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Half term crowds

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Don'tcha just love insane French half term lift queues !

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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
And this is why it baffles me that people will bother with half term ski trips, looks hideous!
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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?
Yep, absolutely mad. And the daft thing about the French is that even people without kids do it. Close neighbours in our French apartment retired soon after they bought their place. I teased them at first because they always chose to drive down from Belgium (he was Belgian, she was French) on a Saturday. Eventually they took the plunge and realised it was more civilised to drive on, say, a Tuesday.
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I'll be there tomorrow!

We've little choice if we want to ski twice this season after Christmas got binned.

Prepared for the worst. May be there only time we do HT.
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
pam w wrote:
Yep, absolutely mad. And the daft thing about the French is that even people without kids do it. Close neighbours in our French apartment retired soon after they bought their place. I teased them at first because they always chose to drive down from Belgium (he was Belgian, she was French) on a Saturday. Eventually they took the plunge and realised it was more civilised to drive on, say, a Tuesday.


It is something deep in the psyche, maybe linked to too much wrote learning at school.

I have to say that is the worst queue I've ever seen for a ski lift.

They were also controlling passes.



but that didn't cause the tailback
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If the whole country is doing the same maths curriculum at the same time, stands to reason you all have to go on holiday at the same time.....
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I pity people who choose to go at this time.

If only they knew the joy of skiing empty pistes and riding empty lifts.

And the cap it all they pay twice the money. Mugs
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
They are no madder than the people who go at New Year though. Arguably less mad.
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@pam w, I’ve never seen a queue like that at New Year. Mind you, I’ve never skied in France at New Year.
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Just glad, as a now-retired teacher, that I'll never have to do this again. Endured it for 10+ years, but never quite like that in Les Arcs, though Arpette sometimes very busy when I went across to La Plagne.
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Negligible crowds here in Verbier.

Honesty...why do you go to the French mega resorts at half term?
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
Negligible crowds here in Verbier.

Honesty...why do you go to the French mega resorts at half term?
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So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
Try to avoid where possible but regular skiing friend is a teacher so we often go in school holidays though usually avoid France at half term.
Not expecting the dolomites to be quiet next week though.
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
@rungsp See above. (Ex) teacher, limited weeks to travel, apartment in Les Arcs. Now I have the choice, no longer an option I consider.
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
When I've done the Birthday Bashes I've found the pistes generally much busier than in non-holiday periods in Les Saisies, but it was only on the Sella Ronda that there were significant queues - and the Sella Ronda is definitely not the best of the skiing. I was lucky to be skiing with people who really knew where they were going though - I'd have been clueless, left to myself.

I can't imagine why anyone goes to any French ski resorts at half term. When I had an apartment in France, I cleared off.
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
@pam w,
I've been three times now twice at Feb half term and once in Jan, quite a big difference the access lifts were very busy for the Sella and access towards Marmolada. Off the Sella it was mixed but pretty busy in places in Alta Badia.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
@davidof, just spotted the red telephone box! Very Happy
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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?
Like other parents who don't want to give our children the impression education doesn't matter, we skiied at half term for years. Happily a few years our local half term differed from the majority of the UK, but we usually met significant queues in France - and to some extent Austria and Italy the odd years we went there.

To be fair, while our daughter was taken by her kids' club to lessons (thank you Esprit et al) we could make sure we were on the lifts early or wait until after the ski lesson rush. Once we no longer went with those companies, we discovered Switzerland - it has a reputation for being expensive but is actually reasonable compared with tour operator prices for UK half term, and doesn't suffer the same lift queue problems.
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Go to Andorra, get up early. Crowded only Saturday-Tuesday and Spanish don’t like getting up early.
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
We are in meribel this week and it has been unusually quiet (for half term) over the entire 3 valleys. Maybe the weather helped keep some people inside but even yesterday with the sun out we barely queued and there was plenty of space on the slopes.
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Châtel hasn't been bad at all this week, but skiing over to Avoriaz it was totally insane. It seems very location dependent.
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@davidof, where is this picture taken, out of interest?
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
Chamonix really wasn't too bad last week. Saw one queue (we weren't out much in the grubby weather).

Likely to change with the Parisiens this week Shocked
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espace killy wasn't so bad this week other than the 8hrs I'm from Lyon
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harrim51 wrote:
@davidof, just spotted the red telephone box! Very Happy


hah yes, popular everywhere but the UK
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LDP816 wrote:
And this is why it baffles me that people will bother with half term ski trips, looks hideous!


Many people don’t have a choice!

Easter hols very late this year and Xmas isn’t practical for many with family commitments.
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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.
Quote:

Like other parents who don't want to give our children the impression education doesn't matter, we skiied at half term for years.

We didn't start having ski holidays until the youngest of our 3 kids was 4 - it hadn't been an affordable option, really and as my OH grew up in Africa, and I in a genuinely hard up family, skiing wasn't part of our world. When we first went, I did a lot of research (pre-internet, endless piles of brochures) to find out what was what. And aimed for the very cheapest, early January, weeks. That meant taking kids out of school but having been taken out of school by my crowd-hating father several times, to go camping (one memorable time missing the school exams...) that didn't strike me as a big deal. I never thought my Dad dismissed the importance of education and I don't think my kids got that impression either. At any rate, all concerned got educated very successfully (and all entirely in state schools, apart from when we worked overseas a couple of times and the boys went to boarding school).

