Avoriaz for mixed ability group, 25 Feb - 4 March 2023?

A snowHead

I've fallen into the unenviable position of group organiser for a very vaguely defined group and I wonder if I might call upon Snowheads' expertise. As in every group, the trick is that there are a lot of different requests to manage!

We'll be something like 6-8 people, and everyone is able to get some time off work and can get to Geneva around 25 Feb - 4 March. Some can stay a full week, some just the long weekend, and a few would like the unusual Thurs-Mon span. <- we have solved this by inviting other friends to arrive in shifts, so when one leaves another can arrive.

Skiing ability varies from green/blue only up to off-piste heli-skiing, but just one of each extreme. Mostly it will be strong piste skiers with a bit of off piste experience.

Although I would just ski from the first lift to the last, there are several in the group who would like a good aprés scene and long lunches, so I suppose we will want more of a luxury break rather than a hard-core ski weekend. I'm not sure that's the normal Snowheads style!

I've heard that Avoriaz may be a good option for a group like this, but as I've never been I'd love to hear whether that sounds like a good fit. And for those who have experience organising diverse groups like this, since we have some different ideas about dates, should we just go with a hotel even though a chalet might be more fun for everyone? We can also just commit to a short break in a chalet, if such a thing exists.

Thanks for any thought you may have, I'm just a bit at sea having never organised a group like this.

UPDATE: I think I have persuaded the group to change the dates to 25 Feb - 4 March based on the feedback you've all given me, so thank you for that! I've updated this post.

A snowHead

French school holidays - and given that your requirements span two peak weeks accommodation of any kind will be the problem, especially with those different needs. You have a job on your hands.....

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

Not loads of Chalets in Avoriaz, but there's a couple of nice hotels which should have availability as the French school holiday crowd will have all the rabbit hutches booked up.
I know quite a lot of mixed ability groups who come here for long weekends and they all seem to have a ball, some like the OP are crack of sparrows till sundown merchants, while others are midday - 2:30 before passing the afternoon in the Folie Douce and then onto the Tav, the Place etc..
They normally book through PV or one of its other brand incarnations.

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Another option is Morzine too? Loads of chalets and accom to choose from and v lively. You are only a direct gondola ride away from Avoriaz (Super Morzine) or Prodains via quick bus ride. All in the Portes de Soleil. Morzine is a really lovely town too for a group IMO.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

@pam w's comments. Many places are Sat-Sat for the vacs scols. And, in any case, getting a single "chalet" to accommodate multiple dates over a weekend? I'd give up on that idea now.

Hotels may be a possibility, in which case Avoriaz is probably not richest of pickings. Morzine possibly better, but I refer to Sat-Sat bookings, which, at least in Chamonix, seem to be reverting to rule rather than exception, at least for high weeks.

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You need to clarify the dates a little. All else apart you mention Thursday, but your earliest stated date is the Friday, so which is it?

As others have mentioned it's made difficult if you span two weeks at that busy time. As it happens we've just had a cancellation in our six-person chalet apartment for the week starting Sat 25th, but otherwise those dates were booked up some time ago. Smaller units, like our two studios, tend to be booked later, but accommodation for 6-8 people in a single unit spanning the weekend is going to be very difficult to find. If you're prepared to be more flexible, like a 2-person studio from the Thu/Fri then a larger apartment from the Saturday you might be more likely to find something (we could do that, for example, but clearly we're in Morgins, not Avoriaz).

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

Great advice so far, thank you all. I've put these problems to the group and one very helpful member has offered to take on the extra chalet days that others cannot (he will bring in some of his other friends mid-week), so I think we can now do a Saturday-Saturday trip. After that initial weekend, it means we can avoid the school holidays for the following week. And the group is happy to shift to Morzine.

This is great progress and in record time!

To push my luck, anyone with advice about chalets or hotels in Morzine? I'll get going with Crystal etc.

After all it is free

@Chaletbeauroc, you're quite right those dates are confusing and I don't know how to change the title of the thread. We're shifting our plans to the week of Sat 25 Feb - Sat 4 March based on the advice I've gotten from here. I like the look of your chalet in Morgins, but the group does want to be in Morzine / Les Gets now. The Super Morzine link that ninthtoe mentioned solves the link to Avoriaz very well.

If anyone thinks of a chalet or even a hotel in Morzine that may work for 6-8 please do let me know. I have seen one in Les Gets called "The Alpine Loft," it's a catered option run by a company called Mountain & Tradition that rents by the room so this may be a good way to do it for this particular group as we wouldn't mind sharing with other groups. But it seems to me that Morzine itself may be more fun and easier to get to Avoriaz, so I will keep hunting.

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There are loads of chalet companies in Morzine, which as you say is more "central" in the Portes de Soleil, but Les Gets is nice in and of itself too, both would be great. Always good to book early if you have specific dates as there tend to sell out. Last year we went catered in large group (14) to Morzine with Northstar Chalets they were a very good small company.

