 Poster: A snowHead
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Getting there
Setting off at 1.45 in the morning is how I like it. Clear roads make the drive to the airport easy. The boot full of luggage, skis tightly attached to the roof and TomTom spouting destructions at me when necessary.
We arrived at Coventry Airport at about 3.30, with two of the other travellers in tow. Parking is dead easy at Coventry Airport - it isn't big enough to make it hard, being little more than a bit of unused road for a runway and a big tin shed for check-in, departures and arrivals. Apparently the cafe opens at 4.00, but that's only when there's someone there with the keys. Even when it's open it's hardly worth talking about - Coventry Airport just seems to have been knocked up over a weekend with some spare parts from a B&Q bargain basement sale.
Much to my surprise the plane was only about 10 minutes late taking off. I remember waking up just as the engines throttled up for take off but I'd fallen asleep again by the time it left the ground. I managed to remain unconscious until we landed thus sparing me the joy of other people's over-excited brats.
As is the norm, we were bundled on to a coach for the relatively easy transfer from Grenoble to Les Arcs. Thing is, the roads were rather busy so what could have been an easy couple of hours turning to to a hair-raising four hour drive, particularly the journey from Aime to Arcs 2000 in a minibus driven by someone who must be an ex-WRC driver.
There
At about 14.00 we were met at Arcs 2000 by a couple of reps., one of whom was trying to get hold of someone with a van to come down to collect our kit. After a brief delay we made our way through a serious of corridors and lifts for Chalet Veronique, part of the Chalets des Neiges complex. Crikey. It was small, and the bedrooms smaller. The ensuite shower room was a mere 2x1 metre with barely enough room to open the shower door and stand in the room at the same time. Still, I was there to ski.
We used the afternoon to source ski kit for a couple of people in our group. We chose Equilibres where Ms hyweljenkins got a rather smart pair of something or others that she only kept for the first morning, but more on that later. The team in Equilibres (a very small shop) was very helpful and let us chose which kit we wanted, taking no money until we returned the kit at the end of the week.
The Chalet des Neiges complex is located a stone's throw from a short Poma lift that meets the Cabriolet gondola from Arc 1950. It really is nothing more than a minute's walk in ski boots, skis slung over your shoulder. Those that are not-too-steady on button lifts could use an elevator, but that seemed to take a little longer. Once at the top of the Poma, you can ski to the Varet or Saint Jacques lifts, or pole/skate to Lanchettes. Alternatively you could drop down to Marmottes, Bois de l'Ours, or take the gentle Cascade run to get your ski legs on form.
Day one
We spent the first morning skiing with another member of our party and one of the chalet guests. A couple of easy runs to get warmed up, followed by a trip in the Varet gondola for a shot at the Arandelieres to the new Arcabulle chair. This is a six-seater chair, with cover, new for the 06/07 season. Apparently it breaks quite frequently.
"Tuffes" was quite tough
Dropping from Plangettes in to Tuffes, the other two members of our party set the pace - nothing to fast, but quick enough get the heart working a bit. About 300 metres into the run there's an odd-shaped "mound". This is where Ms hyweljenkins let out a rather nasty screech, followed by the sound of ski hardware flying in all directions, and those words you don't want ot hear on the first morning, "Sh-t, my knee!" I turned around to see her on her side, head down-hill, with one ski still attached and the other a few feet away, her with her right leg bent, hovering in the air. Clambering back up the slope I put my skis in to the internationally recognisabled "Bug__r, something's gone wrong" formation before trying to detach the last remaining ski and sit her the right way around without causing further injury.
A few minutes later a stranger stopped to see if we needed any help. His party had seen the accident and stopped to assist. I was grateful for the offer but didn't want to interfere with their day's skiing. The gentleman had a point - "If we can't offer help to another skier on the piste, what has the world come to?"
He called one of his friends, a doctor, over to check for serious injury. After a few minutes of gently, bending, twisting and supporting, he announced that he wasn't an expert in knee injuries, being an eye doctor. He said this with a touch of humour and a glint in his eye, which eased Ms hyweljenkins' pain and concern no end. After about ten minutes he determined that nothing was broken, torn, or twisted, and that we should take a very gentle run back to Arcs 2000 for a coffee. Refusing to take a drink from us, they headed off, leaving two grateful skiers behind them. If you're reading this, thank you so much for taking time out of your day to help us. We gratefully appreciate it and promise to pay it forward.
We hooked up with the rest of our group and spent the rest of the day lolling up and down the blue runs around the Saint Jacques chair, and a run down Cascade. This was fine for me because I happily worked on technique while Ms hyweljenkins gingerly made her way down the runs. She fell once, and was reassured that her injury wasn’t worsening.
