 Poster: A snowHead
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@under a new name, I see that as a win to be honest....for 1 week visitors here it's a pain having to get to/across Morzine town to access the main PdS area.
For locals it means LG is in it's own little bubble most of the season (peak weeks aside) = more untracked snow. And if you do need to go higher, it's a 10 min drive to Prodains / Ardent
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Its not really that much of a pain to get across Morzine or Les Gets - 5 minute walk or so. The problem is if you have lift closure anxiety. If you are the far side of Les Gets (Mont Chery side) you have to hike across town, then up lift, ski around a bit and down to Morzine, hike across town, various lifts/pistes to get up Super Morzine to Avoriaz and then ski around a bit and lifts to get to the Swiss side. All perfectly doable and then you think "How about going to Les Crosets, Champery, Chatel or whatever" and nervous types spend the rest of the day checking their watches.
If you know where you are going and keep on the move it is really no great problem but you don't want to end up in a Swiss valley if you are staying in Morzine or Les Gets.
If we fancy a day out from Chatel in the Morzine/Les Gets area we usually drive and park in the underground car park at Pleney then no worries about how much you faff or whether you fancy a longish lunch. Less than an hour in the car
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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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Looking forward to the @DJL “PDS Grand Tour” if ever on offer in the upcoming season. 
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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@Ozboy, here's hoping!
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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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This thread has also made me realise as well as being a fair weather skier, I also like skiing the bits I like rather than hammering it around the circuit.
Can I join the @DJL, @Ozboy, tour if you get to Morzine? We’re at Nyon!
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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My son often does 2 hour lessons in Morzine in the morning and 2 hour lessons in Chatel in the afternoon. No stress getting from one to the other in plenty of time.
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The 3V is great but I'm not a fan of spending all day zooming around on blues and flat reds. The PDS has more varied terrain and sometimes you have to take more challenging options to reach different areas. The 3V doesn't lack challenging terrain but you have to really go in search of it. The other thing I like about the PDS is that it offers more options when the weather is bad. There's nothing worse than being stuck in VT when the lifts are shut!
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Have now booked an apartment for a long weekend in Morzine in March, so that added with Meribel in January, i'll be able to get a true judge on which I prefer, but I know i'm a big PDS fan, this will now be 3 trips in a row to the area.
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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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@polo, yeah, I can see that too.
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| DJL wrote: |
| If you are the far side of Les Gets (Mont Chery side) you have to hike across town, then up lift, ski around a bit and down to Morzine, hike across town, various lifts/pistes to get up Super Morzine to Avoriaz and then ski around a bit and lifts to get to the Swiss side. All perfectly doable and then you think "How about going to Les Crosets, Champery, Chatel or whatever" and nervous types spend the rest of the day checking their watches. |
Or you can just catch the bus to Morzine (€1.50 last time we dallied a beer too long in Les Gets to ski back), which drops you at a bus stop spitting distance of the S-M/that's also a stop for the free bus up to Prodains. Same options exist for getting back - you just need to worry about getting back to either Prodains or Ardent and you have bus options back after last lift.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@Mjit, I couldn't agree more but worriers got to worry! Basically if you can get to the top of Swiss Mossettes or Grand Conche you can get home to Morzine via Ardent.
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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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@Bergmeister, maybe it's 1,002 pistes? not really paying much attention.
Anyhoo ... MBU covers Cham valley, Courmayeur, Evasion MB, Verbier, yeah, must be pistes not lifts, hey ho!
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You know it makes sense.
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Depends what yu are after, I have been to the PDS every year (except last obviously) for around 15 years and love it. We only go for 4 days at the beginning of Jan or start of Feb and stay in Les Gets, Morzine or Chatel. Only once in 18 years have I had anything other than fantastic conditions with Avoriaz having one of the best ski records in France. The lifts are no worse than anywhere else and I have done the lot over there.
It is 1 hour from Geneva, cheap for accommodation, food and drink and great for a short break, brilliant for 4 days with the lads.
However when doing the family trip we always go high, EK, VT, 3V, Les Arc etc. I wouldn't go to Morzine for a week over one of the higher ones but it certainly isn't the disaster being portrayed here,
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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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To answer the question, it's massively overrated by the people who massively overrate it (I guess there must be some...). For the rest, some like it, some don't. Other ski areas are available. 
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Poster: A snowHead
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Done PDS a few times, mainly long weekends. I really like the high French resorts but I don't see a big problem with PDS. At my intermediate level, there's plenty of challenging enough runs and the feel of travelling that I like. One of the bit's I do like is the "villages" of restaurants and bars, spotted around the area that give a nice atmosphere to the place that I haven't seen elsewhere.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@stevew, that feeling of travelling is something I love about the area also. A similar reason I like the Dolomites, in particular the Sella Ronda area, getting to travel to a different village every day for lunch before heading back over.
