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Valfrejus

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Does anyone have any experiences of Valfrejus - have looked it up in the A-Z index but cabt see any reports?

Would be grateful for any information please!!! Very Happy
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
me me me!

i went there for my very first holiday. At the time it was available in the airtours and crystal ski brochures but i think it has not been used by the TO's for about 5 years now, we didn't really know much about it but got a great deal of £99 for a wek in a catered chalet.

it is pretty small resort but was enough to keep us occupied for a week although i'm sure it wasn't great for beginners as it got a bit challenging after the nursery slopes. The village itself is pretty but very small, 2 or 3 restaurants and shops and if i remember rightly there is no bank or atm, so you need to take either cash or a credit card. it is also mainly french people who go there
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
charlichops, Thanks for the info!
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Jennyski, I went there too for my very first ski holiday but that was about 17 years ago so my memory is a bit foggy! I remember really liking the place. It was very small, handful of shops, bars etc all gathered around the base of the gondola. I was a beginner and I agree with charlichops, there probably isn't or wasn't much to do after the nursery slopes. I recall having a very bad experience with the ESF there, taken up to top station in a blizzard, total white out and really struggling to get down. Not a good start for a beginner. That was my one and only experience of ski school, I converted to private lessons after that.
I remember it being a very sunny place and I seem to recall there's good skiing above the tree line from the middle station of the gondola, but also the variety of tree lined runs back down. And I think it is linked to Bardonnechia in Italy - if not lift linked I think it's close by through a tunnel for a day out. Sorry not to remember much detail but it was a nice friendly little place and I enjoyed the resort. snowHead
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Can anyone add to this? Thinking of going for New Year and driving down.

Thanks

Nikki.
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NIKKIWHITE,
Spent a day there last Easter when skiing the Maurienne. The resort is small and purpose built, in itself it is not that attractive with a few buildings have not aged that well from the outside.
The skiing looked pretty impressive the day I visited, not a large area but plenty of variety some reasonably steep slopes. Upper area above the tree line lower slopes in the trees. A steepish north facing black run at the top plenty of off piste.
There is not a piste link to Bardonecchia though I believe it is skiable off piste the return trip through the tunnel would not be cheap. If you do feel that the skiing there is not sufficient there is a lot of skiing available in the Maurienne valley.
The final drive up from Modane climbs fairly sharply up hair pins definately should carry chains in case of bad weather
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Thanks T Bar, If I give you some details can you say if you would recommend?

We take our 2 children (7 & 9) and ski as a family with the children. We did do ski school the first two times but it just makes it so expensive. (we do pay for a few private lessons for the children only at the start then near the end of the week)

This is only our fourth Ski holiday in the last four years. (1st La Tour, 2nd les Gets, 3rd Morzine)

We all have our own gear so no hire costs.

We don't Ski blacks.. (because I will not consider it) Children ski them on the private lessons only. We (OK I) like long blues / easy reds with a few nice bar stops. I would not go off piste as we are not experienced enough.

We enjoy a good nightlife which we have yet to find but are still hopeful.

We are considering here as the season pass is E173 and apartments around 500 for new year week. If we drive and use tesco for tunnel we could do this in our price range and still have the season passes to get a very cheap week at Easter.

Thanks

Nikki
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After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
Like T Bar I have only (twice) been there for the day to ski the off piste, which is good for a relatively small place. The lower runs, as has been said, run through trees and the off-piste has some good tree skiing. Seemed like quite a nice area but I haven't looked at it from the right viewpoint to help you. It is directly above the Frejus tunnel into Italy which starts from Modane, down the hill from Val Frejus. It is small and a modern build quite high above the Maurienne valley.
You might consider Val Cenis just around the corner up the Maurienne which is slightly larger and has an old centre, but is also quite cheap and, though more popular with the British than Val Frejus, is still mostly used by French families.
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NIKKIWHITE,
Quote:

Thanks T Bar, If I give you some details can you say if you would recommend?

I am sure that you could enjoy it as most places work out but from what you want it is not probably the first place I would recommend.

Being a purpose built resort there are very few bar stops on the slopes. There is a really nice long blue back to the resort that is stunningly attractive with great varied skiing over the upper half but the bottom is a road that the children may have to pole along for a significant distance. The other runs back to the resort are great for what you want. There are very good reds and blues but you would be repeating them a lot over two seperate weeks.

Obviously just a day trip but I would be amazed if the nightlife was up to much.

One place that would probably suit you a bit more would be Valloire. I seem to remember that the season lift pass was only a little more from the season thread. There is a lot more skiing there with a variety of red blue and green runs to suit everyone. Not being purpose built there are more restaurants on the slopes, not being fashionable they are better priced than some of the more northerly French resorts.
It is a reasonably attractive resort and seemed a fair bit more livley than Valfrejus. It shares the area with Valmenier, though I did not see that resort to know what it looks like as an alternative.
The main downside with children is that being larger than valfrejus there is probably not so much accommodation just next to the slopes. The lower slopes suffer a bit in the sun so will restrict the skiing a bit at Easter however there was plenty there higher up last year on our visit.
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La Norma is also in this valley, closer to Modane. It boasts of being a very child friendly resort - not much nightlife though www.la-norma.com/anglais/winter/uk_plan_pistes.htm Info on Valfrejus here www.valfrejus.com and Val Cenis here www.valcenis.com.
All three are available through www.snowtrex.co.uk very cheap and your lift passes are included! Also, if you book for La Norma, you get to try Valfrejus for a day so you can see what you missed Very Happy
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NIKKIWHITE wrote:


We don't Ski blacks.. (because I will not consider it)



Nikki - not all blacks are the same. For various reasons resorts usually aim to have a mixture of green/blue/red/black runs, and therefore by definition there hardest runs are graded black, but if the mountain or that part of it is generally not that hard then the 'hardest' run might only rate a red elsewhere. I did a season in Les Arcs last year and the 2 blacks in Peisey-Vallandry are really only dark red, and significantly more straightforward then the blacks in the 2000 bowl e.g. Comborciere or Robert Blanc. And there are reds in the domain that are harder to do than the 2 PV blacks for example clair blanc. You also need to take into account snow conditions - for example Comborciere in Les Arcs is quite tough with lots of moguls, but ski it come 12 noon in late march and the tops will have softened and it's actually much much easier.