We later discovered that another guest in our chalet is a GP, so after more free medical care and the loan of a knee support, Ms hyweljenkins was back on track, her knee still quite tender when walking, but, fortunately, absolutely fine when skiing.
Day two
I spent the morning skiing with Ms hyweljenkins, going over the same blues as the day before. I’d rather be sure that she wouldn’t get in to more trouble. Actually, it was more a case that I’d rather be there if she did. Fortune favours the brave, and there were no further incidents.
Day three: Vallandry
We hooked up with a few other chalet guests for a trip over to Vallandry. When I say “hooked up with”, I really mean “gate-crashed their party”. Still, we had a good time and found some good skiing in Peisey once we’d got there. There were some icy sections on Aigle, but once there the runs back to the Grizzly and Peisey chairs were good. The restaurant below the helicopter station does great hot chocolate and the lady that manages the tables is lovely, by the way.
One of our group had arranged to meet a friend in Arc 2000 for lunch, so we headed back via Arc 1800 and the TransArc. We then just kicked around Arc 2000 for the afternoon after lunch in Arc 1950 at Meli’s Snacks. OK, so it’s just Burger King with paninis, but at least they were serving, and serving in double-quick time.
Day four: Crystal Guiding
For a guided trip to and around La Plagne all we had to do was meet the rep at 10.00 at the top of the TransArc gondola. Easy. A quick trip up Varet, down Arandelieres, and on to Arcabulle to be at the top by ten. Remember what I said about the reliability of Arcabulle? We’ll it stopped. Three times. The third time it stopped I could touch the landing pad with the tips of my skis. We made it off the lift at 9.58, GPS time.
The rep. was nowhere to be seen, so we figured that she’d been caught out by Arcabulle’s reliability, so we waited.
At about 10.10 I spotted her, already with a group of people. I checked in with her but was told that our group of seven would take her over the guiding limit. I said we’d just follow, but wouldn’t attach to the group to that she wouldn’t have to worry about us. She said that if we didn’t keep up we’d have to make our own way back. Very funny. By the time I’d got the other six organised she’d already left, and was nowhere to be seen on the easy part of Grand Renard from the TransArc – the piste was empty. The first part of Grand Renard is little more than a gentle road, so we covered that in no time, peaking at 38 mp/h.
By the time we got to the Vanoise Express we’d long passed the guided group that we were supposed to keep up with. At least two of the 7 members were wearing one-piece suits, disgracing skiers around the world. Lilac, as well.
After the reasonably short trip in the sardine tin across the valley, we arrived at a rather bare, stony, icy La Plagne. Within a few yards we’d all agreed that if things didn’t improve quick-sharp we’d all head back to Arc 1800.
The ski down to Bijolin was not particularly enjoyable. Hard-pack snow or ice giving little edge-grip was the course, but we remained committed to giving La Plagne a fair hearing.
From Bijolin we made our way down to La Salla and on to Belle Plagne for the trip up Roche de Mio.
After a brief stop for lunch (spaghetti bolognaise and an apple juice) we headed down La Tunnel. By mistake. We headed back up Roche de Mio for another crack at finding our way back to the Vanoise Express.
The higher runs were OK, but busy, but the lower runs, particularly those around the Express were poor. I got caught out by the stony surface, resulting in a trip to the surgeon for my skis.
Day five
I spent the morning with our group, but got split up after a run down cascade. At the top of the lift I met up with another chalet guest who was spending the morning boarding before switching back to skis for an afternoon trip across to La Plagne.
I spent a couple of hours touring around Arc 2000 by myself before re-grouping for an after luch attempt at Combes off the Lanchettes chair. It was quite busy at the top when we got there, but most people were attempting Aiguille Rouge.
The top third of Combes was quite straight-forward and was in good condition. It all turned bad, though, when we got to the closed part of the run. The connection across to another part of the piste, a narrow track, was churned up so badly that even the boarder I was with got unnerved. All I could do was side-slip along a gulley that was a couple of feet deep until I got to a hair pin in to some small moguls. I was relieved to make it on to the blue that leads back to the bottom of the Lanchettes chair.
It was my idea to go up there. Someone asked me what I was going to do in the afternoon. I pointed at the top of Lanchettes and said, “That. It doesn’t look very steep from here.”
Day six
I’d decided that I was going to make the first lift, so at 8.30 I was on my way, three others in tow. We headed for Bois de l’Ours and over to Clair Blanc. We sailed right past the red “Piste non damme” that is Clair Blanc, knowing that only crazy people ski such runs. We spent an enjoyable hour or so around Arpette, before heading back up the Arpette chair to drop back in to Arcs 2000 via Eidelweiss and the lower section of Lac. For some reason the top part of Lac was littered with bodies and dumb people trying to snowplough the run.
