 Poster: A snowHead
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Just reading some stats about this linked domain. They reinforce the impression that few Brits, comparatively speaking, find their way to the southern French Alps.
Despite being the 12th largest French domain in terms of size of ski area and amount of accommodation, only 2.1% of total visitors are British. This compares with 2.9% from the Baltic states, 3.1% from Holland, 4.2% from Italy and 1.9% from Belgium/Luxembourg. Half of all visitors from the south of France itself, some 15% from Paris, the rest mainly from other areas of the country.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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We go Allos quiet often and i'm suprised at how few English voices you hear! But with the demise of the soliege? building, which was completely flattened and 4 millions euros worth of remodelling at the foux I think more brits will make it up there. Good place to practice your French though
To be honest I still prefer le Seignus, so chilled out it's unreal. I'm going in Jan after New Years and expect to have the place more or less to myself. Which if it's anything like last year the conditions should be superb! 
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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 worked in Pra-Loup for a month back in the early 90s. I liked it but not enough to ever go back! Thankfully I escaped to Serre Che for the rest of the season.
I'm surprised that it is the 12th largest as I don't recall it being that big. However, the link was closed practically the whole time I was there.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Never been over to Praloup in winter, much prefer the Allos side in general. The link these days has snow cannons covering the length of it ! I understand the area between La Foux and Pra-loup is really nice and has some good off piste.
I think you can buy a lift pass for praloup/foux & seignus which would give you about 230km of piste.
It's not meribel etc but it has it's own appeal depends what you like.
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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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if "it's not meribel etc" then it moves up significantly in my estimation! six of us are going at the end of January and are looking forward to a great week. few "foreigners" sounds like heaven to me, and at the time we plan to go hopefully we'll have the place almost to ourselves. Mind you - even in the quietest of resorts, you'll always find somewhere to party!
let it snow let it snow let it snow!!! 
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Have a fab time, enjoy the scenary en route once your out of Nice, Entrevaux is lovely as are the forts at Colmars.(if you fly into Nice that is!)
we are going the week of the 9th
Should be fairly quite at the end of Jan suprising how a bit of time spent skiing on a piste not jostling for your life can really improve your skiing & confidence! I've done some of the larger resorts and there good, but expensive and usually very crowded. I prefer my space and doing my own thing to a certin extent.
When it's really quite at le segius, skiing through the larch forest is just magnificent!
Make sure you have your snow chains with you!! If it snows when your there it tends to arrive in large amounts without much warning, as the area has it's own microclimate.
It's not a party town but there are places to eat and drink and enjoy yourself, but this where you have ot make your own entertainment to a point. We usually go with a few friends so this isn't a big problem.
If you want to keep an eye on the snow have a look a the webcam on valdallos.com or on hors-pistes.net
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robbo, not quite 230 km - 170km between the linked domains. cardweg, end of Jan (22nd/23rd I think) each year there's a big event for "children in difficulty" - mainly kids suffering from leukemia. Sponsored teams entering the event relay each member over a five hour period of continuous descents. Fun to watch, or even to take part in, but minimum sponsorship is needed by a team to the tune of 20 euros per descent  ... so deep pockets are needed, especially given the standards of some competitors!
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Support GB!
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PG your quite right 170km if you look at foux/praloup but 230km if you buy the espace lumiere ticket which takes into account seignus also. Quite good value really! IF they should ever link seignus to la Foux (much seems to be talked about alot, but in reality probably too expensive) the area would be massive ,way over 230km.
I don't think the area would benefit from this though, Trying to cmplete with some of the bigger resorts I think would be a mistake, Allos is different and should stay that way! Just having miles of pistes is a pointless exercise if it means losing the character of a place! 
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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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cardweg, are you part of Michael B's group staying in Pra Loup? Pra Loup is a bit more mainstream than the Val d'Allos side of the ski area and a couple of minor UK operators go to Pra Loup. It's still nothing like as over-developed as other resorts and having quite a few Dutch visitors (I would have thought there were more than the stats quoted) there's usually some entertainment going on.
Pra Loup seems to be into those snow-scooters (the BMX type things) and had the world championship last year. I'm sure they're doing something similar this year.
Pra Loup also has a good snow park - no buses or VW's to jump over but some good jumps, rails etc.
Over on the Allos side practically the only English voices you'll hear will be my girlfriend and me (who run a chalet in Seignus), our guests and a few ex-pats up from the coast.
Like robbo, says there's no point in linking Seignus and La Foux - there are 3 or 4 small valleys inbetween and the catchment area isn't big enough to justify the expense (no road access from the North in winter so the only way in is from Nice or Marseille). Happily, this means it won't get over-developed and turn into another factory.
With area lift passes at EUR100 in the low season it's fantastic value, especially as in those weeks there'll be practically no queues for the lifts.