So don't close your mind to the concept of blacks - just make sure you find the easier ones - perhaps a private lesson with an instructor might help!!

Good Luck with it.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
Thanks for all the input. I spent hours looking into what was recommended yesterday and am very drawn towards La Norma. Being the New Year week I am finding that lots of apartments are already booked or being used by the owners.

I have been offered a nice one in Valfrejus for £395. The balcony overlooks the Nursery slopes and it has a shared indoor pool. Seems a great deal. I am going to have a look at Vallorie as suggested by T Bar today and see whats on offer there.

This may come down to where I can get a cheap apartment over location. However we will have the car so could explore a little.

I found what bertie bassett, said about the blacks very interesting and when we have selected a resort I will certainly try and find out which Blacks I may be able to manage. The children would be thrilled if we skied them together. I do feel we are holding them back a lot as they have advanced so much faster than us but its the only way we can afford it at present so its better than then not going at all.

We skied Easter this year and I would find it hard to imagine that any blacks are harder than the reds in the afternoon. The moguls were as tall as me! However, I did not enjoy it. I just got down it in a lot of pain with burning legs!

Thanks again.

Nikki
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NIKKIWHITE,

You should def chack out valmienier....I have been to both Val Frejus and La Norma and found them pretty limited...the valmienier-valloire domiane is a much bigger more rounded place. While Valmienier hardly rocks there are a couple of bars that have some life in the evenings (3 devils and no comment), a bowling alley with popular bar and a cinema. I would have thought you could get a 2 bed apartment for about 600 euro season passes are 199 euro if bought online before 15 Nov.

Hope you find something!
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
Off to check it out now. Thanks very much.
Very Happy
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
NIKKIWHITE, and I too went there for my first ski holiday - but that was 25 years ago... As T Bar says, Valloire is more interesting as a town, but Valfrejus has a spot in my heart as place where my life changed. They did say they were going to join Valfrejus and Bardonecchia once.
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
La Norma is even more limited than Valfrejus - personally I would go for ValCenis (Lanslevillard, not Lanslebourg) first, or if you don't mind a very small modern village and smaller ski area, then Valfrejus.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
snowball, Thanks for that. I am on the Valcenis website now.... can I ask why not Lanslbourg?

Thanks

Nikki
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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?
http://www.valcenis.com/remontees_mecaniques-uk.htm

Is it me or do they not offer a season pass?
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NIKKIWHITE,
You could try emailing the lift office and see. FWIW I think Val Cenis would be another good choice. We found cheap accommodation at Bessans which is about 10-15 minute drive away. Termignon may also have cheaper accommodation and connects with Val Cenis.
Bessans by the way is a quiet and attractive village but definately not a place for the night life.
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Thanks. I will email them. Odd they don't advertise it on the website.

Think I would like to stay in the centre if we get there. Will see what they have.

Cheers

Nikki
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Although the much smaller area of Termignon has now connected to the skiing I think Lansleboug works better as the focus of the skiing.
I don't know about nightlife though.

Never stayed there for more than 8 days so don't know about the season pass. I'm sure the Tourist office will tell you.
We will be there 3rd week of January - but probably 4 or 5 of our 8 days we will will be skiing the other resorts in the valley: Bonneval sur Arc, at the head of the valley (you can ski to it over the back from Valle d'Isere - you could easily get to it on the local bus and is worth a visit) and La Norma and Val Frejus and perhaps another I forget the name of.
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Thanks for the info. Which pass do you go for to do all those?
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
NIKKIWHITE,
There is a very cheap pass €82( Last season may be more this year) which gives you five days skiing in any five Maurienne valley resorts, you have to use them in different resorts though. It is tremendous value but you should not underestimate the amount of driving required. We did this last Easter and had a great time. Personally I would not like to try it at New Year when the roads are likely to be icier and much of the driving would be in the dark after a days skiing. I have posted some of the other requirements in another thread.

You can also ski them all with a small supplement frrom any other Maurienne valley pass. You cannot practically ski Val D'Isere as it is a long way by road skiers who come to Bonneval usually return by helicopter. The Three Valleys is accessible via Orelle (on the five day valley pass but a supplement is required)
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There is a Ski Maurienne lift pass which,as T Bar said recently, is about €82 is for any five days in the season and allows you a day in each of any five resorts and a reduction on any further day".

Edit: Oops, T Bar himself has arrived while I was checking
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Cheers for that. I would quiet like to venture out for a couple of the days but not every day. I will email the office in the morning see what pass deals they have.
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You might do better just paying for a day pass. Bonneval would be €21 (€18 children, €19 student and senior). Their website is at http://www.bonneval-sur-arc.com/hiver01.htm (press 'Hiver'). A very pretty old village where we had outstanding food. A characterful but not that big ski area - but being at the top of the valley, no tree skiing.

By the way, above Modane (ie on the way to Val Cenis) there are several outstanding fortifications to be seen,
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