 Poster: A snowHead
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Hello,
For the last couple of years we have stayed in La Tania at Easter with Family Friendly skiing, who I might add have been brilliant, but they have decided to cease doing catered chalets. Due to this, and the fact that Easter falls so late next year, we are going to be really bad and take the kids out of school between half term and Easter and are thinking of going to Morzine, simply because none of our group have skied there.
Does anyone have any recommendations for a chalet company where the child care is booked through them and is kind of integrated?
Oh and we don’t have the budget for Esprit and we kind of like the more down to earth catered chalet style, which is why family friendly were so perfect for us
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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@kosciosco, given you are taking them out of school are you sure Esprit are that expensive? Obviously don’t know the age or number of your children but if you have two children between 5 & 10 and go to their Arnica place in La Rosière on 24th March - then base holiday price is £2167.60 which gives you flights, transfers, accommodation, breakfast, afternoon tea and 5 evening meals.
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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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True, that’s not bad. I guess I like to do things a little more independently, from what I understand of Esprit it’s a little too organised for my liking, plus we go with friends who don’t have kids and for them it might not be so ideal.
To date we have driven to the Alps which is great as you can load the car up and don’t have to worry about those awful coach transfers
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@kosciosco, fair enough, however over the years I have used them I have noticed them adding more flexibility in what you pick and chose out if their support.
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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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Chilli Powder are in Morzine and might fit the bill. I don’t think they include flights etc.
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Also Family Ski although they always seemed expensive when we looked at them when our children were small. There are masses of small chalet operators in Morzine so I’d have thought you’d have loads of choice given you don’t need flights included.
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How old are the children? Do you actually need wrap around childcare? I only ask as we only booked that sort of holiday for 2 years and have had 3 totally different, great skiing holidays since, with no childcare outside of lessons.
Back when I was looking at childcare inclusive options, I did look at Chilli Powder. Looked at the fancy end of the spectrum to me.
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Children will be 6 and 9. The eldest might be up to skiing with me in a limited way but the youngest won’t be. To be honest the two of them are still pretty much snowploughing.
Normally they spend the morning in lessons and then with childcare some of the afternoons.
I’ve looked at Chillypowder briefly, looks very well organised. Anyone any experience with them?
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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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Mine are 7 and 6! The older one is getting a wide parallel but mainly loves popping jumps on the edge of blue pistes, the younger is a gung-ho lean back snowplough speed demon. If you want to do lots of skiing, go to Austria or Italy. Kids in lessons 10-3, an hour or so skiing or tobogganing with them afterwards. TBF the scariest thing I do is skiing with them! Also been to Finland where we did less skiing but loads of stuff (Husky dogs, skidoos, reindeer sleigh) we’ll remember forever.
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My wife is keen to do cross country skiing and snow shoeing, Morzine ESF seems very well kitted out for this, hence the appeal of Morzine.
Also have driven to Austria once and it’s a seriously long schlep, much more so than France. Could fly though.
Any resort recommendations for Austria resort wise? I quite like the idea of the Kitzbuhel area or Westendorf
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@kosciosco, if you still want a la tania option ski magic have nannies too.
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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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| Little Martin wrote: |
| @kosciosco, if you still want a la tania option ski magic have nannies too. |
We used Ski Magic last year and can definitely recommend. Very good outfit and not over the top in pricing. Claire who runs it is awesome and a fantastic help in organising things.
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As much as we love La Tania, we have found it to be impossible to organise cross country ski lessons, it’s just too small for the ESF to get the numbers to justify it, that’s why Morzine looks like a much better bet with a bigger population to draw from.
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You know it makes sense.
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@kosciosco, have you considered Norway or Sweden if cross country is a key driver? We did half term in Sweden with our girls and found it surprisingly affordable. We didn’t make use of any child care or lessons while out there though so can’t help with that aspect.
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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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Poster: A snowHead
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@kosciosco, nobody knows but with Easter being late I'd not be putting money on much low lying snow in Morzine. What height are their XC trails??
