 Poster: A snowHead
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New Year trip from 30th December 2023 - 6th January 2024. Family of four travelling with another family. I’d say I am an advanced intermediate and kids now the same. Wife less of a skier but perseveres with lessons. We travelled with Esprit and stayed at one of their Chalet Ourson properties. Hope some find the trip useful or interesting!
Travel
As with our trip last year we flew from Bristol Airport. Once again Bristol was great both checking in and upon return, so while it is not the closest airport to us I would happily travel a bit further to use it more frequently if they keep impressing me. Its also i think the friendliest airport, quite the contrast from Birmingham and Manchester. However, like many others travelling that day we experienced the Chambery fog nightmare. This meant a delayed departure, aborted landing, circling and then a diversion to Grenoble. The logistic challenge was I am sure immense but despite landing in Grenoble around 4.15pm it still took us until 2am to arrive at resort, where we did at least have 2 of 3 courses of food thanks to the hard working chalet staff (we still made the first lift btw so we all felt rather chuffed with ourselves over that  ). I'll resist saying more about ground logistics until Esprit have responded to our concerns as its what happens when there is a problem that makes the difference. Have to say Jet2 were in fact very good and the captain in particular was brilliant in keeping us informed, walked the entire cabin while we were on the ground and just massively helped keep everyone on the flight in good spirits. The return was much better, just the normal overcrowding that Chambery has to offer as a small airport unfit for the scale of ski flights.
Resort
We found La Rosiere to be a charming, albeit small resort. Its all very walkable, there are restaurants and shops, a decent Carrefour and its all very pleasant indeed. A nicely lit forest walk connect La Rosiere with Eucherts next door, which is also very nice and full of tasteful new build properties. We didn't make it to the luge, but that looks a good alternative. I don't think its any sort of party location but family friendly and generally upmarket.
Accommodation
We were pleased with the accommodation, the Esprit properties in Oursons chalet are designed for 2 or 3 families. We had the top chalet (Charlotte) for just ourselves and the family we travelled with. It was spacious, albeit headroom was challenging in the eves in the kids rooms. The view from the living space, plus large balcony was amazing and really makes the accommodation stand out. We could see new year's eve fireworks in Les Arc across the valley and in the day with all the snow around it was spectacular. Food cooked by the two chalet staff was generally good to very good. A couple of misses and a couple of things outstanding. Kids happy with theirs also. Breakfast and cakes very good. Boot room was decent. Ski in and ski out was the best we have experienced.
Food/Restaurants
On La Rosiere side we had lunch at Tout Poudre (tartiflette) and Paridis (Fondue/Pork dish) which were both fantastic, and La Traversette, which was just okay. On the Italian side we had lunch at Maison Carrel (local speciality of gnocchi w/ blue cheese and apple) which was also very good. The food highlight was dinner at Le Terroir Des Vignobles on the chalet staff day off. This is a hidden gem serving what should be award winning food for normal mountain food prices. They happily had a children's menu too, so despite the amazing food and service it was not pretentious. It was good enough that while I may not go back to La Rosiere for the skiing I'd be very tempted to go out of my way to eat here.
Conditions
The conditions were mostly amazing. So much snow!  I think we either had fresh snow overnight or had it during the day each day of our trip so there was always fresh stuff. We also had sunshine for most of two days, low visibility and snow on another two, strong wind and a sudden full on blizzard that had everyone heading home at around 3pm one day (properly pleased the kids all had bright ski clothes as it was a real challenge to see from one side of the piste to the other). The constant fresh snow and relative business of the slopes led to a lot of moguls, so we had a real leg work out day after day. Mostly the conditions were forgiving, e.g. few icy bumps, a fall into soft snow if you went wrong and so on. Some of the runs were just great due to the conditions even if they were tough, at other times the visibility, or wind in your face made them difficult and challenging and a bit less fun.
Ski Area
A few observations about the ski area:
- the Esprit chalets are genuinely ski in ski out, and easy access to the nursery slopes and green beginner slopes might make a real difference to some. There are other green runs and a lovely enchanted forest run. Honestly, having been a fair few resorts now I cannot imagine a better setup for absolute beginners and/or children to learn to ski.
- La Rosiere more generally has an okay amount of ski options for more advanced skiers, but with some issues. There a not that many lifts, but usually you have several piste options when you get to the top. There were a few queues but not really significant given its a busy week and conditions were good - i imagine we saw La Rosiere at its busiest. Plenty of blue and red runs are there for you, the majority sort of on the vast slopes above the village, on on flank of the mountain.
