 Poster: A snowHead
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After umpteen years of half-term skiing, we're now free of that but facing the prospect of Easter skiing to coincide with Uni holidays. It looks like Uni is 12th March - 20th April, and schools 1st-16th April (give or take). This would make the W/C Sat 20th March a possibility (i.e. Before UK schools). We're thinking of Avoriaz simply because we've never stayed there (done Chatel and Morzine a couple of times so like the area). Few obvious questions:
1. Will the snow be OK? Is it early enough/high enough or should we be looking at somewhere like Val Thorens? (Did Tignes this year just before you know what!).
2. How does Avoriaz work with cars? I'd always thought it was car-free, but clearly that isn't the case. How does it work with regard to loading/unloading?
3. Do we need to bother about schools, or is it quiet enough to ignore?
4. Anything else we should know about Avoriaz (good or bad)?
Many thanks
LR
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@LittleRob, The school hoidays finish on March 7th and they do not break up again until after Easter, April 10th, so unless you plan to go the last week of the univerity holiday you will be fine.
Obviously the earlier weeks will be better from a snow point of view but they tend to a bit busier and more expensive for that very reason.
It has been years since I've been to Avoriaz but it was car free back then with a big car park at the edge of town. Does the resort website not tell you this?
We went over one of the last weeks of their season and though there was no snow in Morzine or Les Gets the snow in Avoriaz was typical spring - hard in the morning slush in the afternoon.
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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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| LittleRob wrote: |
2. How does Avoriaz work with cars? I'd always thought it was car-free, but clearly that isn't the case. How does it work with regard to loading/unloading?
4. Anything else we should know about Avoriaz (good or bad)? |
2. It is car free. There's an indoor and outdoor parking space. There's a to drop off bags, people etc and from there you can get what is essentially a luggage trolley like you'd find in the airport but with a ski type base rather than wheels to push to your accommodation. Alternatively, there's horse drawn sledges that can take you to your accommodation.
4. There's a great looking swimming pool called Aquariaz, think Centre Parcs style if you've ever been. Believe it might even be owned by the same company.
There's a fantastic bakery called Le Fournil De Cannelle, they also do great pizzas.
I love the area, been 3 times now, loads of skiing, suitable for everyone. If anyone is interested in jumps rails etc, there's a really cool area called the Stash. The Avoriaz website describes it as "THE FIRST GIANT ECOLOGICAL SNOW PARK IN EUROPE".
I'd 100% say go for it.
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My kids school break up on Friday 26th March 2021 - which usually lines up with most so I would go 20th March if you can.
20th March is not particularly late season so the snow will be fine.
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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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We’ve usually done the “lad’s trip” to Chatel either that week or the one before. This year it didn’t happen for obvious reasons.
Snow has nearly always been good and we tend to ski the area around Avoriaz several times. Occasionally it is a bit warm and the run down to Prodains gets slushy, sometimes we get a big dump. I wouldn’t worry about the snow conditions or busy pistes.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Apart from this year we always ski in Avoriaz on closing day. (There's a party Chez Flo)
I can never remember anything other than proper spring conditions.
As per @DJL, the PLJ / Linga section of Chatel is also open up until last knockings, and this too is normally fine due to judicious snow management on the bottom of Chaux Fleurie.
There's a really nice vibe too, it's warm, most people are beginning to wind down and you sense that everyone is just chilled - no pushing in queues ( there aren't any). 
At Easter, you can save a few quid and use the outdoor carpark, as its way cheaper than the indoor one.
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Snow
The full answer is "Who knows" as it depends on how good/bad the winter is for skiing, but you should be fine. I've been skiing the PdS for over 10 years, including good/bad years and often first/last couple of weeks and there's never been a week I couldn't ski, and only 1 'first week' where the skiing was especially limited (but then so was the lift pass price). Personally I'd consider late March to still be core season though and wouldn't have any hesitation in booking. My general experience is booking early season is a higher risk than booking late.
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When I went last week of March it got a bit stony and slushy lower down in places, especially south facing, but all skiable. We also had a dump of snow midweek which was good fun.
The main resort is car free but you drive to the visitor centre area and unload there. Most accommodations seem to give you a ticket for the 'taxi' (either horse drawn or a pistenbully) which will drop you off if you don't fancy dragging things through snow. There are also escalators and lifts in some areas which are a big help!
