 Poster: A snowHead
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Thinking of going here 2007 at half term and taking my nephew and niece (14yrs & 17yrs) who have never skied before. From 'Snowheads' it appears it is a quiet resort. Is there enough skiing to keep me and the husband ( intermediate piste bashers)occupied for the week? Where do you recommend staying? davidtrax?
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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 of shuffling feet as all snowheads collectively move backwards to form a nice gap for david@traxvax...>
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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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We have just returned having spent half term there this year and we will probably be returning next. There is more than enough to keep you occupied for a week if you take the full area lift pass and ski in La Thuile (Italy) as well. . We were self catering in Les Cimes Blanche which we booked through Iglu and would certainly recommend them. There is a full report on La Rosiere in the resorts section.
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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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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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erica2004,I would strongly recommend a very early booking of ski school or lessons. We have used Evolution2 twice and they were superb (or at least the instructor David was).
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Maybe it's improved since I was there in 2004, with a new lift in the centre of town, but I thought it was pretty poor. Big queue's at the start of the day, poor links between pistes, especially if on a board, old lifts, link to Italy often closed and when open a loooong drag. Probably OK for inter piste bashers with kids. Can get very cold and windy on top. Kids loved it though. Apres Ski as dull as ditch water.
Stayed with Thomsons in chalet Alys ? In the brochure and apparently next to the new lift and was very good. The transfer to Lyon however was a nightmare.
Ski school was cr@p during half term 10 - 12 and 2 - 4pm - totally mucked up our skiing - if we weren't dropping them off, we were heading back to pick them up and then got tangled in all the queues as there was only a 2 x chair from the ski school area.
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Is Sarge's comments heresy
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Sarge, I think that it is safe to say that the 2 high speed 6 man chairs that replaced 1 slow 3 man chair and a drag from the 2 main uplift points have made a differance. We just came back with 9 kids and 9 adults all with at least 1 week experience, and some with a lot more. We loved it (again), but did have the benefit of the 5 best days of the season so far.
La Rosiere is not without its faults, but where is. Instructor said last week was the busiest in resort. It was quieter than mid Jan in La Plagne. As for Ski school again I would say - Book early. Our kids were 9.00 till 11.30 which encouraged us to get up and on the first lift. Fantastic.
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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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Sounds like one heck of an improvement there, may give it a 2nd look one day.
We booked ski school months in advance, but through Thomson's - maybe they weren't so speedy at booking our places - holding on to our cash as long as possible me thinks.
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erica2004, I'm sure there is more than enough, there's over 150kms in the Espace San Bernardo and our ski hosting will ensure you know which are the best runs, where the best snow can be found and where the good mountain restuarants are located. We'll also show you how to make the best of the various links between pistes so that you ski a 1.5 kms vertical descent and an 11kms red run. La rosiere is a super resort for learners and with a little bit of guidance you can avoid the hassles that Sarge, found on his holiday. I guess that's the differnce between a major TO and an independent chalet owner who knows the resort and how to make the best of the great facilities we have.
If you want to see what the resort looks like at half-term there are some photos on our website www.tracksvacations.com taken this year at half-term which show empty pistes and empty chairs, no problems with queues at all.
We'd be delighted to welcome you to chalet Le Mouflon, we do recommend booking early to get the week you want, half-term always goes first and we offer returning guests and early bookers the chance to get their next years holiday at this year's prices, all you have to do is book and pay before before Sept 1st, you'll also get a snowheads discount. Don't hesitate to contact me if you have any La Rosiere specific questions.
Last edited by Ski the Net with snowHeads  on Wed 1-03-06 18:46; edited 1 time in total
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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David@traxvax, we are a family of 2 adults, 2 kids aged nearly 13 (in Feb 2007), all fairly strong piste skiers, the kids probably very strong (by holiday skier standards). Would La R be a good choice for us next Feb HT? We don't particularly need miles and miles of pistes, but we'd like a good variety of runs. We'd like to get some off piste experience (well, 3 of us would) with instruction/guiding. We don't need loads of nightlife, but some half decent restaurants and bars would be appreciated. We'd probably go self drive and SC for a number of reasons; are there decent apartments with cat swinging facilities (I appreciate that your interest is not in getting people into apartments, but I imagine that your place will be full at HT anyway!).
Any advice gratefully received.
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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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David@traxvax,
I agree that the big boys are cr@p. We went to Courcheval with Family Friendly skiing and they were brillinat. You get what you pay for. I hope never to write another cheque to Thomo's as long as I live !
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Just posted some pics in the SnowmediaZone of our fabulous trip to La Rosiere last week.
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You know it makes sense.
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Frosty the Snowman, Is that you with the red helmet getting air? 
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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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Mouth, Not allowed to do jumps. Banned by my consultant and by the local avalanche control bods. My 9 yr old is the wearer of that hat, my did all of the kids have some fun in the snow park. Great to see.
