this trumped most other things. The more attractive villages often don't win out on this aspect. It also means it is easy to meet for lunch etc.
We did tend to go with family specialists in those years (Mark Warner, Ski VIP) but I think the advice might be even more important without nannies on tap!
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Les Saisies is easy for accommodation near front de neige, quick lunches and swapping over. And at 1650m you have decent chance of good resort level snow. No Anglophone childcare, though and no TOs....
Hurrah!
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@jedster, yeah - would very much like somewhere that is smaller enough that it is easy to meet for lunch etc. Also close to the lifts as you say.
@Badbobby, we are based in Ireland and Esprit have no flights from here - have asked about accommodation only but seemingly the don't do it. Will have to see what else might work
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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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@Dublinfella, you'll probably need to look at some of the smaller family-focused operators to get options without flights. Family Ski definitely do it (their standard offering is with transfers from Geneva); Ski Famille also I think, though we've not used them, and there are others too. The smaller operators are usually pretty flexible too, so you can find a balance of childcare vs family time that suits you.
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@mgrolf, thanks for the info. Haven't used a tour operator before so appreciate the recommendations.
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