 Poster: A snowHead
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Hello. I would like to ski both areas over a 2 week break next January. I will be driving out so will have a car. Any thoughts as to the best village or town to base myself in to ski both domains plus the odd smaller ski hill in the area. On the map Taninges looks geographically central but in practice is somewhere better? Thanks!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Depends what you want to do other than ski and drive, I suppose, and what you want to see out of the window. Would you rule out two separate bases?
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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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We take our dogs too so generally ski in the morning and do dog walks in the afternoon so a picturesque valley would be nice!
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I'd be inclined to spend 1 week in each, so you only need to drive once once you're out there, rather than driving every day, and you'll actually be in and around the ski resorts rather than a valley town. If you fancied doing a smaller resort you could just as easily do it from wherever you base yourself in either domain.
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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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Thanks nice idea but we would like a single base, preferably a chalet with a garden for the dogs. Any ideas for nice villages / towns in the valley?
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None of the villages or towns in the valley is particularly "nice" - it's a big, flat-bottomed, glaciated valley with a lot of light industry and commerce. There won't often be snow on the ground and in times of temperature inversion it can be very polluted. There's plenty of skiing in either area for two weeks, especially if you are limited by only having half days. Might be better to look at basing yourself in one of the areas for the two weeks.
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@Carver Doone, what @pam w says. I'd not pick a valley town. Realistically you're looking at Taninges or Cluses. I'd personally pick a village in either of the domains and drive from there. If you picked Morzine for example, you've got access to the majority of the PdS domain, and you could drive to St Jeans d'Aulps, likewise, you could also drive to Praz de Lys or the Grand Massif.
If you were dead set on staying somewhere between the domains, i'd pick Taninges over Cluses.
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Thanks - how about Morillon? It's got lift access into GM and only 25 minutes drive from Les Gets and 35 from Morzine. I'm guessing there are lifts that have decent car parks? Also gives easy access to La Praz which I've read good things about.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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One consideration is the cost of having two lots of lift passes, when realistically, with only mornings away from the dogs, you might not get good value out of either of them.
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Thanks Pam. Good point. I was thinking half day passes or buying a block of use anytime days.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Taninges to Morillon is 10 to 15 mins drive. There's a lift right in Morillon (though the lift from Vercland can give easier access to the rest of the Grand Massif) and free buses round the village so you don't have to drive as long as you can get to a bus stop - they're not frequent but they are reliable. They tend to run towards the lifts in the morning, and away from the lifts after noon. You can ski all the way back into the village. It's a nice little village with one shop, a few bars and so on. Samoens would have more facilities but les easy to get to / from ski area, you have to get the lift both ways. Verchaix might be cheaper, even smaller than Morillon though. Taninges is a bit bigger than Morillon but defintely means driving
When we stayed in Morillon we never made it over to the PdS, the poor snow and feeling a bit crappy meant we just skiied GM - but we DID have to spend the first few days driving from Morillon all the way round to Flaine, as there was no snow locally due to the huge storm. While necessary, it was also frustrating to have a 40 minute drive every day when we'd hoped to be much closer to the skiing. Contrast that though with our trip to Utah where we stayed in a suburb of Salt Lake and drive 20 to 30 minutes each day to the resorts in the cottonwood canyons. I suppose if you plan and budget for it, it;s acceptable - you just need to be prepared to get up and go out early if there's a good day in prospect
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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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I was thinking half day passes
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they typically only save a few euros. Nothing like half the price of a full day.
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| pam w wrote: |
| One consideration is the cost of having two lots of lift passes, when realistically, with only mornings away from the dogs, you might not get good value out of either of them. |
The marginal cost of having longer duration (e.g. a week) passes vs. day (or even half day) passes has changed over recent years. For the Grand Massif, a 6 day pass cost 6 times the price of a day pass in the season just gone:
https://www.grand-massif.com/en/grand-massif-skipasses-prices/
6 half day passes would cost less than a 6 day pass in the Grand Massif.
By comparison, buying longer duration lift passes in the Port du Soleil provides a reasonable saving:
https://en.morzine-avoriaz.com/skipass-morzine-avoriaz.html
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You know it makes sense.
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This is down to more people taking short breaks compared to the 1980's week long all inclusive ski 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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| Carver Doone wrote: |
| This is down to more people taking short breaks compared to the 1980's week long all inclusive ski holiday. |
And I thought it was down to resorts/lift companies gouging punters.
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Poster: A snowHead
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I'd just go to Morzine and explore either the Avoriaz and the Les Gets side in full which you can't do very well, if you are based in Chatel or on the Swiss side of things. That's plenty for fourteen half-days. If you must, drive over to Morillon for a day. But I wouldn't bother.
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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 did the les Gets and Morillon thing this winter past. I like Taninges in the middle, but would go with the advice to be IN one resort for the 2 weeks; and drive out to the other as and when. I don't know if 'non-consecutive day' tickets are available for say, 6 or 7 days? If they were, I'd go for that and then pay as I go for the other resort. G
Les Gets to Morillon is not much more than 25 mins, and Morillon has free parking (as does Les Carroz, Samoens and Flaine) at the lift.
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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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And I thought it was down to resorts/lift companies gouging punters
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Well, they will naturally maximise revenue. But there is a lot of choice for consumers, and wide competition. To suggest resorts are "gouging" customers is not really a sustainable argument unless you posit a huge cartel.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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On the 'mornings away from the dogs' thing, think about taking it in turns to be the 'stay till midday' person, so every other day, you gat a full day skiing. More appealing if one is looking for time on steeps and such, and the other is a cruiser. 
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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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| Charliegolf wrote: |
| On the 'mornings away from the dogs' thing, think about taking it in turns to be the 'stay till midday' person, so every other day, you get a full day skiing. More appealing if one is looking for time on steeps and such, and the other is a cruiser. |
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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| Kenzie wrote: |
| Carver Doone wrote: |
| This is down to more people taking short breaks compared to the 1980's week long all inclusive ski holiday. |
And I thought it was down to resorts/lift companies gouging punters. |
And I think it’s neither
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Praz de lys
Can't do better. Close to Les Gets and Grand Massif and the hypermarket in Taninges. Cheap(ish) accommodation and the village is dog friendly (very French) and you can learn to dog sleigh there (at least you could last time I visited). Pretty village with some nice gentle skiing when you might want an easy day.
Oh, and the ski pass is cheap as chips compared to the Grand Massif or PdS
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@Carver Doone, there are lots of options around there. I'd consider Les Gets, with direct access to the west part of the Portes du Soleil, and easy access via car to 1. Praz de Lys 2. rest of the Portes du Soleil via the Ardent gondola 3. Roc d'Enfer 4. Grand Massif via Morillon.
The Portes du Soleil and Praz de Lys both have significant lift pass discounts on certain low season dates, so chopping and changing with lift passes may not be as expensive as you think with a bit of planning.
I've done various similar multi-resort trips in previous Januarys and it works well. Previous trip reports in my signature (click on any one and there are links to reports from other trips at the bottom of the first post).
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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 have done this ...albeit some 10 years ago ...stopped in a little village caled Verchaix not far from Morrilon...29 minutes from Les Gets by car and not far from Praz de lys ( https://www.prazdelys-sommand.com/ ) which as MikeM says is well worth a visit ,,and as he says the ski pass is cheap ..Verchaix is on the ski bus route for Morillon stopped at La Terrasse de Verchaix - Chalet Mia
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