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Poster: A snowHead
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richmond, I think La Rosiere would be ideal for your family, there is a good mix of skiing, certainly more than enough to keep our family happy and we've been in the village for a good while now. In terms of off-piste how much do you want, some of the off-piste on the Italian side is superb, most Italian skiers are only interested in piste skiing. There are masses of off-piste opportunities in and around La Rosiere, which any of the ski-schools will be happy to show you, it's no coincidence that the current world extreme ski champion comes from the village.
Self drive is no problem, we drive out and back 4-5 times per year, it's autoroute to Albertville, 60kms away and good single carriageway from there to Bourg St Maurice, 23 kms away. In terms of apartments there's a choice between older French style buildings or some of the newer complexes, the new stuff is very good but expensive, MGM or Planica are recommended, you could find they are almost as expensive as going into a chalet. The Tourist Office has a centralised booking operation, if you go to our website www.tracksvacations.com you'll find a link to the TO website and follow the links through to accomodation, when you find something you like give me a call i'll give you some information re location, size etc.
Lots of very good restuarants in and around the village all with reasonable prices, some nice bars and some reasonable apres-ski, it's not overly wild and it's not chav central either. La Rosiere is very popular with French families and deservedly so, I for one, am very pleased that it's not on the radar for the major UK mass market TOs.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Frosty the Snowman, nice photos, I think you found your way to Le Rascard.
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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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David@traxvax, thanks very much. Sounds good. Part of the reason for self drive /SC is that we may be 3 or 4, depending on school ski trips, and if we don't kno at booking time, SD/SC makes sense.
We're not looking for a lot of off piste. We have very little experience of it, and the kids and I would like to get some (the old lady's not keen).
Are there a few challenging black pistes, with a few bumps, that sort of thing? We're not looking for Couchevel style gullies (at least, I'm not), but steepish and bumpyish is good occasionally.
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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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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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richmond, there are few blacks there are 3 in La Rosiere itself, 2 of which do get some moguls, unfortunately 1 of of them is quite low so it's always one of the first runs to close, it's also south facing so it does get a bit of hammering on nice days. It's one of my favourite psites (Petit Bois) because there is a great restuarant near by where you can sit on the terrace and watch other skiers either deal with it or suffer. It's also got some nce little off-piste bits through some larch trees alonside. Chevreuil does get some moguls and it's north facing so it retains its snow pretty well, Ecudets goes down to link with the red Fontaine Froide which starts at 1176 metres both these runs are through trees and are long, great skis but agian Fontain Froide is one of the first to close. You can ski from the top of Roc Noir all the way doan to 1176 metres it's about a 1.3kms vertical descent and there's some terrific off-piste to be enjoyed to the left of the Sevoliere lift, provided there's good snow cover.
Most of the really challenging blacks are in La Thuile, the Belverdere in the fourclaz sector is usually in greta condition and never appears to be over skied, there's also some good off-piste opportunities in and around Fourclaz/Piccolo san Bernado, but the seriously hairy blacks, especially when snow is hard/icy are pistas 2, 3 & 5, all of which start from the bowl arounfd the top gondola station, 2 & 3 go off to the left down trhough forests to la Thuile and 5 is off to the right near the Suches chairlift, linking up with pista 6 La Nouva, they are all super runs, long and wide for the most part with some some very steep pitches in places. Pista 9a petit lac from the top of the Chaz Dura Express chair, is usually left to grow moguls.
Any of the ski schools are delighted to take you out for a days exploring, and depending on ability you find find some very good off-piste itineries, my son has skied off-piste from La Thuile to Courmayer then took the Italian link to the Vallee Blanche and skied to Chamonix. If you're up for that sort of epic he would be delighted.
Hope this is helpful, if you pm me with your address I'll be happy to send you a La Rosiere brochure, which has piste maps and lists of available accomodation.
Last edited by Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do. on Thu 2-03-06 13:21; edited 1 time in total
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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David@traxvax, thanks again. The Courmayeur - Vallee Blanche - Chamonix thing sounds great but rather beyond my capabilities. A PM is on its way. If you have availability in your chalet for w/o 17/18.02.07, I'd be interested to see your own brochure (I'd be interested to see it anyway, actually).
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Frosty the Snowman, you can stop praying/incanting/imploring/cursing (delete which not used) now, there's damn near 3 metres of snow at altitude and getting on for almost 2 metres in the village. Most of it seems to end up on our terrace, it's a devil of a job to clear away, Ryan and Matt have already worn out 2 shovels this season. We've got a transfer to do early tomorrow so a little respite would be helpful.
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David@traxvax, At Easter there was about 5 steps to climb to Roxi's in the col. last week we had about a three ft drop on
to th terrace and could just see the top foot of the handrail sticking out of the snow.
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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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Just posted my trip report. A less formal log will follow soon
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FAQ
All the blacks on that side of the hill are hard, the one one the other side (run 5 I think) is easier, has better snow, and is a great run.
