 Poster: A snowHead
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Hi, im struggling a bit on resort choice. I am going to be there late january for skiing friday to monday. Have flights in/out of geneva. I was thinking about les sept laux but worried it might be really busy there at the weekend. Im looking for any recommendations for:
1- intermediate skier/snowboarder
2- quieter resort at weekend
3- dont need big wide area just somewhere with few long blue/red runs
Any advice will be greatly appreciated
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@mikeybusa1982, presumably if you're thinking about Les 7 Laux, you're not looking for resorts that are particularly close to Geneva?
If I were in your position i'd be incline to look at the following areas (specifically only France, not sure if Switzerland is of interest), which will have a slightly shorter commute from Geneva Airport:
La Clusaz
Le Grand Bornand
Praz de Lys Sommand
Morzine/Les Gets (but not the wider Portes du Soleil)
St Jean d'Aulps (again, not the wider Portes du Soleil)
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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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Pretty much anywhere, I'd have thought. Late Jan weekends are generally much less busy than midweek in the February holidays. We do get quite a few weekenders here in the PdS and also anywhere else within easy reach of Geneva or Zurich, but nothing on the same scale as those main high season weeks.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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thanks for help, yeah happy to drive into switzerland or anywhere within about 2 hours
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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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@mikeybusa1982, You haven't said where you are flying from, but if Stansted is an option, I'd look at flying to Salzburg on Ryan Air. You could be on the slopes for an afternoon on the Friday plus the weekend. Choose any of the Ski Amade areas, but I'd reccommend Flachau or Mulbach (on the Hochkonig) for your long blue/red runs.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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sadly is from edinburgh so restricted to the edinburg-geneva flights. Have booked these so arrive thursday evening and then fly home monday evening
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most of the best/high altitude resorts are 2-3hr drives away, so that will sting. but there are a few good resorts 1hr from geneva, like morzine and la clusaz, just very perceptable to rain.
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@mikeybusa1982, the Les Sept Laux lift system is pretty high capacity, I don't think it'd be any worse on weekends than somewhere like Morzine. It's not the best for long cruising runs though.
What about Valmorel? Les Contamines? St Gervais? Les Saisies / Crest Voland? Perhaps not exactly quietest at weekends but nowhere close to Geneva will be.
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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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@mikeybusa1982,
Action Outdoors do 3 day short breaks in France, arriving late Thursday, ski 'til close Sunday - see if they can help you. You may be able to negotiate an extra day for Monday.
Concentrate on resorts close to Geneva, such as Flaine.
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@joshyp, Late January I don't think one needs to worry unduly about rain. You can get to Chatel or Avoriaz proper in an hour and a half, so plenty of high-level skiing available between those two, or just another five minutes over to Morgins. (actually quicker via the Swiss motorways at the moment with a diversion on the road up from Thonon towards Chatel). Or Flaine/Grand Massif, about the same. Plenty of options.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@mikeybusa1982, If you've already got flights booked, what dates are you looking at, and how many people? I have some availability for non Sat-Sat bookings around that time.
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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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@mikeybusa1982, A few years ago I did do a weekend ski at Les Sept Laux. Actually I stayed at Crolles (where Petzl equipment is made) and had a day in Les 7 Laux and one in Chamrousse. As Crolles is an industrial town the hotels there tend to be available at weekends and less expensive than those in the higher resorts. Les Sept Laux is also a fairly quick drive from Geneva airport. My friend from La Touvet across the valley reccons it is less than 2 hours from Geneva Airport.
Yes, it does get a lot of weekend visitors but it's not too bad. I think weekends are generally getting busier in ski areas, certainly in Les Arcs where I usually ski. A lot of the weekend Grenoble traffic heads to Alpe d'Huez, Les 2 Alpes as well as Les 7 Laux.
Les 7 Laux ski area is nice and varied and plenty big enough for a weekend. I'd go for it.
