 Poster: A snowHead
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Travelling at half term to Ducs du Savoy, a Ski Esprit chalet. I have had a few people mention that there is a stomach virus that is very prevalent in the Val/Tignes area. Is this true? Anyone else had it? If so how do you avoid it?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| Matthew Way wrote: |
| Travelling at half term to Ducs du Savoy, a Ski Esprit chalet. I have had a few people mention that there is a stomach virus that is very prevalent in the Val/Tignes area. Is this true? Anyone else had it? If so how do you avoid it? |
Yes there is a stomach bug. The town was supposed to have improved the water supply for this winter so maybe things will be better this year. No bad reports yet. There is a flu epidemic in France at the moment.
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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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Nothing to do with Bernard Matthews I hope!
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Matthew Way, it's Norovirus. Has more to do with small chalet companies making sick staff work with food than it does with the water suppy.
The Ducs de Savoie is a hotel, by the way, not a chalet. (Just in case you were expecting anything else.)
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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, I thought it was a hotel but doesn't seem to be listed as such on the Val website. Bad spelling by me as well.
Is the hotel any good?
Is the virus bad this year?
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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No idea - I'm back in the civilised southern alps this year, thankfully. Not that we're illness-free - everyone's had the most minging cold/chest infection recently. This is the penalty we pay for working with schoolchildren, diseased little critters that they are.
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Matthew Way, it was a First Choice Club Hotel in 1994. As mentioned before, fine really but accessed through a side lane past some rear kitchen entrances. Inside slightly tired but perfectly adequate Novotel stuff. Any downsides more than outweighed by the spitting distance to town centre, bars and L'Olympique gondola (or bus stop for funicular directly outside. Have an amazing time!
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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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Alcohol medicine seems to work 
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Chappers, the only thing that works against Norovirus is to find a toilet and not move more than six feet away from it for the next 48 hours 
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Mike Lawrie, right. My son and his girlfriend worked in Val D'Isere last season and they, and everyone they knew, had a bout or two despite being as careful as possible about hygiene and hand washing etc. as they all wanted to avoid the dreaded Norovirus. At one point she was so ill she scarcely had the strength to get out of bed to get to the toilet. She was working for a very (very) upmarket chalet operator and was certainly pressurised into working whilst ill, as Lizzard said. Given the absurd prices some of those operators charge it's hard to see why they don't build a few extra, and very cheap, staff into their planning. My son went out initially to work for the same operator but when he discovered how staff were treated he jacked it in, rented his own apartment and worked as a freelance chef for the season. We are part way through our fifth season now, living in a 40m squared apartment for much of the winter (not in Val D!) often with friends visiting, and we have had no tummy bugs up to now. I have a dread of giving 6 people food poisoning in an apartment with one loo and am extra careful with food hygiene, clean T towels every five minutes, etc. In fact visitors often arrive with the remains of colds and chest infections from the UK and generally leave feeling a lot better. The dry, sunny, mountain air is pretty healthy in itself, I think and in most winters, if not this one, there is enough really cold weather to kill a lot of bugs which survive the muggy UK winters.
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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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pam w, generally for adults a bout of Noro is highly unpleasant, but not dangerous. On the other hand my five year old ended up in hospital with it last year. I have to admit that I underestimated the degree to which a child dehydrates when he's been throwing up non stop for 24 hours. The doctors told me that his condition was 'quite bad' and that I should have brought him in after twelve hours at the latest. Next time ( I don't hope ) I'll just take the children down the clinic straight away. Strangely enough, even though he threw up all over me and my wife more than once we didn't get the bug that time 
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pam w, the staff might appear to be cheap, but the accommodation, lift pass, insurance, travel, equipment hire, employer contributions etc etc aren't. Neither is chalet rental in Val d'Isere (eg 11,000€ a bed for the season - compare with more like 3000€ a bed elsewhere). Those 'place to be seen' resorts really aren't value for money.
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You know it makes sense.
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All the facts on Norovirus can be found here. It is worth reading.
A quote from the site:
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| The virus is easily transmitted from one person to another. It can be transmitted by contact with an infected person; by consuming contaminated food or water or by contact with contaminated surfaces or objects. |
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| Food preparation should also be avoided until 3 days after symptoms have gone altogether. |
I doubt if that is happening.
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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 doubt if that is happening.
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It isn't, I guarantee. The only TO I have seen enforce that rule was First Choice, in their clubhotels.
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Poster: A snowHead
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| Quote: |
the staff might appear to be cheap, but the accommodation, lift pass, insurance, travel, equipment hire, employer contributions etc etc aren't. Neither is chalet rental in Val d'Isere (eg 11,000€ a bed for the season - compare with more like 3000€ a bed elsewhere). Those 'place to be seen' resorts really aren't value for money.
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but the cost of staff, and all those extras, are the same for cheaper operators. The ones that charge guests top prices might be expected to have some additional staff so that guests are not servedby people with Norovirus.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Cost of rent is likely to be less for cheaper operators. But you're suggesting that the owners of chalet operators should buy fewer Porsches, which isn't likely to happen in a hurry.
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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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Just come back from Val D'Isere. No sign of any stomach bugs around and i drank the water all week and was fine.