The budget for our family ski holidays was always tight. There was certainly never any possibility that other people would be taking the kids to ski school. The first holiday, when we were based in Scotland, we flew to Salzburg with five pairs of skis rented in Ayr, wrapped in a pink candlewick bedspread (because cases cost extra but renting in Ayr was a lot cheaper than renting in Austrian schillings). My eldest son, who was 11, died of mortification amongst all the smart Head bags carried by our fellow passengers. We also had grandma. And a pressure cooker and very carefully thought out ingredients to reduce the amount of food we had to buy locally. Nobody "ate out on the mountain" at lunchtime or any other time. Grandma cooked lunch for us all, I cooked dinner.

It was a stunningly successful holiday and we all fell in love with skiing, despite a much delayed flight out, a long transfer in a not-very-comfortable little van and a surly welcome from the Austrian manager of the self-catering apartments, very disgruntled to have had to wait up for our late arrival and come out on a very cold evening. We didn't care; we were just transfixed by the incredible canopy of stars twinkling over snowy mountains.

That was a two-week holiday - the cost of the extra week wasn't huge, and the whole thing cost significantly less than a half-term, peak week, would have done. Feeding ourselves cost us no more than it would have at home (thanks to the pressure cooker, the food we took with us, and grandma). The main additional cost was lift passes, of course - but they were good value in terms of the "pounds per skiing hour" calculation. My mother had picked up a duty-free bottle of Baileys, and doled out tiny glasses of what they still call "Bay leaves" to her entranced grandsons every evening. So as well as demonstrating that education didn't matter we poured alcohol down a 9 and 11 year old....

Other holidays were camping, at home in Scotland, in a very old Toyota Hi-Ace with a pop up roof. Generally in the rain. We have never done a summer package - in fact, apart from ski trips, I've never done a package holiday in my life.
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 So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
red 27 wrote:
I pity people who choose to go at this time.

If only they knew the joy of skiing empty pistes and riding empty lifts.

And the cap it all they pay twice the money. Mugs


Bit rude of you to brand everyone a mug who has to ski in half term. My Mrs is a teacher - when do you expect her to ski?
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
Someone had created a Strava segment for the queue. It took us 33 minutes to clear.
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
@davidof, I’m there in 4 weeks - that’s a segment I can beat
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Boris wrote:
@davidof, I’m there in 4 weeks - that’s a segment I can beat

Ha ha - A new KOM beckons
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Quote:

Easter hols very late this year and Xmas isn’t practical for many with family commitments.


We break up and head off on 1 April which I don't consider very late. However it does reduce options of where you go but will be quieter.
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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?
Plenty of places to ski in half term that do not have queues. Longest I have waited this week was 5 mins and even that was avoidable (waiting for a lift to open in the morning). Monte Rosa for the first time.

Normally ski in Switzerland. If you really don’t like dealing with queues and rubbish skiers look for resorts with a lot of surface lifts. And locals areas. All it takes is a bit of imagination, some google skills, and this forum for help!
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@MaxiD,

Looks like the bubble has La Plagne on the side.
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
@kettonskimum,@MaxiD, It's Plagne Bellecote where the Arpette, Colosses, Blanchette and Roche du Mio lifts commence. A notorious spot for queues, especially just after lunch.
The red phone box is outside the Colosses restaurant which also has it's own ice rink, great for a game of ice hockey after lunch.
It used to be run by an English woman so I assume that is why it is there.
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It's a bit silly to argue that some people have "no choice" but to cope with long queues. If paying big money to face queues like that, even once a day, was inescapable I'd exercise my choice not to bother. Similarly, you'd not find me driving down to Cornwall on a Saturday in the summer holidays. In fact, you'd not find me driving to Cornwall in the summer holidays on any day of the week.
We spent a day ashore in Salcombe last summer, from the boat, and it was hideously crowded. Fairly difficult just to get along the pavement, and the three of us kept having to look out for each other. Call me a miserable old cow, but I'd rather stay at home.
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Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
pam w wrote:
It's a bit silly to argue that some people have "no choice" but to cope with long queues. If paying big money to face queues like that, even once a day, was inescapable I'd exercise my choice not to bother. Similarly, you'd not find me driving down to Cornwall on a Saturday in the summer holidays. In fact, you'd not find me driving to Cornwall in the summer holidays on any day of the week.
We spent a day ashore in Salcombe last summer, from the boat, and it was hideously crowded. Fairly difficult just to get along the pavement, and the three of us kept having to look out for each other. Call me a miserable old cow, but I'd rather stay at home.


Couldn’t agree more!!! There are viable alternatives to half term skiing in big French resorts and paying a fortune for the privilege, I do wonder if the individuals who do either enjoy it (I can’t imagine how?) or just don’t know any better? Or they are just doing it to keep up with the Jones’s? Who knows. I’ll stick to Switzerland and Italy outside of peak times and hope nobody cottons on to the serenity of quiet slopes!
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
LDP816 wrote:
And this is why it baffles me that people will bother with half term ski trips, looks hideous!


If you are stuck with that week it's still far better than not skiing, surely? Puzzled
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Austria will have been quiet last week and this week as the Dutch and Bavarian school holidays start next week to coincide with Fasching/Carnival..... France was peak Paris.
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Bergmeister wrote:
LDP816 wrote:
And this is why it baffles me that people will bother with half term ski trips, looks hideous!


If you are stuck with that week it's still far better than not skiing, surely? Puzzled


Skiing is better than not skiing, yes, but there are better alternatives to enduring hideous lift queues and busy slopes whilst paying for the privilege. Ski over Christmas holidays, ski in Easter, choose smaller, more off the beaten track resorts rather than big French resorts, etc. As for taking your kids out of school I can’t comment, but scenes like this cannot be pleasant?!
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