I had a close call with a teenage boarder who shot past me as I was slowing to a stop because someone had fallen ahead. Fortunately only slight contact was made and off he went nursing a slight jarring pain to his cheek that he got when he made contact with me.
The afternoon was a lazy affair, with a run off Bois de l’Ours along Eidelweiss (just to see what it was like), a couple of runs off Varet, Arcabulle, the natural half-pipe, and the skier cross course. We finished with a post-coffee warm-up on the run-out part of the Flying Kilometer, before heading up Varet for one last run to Marmottes. While shattered, having covered about 25 downhill miles on average each day, we didn’t really want to quit, but Whistler’s Happy Hour was calling.
The ski doctor
Once we’d got back from La Plagne and had quit skiing, I dropped my skis in to the Twinner branch in front of the skating rink, next door-ish to Latino Locos. The guys reckoned they could fix the 10mm x 5mm x 4mm “scratch”, right next to the edge of the ski. €20 later I was on my way back to get showered and changed for the evening, safe in the knowledge that my skis would be ready for 8.45 on Day Five. A couple of others in the chalet were very impressed with the services offered by Matt and his colleagues at Twinner’s, so they seemed like the obvious choice.
At 9.00 on Day Five I picked up my repaired, waxed, and edged skies. I couldn’t find the scratch that I had been worrying about. The skis were no performing as new – great cruising, easy carving, and spot on short-radius turns, and all for about £15. Bargain.
The chalet
The chalet was small but reasonably comfortable. The lounge, however, isn’t big enough for twelve guests and the dinner table is hardly big enough to fit three people along each side. The living areas felt cramped, but we all got on well so that wasn’t too much of a problem.
If you want a hot shower after a day on the slopes make sure you’re back by 17.00 and are ready to get in. I think the entire block as one hot water tank, and when it’s gone it’s gone for a few hours. Considering the chalets have no central heating, relying on electric oil radiators instead, the rooms take some warming up as will you after a lukewarm or cold shower.
The food was OK. Nothing that I’d pay more than £10 for in a restaurant, but enough to keep me going for the evening. Breakfast was generally cereal with bread, but was extended to include bacon, egg, sausage and beans on a few occasions. It was noted that things were significantly more organised when the “floater” was on duty, especially on the day that she was off sick.
Evening meals included dishes based around roast salmon, pork chops, curry, roast lamb, aubergine bake, and so on.
The included wine was OK, made in Spain and shipping in 10 litre boxes. Nothing that Paul Macon would be ashamed about, but nothing that would make it with a Hardy’s or Jacob’s Creek label.
We couldn’t find clean tea towels for drying stuff on the chalet host’s day off, only managing to find one rather grubby, stained, sticky piece of fabric under the sink. It seems that whenever something needed drying a bath towel was used.
The afternoon tea was an amazingly random affair. I suspect that the cakes were baked on too high a heat for a shorter time. There were a few that were notably better, but we think they were prepared by the floater. She was a whole heap more organised, more switched on, and was much more likely to regard us as paying guests on holiday than mates that had come over for a weekend.
We were expecting towels to be changed on Wednesday but by the time we left on Saturday we were still waiting. At one point paper in one of the two shared toilets was down to half a roll.
The dish washer was next to useless. It either baked food on the crockery or left black, gritty deposits on plates, cutlery, and glasses. Any attempt to clean these by hand (by the guests!) was met with the frustrated realisation that the bottle of washing up liquid was actually a bottle of water with a splash of washing up liquid.
The chalet isn’t finished. There are badly fitted wooden panels lying about that should be covering pipework. The fusebox is badly mounted in a public area, and the trip switches on it are loose.
The entire building smells of some of the most potent detergent you could find.
The chalet is, however, well-placed for access to the slopes, some good bars, and some good kit hire shops. The supermarket (Sherpa) is only two lifts, one flight of stairs, and a five minute walk away, and it stocks most things that you’d want.
Crystal Excursions
We only tried the La Plagne trip, and that was pointless. One of the reps. said the trips usually get four or five takers, but that there’d be four or five guides to accommodate a large turnout. However, fifteen people turned up and there was just one guide who, in all fairness, couldn’t be expected to take responsibility of us all. Insurance purposes and all that.
On the chalet host’s night off we ate at Latino Locos. We had the hot plate thing where you get given a load of meat to cook (duck, beef, and chicken), a bowl of fries (or two), a starter (salad) and a dessert. There’s also half a bottle of red/white wine per person. That was pretty good, but there was a huge amount of meat. I never thought I’d say it, but I could have done with more vegetables! After the meal we gate-crashed the Alpine Elements quiz night. It’s amazing how many people don’t know where Marco Polo Airport is.