You could eat in a different village everyday in the PDS and still have some villages left over in a normal 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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| Quote: |
that feeling of travelling is something I love about the area also. A similar reason I like the Dolomites, in particular the Sella Ronda area, getting to travel to a different village every day for lunch before heading back over.
You could eat in a different village everyday in the PDS and still have some villages left over in a normal week.
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Does that not apply to many other sizeable ski areas? E.g. 3Vs, Serre Chevalier, Paradiski, Ski Circus, Ski Welt, Ski Amadé?
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@tatmanstours, they are not 'circuits' as I understand it. Though I get your point. If you go from Les Menuires to 1650/Le Praz and back or from Champagny to Arc 2000 and back you will to my mind feel like you've 'travelled'. Something a bit different I would say is ADH, where it's give or take one mountainside with maybe a couple of side bits.
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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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| greengriff wrote: |
| Cheers. I appreciate the other perspective. Still hasn't changed my mind though. |
I get the feeling that nothing would've though. Depends what you're looking for, I did a lot of linked skiing in Avoriaz/Chatel and don't remember any lifts being 40 minutes other than the key places in the centre of Avoiraz (and tbf it was New Year week and Morzine had poor snow, so a lot of people heading higher).
Both 3V and PdS have downsides ime, having done VT and Avoriaz. I probably prefer Avoriaz simply because it has more tree lined runs within easy access (a poor viz day in VT and you're screwed, particularly if it's windy), but 3V does have a slightly better lift system and better snow at either end of the season. That said, I've had great days skiing in both too. I've probably preferred my trips to La Plagne though, the queues are a pita and the town itself is ugly, but I prefer the views and the skiing.
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@Layne, I think we’re on the same wavelength. Clearly there are many good, popular resorts (I would add LDA to your example of AdH), which may not provide such a sensation of travelling and the opportunity of having lunch in different villages - the feeling of having made an excursion, which often provides a focus to the skiing day, and in fact a plan or itinerary for a week.
Obviously I’m most familiar with the Ski Circus, as I’ve made it my home, but the ability to do circuits and excursions to outlying hamlets and villages in other valleys, to have lunch there, and then to ski back home, has always been part of the appeal - so I can see that this is a big part of the attraction of the PdS.
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| tatmanstours wrote: |
Does that not apply to many other sizeable ski areas? E.g. 3Vs, Serre Chevalier, Paradiski, Ski Circus, Ski Welt, Ski Amadé? |
Yes agreed, and I know a couple of people have replied discussing similarly. I like the feeling of the loop you get in the PDS, which you could do in either a clockwise or anti clockwise, much like the Sella Ronda.
I wouldn't say I rank the PDS above any of the mentioned areas (I haven't been to them all, but have been to half of those you mention) I just like the PDS and find I gravitate back to it often, especially for short breaks as it's so convenient, and with its popularity comes things like copious amounts of cheap, shared transfers.
Someone mentioned Les Deux Alpes and that's somewhere i've been 3 times, and i've only skied about 15 or 16 times so it makes up quite a chunk of my experience. I wouldn't choose to go there again, and probably wouldn't have done so after the first trip, it was only for a friend doing a season there, and a last minute trip at easter that my parents booked that meant I went back. What I didn't like about it was the lack of a feeling of travelling.
Looking forward to going to the 3Vs in January as it's been a while since i've been there and i've only been at extremities of the season, very early on a uni trip, and at Easter, so to see it in the main season will be fun.
I think the point that has been mentioned many times now is, some people like some places, others don't, but I don't think you could argue the PDS is overrated, it just sits lower on someone else's list.
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IMO the PdS (or at least the Swiss side, Avoriaz, Linga loop we usually do) has some great skiing both piste and off piste. And it gets loads of snow (Avoriaz statistically most in France AIUI). The only challenge for me is the altitude which results in heavier snow that consolidates more quickly.
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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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| Ozboy wrote: |
| Looking forward to the @DJL “PDS Grand Tour” if ever on offer in the upcoming season. |
Been touted before, but this year will be aiming to do ALL the Resorts of Pds in a Day.
Night before - leave a car in the car Park in the Col D'Encrenaz.
Meet in Abondance car park 20 mins before first lift.
Ride 1st lift up, then down, drive to La Chapelle, then do "Classic" La Chapelle, Torgon, Super Chatel, Chalet Neuf, Morgins, Champoussin, les Crossets, Champery, Avoriaz route. Take SM gondola down, cross the Zine, up and over to Les Gets, cross back to Mt Chery, and down Chery Nord to waiting car and head for St Jean Station do the Roc D'Enfer loop and your'e done. You could even throw in The Muret run at Drouzin Le Mont on the way back to La Chapelle, before retiring to the le Fer Rouge for some re-hydration. Best wait till March as the lifts run a little longer, but IMHO it's achievable.
As a counterpoint I also like 3V, but had a crap time stuck in huge queues getting out of Meribel one afternoon trying to get back to VT, as it seemed the world and his Dutch wife were trying the same ting.