- There are only a couple of runs below the village/tree line (of the two one was closed all week - I don't know why but I can't imagine it was a lack of snow!) which is probably the biggest miss for me. Especially when the snow and wind arrived - had I been at Les Arcs say, i would have headed down for some visibility but repeating Marmottes, even though it was a very nice run, didn't really offer enough.
- In a similar fashion, the newer part of the ski area upto Mont Valaison was closed. It was possible to get to the half way stage some of the days where the piste was marked as un-prepared so for expert skiers despite being a red. This was all down to the abundance of snow, which of course seems a strange thing to complain about on a ski holiday, but it seemed to us that the pisteurs were not able to cope with the demands of preparing the runs. Another example of this failing was when the critical blue run from the top of Le Roche Noir to the bottom of the Fort lift, was poorly prepared and full of soft moguls, and mounds of snow by 9.30am. While we were all experienced enough to ski through I felt for the less experienced who should not find a blue run as challenging as that due to lack of preparation.
- There is plenty of very accessible off piste skiing between the runs but its not what we spend our time doing.
-We made it over to Italy on two of the days. The snow conditions were also great there and we certainly felt the Italian pisteurs had a better idea of what they were doing. It was very windy on that side and I am not sure I have been quite as unexpectedly cold as I was going up the Chaz Dura lift as I was on the Monday with the wind coming right at us! Note that per the Slopes ski App (which i'd recommend if your into that sort of thing) it took 40 mins to get from the top of the Fort life on La Rosiere side to the top of Bellecombe and about the same coming back - drag lifts one way, flattish blues the other.
- Favourite runs were probably Marmottes, Blaireau and Combe on La Roz side and Torrent (24a/31) on the La Thuille side.
- Overall then the ski area was good for a week but we probably feel we have done everything with little new to see. Plus i have this doubt that the pisteurs are able to make the most of the snow they had.. perhaps just overwhelmed by the quantity, but its a problem if your less than mega-sized resort has closed routes, or a lift down (Fort was non-operational all day Thursday). However, its great for beginners I have no doubt.
Operator and ski school etc
As usual Esprit ski school was good for the kids that needed it (not all do now they are the age and experience they now have). My wife had lessons with Evolution which she was pleased with. ESF and Oxygène also in resort as options as you'd expect.
Other things
A warning to always check what skis your kids put on after lunch... Upon returning our hired ski equipment we were surprised when the shop said 'these aren't our skis'! We guessed that after lunch our youngest had seen skis, that half buried with fresh snow looked the same as his and near enough to where he'd left them that he just got on and clicked his boots in (of course happened to be same size too). Or perhaps another child had done the exact same with his first - either way it wasn't until the shop pointed our the different shop sticker that we realised we had a problem! Taking them to the other store I'd say we didn't get a huge amount of help at first (I'd hoped they'd have contact details of whomever hired the skis we had possession of, or could tell us if they were due to be handed in that day or not) but just as I was beginning to think this was going to be a problem the store we were in got a call from their branch in Eucherts that they had our skis! So a 15 minute walk through the lit forest walk to fetch them and all was fine. Next time I'll be double checking labels and so on!
Overall
I'm really pleased we went to La Rosiere, we had a great time with great snow and a resort that catered well for our group for the week we were there. Its not big enough for us to want to return in the immediate future but I'd certainly recommend it to anyone to go to for a week or if you have mixed ability group including beginners. I might have to look into a summer vacation for the food options too. 2 of 4 trips to Chambery in recent years not good - not sure I want to risk that route again which may restrict who we go with.
Edit: a quick edit to say that rather disappointingly Esprit/Inghams have ‘regretfully’ informed me they are not going to provide any compensation beyond some pretty small value vouchers off a future holiday with them. Quite the contrast with Crystal when something similar (though not as bad) happened a few years ago where I was impressed with their response. It’s a shame as I’d expect better from a more premium operator. For info for others we have found in recent years that club med are barely any more costly than esprit when the all included aspects are taken into account, so worth a look although I appreciate it won’t suit all.
Last edited by Poster: A snowHead on Fri 19-01-24 16:43; 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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A fab report bringing back many happy memories.
The run Fontaine Froid that was closed goes down to about 1200m and often opens well into the new year. A shame as it's a belter.
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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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Great TR, thanks @Langski,
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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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Great report, thank you.
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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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@Langski, nice report, thanks!
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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@Langski, great report, thanks! We’ve spent a few weeks in La Ros and really liked it - two with Ski Olympic and one with Esprit pre-Covid.
