The Half Term Experience

A snowHead

Mrs H and I will probably be off ski-ing half term for the first time next year and since I guess lots of people will have just come back from ski-ing half term now would probably be a good time to collect some snowHead wisdom.

To date we've skied in January, March and the second week of Easter (in Val Thorens). Most the time we've experienced ~zero queues, maybe the odd 10-15 minute queue at a pinch point lift and some fairly consistent queuing at Saas Fee over the New Year week.

So I guess I have two questions:

(1) How much queuing have you experienced at half term (and where)
(2) Any hints on reducing cost? Is a small resort a good bet (i.e. Val Cenis)? How do France, Italy, Austria and Switzerland compare?

As you can see I'm a bit obsessed by the queuing thing - please feel free to comment on busy-ness of pistes and, almost as importantly, on slope restaurants.

A snowHead

Next year the UK half-term weeks don't coincide with half-term in some French areas i.e. not with the Marseille/Nice holidays so if you choose a resort in the southern French Alps (I could recommend a chalet in one Very Happy

) it'll be less busy than resorts in the northern French Alps which will be rammed with Parisiennes (sp?).

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

And their husbands wink

. Serre Chevalier does get busy in February, but Monetier does not seem to be so badly affected, the queue for the chairlift does get a bit long first thing, but if you get up early, it;s OK. They seem to get up a bit later there too. I think it must be the relaxed village atmosphere.

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Ian Hopkinson, For half-term I'd recommend St Foy. Zero cues except for the 8:30 lifts. Restaurants leave a bit to be desired although a face plant seems to raise a cheer from the mostly local residents. Ouch Embarassed

It's very quiet and tends to be the place where Val d'Isere folk come to get away from the crowds. Lifts are few but the off-piste is great and there are enormous bowls to try out all that cool stuff we've been watching over the last few weeks wink

Hmmm, quite fancy it myself now. Shh don't tell anyone else snowHead

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Ian Hopkinson, have a look at the gallery on our website ww.tracksvacations.com there are some photos of the empty pistes taken last week and the week before. It's about the only time you'll see a queue in La Rosiere and even then they don't last for long, so you don't have to go to tiny resorts with a couple of lifts and no mountain returants to get far away from the madding crowds.

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Ian Hopkinson, Shal post a photo soon from Saturday 9.10 at the main chair in La Rosiere. Not one person in the queue and the same number on the piste.

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

I think the one of the best places to go to avoid queues is the resort you are most familiar with. The familiarity allows you to work around the usual bottlenecks of ski school starting time/place and also popular lifts at certain times of day, for instance a lift that connects a far-flung part of the ski field back to the main village late in the afternoon. You will also know alternative ways back to the village at the end of the day and so be able to avoid some of the extremely busy pistes.

After all it is free

As ben says, next year half-terms are a bit over the shop. Which HT week would it be? Some county's are on the 'six term' system, when HT will be 17th Feb, and most places are still on the old system, when HT will be 10th Feb.

I've just got back from Morzine, and there were suprisingly few queues worthy of any note. The only problem was if you had a lie-in and ended up catching the 9am rush at the main gondola, other than that everywhere was very quick (despite the decrepid lifts!). Plus from Morzine you've got the PdS so people tend to spread out a bit, and Pointe de Chery (ski to Les Gets and it's the other side).

As a pot shot, what about Bulgaria? I personally wouldn't anymore, but last year at HT (when the resort is literally packed to the rafters), most places were virtually deserted (owing to the fact that the majority of skiers going to Bulgaria are beginners, leaving most of the resort free for us to play!).

As far as decent prices go, how many of you are there? If it's just the two, I'd definitely try and get a last minute, there will usually be a resort with an efficient lift system (preventing queues) listed somewhere.

My kids are on 3 term system, and are on half-term from 17th Feb.