If getting transfers then I highly recommend SkiidyGonzalez if available.
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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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Really like it as a resort, nice variety of accommodation options and ski in ski out pretty much everywhere (though a few flat spots to navigate). Lots of mileage to go at on the runs and nice wide open cruisers in every direction from memory.
Lovely little wine bar (if that’s your thing) called JaJa Bar which was opposite our hotel last time I stayed there.
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Hmmm. Not so sure now. We usually self-cater (we're pescatarians so it makes things easier) so we arrive with a mountain of clobber (eg a couple of meals ready cooked, and a cake etc) so getting everything from the car might be a pain. In the past we've usually managed to park right outside and unload (apart from last year in Tignes when we didn't bother).
Perhaps we'll have to re-think the plan.
Thanks for all the responses though, as ever this place is the fount of all ski knowledge (and probably some more too).
LR
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@LittleRob, You don't need to use the pony and trap.
You can load all your clobber into a rat-trap. Once when we were renovating our apartment in the season we had the guy load up with 20 packs of laminate flooring, 6 boxes of tiles, toolboxes, paint, grout, bunk beds, new bathroom suite, plumbing stuff, plus all our boarding gear ( 4 blokes ), and 4 slabs of beer we bought in Champion at St Jean,
Oh and they sell fish in the supermarket in Avoriaz last time I checked
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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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@LittleRob, regarding getting luggage from car to apartment...
I've never been to Avoriaz* but been to lots of ski stations in France. I can't believe they don't have ways and means to allow people to easily do this. I've never been anywhere that doesn't - even if it's a layby outside, temporary access to a car park, stair and lift system or a combination. Can take a bit of sussing out.
I tend to look at a plan of the ski station as a general starting point to reference against any accommodation I look at. That is for a variety of reasons. Drop off loading/unloading, parking for the week, access to the lifts/slope, access to shops or other facilities, not to be near a loud bar. Sometimes I'll ask the agent/apartment for info on parking ahead of time and then other times I will ask when I get the keys if there are tips for loading/unloading.
Parking in general is easier/less restricted at lower stations IME.
* I've generally had somewhere else more alluring than PdS or not had good reason to bump it up. And also I've become fond of certain places and so do repeat visits to those rather go somewhere new. That's not to say PdS isn't a great place. Maybe if I'd been there earlier it may have become a place I was fond of.
Last edited by And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports. on Fri 3-07-20 12:21; edited 1 time in total
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@LittleRob, I quite like Avoriaz and certainly wouldn't dissuade you from going. However ...... The resort is high but the skiing is not. If the snow in the Alps is poor when you go (it should be OK around 20th March) then you'll have snow in the resort but your skiing will be much more limited than other, higher skiing areas. e.g. staying in La Plagne. The PdS is my least favourite of the big ski areas.
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You know it makes sense.
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@LittleRob, if you want to park next to your accom you could stay in Morzine? That's what I did for a very late season BASI trip. Simply then got the Prodains cable car up each morning as we had a 939am meet at the top.
I'd assume lifts from Morzine would be working most "normal" easters if you didn't have to be in Avoriaz first thing??
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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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If you stay in the Amara apartments they have an underground car park of their own. It depends on your budget, obviously, but we've stayed there the past few years with kids and it's really good.
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Poster: A snowHead
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@LittleRob, If you want decent snow and are already worried about it then IMO staying in Morzine is not a great idea. It’s desperately low with poor links across town and you’ll spend your entire life taking lifts up in preparation to take another lift up and then, quite possibly, getting lifts back down to avoid the slush at the end of the day. This could easily knock an hour off each day’s skiing.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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...or you just jump on the free bus to Prodains and find yourself in Avoriaz 20-30min later.
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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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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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@Mjit, precisely
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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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Was posting on my phone in the supermarket queue yesterday and somehow missed your post saying the same thing.
We had a week of guided off piste so also had a ~9am meet up in Avoiriaz and had no technical issues catching the bus and meeting our guides on time. We did have issues but I don't count the ability for some of the boarders in our group to turn up at the bus stop minus their boards as a technical one  Thankfully our chalet's only a 60 second snowboard boot run from the bus stop so we never lost anyone.
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