 Poster: A snowHead
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We are wanting to take our sons on their first ski holiday (age 10 and 8 ). My husband is a boarder, and I ski. The kids are undecided as to what they want to do.
We had just about come to a decision to book Club Med La Plagne from 09/04, as we want an all inclusive, easy package holiday for our first family trip, where everything is taken care of and we can just relax and enjoy the slopes. La Plagne seemed to meet the requirements as it’s high up and has a good range of beginner/intermediate runs.
However, a colleague has just returned from La Plagne and said it was basically skiing over mud and slush. I’ve not skied in 12 years, my kids never, and my husband has a bad back, so I’m really nervous about spending a rather large sum of money on a ski holiday that could turn out to be awful.
So before we shelve the idea entirely, I thought I’d ask the experts (aka you guys). Are there any resorts you could recommend where we might actually have some good snow, where the kids can learn and I can re-learn, without skiing over mud. I know this season has had really rubbish snow, so I know we may just need to wait for next season, but I was getting so excited about finally getting back onto the slopes after so long.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Club Med Val Thorens will be more snow sure that time of year. No idea of the conditions in La Plagne.
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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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Personally, I would keep your money for next year.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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@Jennabug, My answer to this question is always the same! Sass Fee in Switzerland for that time of year. It is probably not that easy, however, to get an all inclusive package. I can help with organising the logistics though, which are quite easy to put together. Transport from Geneva is easy (train and bus), ski school are ski hire also easy to arrange. Just add a half-board hotel and you are good to go.
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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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There has been quite a lot of snow recently. You can never expect great snow in April (thought you may be lucky and get it). The season has been up and down but perfectly skiable on each of my trips this year (and little slush when I’ve been there). I’m heading to the 3V the first week in April and fully expect a bit of slush on resort runs. But there will be points in the day, and when we ski higher up, like VT, when it should be perfectly fine. Again, can’t speak for La Plagne specifically.
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| zikomo wrote: |
| @Jennabug, My answer to this question is always the same! Sass Fee in Switzerland for that time of year. It is probably not that easy, however, to get an all inclusive package. I can help with organising the logistics though, which are quite easy to put together. Transport from Geneva is easy (train and bus), ski school are ski hire also easy to arrange. Just add a half-board hotel and you are good to go. |
Thanks @zikomo, I will do some more research. Appreciate the recommendation.
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| Pyramus wrote: |
| Personally, I would keep your money for next year. |
This, especially if in the 2nd week of April...
Although check snow-forecast and any webcams. I think you need to ask your colleague a bit more, i.e. what height were they skiing at.
We're going to Les Arcs in the 1st week of April and I'm keeping everything crossed, but they did have a couple of dumps in the past 2 days and everything has gone white again, for how long though is anyone's guess.
All I know is that 2000m + should be fine. Anything below around 1400 will struggle and stuff in between those two will depend on the facing and tree cover, etc..
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Club Med or Esprit for those with children is usually a good bet. We've done both before.
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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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I'm checking this as well, almost daily!! https://en.lesarcs.com/piste-map you can click on the webcams on that page as well and see real time conditions for right now.
Most lifts and pistes are open at the moment, but 2nd week of April is over 3 weeks away... That's a long time!
2.5m snow depth up high, but just 0.4m down low and any rain between now and then and 0.4 will disappear rapidly.
Just keeping everything crossed for our trip to that area, but we are happy to ski up high and I think Plan Peisey / Vallandry has a more Northern face and tree cover to protect the snow for the beginners in our group.
It will get slushy / porridge-like in the afternoons though.
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@Jennabug, It might not be for you as you want a full package. But it really is easy to organise yourself. I know the village and lots of people there well, and am more than happy to help you organise everything if you decide to go that way.
FYI we have tried a few other places but have pretty consistently chosen to go to Sass Fee every spring for the last 20 years or so. It is not that we have not also skied lots of other places! We have just found that for family in particular it is the best combination of traditional and attractive village, good nursery slopes, good snow at Easter and overall experience.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Thanks for all the suggestions so far. I’m currently exploring some of the other resorts. We are quite fortunate in that we can wait a few weeks to make a more informed decision based on the snowfall over the next few weeks. So it will probably be a wait and see game.
Maybe we will just head somewhere warm instead lol.
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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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It's not a bad idea to wait and see, @Jennabug. I'm skiing with family in a fairly low resort in France the first week of April and not counting any chickens with regard to snow. You might get quite a good late bargain price - I do think it's easier for a first holiday to go with a package, though the offer of help from @zikomo is generous.
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Only potential downside of leaving, is ensuring lessons availability if that is wanted.
Easter is much better than Feb but certainly discussions for week before with ski school for Mayrhofen where we are off to, is they are expecting big groups for the lessons
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You know it makes sense.
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Yes, that's a very good point. And the quality of your ski lessons will make or break the holiday.
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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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More important than the quality of the snow!
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Poster: A snowHead
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La Plagne is looking good at the moment. They've just had an enormous dump of snow.
Like @eps, I'm heading to Les Arcs in the first week of April, and am also watching the cameras and weather like a hawk. I'm optimistic that if we stay high, or North facing and tree lined, we'll have a lovely week of skiing. We're happy to download at the end of the day, and there's lots of skiing to be had in both La Plagne and Les Arcs at decent altitude.
We're staying in 1800 and have booked lessons for the children (aged 11 and 9) with Evolution 2. A quick look at their websites show that 1800 has availability in the first week for beginner ski lessons, but is fully booked that second week, however there is availability both weeks at the 2000 location.
I concur with previous posters about the importance of getting a good ski school booked. We picked Evo2 over ESF due to class sizes. We're much happier with our children in a group with a maximum of 8.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| Quote: |
They've just had an enormous dump of snow
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to be fair, most places just had an enormous dump of snow. But three weeks is a long time in the mountains in Spring.
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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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Popping in as always to wave the flag for Scandinavian skiing - we have found it to be reasonably snowsure and very family friendly the past couple of years of Easter skiing. I'm not sure if you can do an AI package per se but you can book everything (accommodation, ski rental, ski lessons, lift pass) through Skistar
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