@Frosty the Snowman, another vote for Fontaine Froid! We had a day of heavy snow and poor vis on our last visit and spent a great few hours lapping that run in virtual solitude.
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| narbs wrote: |
@Langski, great report, thanks! We’ve spent a few weeks in La Ros and really liked it - two with Ski Olympic and one with Esprit pre-Covid.
@Frosty the Snowman, another vote for Fontaine Froid! We had a day of heavy snow and poor vis on our last visit and spent a great few hours lapping that run in virtual solitude. |
Same - A whiteout day with strong wind. We thought we would give it a bash, and set out to find the entrance to the path to the top. I fell on piste in fresh snow so deep that my face was in the snow and pole and full arm length went straight down and didn't reach the piste. Our entre group of adults and kids eventually helped once they had stopped laughing. We found the path entrance off Tetras, having come from the Les Eucherts lift and once we dropped over the first lip the wind went, 100m later we dropped through the cloud into an empty powder field on a bashed base. It was 90 mins before anyone else braved it, and in the time we had the most memorable morning ever. That feeling that you knew it would never get better than that. I still get a little tingle when reminiscing
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@Langski, great report! We made our family skiing debut at La Ros in 2008 with Esprit and your report brought back some happy memories!
Been there, done that with “the wrong skis”!
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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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Thanks @Langski, again brings back memories. We also went with Esprit, and it was there that our daughter started to go from being a beginner to a proper skier. She was helped by having a crush (age 7 or 8!) on the instructor - she was oblivious of it but it showed clearly and brought benefit because she was always trying to be the first in line behind him. The last day we promised her that if she was good enough we would take her to ski from France to Italy, which was a wonderful adventure for her (though we only went a little way past the border, far enough to find a restaurant stop for lunch).
My wife has suffered from the wrong skis problem, it got sorted out in the end but it was something of a nightmare at the time. More recently, after we bought our own skis I discovered that my model (arrived at by discussion with the shop owner who let us take them for trial) was a variant of what half the local teenagers used. I am hoping that a couple of Snowheads stickers will scare anyone off grabbing them by mistake!
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Always swap one ski at any break and store and store and store away from each other
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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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Ah glad they have received that recognition. Best visit soon as they’ll end up somewhere bigger/more expensive soon I’d think.
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Another thanks for this report – we're going with another family at half term. Looks just right for our level!
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You know it makes sense.
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Quick update to the trip report to say that rather disappointingly Esprit/Inghams have ‘regretfully’ informed me they are not going to provide any compensation beyond some pretty small value vouchers off a future holiday with them. This despite the several hours delay I think are on them rather than the weather. Quite the contrast with Crystal when something similar (though not as bad) happened a few years ago where I was impressed with their response. It’s a shame as I’d expect better from a more premium operator. For info for others we have found in recent years that club med are barely any more costly than esprit when the all included aspects are taken into account, so worth a look although I appreciate it won’t suit all.
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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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I can't see why you should get compensation for fog. It was a nightmare of a day, but you got to resort, on one future busiest transfer days of.the season.
The weather was not the fault of the TO.
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Poster: A snowHead
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| Frosty the Snowman wrote: |
I can't see why you should get compensation for fog. It was a nightmare of a day, but you got to resort, on one future busiest transfer days of.the season.
The weather was not the fault of the TO. |
That’s nice you think that but to be fair i have a more direct experience than you do of what happened.
What and how they communicate is on them.
How effective their contingency plans are, is on them.
Their decision to package their holidays with Chambery flights is on them.
How well they train their people is on them.
How they compare with other operators is on them.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@Langski, I was leaving from Chambery on that Day.
Most skiers know the occasional issues at Chambery, I did, but still chose that route as the circumstances and price suited us. That was our choice, admit was your choice.
We got home at 4am, not great, but massively better than the 5 TUI flight that never arrived or left.
There is a thread on The Flying Snowplough's issues that day, a 16 hr day to land back at his origin airport.
There was an excellent post from Chocksaway, a former pilot, detailing the massive issue faced by the airlines and TOs, getting coaches and drivers with hours left on such a busy transfer day. An extra journey to Grenoble airport from Chambery would probably be beyond drivers hours.
I'm sure it was very unpleasant, I know we had a miserable day, but you woke up in La Rosiere on the right day, because of the weather.
I agree that communication by TOs in such situations is usually poor. Crystal (TUI) tried hard at Chambery but let down a lot of people.
The thread https://snowheads.com/ski-forum/viewtopic.php?t=166991&highlight=
....and a huge thumbs up for making 1st lift. Some effort
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