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@ninthtoe, tbh Les Gets is a bit off the main ‘“circuit” although attractive in and of itself

@pam w, thank you, done!

You know it makes sense.

Thats still school hols for Paris, NL and parts of Switzerland.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

Yes, that was my initial reaction - unless you are forced to take holidays that week, it's worth avoiding. Best week is the the second week of March, after the end of the French holidays.

A snowHead

Thanks both, that is a shame about the French school holidays! Little to be done about it, I'm afraid, everyone has tight work constraints during the second week of March. It's that first week or nothing for most of the group.

A snowHead

@diaphon, then to be brutal i’d say Avoriaz might not be the place for you. Its super busy that week and the queues at some of the pinch points are just horrific. I have an apartment in Morzine, our school holidays are 19/02-04/03 and we don’t go then. We ski in Switzerland instead.

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@Nadenoodlee, that's a grim picture and I appreciate the honesty. I'll look into Switzerland too.

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@diaphon,

Self catered Apartments Pepe are in Morzine town centre and are very very close to the ‘Super Morzine’ gondola that gets you up to Avoriaz slopes.
I don’t work for ‘Pure Morzine’ but know they run a slick operation.
The apartments look fab.
Central location.
Plentiful and good price transfers from Geneva to Morzine.
Good Acces to bars and restaurants from morzine town centre.

https://www.puremorzine.com/property-availability?nights=7&guests=8&date=26%2F03%2F2023&dateformat=2023-3-26

Have a look at them.
They Could fit the group requirements?
P.S. as others say it’s the very last week of the French school hols and most if not all the Brits kids will be back to school. Yes it will be busier (the Dutch and Belgium school holidays are your dates) and the week of the 4th March will be 50% quieter on the slopes but all of France will be the same.m the week you have opted for.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Thanks @@247snowman, those look really great! I'll put this to the group. My inclination is to have those that want to do a long weekend do it in their own way, and I may then be free to join all of you at the GnarliiiBuG for my first Snowheads event. Cool

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@diaphon,
If they have availability the a Long weekend is a possibility at ‘The Nant’.
I’ve stayed at the Nantague B&B and it’s perfectly OK and the facilities reflect the price and the fact that it can be booked for short breaks and not have to book the whole week.

https://www.thenant.com/

It’s very ‘cheap and cheerful’ not luxury in any way.
It’s only 10 to 15 min walk (or 5 min shuttle bus) from the Pure Morzine apartment Pepé and the ‘Super Morzine’ gondola that gets you up to the Avoriaz slopes.

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

Just to close off this post, I have ended up opting out of organising this group. A few of the members are going for a long weekend at the end of January, and I'm going with one friend to somewhere near Turin on the week of 4-11 March. Thanks to everyone who replied here, I've filed away the suggestions for future trips and I appreciate the honesty about the difficulty of these particular dates.

After all it is free

Thanks for coming back with that explanation, @diaphon. And enjoy your trips!

We’ve been going to Morzine for the last 8 years and the lifts will be fine. Avoid the Pleney at 9am (ski school meet time) and the bubbles out of Les Gets just after lunch. Avoriaz will be much busier.

We’ve always use Hunter Chalets and had great service - they offer self-catering and full catered chalets. They also have a fleet of mini-buses to ferry you around town during your stay.

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@WindOfChange, Not sure what the problem with Pleney is, TBH. Last time I skied from Morzine was on a BASI course about three or four years ago, and some days I had to drive all the way round there first, 45 mins or so ( due to last-minute booking and lack of accommodation) and it was an early start, first lift up. Yes, ski school groups were going up, but honestly not that many, so it was never a problem getting to our 0900 meeting.

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Never found the Pleney to be any better/worse than any similar gondola either. In fact I'd say it's in many ways better than both the S-M and Prodains as the layout of the entry/loading area just seems to flow and funnel people more efficiently.

@Chaletbeauroc, I'm sure that if you want plenty of flat and easy slopes, access to Les Gets and the Nyon sector its great. If you want to opt for the he central part of the PdS: for the circuits, the good snow parks, the big freeride areas, happy valley, satellite, the gulleys of Les Crossets, etc.. then the Pleney is NOT the place for you.
The OP was originally talking about Avoriaz, which does offer way better access to the PdS without having to take your skis off and get on busses. The beauty of interconnected areas is that you can ski between them and not rely on busses or your accommodation provider to ferry you about in minivans.
As the OP is a dawn till dusk skier, then why limit where you can go?
Its like going to one of the worlds finest restaurants and just having the soup.

You know it makes sense.

@WindOfChange, It wasn't clear that you were talking about the ski area, as the previous comment was referring to the lift itself.

Yes, as a ski area it's more limited, but it's hardly somewhere that you would want to "avoid". Your point seems to be simply that the OP would be better off staying in Avoriaz than Morzine, which may be true but isn't really what the Pleney reference was about.

Help!!

Avoriaz for mixed ability group, 25 Feb - 4 March 2023?

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