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@kitenski, but he is not talking about going at Easter, rather between half term and Easter.
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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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I don’t know anything about cross country in Austria, sorry. I’d expect everywhere in Scandinavia to be better than most places in the Alps though. They certainly had lots of miles of trails in Finland. Got too busy doing other things to do it in Ruka but crossed lots of trails and went to a cafe/outdoor experience centre where everyone had either arrived on Skidoo or XC skis.
The other place I know with a cross country set up is Armentarola. Just checked, they have 88kms at Ruka, 26kms at Armentarola. But then there are 30-40kms of Alpine pistes with a max vertical 300m at Ruka. Armentarola gives you access to about 500kms lift linked Alpine skiing and 1200kms on the lift pass! It’s about 3kms up the pass from San Cassiano. The scenery and food are way, way, way better than the 3Vs or PDS, but not many black runs locally.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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@Pamski, 
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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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Interesting, I wonder what Family Friendly Skiing will do now then ? Just the Hotel Telemark ?
We went with them for years in their catered chalets until our kids were at school and they were great, and reasonable value too in the January Special.
Once the kids were at school though I found it was too expensive to stay with them at peak dates and we didn't need the wrap around childcare by then as the kids could ski all day so we ended up switching to apartment rentals. But for pre-schoolers I thought they had great offering, and their catering and and childcare was always reliable.
Anyway,for the OP, there's Esprit, Ski Famille, the Family Ski Company, and Le Ski who all offer similar things. Esprit obviously much larger.
To be honest tough if they are 6 and 9 and have skiied a few times, you'll probably find they could cope with all day lessons, or do morning lessons then ski with you in the afternoons, negating the need for childcare. Ours started doing this when the youngest was about 6.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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Yep, we have four, our youngest is now four. We've been getting by with ski school + lunch club for the very youngest which took us to 2.30pm with Prosneige in Val Thorens. The older three would have regular ski school hours then ski with us, the youngest of them is six.
Later in the season in particular, even pre Easter, as the snow gets slushy late afternoon you don't always feel the need to stay out until lifts close anyway. So if we didn't want to ski with the four year old who was not always up for the gnarly mogulled blacks (kidding!) one of us didn't necessarily mind going in a bit early for a swim or whatever.
It is much cheaper when you can finally ditch the childcare, and having your own self-catered apartment just for your family, with full control over everything is bliss.
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See I like the catered chalets but that’s because I’m lazy and like having food cooked for me!
As for Family friendly, I understand they have given up the Telemark and their other chalets will be switched over to self catering.
I’m going to look at Austria, the 10 - 3 lessons sound good, just need to see if there is any cross country skiing for my wife.
Anyone have any recommendations for Austria?
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Seefeld in Austria has great cross country and a good ski school for xc.
Kitzbuhel also has lots of tracks if the snow is good in the valley with a great high track at Pass Thurn accessible by bus.
The Dolomites in Italy offer very good cross country as well.
In a good snow year there are nice tracks around Kaprun, Maria Lam and up at Gerlos pass in the Zillertal ski area.
Last edited by After all it is free  on Sat 21-04-18 17:30; edited 1 time in total
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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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Kitzbuhel tourist office offer snowshoeing and winter walking day trips.
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Chilly Powder are great and have lots of returning guests so that says something.
They are an Independent chalet operator who have lived full time in Morzine for something like 20 years.
Note, If you book ski school through Chilly Powder then there are only max 6 x kids in the class and Chilly Powder have their own ski school assistant who shadows the kids ski school groups in their lessons.
This makes for maximum progress and maximum mileage = maximum fun for the kids. (I'm now a lowly qualified ski and snowboard instructor).
NB: disclaimer....... I did used to work for Chilly Powder, they are not 'cheap' but the location, food, wine, service & personal attention make them hard to beat for a family holiday.
Also...The main Chalet Au Coin du Feu has an adult only library and the kids eat earlier that the adults who have adults supper at 8pm.
