 Poster: A snowHead
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Thinking of booking a family holiday for Ste Foy (Easter 2021 - that's what forward planning looks like), but can't see a great deal about the place on here.
Any help or advice?
Looking at Etoile des Cimes, with Peak Retreats.
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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Those that go there don't talk about it  we save it.
Stayed EDC a few times, each with family, plus other families too from our recommendations. All of us like it. 100mtrs from snow, ski to village centre from mountain, couple of well stocked shops for food.
Small village, decent ski area but not if you demand huge mileage. Some superb skiing to be had for all levels, good ski schools that friends kids started skiing with, very friendly atmosphere.
Anything specific, just ask.
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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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Cheers.
Will be based on young families, so huge mileage not a requisite.
EDC as good as the pics?
Probably will drive - "pleasant" enough? Chains needed for end of March?
What's the snow like at that time? Chocolate box or just on piste?
I'm excited cos' mentioned it to a friend and they actually seem up for it! It's got me twitching.
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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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The kms don't stack up but it's hot huge variety for any skill level.
EDC very good, original building plus the new bit built adjoining and spanning the road. Rate rooms as excellent, decent kitchen kit but that's not extensive.
We've always driven (just makes it easier as it's more convenient to connect ) usually week 2 or 3 of March. Not needed chains yet but we always have, the road up is definitely severe enough to need them if it were snowing when you visit. Easy for directions, just head toward Tignes and turn left at the sign after you leave Ste Foy main village on the Tignes road.
Snow has been good each time we're there, as good as anywhere else with ski station at 1500 mtrs. All principal runs are also covered with cannon. Fabulous views too from ski area.
Village looks very traditional although many newly built. Super convenient for families of mixed ability as no piste leads off elsewhere, all ultimately back to village, don't really need a map and you can very easily mix and match looking after kids and get some serious skiing done. Very good absolute beginner facilities in village centre, with some superb progressing slopes to advance. Good kids tobogganing area too with conveyor lift to get them up.
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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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@NickYoung, small but perfectly formed.
https://cdn.snowplaza.com/content/WinterPanos/2500/12159.jpg
It would suit those comfortable on reds, who like blues too. So, not so good for early intermediates. Obviously, conditions vary. Definitely not for those who want to get the miles in, more for those who like a quick ski before lunch, and a quick ski before dinner.
A fine cognac to be sipped, rather than a beer to be drunk.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Curious about your intermediate observation @crosbie, is it from review or experience?
I've often lead the kids and parents of other familie's around at that level and wouldn't describe it as limiting to them.
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| ski3 wrote: |
| Curious about your intermediate observation @crosbie, is it from review or experience? |
Experience.
I think in some conditions it would be fine, but it's a bit of a risk if you're banking on the whole family exploring the whole resort together. Will a bigger resort, one has more scope to utilise routes to suit the lowest common denominator. If the conditions aren't good in Ste Foy (icy hard pack, etc), then early intermediate skiers are going to be ducks out of water.
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Just back from a week in Ste Foy myself. It's been on my radar for a visit for some years thanks to glowing reports about the "ski instructors from Esapce Killy who always ski there on their day off". I'd always held off booking a trip there as it's a very small resort (we're used to higher milage places like Grand Massif, EK, 3V, Saalbach Hinterglemm etc - smallest place we've skiied recently is Courmayeur), plus no british tour ops go there so you have to do indie travel
We booked becuase we wanted to ski with our friends who have young children. They went there two years ago for Easter, then to Les Arcs last easter. This year we agreed they'd take the kids out of school and we'd join them. They booked into Etoile Des Cimes this year having previously used Les Fermes de Sainte Foy, which is right on the nursery slope. We were lucky enough to get a great deal on The Peak Chalet with Premiere Neige, lkewise right on the nursery slope. I'll skip that as you seem to want self catering, but it was bloody fabulous
Our friends have 3 children - 8, 6 and 3. The youngest is too young to ski, so one parent would ski the morning then we'd swap over at lunch. The elder children would be in ski school from 9am, adults would meet at 9.30 and si till 11.30 when we collected the children. Couple of runs after that with the children, then stop for lunch. resume skiing in the afternoon with the other parent- the children never skiied the afternoon.
Small milage in terms of pistes it may be, but it didn't limit me / us. I usually record my skiing in Strava and in 3V and GM last year we were covering 50 to 60 km per day skiing e.g. Morillon to FLaine and back, or Meribel Village to Orelle and back. Milages in Ste Foy were similar, in fact one day in SF I topped 70km which is a first for me.
There'd been no new snow since Boxing day when we arrived on 12 Jan, but the red and blue pistes were in excellent condition, they did a super job of looking after them. There are only four "black" pistes, and of those only one is ever pisted. It was ok butnothing special. The others are never pisted, and one was closed due to thin cover (Moriond under the Aiguille chairlift, you could see plenty of rocks poking through). Having spent the early part of the week sticking to the pistes we dabbled off piste as the week progressed and pronounced it horrible, but eventually decided to give Crystal Dark a go. It was surprisingly good, probably due to the lmited number of skiiers who;d been brave enough to try it - there's a fairly long traverse to get in. The next day we had a go on Shapper's Paradise whic is much more easily accessed and again found the snow (at the margins of the run) to be good - so good we lapped and did it again
We had a 6 day lift pass, with a hotel booked in Chambery on departure day, so we couold ski elsewhere - perhaps grab a day in La Rosiere or Les Arcs on the way down the valley. Snow was forecast for the Friday night so we decided it would be easier to sta in SF, and saturday passes are only €23 if you book by friday. Glad we did - ther was about 5" of fresh and itmight have been tricky to drive down with no chains (we did have 3PMSF tyres). 5" of fresh was a very welcome top up and the pistes were wonderful, new snow on corduroy can make any skiier feel like a hero. Needless to say it was tracked out well before noon
We enjoyed the trip and will definitely be back at some point, hopefully with fresh snow so we can hit the offpiste within resort and maybe even hire a guide to get some tracks out the back. If you have a family, the fact that everything leads back to the village location means there's no worries about getting stuck in the wring place or even just getting lost.
