 Poster: A snowHead
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As promised I have just returned from Chamrousse 12th - 19th and am gonna give a little report, sorry if this is the wrong forum??? PS hope this doesnt drag on too long 
Well il start with the boring stuff, Nah, lets get to the exciting stuff 
The skiing was SUPERB!!! Really excellent, I was a bit unsure as there are only a number of runs, approx 46, but some are not as they seem, i couldnt find them all, think they have changed a little bit, not loads, but ends of runs missing.
But anyway, what they dont have in numbers they certainly make up for in quality!!!
We did have it really lucky with the weather and snow conditions, snowed all saturday, then sun shinning, then snowed pretty much every evening followed by glorious sunshine all week until thursday when we had some rain over night, but still friday was a little icy low down but on top was fantastic again, sun blazing!!
Off piste is really good, never really done alot of it, but our instructor took us out and it was really good, there is plenty of off piste available, I did the olympic homme black run,WOW!!! awesome!! (although i didnt ski it like the professionals!! ) took my time and really enjoyed it.
Anyone going to the Domaines de l'arseille, very nice if not a bit simple, but what do you expect for the great price!!
NO oven or grill or toaster, so be aware of what you by from the shops! plus, read the extra's from your agents, as we had to pay extra for towels, bed linens, TV plus 300 euro deposit....
now the only down side to chamrousse, is the apre ski, there basically is none!!! so any1 going hoping for a wild time, unfortunately unless you make it wild it will be somewhat short of expectations! there very accommodating, and friendly so long as you make an effort to speak French, because some restaurants wont make any effort to speak english as we found out!! (very hard when we'd forgot our phrase book!!) I'd highly recommend the restaurant for nice welcoming ppl, plus reasonable priced food, but thats pretty much where we stayed as there isn't alot!
If i have missed anything just ask and i will be pleased to answer anything if i can
As soon as I have downloaded my photos and vids I will also post a few links on here showing a few runs and nice pictures of the area so you can get a good feel of the snow
But overall the area is lush, skiing is grand, and you wont be sorry you got yourself this bargain holiday!!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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sounds great. instructor sounded good aswell, do you mind if i ask what ability you are? i was wondering what ability they started to take you off piste? was it ESF? I love doing the slalom runs even if i cant do all the post. The steepness seem to always push my ability with speed and maximise enjoyment level.
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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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Christopher, I have ski'd for just over 5 weeks and think of myself as a good intermediete as I am comfortable on most red and black runs,
But my brother-inlaw and wife are complete begginners and the ESF instructor ( Dudu / Dennis, he owns the shop 'surf road' in the centre comercial, very good instructor, couldn't be more highly reccommended!! ) felt after 3 days he could safely take them off piste, although not crazy! don't think he just went off and that was that!, it was very gradual, just a little thru the tree's, as the piste's are surrounded by tree's so they are very pretty and make great little off piste treks thru and under branches
Again I can't rate our instructor highly enough!! by the wednesday they were doing reds which in my humble oppinion is very good, as I took about a week before i did reds!
I tried slalom a little but am still a little away from going full out pointing down!!! 
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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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alexsam97, A lot of people really dislike ESF, but I think they're a very good good bunch.
If they'd never put boots in bindings before they got there, that is extremely impressive.
Yeah Im not at the level of pointing them down YET. I love having ago at lunchtime when all the ski clubs are having lunch its really quiet and you can take it at your own pace.
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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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Chamrousse sounds good - thanks for this report, which paints a really clear picture. Easiski takes beginners off piste frequently, so they get used to the fact that not all snow is flat except for the dear little corrugations. As for the ESF, some ESF instructors, and schools, are excellent. Some aren't. It is quite impossible to generalise.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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pam w, I too think its very important for learners to learn the different types of snow, ie fresh, icy, combed whatever
I'd never seen or heard of ESF on my travels so only have this time to make a judgment, and again we only had 1 of a whole school!!
As i said in my report, I would definitely plump for DuDu he is very friendly, a bit of a clown really, and speaks good English and isn't bothered to use it
unfortunately it isn't always possible to get the 1 you want so il stand corrected about ESF and hold judgment until I have had them again
Christopher, Il try the lunch time skiing next time then and Yes it was the first time on ski's ever!!
Oh I totally forgot about the snow park!! or jump park! very good for watching!! 1 of the big lifts goes right past it so you get to watch all the boarders crashing!! sooo cool!! some crazy snowboarders out there!!