Chilly Powder is located in Prodains so 99.9% of the guests ski in Avoriaz.
Cross country skiing is available up in Avoriaz on the Plateau and across to the super morzine/serasaux/zore area
Last edited by Ski the Net with snowHeads on Mon 23-04-18 23:00; edited 1 time in total
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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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 can recommend Family Ski, a small company but have a good ethos and have the kids feelings at the heart. They are based in a number of resorts across France and Switzerland.
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I also had a great experience with them in Ardent, although I don't think Ardent/Les Lindarets is a good place to learn skiing as there's only one (extremely small) green and you then move straight to real blues.
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You know it makes sense.
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What is Ardent like as a place to stay? Looks really really small and quiet!
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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 used to live in Morzine so have skied and boarded down to ardent lots, I've started my days skiing there numerous times (free parking next to Ardent telecabin) and had apres beers at happy hours bar in Ardent many times. I've also cycled through there in the summer and hiked around there too.
It's generally a small & sleepy hamlet with a few chalets that are all very family focused. Buses (Free navettes) finish about 5/5:30pm/6pm. If your staying in a catered family with a young family then it sounds ideal.
Happy hours is a bit of a seasonaire bar on a Wednesday but after that finishes 5/5:30/6pm once the navettes have finished the place empties and will be very quiet.
Ardent quite a shaded place so in December/January it might seem a bit chilly.
https://www.ft.com/content/d769c840-cab1-11e7-ab18-7a9fb7d6163e
https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2017/dec/02/ardent-ski-village-french-alps-family-skiing-holiday-resort-childcare-creche
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Poster: A snowHead
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| kosciosco wrote: |
| What is Ardent like as a place to stay? Looks really really small and quiet! |
That describes it pretty well. We've stayed there twice and been very happy, but then we have little or no interest in apres ski and are very happy socialising with other people in the chalet. The bar is fine for a drink after skiing, but don't expect much (if any) nightlife. The chalet staff's evening off involves driving down towards Montriond from Ardent (or, more accurately, getting a lift in the family ski mini bus) for dinner. Or getting pizza delivered, to eat with the kids.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Sounds a little too quiet, we aren’t much into partying late anymore but do like to get A babysitter in a couple of nights during the week so we can go out for a drink or a meal on the chalet night off.
I took a look at Chilly Powder, their chalets look pretty remote from the town out in Prodains.
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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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| Quote: |
I took a look at Chilly Powder, their chalets look pretty remote from the town out in Prodains.
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You will find this with Morzine. It's a proper town rather than a purpose built ski resort, therefore accommodation is usually either close to a lift, but further from town centre or vice versa. It's a very different experience to La Tania.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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@kosciosco,
Chilly powder have their own In house nannies and baby sitters which can cover chalet night off. The Free Navettes run very regularly from Prodains down to town and back up to Prodains (About 2 miles in distance) until about 9pm. It's Taxi's after 9pm and I know Chilly powder .
(It's probably a similar distance as La Tania to Le Praz for reference)
The advantage of being in Prodains is you can ski down to the Chalet back door from Avoriaz and at the start of the day the Prodains telecabin is probably 300mts from Chilly Powder chalet so great for grown ups and little ones too.
There are a couple of other restaurants/hotels/bars in Prodains butit is a quiet spot. (Neige Roc, The Prodains Hotel and the Kinkerne).
If you want to be in Morzine (It's a great smallish real mountain town) then this might be the best spot for you. It's not a 'focused' family Chalet company but the owners of the chalet company are fab and should be able to help with your requirements. The Great escape and Chalet Plenny is their best property for getting on the slopes.http://www.thegreatescapemorzine.co.uk/chalets/chalet-pleney/
This girl is brilliant for independent childcare
http://www.charlotteclaychildcare.com/
Another option here = Cheeky monkeys but I don't know these guys.
http://www.cheekymonkeysmorzine.com/
You're more than welcome to PM me if you do end up in Morzine and want some advice on ski area etc@kosciosco,
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