 Poster: A snowHead
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Am I crazy to even consider Les Arcs over new year? I do love the tree lined slopes and the resort size with la plagne but worried about queues and crazy busy slopes.
Would normally ski France in one of the big linked resorts - any thoughts or alternative recommendations?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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I actually did this last year! I arrived on Dec 30th in Les Arcs and I have to say that I said never again as it was just too busy for me! The queues for the lifts actually weren’t that bad - it was more people whooshing around like crazy daredevils that completely put me off! But, you might have more patience than me….
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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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@Elsie80, try La Thuille , tree runs , cheaper than France and great Food skiing is not bad and linked to La Rosiere , Will not be nearly as busy as the French resorts .I’m a big fan and always recommend it to friends who always come back agreeing . It should always be remembered that NY is one of the busiest weeks of the season and Les Arcs and more so La Plagne have now built so much accommodation that it’s can get so so busy .
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I have to agree with @sambatamba new year week is just too busy. It is perhaps the busiest week of the year. Some of the half term weeks may be quieter.
We go the week before Christmas and Christmas week itself but leave before new year. I would recommend Christmas week. Everywhere is busy new year week.
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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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@Elsie80, I have been to Arc 2000 and Arc 1600 at two different Feb half term weeks both while Paris is on holiday and the lift queues were too much. Queues well out of the end of the marked queue areas, lifts frequently stopping, angry punters in the queues.
Both times we avoided Arc 1800 because the lifts were so busy there. Arc 1600 wasn't too bad until we tried to link to Arc 2000 or Arc 1950 using the Arpette lift which I remember being the worst queue of all.
You might be alright in Arc 2000 or 1950 if you are happy to spend all the time on the less busy unpisted black runs if that works for you? For some reason the Valet 40 gondola wasn't ever too bad and the black runs underneath weren't too busy. The cable car at the top was so busy as to be a bit pointless.
I wouldn't personally consider the link to La Plagne as much of an option due to the pain of queuing for all the lifts to get across.
All this is based on Feb half term experience rather than NY so will depend on relatives levels of busyness. Also I have a low tolerance of lift queues so that shapes my view a bit.
Last edited by Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do. on Fri 19-07-24 9:25; edited 1 time in total
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Because of the kids, we are stuck with the school holidays. We've done Flaine and Les Menuires over New Year, and Chamrousse during Half Term.
Flaine was not so bad; the queues were acceptable but the slopes were really crowded. However, this might have been because the rest area was closed due to the lack of snow. Les Menuires was worse in both respects—queues and slopes were really busy.
But as @sambatamba said, the queues for the lifts weren’t that bad, but the slopes... shocking.
During the half-term week in Chamrousse, it was almost perfect. Except for the chairlift at Chamrousse 1700, which was really busy because of the ski schools, we didn't have to wait for the other lifts (at least nothing more than 2-3 minutes). The slopes, especially the red and black ones, were almost empty.
I think it is a matter of luck.
Despite all this, I love the New Year week and spending this time in the mountains. Unfortunately, for this winter, we have to go during Christmas week instead of New Year week. I hope it will not be too busy.
However, I have to mention that until 2023, we used to spend our ski holidays in Austria. And I have never seen anything worse than Carnival Week in Austria. Traffic, queues, slopes... just terrible.
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@Elsie80, We go Christmas week rather New Year.
Some of it I think is down to expectation, acceptance and patience. Helps if you are not the sort to want big days skiing.
TLDR - you are a bit crazy to go 
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| Layne wrote: |
@Elsie80, We go Christmas week rather New Year.
Some of it I think is down to expectation, acceptance and patience. Helps if you are not the sort to want big days skiing.
TLDR - you are a bit crazy to go |
Is the difference between Christmas week and New Year week significant?
I mean in terms of queues and slopes. In terms of prices, I have already noticed it.
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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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@turms2, my understanding is yes. Christmas week itself has become a bit busier since the pandemic but is still decent. Last year the traffic coming in fore new year after we left in the evening was horrendous and reminiscent of peak HT. And from what I recall reading on the forum veeery busy. Though conditions were good which can help.
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Last year in les arcs over Christmas wasn't too bad. The week before was very quiet. It seems that the crowds started arriving from boxing day onwards.
I've been going to les arcs over Christmas for over 20 years and it's never been bad. However new year week is bad. It's starts to quieten down from new years day. I think many people come for the period 27th to 1st returning to work on the second. My neighbour in arc 1600 did just that.
Even though it makes sense for me to make the most of the UK closedown from Christmas eve to New year's day and ski.New year week is just too crowded and I won't bother
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| turms2 wrote: |
| Is the difference between Christmas week and New Year week significant? |
Yes. The days before Christmas are noticeably quieter than any of the New Year week. Lots of French families arrive in resort late on 26th December, so from 27th onwards it gets busier but not as busy as New Year week, which is perhaps the busiest week of the season, as @johnE has said.
Having said that, one of the best day's skiing I've ever had in Les Arcs was one New Year's Day some years ago, following heavy overnight snow. I headed to the slopes above Villaroger and had the most amazing time skiing fresh tracks off-piste all day, with quiet pistes and no lift queues. But once I was done for the day I dropped back in to the Arc 2000 bowl and the lift queues and pistes were extremely busy. Moral of the tale is that if you are there during school holidays you can sometimes find relative quiet by heading away from the centre of the piste map, in Les Arcs case to the slopes above Villaroger which can offer excellent skiing when the rest of the domain is fairly busy.
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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'll be there fro the week starting 4th Jan, so I hope from what everyone is saying it will be much, much quieter then.
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We went to Le Grand Bornand for the first time this year on 1st Jan for 3 days ski.Loved it, not busy at all but not much in the way of tree runs.
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