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| WindOfChange wrote: |
| Ozboy wrote: |
| Looking forward to the @DJL “PDS Grand Tour” if ever on offer in the upcoming season. |
Been touted before, but this year will be aiming to do ALL the Resorts of Pds in a Day.
Night before - leave a car in the car Park in the Col D'Encrenaz.
Meet in Abondance car park 20 mins before first lift.
Ride 1st lift up, then down, drive to La Chapelle, then do "Classic" La Chapelle, Torgon, Super Chatel, Chalet Neuf, Morgins, Champoussin, les Crossets, Champery, Avoriaz route. Take SM gondola down, cross the Zine, up and over to Les Gets, cross back to Mt Chery, and down Chery Nord to waiting car and head for St Jean Station do the Roc D'Enfer loop and your'e done. You could even throw in The Muret run at Drouzin Le Mont on the way back to La Chapelle, before retiring to the le Fer Rouge for some re-hydration. Best wait till March as the lifts run a little longer, but IMHO it's achievable. |
Now that sounds fun!
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@swskier, You're welcome to come along. Does your 4V pass give you 5 free PDS days for 2021/22 ?
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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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| WindOfChange wrote: |
| Ozboy wrote: |
| Looking forward to the @DJL “PDS Grand Tour” if ever on offer in the upcoming season. |
Been touted before, but this year will be aiming to do ALL the Resorts of Pds in a Day.
Night before - leave a car in the car Park in the Col D'Encrenaz.
Meet in Abondance car park 20 mins before first lift.
Ride 1st lift up, then down, drive to La Chapelle, then do "Classic" La Chapelle, Torgon, Super Chatel, Chalet Neuf, Morgins, Champoussin, les Crossets, Champery, Avoriaz route. Take SM gondola down, cross the Zine, up and over to Les Gets, cross back to Mt Chery, and down Chery Nord to waiting car and head for St Jean Station do the Roc D'Enfer loop and your'e done. You could even throw in The Muret run at Drouzin Le Mont on the way back to La Chapelle, before retiring to the le Fer Rouge for some re-hydration. Best wait till March as the lifts run a little longer, but IMHO it's achievable.
As a counterpoint I also like 3V, but had a crap time stuck in huge queues getting out of Meribel one afternoon trying to get back to VT, as it seemed the world and his Dutch wife were trying the same ting. |
I'm up for this if we can make dates work! Do we have to do both Cret Beni and Braitaz in La Chapelle? have to hope the snow holds for the Chalet Neuf-Morgins leg and for Abondance
I make it about 32 lifts or pistes and at my rule of thumb of 10 minutes each that would be just over 5 hours. Allow 10 minutes Abondance-La Chapelle and 20 mins L'Encrenaz-St Jean and there should be time for a decent lunch stop! Would help to have someone in snowboard boots to do the driving to cut down on ski boot faff. Looking at you @WindOfChange
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@WindOfChange, I don't have a 4V pass, think you might be confusing me for BobinCH.
I'm only in the PDS for a long weekend in March with some friends this season, but thanks for the offer.
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You know it makes sense.
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Am in of we can make the dates work. @windofchange designated driver if he is up for it as it takes me a good 10 mins to boot faff.
Think we also have to include the Cret Beni at La Chapellle
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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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Am in of we can make the dates work. @windofchange designated driver if he is up for it as it takes me a good 10 mins to boot faff.
Think we also have to include the Cret Beni at La Chapellle
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Poster: A snowHead
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@DJL, I think Braitaz counts as La Chapelle.
I am not aiming to do every piste in every resort just at least one piste in every resort 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@Ozboy, @DJL, You guys sort the dates - I'm here the whole time.
I will happily drive the longer bit from Col d'Encrenaz to St Jean, and leave a car up there.
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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’d be up for that circuit if I’m over - planning to be there roughly every other weekend but can be pretty flexible.
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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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Absolutely not BUT i will toast you from a decent restaurant as you ski past.
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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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@Nadenoodlee, the massively overrated restaurant?
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Best thing about the PDS is it’s proximity to the airports.
We went for the first time last year just before lockdown. We stayed in morzine in an amazing chalet with VIP chalets. I enjoyed the avoriaz skiing, but found morzine/les gets a bit bland and you tended to get stuck in the same few runs.
Back to espace Killy for next year.
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@Ozboy, of course, I also like to start the day in an overrated bakery too so I will grab some overrated snacks for you too.
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| Ozboy wrote: |
| @Nadenoodlee, the massively overrated restaurant? |
If it's the self service one at the top of the Pleney then yes! Even when rated 'terrible' it's massively over rated.
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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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In all seriousness we should look at a date that does not clash with EU school holidays to ensure I have a flight booked for that weekend.
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Give me a wave when you're on the Panthiaz lift!
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FAQ