15% of visitors are Parisiennes? The locals won't be pleased, like most French they despise them and their fancy metropolitan ways 
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ben wright, I've stayed in the Loup Blanc and the Manon in Pra-Loup 1600 a few times, once down in the Prieuré in 1500, but I'm sure it was at Pra-loup that I stayed at an Auberge high up somewhere, access by snow scooter? Ring any bells? Guy came down to collect us in 1600 in the evenings. Great food, accommodation. (If it was Pra-Loup in the first place!)
Didn't get the opportunity to stay in Allos. Skied over from Pra-Loup usually. We mainly only stayed where the races were being held, and they were never in Allos for logistical reasons - took far too long for the clubs from elsewhere in the region to get there. Of course the same applied in reverse for the Allos kids - other clubs just drove to the venues in the morning, while Allos had the added expense of setting off the night before to stay in a hotel somewhere. As my daughter and I had the same problem, driving over from Avignon way, we often ended up in the same hotel as the Allos team, got to know them well.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| ben wright wrote: |
| cardweg, are you part of Michael B's group staying in Pra Loup? |
No Ben, we're all on our ownio - one of our guys has skied here when he lived in France and I worked in Super Sauze - I know it's miles away by road, but is in the same general area - back in the early nineties. We just thought that we'd have a go with easyjet through Nice.
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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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Cardweg,
I was just looking at the webcams looks like the snows are finally here! Hopefully it will be a great season!
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It snowed for most of the last 36 hours. This morning is fab - clear blue skies and nice and cold.
PG, not sure about an auberge above Pra Loup - I've not seen anything above village level over there. There is a fantastic derelict farm where the Pra Loup and Foux d'Allos lift systems meet. I think it'd be a bit too much of a challenge for my DIY skills.
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You know it makes sense.
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Hi Can anyone tell me what the snow conditions are like in the Espace lumiere area mid april?
we have had to move our flights from geneva to nice, ideally we would like a resort close to Nice but if the snow conditions are poor we will just have to drive on to Les2alps or val thorens.
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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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Le Seignus will be closed (irrespective of snow conditions) around the end of March and La Fox/Pra Loup may also be closed - at best, it'll be the last week of the season. No demand after Feb half-term so no incentive to stay open even in a bumper snow year.
I'd keep it as a backup as it will be crowd-free but wouldn't commit to anything non-refundable.
Isola 2000 is closer to Nice and has a very good snow record so worth checking their closing date.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Another question: does anyone know if the road over the Col is kept open through the winter? Looks like a potential place to visit in our motorhome after Vars but the motorhome aire is in Allos and we wouldn't want to drive the long way round.
Scrub that: just realised that the aire is down the road in Allos, not in the resort at Val d'Allos.
Last edited by Poster: A snowHead on Wed 1-12-21 10:51; edited 1 time in total
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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It’s a little known piece of information that these resorts are accessible by train from Nice. Train des pignes is a single track railway amazingly scenic, from Nice to Digne les bains. Change to road transport at an intermediate station. Which name I forget
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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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Went to Pra Loup about 25 years ago when Thomson Ski had it on their list. We were constrained for dates that year, and chose it from those available that fitted. As far as I remember the skiing was OK, with the trip over to Allos being fun but involving a viscious drag lift.
Most abiding memory is of Dutch apres ski! (There were a lot of Dutch, as mentioned above). We had made it back to the village one day just a little early, about 4.30, and with the snow having got slushy by then (it was March) decided not to take a final lift up but to slip into the bar at the bottom for a beer before heading home for a shower. We were almost the only people there, but we did notice a guy in the corner setting up a music system. About 5 pm a hundred Dutch arrived, and the DJ started playing their variety of pop. They quickly ended up on the tables in their ski boots, singing Va Pensiero from Verdi's Nabucco in a pop version with Dutch words, while we stayed sitting in our corner enjoying the spectacle. At 6 pm they all left en mass, I gather they were all staying in a large hostel with fixed meal times.
The Dutch version of the Chicken Song was another that tested the build quality of the furniture.
@PG, I remember a large restaurant building up near the tree-line which I think had accommodation as well. Certainly the menu advertised evening meals. It was accessible via the pistes in the day, and snowmobile at night.
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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 road over Allos pass is closed in winter. As for Pra Loup / La Foux, I would think twice about going in April; a key part of the link is south facing and thus might very well be closed, and the area only really comes into its own when the link is open.
In any case, it is a surprisingly long drive from Nice!
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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 been to Allos a few times in mid march (we usually go the week after French half term), and it is already starting to wind down. The link to Pra Loup shut during one of our stays, and I think we were there for the last day of skiing at le seignus.
It would be a real shame to go when le seignus is shut, it has the best skiing of the whole domain. For mid April I agree that Isola 2000 is the better bet, they seem to keep the whole area open right to the end of the season, except perhaps the col de lombard chair. But recently they seem to be against extending the season beyond the planned closing date, even when there is good snow and everyone is clamouring for it.
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