Apartment wise, the EDC apartment seemed really nice - they had a 3 bed and it seemed very comfortable when we popped round for a sociable beverage. They said it was slighly better than the Fermes, and in a slightly better location for ski school drop off as the walk across was flat, not UP the nursery slope
Book, but consider booking direct as you may save considerable amounts
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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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fabulous little resort, perfect for families, been going for last 10 odd years.
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Booking marking this...
7 of us staying in Bourg in a few weeks time, with the aim of a day (or more) each in Arcs, Rosiere, Val'D, etc. and v. interested in St Foy. What is parking like: any need to arrive early? - and are their lift passes on the A La Carte scheme?
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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On the same side of the Tarentaise valley as La Rosiere but without as many pistes, not as sunny, no links to Italy and more expensive but otherwise perfect.
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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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| Arctic Roll wrote: |
Booking marking this...
7 of us staying in Bourg in a few weeks time, with the aim of a day (or more) each in Arcs, Rosiere, Val'D, etc. and v. interested in St Foy. What is parking like: any need to arrive early? - and are their lift passes on the A La Carte scheme? |
Not on 'A La Carte' but lift passes available for €25 ish per day(Sat,Sun,Wed I think) via vouchers printed on the back of Bourg Super U receipts. Parking is easy and plentyfull up in the station, big free car park right at the end of the road.
Also La Rosiere do cheap Saturday passes if bought and booked online in advance, €20 euros!
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@NickYoung, we stayed in Etoile des Cimes at Christmas this year with our daughter, son in law and two grand daughters 7 and just 5. We loved it. We had a four bedroom apartment, in what I suppose is the new bit described above. So we had an en suite room on the same floor as the living/dining room and kitchen. And the rest of the family had the upper floor which had three double bedrooms, bathroom (with bath) and another separate loo. When we had booked last spring we hoped another son and family would be coming but they ended up having their second child last weekend so couldn’t travel. So lots of space for six of us and the dog.
Well equipped kitchen, and a ‘properish’ oven, microwave/combination, which we were able to cook a turkey crown in. Big hallway which was well heated so excellent for drying any damp ski clothes and swimming stuff as they all swam every afternoon. There was a kids club which we had booked the children in but they didn’t ever go and use it. Underground car park which we parked the cars in on arrival and they stayed there all week. Even managed to get our car in with the roof box on.
It was very convenient to get skis in the mornings downstairs and short walk to ski school meeting place at 9 and pick up at 11.45. They used ESF and were happy with it. We would have lunch up at the top of first lift, called Leon, nearly every day and then the girls and parents would ski in the afternoons for a while reinforcing what they had been learning.
I chose the resort as I had heard good things about it from friends who go regularly. It was an experience for us to go back to France and rent something after selling our own chalet in Les Gets 18 months ago.
We had looked to book through Peak Retreats as we had used them in Montgenevre before, but at the time we were trying to book neither they nor any other TO could reserve the larger apartment we wanted but David eventually managed to book it through MMV direct.
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You know it makes sense.
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Thanks to everyone for the responses. It's put my mind at ease and I reckon a booking is imminent.
Will check out the direct booking, to see if there's a saving to be had.
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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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It was mentioned that Ste Foy has loads of parking; Peak Retreats charge 55e to park at EDC - is it worth it to do so, or better to just park "in the village" for free?
It will be end of March, so issue with leaving the car "out"?
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Poster: A snowHead
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The free parking is outdoors so if the EDC parking is covered you may think it worth the money.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@NickYoung, the free parking was a bit down the road from EDC and is open air, we often looked out at Christmas at people clearing snow from their cars. We had one car included in our rent of the apartment and we paid another 50€ for son in law’s car. Worth every cent of it, as we wouldn’t have enjoyed unloading the cars or reloading them at the end in the snow, and it was easy for us to get out things from the cars during the week.
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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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Cheers @Pamski.
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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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We have been to Sainte Foy once about five years ago.
We stayed in Les Fermes de Sainte Foy which we did not find as good as CGH residences in other resorts. I think you are probably doing the right thing in booking L'Etoile des Cimes in Sainte Foy. It is well located and we saw one of the apartments which looked very nice.
I think Sainte Foy would be very good for families holidaying together with young children who don't mind that the ski area is on the smaller side. We went in the second week of April and there was still plenty of snow. It is reasonably high and the orientation of the slopes is favourable for late season. I remember a nice mountain restaurant called la marquise. It is a beautiful resort. you will find a lot of brits there..sometimes hard to find someone to speak french to!
We have done self drive many times with Peak Retreats and found their customer service very good.
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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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I have to say that if you like St Foy as a family you would definitely enjoy La Rosiere next door and as the family grow up that would suit your needs
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Is it easy to do a day out at Ste Foy if staying in La Ros?
My kids started out skiing in La Rosiere (as did my wife!). And we did 4 consecutive trips .
So we have fond memories - Kids now 12 and 16 and wanting to go back - maybe for Christmas 2020.
But I would like to see what Ste Foy is like too...
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BOOKED!
Only a year to wait...
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@sheffskibod, Yes, but it's only worth it on a fresh powder day, and now the Mont Valaisan area is open why bother, all the off-piste you could wish for, and magic after a fresh snow fall.
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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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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@snowymum,
The massive clubmed and other new developments paid for the 2 new lifts , I doubt any new for quite a while .
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FAQ