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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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That makes me feel better, thanks.
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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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The virus attacks Val D'Isere, but not Tignes. I think the water supply is to blame, not UK staff, as the French claim. If the French were correct, it would affect Tignes too.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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It does pop up in Tignes, and we had it in Courchevel last season.
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| Kenzie wrote: |
| The virus attacks Val D'Isere, but not Tignes. I think the water supply is to blame, not UK staff, as the French claim. If the French were correct, it would affect Tignes too. |
we had it in our chalet in tignes last year.
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We discussed last year's VDI bug with some locals over Xmas.
There was no question of it being anything other than 'Poor water treatment' (settings or overload or something). They did explain what happened ( wasn't a secrecy issue at all) but the details now escape me. There appeared no reason why it should happen again iirc.
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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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Agenterre,
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There appeared no reason why it should happen again iirc
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should or shouldn't 
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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had a particularly nasty bout of vomiting in Val D last year, but that was due to a foodpoisoning from some goats cheese from one of the restaurants. listeria, apparently. it came on within 2 hours of having eaten the damn cheese.
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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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Pah..just not trying hard enuff..
Anyone been to a 'red-sea resort' in egypt...then you'll know about tummy upsets...nothing quite like 5 or 6 trips to the bog on a 5 hour flight home, and when it's 1/3 the cabin so afflicted..
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Just back from Tignes - everyone in our chalet had the dreaded stomach bug - the hotel were expecting us to get it and even provided anti bac hand gel. Many holidays were ruined last week and thousands of pounds of hard earned money wasted. Not only does the bug leave you room bound for 48 hours but you feel rough for a couple of days after so not much time left to ski out of your weeks holiday. Avoid Tignes and Val d'Isere - apparently it's an antiquated sanitation system that just can't cope with the influx of visitors.
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You know it makes sense.
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Welcome to snowHeads pearce! Sory you had a spoilt holiday. Although I don't think its a reason for people to avoid Val d'Isere/Tignes, there doesn't appear to be a widespread problem this year - what chalet were you staying in/which tour operator?
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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 will be pursuing the matter with the company so would rather not name and shame at this point. It is a real public health issue in these two resorts that poeple should be aware of before they book so that they can make the decision for themselves. The snow conditions were superb but thats not much use if you're stuck inside chucking up. The problem was certainly widespread in Tignes last week.
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Poster: A snowHead
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pearce, fair enough. Although if you're telling people not to visit the resort then you should back it up. After all, you're saying its not a TO problem but a resort problem. We've had no other reports this season of the bug. Was the tour operator telling you it was a widespread problem with the resort last week?
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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 had a bad bout in Val last year - it was the only time I've felt like choosing death over life. Changing partner's sheets was deeply unpleasant as well. Friends who live there said its a recurring problem year on year. Our chalet staff didn't have it, but several in our chalet got it. The skiing is great though, so I'd take the risk. Good luck!
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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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[quote="pearce"]
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| The problem was certainly widespread in Tignes last week. |
If the problem was 'widespread' in Tignes i wonder why no locals heard about it ?
Tignes like all uk/european towns is governed by EU regulations and if a outbreak of some virus occured public health inspectors would have to be informed.
The water supplies/sewage systems are also governed by the EU regulations and are modern systems not some antiquated system that some people are trying to imply.
I do however wonder about the hygiene standards applied to food preparation in some TO chalets/hotels throughout the alps.
ps just like back in the uk its always food thats causes the problem not excessive drinking !
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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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| Quote: |
If the problem was 'widespread' in Tignes i wonder why no locals heard about it ?
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Probably because it was confined to TO-run properties and the French were all perfectly healthy.
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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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See also this thread
I was in Val d'Isère in February 2005. We stayed at the Mark Warner Cygnaski and a lot (possibly 50%) of the guests had some sort of stomach upset, including my son throwing up all over me on the transfer back to Geneva.
Since then I've been to Val d'Isère and Tignes 3 more times (including a week at the same MW hotel only last month) and have seen no stomach problems at all.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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I am sure the TOs just blame the water as it is the bad standard of hygiene in some hotels and chalets and pressuring staff back to work that cause the outbreaks. Every time been with a TO to VDI always some people are ill with the bug. On other occasions when self catering no one has ever had a problem (apart from alcohol induced illnesses) and drunk the water every time.
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Hmm, interesting.
Just back from Val, having stayed with 9 friends in a VIP chalet.
2 of the girls were sick (vomiting), on different days, towards the end of the holiday.... we were perplexed as to the cause, but having read the above, seems it was Noro.
I can only assume that hygiene and food prep standards at VIP were up to scratch, as the two incidents were isolated, and neither party was unduly inconvenienced. Considering how much time we spent in the hot tub, it's surprising more didn't get ill. Maybe it was all the alcohol medicine....
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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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hamilton, we stayed in a VIP chalet in Val the week before last and had no problems at all, kitchen prep/hygiene all looked to be fine.
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bug, I had hoped it was not a problem this year.
I have just called Ski Esprit who basically confirmed that it has been a problem in the resort in previous years. I just wished they had bothered to mention it before I spent £5k with them.
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FAQ
but then again the French don't irresponsibly import turkeys either 