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| Quote: |
| Sadly is from edinburgh so restricted to the edinburg-geneva flights |
For future info. @mikeybusa1982: Some decent Ryanair return prices (£60!) to Milan Bergamo for Fri-Mon January trips. Car hire from there is (for reasons unknown) ridiculously priced. We had a couple of 3 or 4 day bookings from there last winter for under 20 quid a time. Went to Aosta Valley both times - easy 2.5hr motorway drive to Aosta city for gondola access to Pila and a more mountainous drive (similar timing) up to Valtournenche (which is linked to Cervinia).
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You know it makes sense.
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We often did Morzine/Avoriaz this weekend (twice M and then finally we stayed up in A) and it was just perfect. Personally I liked the wider PDS pass in case of variable conditions but we skied both thoroughly by the end of our visits!
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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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If you're not bothered about size of area I would avoid Avoriaz because it gets mobbed with day visitors coming in on weekends, I assume as it is a big name resort, close to Geneva and has a reputation for being high. Might be OK if snow down low in Morzine/Les Gets is better but the last few years have been crap that low. And I find Avoriaz is quite prone to feeling busy when any sort of crowds build up. Queues at key lifts and a lot less pistes than the map really suggests as a lot of the distance isn't that usable, key bottlenecks that everyone has to ski through etc.
Places in France that I think work better for this type of trip are
- Any of the Grand Massif villages (Flaine being the most snow sure)
- La Clusaz (although this also suffers from a lack of usable pistes)
- St. Gervais
- Les Contamines (can combine with St. Gervais)
Also depends on your attitude to maximising ski time. Are you someone who sees every extra minute on the transfer as double that in wasted ski time, will go out as soon as you arrive from the airport on day one and ski right up until the transfer bus pulls up on the last day? Or are you someone who sees the first and last days as travel days and will only ski if you wake up and go to bed in resort on that day? If the former then being close to GVA is very important, if not then you can literally go anywhere, even the furthest resorts are only a few hours.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Thank you for the reply.
I looked at LEs Contamines/St Gervais then had the fear when watched a review video of it and was a lot of drag lifts (not much fun on snowboard). Accommodation looked prettyexpensive in flaine when i checked. As im arriving thursday evening wont be wasting any ski time as will drive to resort and be ready to go on friday morning. Monday might lose a bit but thats ok.
Do think La Clusaz v Les sept laux would have big difference in how busy in january weekend? other than being closer to airport any other advantages
Les Sept Laux just seems such good value for self catered and lift pass
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Never been to Les 7 Laux so can’t speak from experience. It’s close the Grenoble so maybe gets busy. But La Clusaz also gets busier on Saturdays with locals heading to La Balme.
But according to https://openskistats.org/ski-areas/ Les 7 Laux has about 50% of the vertical of La Clusaz and is also quite low so I’d take that into account on why it’s such good value. It’s a 1/3 of the Grand Massif.
If small and good value is what you’re after it looks good. But if you’re travelling Thursday evening and quiet pistes and long cruising runs is what you’re prioritising then I’d be tempted to go to a bigger more snow sure resort in the Tarantaise. They will be quiet on a January weekend.
Last edited by Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person on Tue 11-11-25 12:57; edited 1 time in total
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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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Les Carroz is just under 1hr drive from Geneva. Good access from here to the rest of the Grand Massif incl. Flaine.
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I was going to go to Les 7 Laux at Christmas a few years back (had a deposit on an apartment) but had to shift to Tignes as it was a poor start to the season and Les 7 Laux didn't open. I liked the look of it. I know it gets w/e traffic but I would have thought late Jan would be OK. And I think it would be ideal for a w/e. One of the reasons for us going was that we had young kids at the time so didn't need a large domain.
It's correct there are a few drags in Les Contamines and some are pretty steep too.
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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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Praz sur Arly might be worth thinking about if you could get weekend accommodation. An hour and 15 minutes from Gva.
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As an intermediate looking for long blue/red runs, I'd take Le Grand Bornand over La Clusaz: it's smaller on paper but in practice, it has as many (or perhaps more!) runs that fit your description and the lifts are faster/better overall.
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