Theres even a kids snow park with smaller jumps ( which I used more than the main ) and a 'how fast can you go' run that clocks your speed, so there is definitely something for every1 at chamrousse just a little lacking in numbers of runs, but for the price i think its hard to beat
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Hi Alex, It's great to hear that you enjoyed your holiday at Chamrousse and the domaine de L'Arselle. The owners of apartments welcome any feedback about your stay at the Domaine de L'Arselle good or bad and how the area could be improved. If you have any comments please post them so that I can send them to our association "ADICAC" to help in further improving L'arselle.
Thanks Nick
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also where did you go off-piste at Chamrousse?
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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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Hiya ncorps, The only bad thing to say about chamrousse as a whole is the lack of apres ski, our apartments were very nice for what we paid, certainly better than I had expected to be honest
The only thing I can really think of is lack of the lttle things, like a toaster, kettle and no oven. Also there was a piste run that was supposed to run down almost to our block that wasn't there, but hay thats just cause Im lazy and at the end of the day i wanted to ski home rather than walk up the hill, but thats just being picky!!
Other things were the shower was amazing apart form there was no wall fitting so it was hand held ( a pain when soaping and finding where to put it ) I really cant find fault with the whole place apart from these little things, overall, a very nice apartment, and a very nice ski resort!
Off piste wise, as I said above, it wasn't crazy off piste, just pull of a blue thru the trees and link up a few hundred metres down the slope, just a little taste of the really light snow there was no proper off a red onto a cliff face off piste!!
But if your Q is aimed at where you can go off piste, then pretty much all the runs had nice wide, some open some covered in trees areas where you can just glid off short term or for real long downhills Although I didnt go down many of the black runs so not sure about off piste that side of the mountain. You know what boarders are like, they'll find off piste on the carparks
I hope this helps??
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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alexsam97, Great stuff - pics look great. Seems like it could be ideal for Mrs IMT - she likes the easy tree lined stuff. Did the rain on the Thursday get rid of much of the snow lower down, or just make it a little icey? I'm a bit disappointed about the run back to the appt block - I was looking forward to that too. According to some piste maps that I have seen, there is a lift from pretty much where the appt is going up to a green run that returns to the bottom of the same lift - is that true? Ideal for Mrs IMT if it is.
I could probably ask you dozens of questions, but think that the rest of the  's would get a bit bored...
Some of the pics look like you are either really really small, or they were very large glasses of beer! How much were they!!
Cheers again for the 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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IMT, they were very big glasses of beer Drinks were 3 euros for a half (25cl) and 6euros for the big glasses (50cl, but they always overfill, Europeans can't pour a pint!! )
There are a number of apartments closer to the lifts, it just depends on which 1 you get, we had apartment block A, which is the very last apartment block up the hill, but a couple we met out there were right opposite the restaurant which is about 100m from the lift, very nice!! ( especially as 1 of them dislocated her shoulder!! Don't worry, they were boarders, so don't let that worry MRS IMT )
The bottom lift closest to the apartments has a nice easy green going down most of the mountain, plus a few easy blues aswell that all join together about 500m away from the lift, and to be honest, most of the blues are of equal difficulty as the greens, there really wide so the steep bits are quite easy to tackle once the confidence is up,so plenty for your other half to enjoy herself with all the way down
The rain on thursday wasn't really a problem, the lower slops were a bit icy first thing but up the top was really good powder all week, and the lower slopes loosened up the later it got PS there are a number of wide blues from the very top with good tuck points for yourself that can be quite fun for you both as they slope down onto nice flats to take the speed off
Last edited by And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports. on Mon 21-01-08 18:09; edited 1 time in total
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alexsam97, Cheers - email sent. I'd probably edit your post to remove the email address if I was you. I'm sure that SnowHeads won't batter you with spam, but you never know!
Cheers again.
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You know it makes sense.
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A note re ski instructors - I skied in Chamrousse a few weeks ago, I'm a nervous skier and didnt want to go off piste!! - and for anyone like me I would recommend my ESF instructor, Laurent Uberto (kept a rec of his name in case we go again), he had great English and was absolutely terrific for building confidence, there was no way I wanted to go to the top of the mountain but we ended up covering the whole resort with him, I booked a couple of lessons with him for my 8-year old and he's now got his parallel turns beautifully.
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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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Poster: A snowHead
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mumofthree, and alexsam97, Good news on the instructor front, at least it gives me a couple of names to look out for.
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