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David@traxvax, Ian Hopkinson, Here is the photo of the La Rosiere peak time scrum

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

We were in La rosiere for half term w/c 13/2 and never saw a queue worth mentioning, previously we have been to Les Gets and experienced some horrendous queues

snow reports

Was in VT last week (also skied accross to Corchevel & Maribel) which was the half term week over here for some parts of the country, along with the half term for Marseille (apperently).

There was a terrable que to get up into the resort (I think we had something like an 8 hour transfer from Chamberly)

Once there people had the usual massive ques at hire shops (had a good laugh at parents/brother getting an hours skiing in while they qued up for their rental stuff snowHead

) Resturants again were pritty packed, but you could usually get in without a reservation by going later in the evening (9pm there were normally tables)

As for the skiing, it was a bit of a mixed bag. In VT the first 2 hours or so were pritty empty (and lots of lovley groomed pistes.) later in the day the lift ques (particually on those serving easy runs) were much larger, but still wernt too bad. Over in the other valleys it was compleatly different, I remember standing in a lift que in Corchevel for almost half an hour!

Snow was great in the mornings, but by the afternoon was very badly choped up. any powder was skiied out in moments of the lifts opening!

You'll have to be prepared for things to be busier than you're used to, but probably not as bad as you expect. After many years of pretty quiet skiing in N.America in the school Easter hols, we have had 3 Feb HTs in Europe, 1 in Tignes, 2 in Kitzbuhel. I have been very surprised by the lack of queues and the reasonably uncrowded pistes. There are obviously some bottlenecks at certain times, but compared with how Europe was 15 years ago out of school hols, it's fine. The only problem is restaurants, on the mountain (especially in Tignes/Val d'I) and in town (especially in Kitzbuhel), easily dealt with by lunching late and booking for dinner. You may find that if you are limited in slopes and lifts by the standard of your party, things are a bit busier, but I think that you'll be pleasantly surprised.

Ian Hopkinson, we were in Westendorf for a day in HT week. Not a lift queue in sight (2/3 mins max wait) and quiet pistes. No doubt busier than when you were there a few weeks earlier, but no problem at all. The only exception was the narrow bit of red piste under the Alpenrosenbahn, which was a bit like Oxford St at lunchtime for 100 yards or so. The restaurant where we lunched was busy, but we found a table straightaway.

To reduce costs, avoid TOs. Book your flights asap, or decide to drive. Find a privately run hotel or a privately rented apartment, which are less likely to raise their prices for HT. We paid no more for our HT hol than we would have done had we had it out of school hols, about £2250 for 4 in a very comfortable hotel, B&B (including travel but not lift tix, kit hire, grub); not especially cheap, but good value for the quality of accomodation and for not having to share a hotel with loads of Brits and their odious pups. That, I suppose is the main downside of HT. Although the resorts may not be unacceptably busy, many of those there are Brits, which is not a good thing; I was slightly taken aback to see the odd small group of rat faced Brit teenagers wearing track suits and hanging about furtively smoking and spitting.

You know it makes sense.

There are countries other than France to go to!
At times (and the vast majority of this thread is a good example) this place can be a bit too french-centric. Certainly too 3V, taranteise focussed.

Try switz, Italy, Austria..Germany (yes really!) and you will avoid the UK/French holidays overlap that produces the crowds.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

Very quiet. Was in LesArc this half term with friends from Cambridge and no long queues to speak. Nothing that couldn't be avoided by taking an alternative near by lift. Doubt if we had a queue longer than 5 minutes - where was everyone?

A snowHead

Mr H,

I think it's time for you to try Italy. Although I have no half term experience, I have never qued for longer than 2 minutes on 3 trips to Italy in Jan/ Feb

A snowHead

Here there are big queues for the Jandri Express when the ski schools go off, but none before. there are also big-ish queues on the teaching slopes and the nursery slopes, but since the installation of the new Toura chair (2 years ago) and the new Bellecombe chair (this year), the only queues I saw last week were for the glacier T bar. this is miles better than around 5-10 years ago.