The “Fast & Furious” black runs guided tour was, we think, cancelled – we saw the rep. that was taking it in Arc 2000 at about 11.30, so it’s unlikely that he could have run it. No takers, perhaps.
Ski school
Just before dinner on the first night the rep. announced that ESF had cancelled all group lessons for children if the booking was made through the tour operator. This affected all TOs, not just Crystal.
Ms hyweljenkins had booked a private two-hour session for the first morning, but had to cancel because of her accident. Her instructor, Fred (very tanned, very chiselled, very toned, very handsome) was understanding and offered to move the lesson to the next day, but we’d have to confirm that first thing. We tried but at 9.00 the people in the ESF office didn’t seem interested in helping, and Fred had already left.
We returned at 11.30 and found a very helpful man with a clipboard and a walkie-talkie, who quickly located Fred for us. A few minutes later Fred and my fiancée were heading off in to the sunshine together. Would she come back? Should I be worried.
The lesson went well. Ms hyweljenkins ended up trying some bumps, a half-pipe, and some rather nice red runs to get her confidence back. Fred’s feedback was positive, and he returned her to me in one piece.
As a side note, while we were trying to locate Fred on the second day, Ms hyweljenkins said that she couldn’t remember what he looked like, just that he was quite tanned, athletic and good looking. Hmmm.
Getting back
Our pick-up was at 3.30 and was on time. No breakfast was provided, which we didn’t really expect but I think some would have liked a cup of tea. We were packed on to the minibus, sans rep., and delivered to Aime for the coach transfer, again without the presence of a rep. or, it seemed, anyone else to check that people were getting on the right bus and that no one was missing. We didn’t see a Crystal rep. until we went through departures when we noticed one of them shuffling around the airport.
Lessons Learned
Don't travel from Coventry Airport. It’s not a real airport – it’s a shed with a runway. It makes Chambery look superb.
Don't travel with Crystal. They just didn’t strike us as professional or organised.
"Happy Hour" in "Whistler" can easily lead to six pints before dinner.
It can be difficult to meet up with other Snowheads, even with modern technology. Sorry Marc – where are we going next year!?
Summary
I had a great time in Les Arcs. I was there in 1996 with King’s Ski Club and spent most of my time getting trollied. Same this year. We were lucky to be in a chalet with a bunch of laid back, funny people.
Photos at http://photos.hyweljenkins.com/lesarcs.2007/
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Thanks for that hyweljenkins, its whetted my appetite for Plan Peisey in 13days 
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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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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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hyweljenkins, Great report. I feel I was almost there. For a different service and food level at similar prices can I sugest ski olympic in Vallandry. Did you get jealous looking out of the 22hrs a day gloom to the sunny slopes accros the valley 
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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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Frosty the Snowman, gloom? Qu'est que ce? We had beautiful blue skies all day, every day. Besides, I think that only La Rosiere was across the valley, so not much to miss, really.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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hyweljenkins, Without wishing to over egg the pudding but it does seem from our trips "accross the Valley" that Arc 2000 only gets about 4 hrs of sunshine per day. A very shady spot.  (sunglasses)
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Frosty the Snowman, indeed, but I didn't say that the sun shone on the slopes all day  Those back to Arcs 2000 (Arandelieres for example), were shady most of the morning, and then again after 3pm. Cascade wasn't too bad all day but I think that was due to reflected light rather than direct sunshine.
I do have a really sexy red line across my forehead from the gap between lid and goggles!
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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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hyweljenkins, great post
Hope that Ms hyweljenkins' knee doesn't give her any more trouble.
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| hyweljenkins wrote: |
| I do have a really sexy red line across my forehead from the gap between lid and goggles! |
I had one of those earlier this season! I couldn't work out what it was initially - I thought I might have banged my head on a plank, but for the life of me couldn't remember doing it. Then I spotted the gap between goggles and helmet...
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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hyweljenkins, great report! 
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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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hyweljenkins, i remeber that mound on tuffes rather un-fondly it sneaks up on you before you have even seen it, i quite agree about the chalet des neiges complex, it must have been desgined for small people, we were in chalet Paradis, it was great, but small, and the food was excellent
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| Quote: |
We couldn’t find clean tea towels for drying stuff on the chalet host’s day off,
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When I've stayed in downmarket catered chalets we've always been firmly instructed to stay out of the kitchen on the host's day off.
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You know it makes sense.
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pam w, how do you make tea?
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FAQ
had dinner with another, a phone call chat with another, and a look at the snowHeads weather pages in a bar with another! Perhaps if I wasn't tied to getting the kid's to/from ski school things would be different.
(We had to be back to collect the kids from Ski School) 
response 'huh! Your just not fit' 