It's also worth checking out when the Dutch are on holiday, and the Belgians. If they're in the same week as you make sure you go to a resort that isn't requented by their TOs either. I would vote for a small resort with no TOs personally - ask Ise about his little spots in Switzerland.

BTW we get Parisiens too (unfortunately) rolling eyes

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

It seemed pretty good in Tignes this half-term as well. No major queues, even when much of the resort was shut with snow/wind conditions.

One thing that I have noted more recently is that the second half of the week unusually seems busier than the early part. My own pet theory is that this is because by about Tuesday/Wednesday, most of the raw beginners have now got beyond the nursery slopes and have begun using the main lift system.

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Just spent half term (feb 12th - 18th) at Alpe D'huez - Never again! Evil or Very Mad

The place was jam packed with Brit and Parisian tourists. Some of the 'easier' blues were so busy they were positively dangerous, and the queues for the main lifts were often over half an hour long. Once we got to know our way around the place ( a point made earlier in this thread I think) we were able to 'dodge' the worst of it, but overall my impression of Alpe D'huez for half term was not favourable.

Didn't think much of Club Med either, but that's another story.

Ray Zorro, I'd have to agree with your point re 2nd part of the week, this appeared to be happening at AdH and also the ski school groups seemd to move from the easiest to the (slightly) more challenging slopes. end result - carnage (at certain times of day). Our cunning plan was to go out late (after 10.00) , stop early for lunch (11.30) then ski through the lunchtime period while everyone else was in the restaurants. This worked a bit, but I think the sheer number of people on the hill meant that even at 1.00, the lifts and slopes were still busy.

Of course the fact that (following the huge snow dumps mid week) the higher pistes were closed Shocked

(presumably from avalanch risk?) meant that even more people were funneld onto what intermediate slopes were open making the pressue even worse rolling eyes

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Went to Zell am See at half term, and was really impressed by their queue management. The lifties made sure that every gondola wnet up full (sometimes by grabbing a pair of skis off someone and getting them to chase them!!). The longest we had to wait was about 3 or 4 mins. The problem was that the place was full of school kids learning to ski. Great if you wanted to ski blacks or hard reds....really crowded on the easy runs.

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Elizabeth B, I noticed that they started doing this in Soldeu this season - excellent work fellas !

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

After all it is free

We spent our 1/2 term in St martin de Belleville. Lovely village, 5 min lift queue at the base to get up into the skiing, and thereafter really no queues at all to speak of across the 3v, except getting out of Meribel. Ski school was a diferrent matter though, a was ski hire. Those who hadn't pre-booked with Ski-Set got no skis or boots. Ski school classes we of the 14 - 16 size (Thank goodness our kids are beyond that stage). Our main queue tactic at peak periods is early start, early lunch to get a table in the restaurant.
We have also had good half term experiences in Champoluc, Ardent area of Morzine, and bad ones in Val d'Isere, Alpe d'Huez, Les 2 Alpes many years ago before we knew about the half term phenomenon.

richmond, Started thread here:

http://snowheads.com/ski-forum/viewtopic.php?t=13900

Very Happy

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Ian Hopkinson, Have just come back from St Gervais/Megeve region....my advice for Half Term week? Don't go there!!! Queues were horrendous all over the place....the scrums for the gondolas had to be seen to be believed, access was best up through the Princesse gondola from the outskirts of Megeve and if you trekked out to the furthest reaches of the resort then there was some great, queue free, skiing to be had...but there's nothing for it but to work your way back through the scrums! Well over half an hour each way on the Rocharbois link between the areas....

Steer clear of any resort with easy access from the motorways....that's where you'll find the crowds.

brian

I did the 11th to the 18th in Les Gets. Have to say I was pleasantly surprised after fearing the worst. It wasn't exactly quiet but other than the main bottleneck out of Chavannes in the morning we never had a queue that didn't shift in a couple of minutes. The lift system is pretty modern and efficient. These 6 seater detachables can shift people at a fair old rate. Even at the Chavannes, a daunting looking queue would shift in 5 minutes max.

In the 2nd half of the week, when it snowed heavily, the pistes were pretty quiet. Bunch of lightweights indoors, clearly snowHead

Restaurants were busy and disproportionately estuary-ised rolling eyes

but them's the breaks in a popular short transfer resort.

To minimise costs, book accom direct (vive le net) and flights the day they come out. We did a 4 bed detached s/c chalet, flights and car hire for under £350 per head.

brian

David@traxvax, Frosty the Snowman, what's La Ros like over Xmas ? Does it have a decently festive feel about it ?

The kids and I have all but persuaded Mrs B that a snowy Noel is the order of the day for 2006 snowHead

brian, Haven't been at Xmas, but judging by the atmoshphere that was there for The GS RAce and the reception fpr Joel Chenal then it should be pretty good.

You know it makes sense.

Thanks for the responses so far, from this I can summarise:

(1) Half-term is a good time to go DIY (Book early!)
(2) It's the half term for the locals you really have to worry about
(3) Queues are normally found at the morning uplift and wherever the nursery slope / classes frequent and other odd places that regulars will know and avoid
(4) Moving away from the big French areas probably helps.
(5) Get the impression that things were worse 10 years or so ago.
(6) In terms of specifics
Good:
Les Arcs
PdS
La Rosiere
Le Seigneur
Les Deux Alpes
Parts of the 3V's
Kitzbuhel / Westendorf
Val D.

Not so good:
Parts of 3V's
Alp D'Huez
St Gervais/Megeve

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

Ian Hopkinson, I would add Kitzbuhel to the 'Good' list, and promote V D'I /Tignes to it; our experience there (2004) was very good and I don't think anyone has argued (I may have missed it).

A snowHead

A snowHead

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

richmond, rob@rar.org.uk - I've edited my post accordingly!

I have skied in Austria, Switzerland and France - and I see half term as my chance to try different things since the alternative times I have for ski-ing are Christmas and Easter - when I much prefer to go as high as I can. So maybe I should give Italy or Germany a go.

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rob@rar.org.uk, Booking early for flights and hotels is all very well, but that means you have to second guess the snow. It can all get a bit fraught as the week approaches and your resort is snow starved and barren. Next year we are going with the 'wait till the last minute and go where the good snow is' approach. Combining this with DIY, self-drive, avoid large French resorts at peak, and try to avoid half term altogether should result in us driving to Finland in October! Anyone know what's the skiing like there? Very Happy

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

AxsMan, that's a good point, but how many resorts are going to be barren in February? I've been skiing for 25 years, with many trips in February half-term, and I've never had a snow-free resort. At the very least, I would say book eht flights, as these get full fairly early on, and prices get higher the longer you leave it. That way you still have the option of choosing your resort at a later stage.

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Ian Hopkinson,

not really had time to read this all in detail, but it appears that no one has suggested the USA, east cost is not that far to go, and even if you go a bit further, many would say the skiing is worth it, from what i have been told by clients they have found that 1/2 term over here causes prices in europe to rocket whereas the prices in the states does not go up (and they can organise a queue)

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richmond, I've got a mate who went two years running to Val D'Isere/Tignes (2002 & 2003) and he won't go near the place again. Terrible queues, loads of arrogant Brits and impatient French... You wouldn't catch me near the place half term or otherwise... Can't believe there's anything at Val D' worth the premium you pay for the place.

After all it is free

Ian Hopkinson, Sweden's good. Can recommend a trip to Are.

AxsMan, do what we do. Book the flight to somewhere useful (we often go for Turin as it's off many peoples' radar and still gives easy access to a lot of areas) then decide on venue nearer the time. Even with a group of 20 as we have this year, we'll get accommodation sorted within a few weeks of departure.

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Ian, my sis-in-law went to Tremblant , Eastern Canada at half-term a couple of years ago. It was so cold her daughter refuses to ski ever again.

Help!!

The Half Term Experience

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