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Underrated French resorts?

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
After coming back from Meribel i'd say that the 3v's certainly live up to the hype, but what do you guys think are some of the French resorts/areas that easily get looked over? (I'm already looking for next year hah)

PS Sorry if this topic has been made before I'm new
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Complete and utter biast

Montgenevre,

Lovely traditional french village.
No big horrible ugly appartment blocks.
Relatively cheap
Lots of diverse skiing
good ski school
v.short transfer
no large queues
nice mixture of Italy and France
very close for day trips to Serre Che
Snowsure and high up at 1860


Only negatives that lead to being overlooked
there is a lack of extent
distance to milky way is a long old trek
minor queues at weekends due to Italian weekenders
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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?
Everone looks over 'La Basclasse'
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La Toussuire

Lots of it. Relatively inexpensive. Not full up of other package holidaymakers.
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Les Contamines,

A bit off the beaten track and probably not a big Brit destination (thankfully!)

Good variety of skiing, small enough but not TOO small, great views of Mont Blanc, near to other resorts and a great day trip destination.
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Christopher wrote:


Montgenevre,

No big horrible ugly appartment blocks.


Indeed - all the horrible ugly apartment blocks in Montgenevre are only medium sized wink

Not picking a fight though - went there for my 2nd (I think) ever skiing holiday and loved it... Best ski lessons I ever had. Not much night-life in those days, maybe better now
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 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
We found Grand Bournand to be nicely empty of Brits, but providing a bunch of beginners/ inters lots of variety. And with lift passes/ ski bus links to the resorts in the aravis area.
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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!
robcraine, beat me to it and agreed! We are also very fond of Morillon
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La Rosiere - a bit of the beaten track and wind prone but highly reccomended by several snowHeads.
Details here http://www.mountainheaven.co.uk/catered_chalets/skiinglr.html
http://www.mountainheaven.co.uk/catered_chalets/larosierelr.html Very Happy
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Ski the Net with snowHeads
Judging from the response there aren't many underrated French resorts, are there?

Never heard of La Toussuire.

Never thought Grand Bornard can last for a week's skiing but it should be OK for beginners.

Been to Montgenevre and thought it is a beginner area too as a skier in his/her right mind would talk about the rest of the Milky Way of Vailattea (la Claviere, Cesana, Sansicario, Sestrieve and Sauze D'oulx). In such a case one might want to pick a resort in the middle of the Milky Way to access this domain strategically, rather than than picking the extreme end at the French side which is almost impossible to ski to the other extreme end. If Montgenevre is easy to book and appears less expensive may be it is because it poorly sited in Milky Way and that is not underrated but correctly rated. If it is not crowded it may be the rest of the skiers is in the main part of the Milky Way.

Les Contamines can be classified as an underrated French resort but it does has a toilet where women skiers queuing in the same room witnessing the male skiers using the urials. Facilities wise its good snow is seldom known to the outside world and visitors tend to stop at St Gervais and Megeve rather than go deeper into the dead end valley where les Contamines is situated. While one can regarded it as underrated one must not forget it has 120km piste and for that it can never be overrated.

I disagree La Rosiere being underrated. I regard it correctly rated when packaged with La Thuile and overarted if it is sold on La Rosiere alone. La Rosiere/La Thuile has a total of 140km piste offering French and Italian skiing but the road that leads to La Rosiere is also the access point of Les Arcs which has 200 km piste. In normal time (when Vanoise link is open) Les Arcs is linked to La Plagnes and the two forms the Paradiski with 425km piste. Whatever one can find in La Rosiere there are just as much variety available in Paradiski.
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saikee, Its not a begginer area at all. I think it is an improving intermediate area, it isnt easy to get to other parts of the milky way. But it has the best snow (easily) and enough variety. Sestriere is horribly ugly I dont know why you'd want to ski looking at horrible appartment blocks.

Another disadvantage is relatively short slopes in Montgenevre.

red 27, well its hardly noticeable, but there is a meduim sized ugly appartment block. Agree with comment on a brilliant ski school.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
saikee wrote:
Judging from the response there aren't many underrated French resorts, are there?

Never heard of La Toussuire.


Saikee you surprise me. I thought you spend a lot of time motoring around to all sorts of ski places.

La Toussuire is right next to Le Corbier. It is probably marketed as part of a greater area. Supergrandtresfantastisque or such like.

There are loads of French resorts which never get a mention in the UK - Les Karrelis, Pralognan and that is just in the Savoy/Haute Savoie region. If you look in the Pyrenees or the Jura there are far more local spots.
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 So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
saikee, we're not going to tell you about our underrated resorts, because we don't want them overrun with Brits! Laughing
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
Quote:

La Toussuire is right next to Le Corbier. It is probably marketed as part of a greater area. Supergrandtresfantastisque or such like


Les Sybelles area actually wink Only seen La Toussuire from above but can recommend St Sorlin D'Arves which is part of the same area. Very pretty resort and it has the best runs in the area.
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Colin B, I googled it. It used to be called 'Super Grand Large' when I was there. Having previously just been just 'Grand Large'.

Subsequent marketing directors decided 'Super, Grand, Large' sounded too much like Jim Bowen's script from 'Bullseye'.

310km - so saikee has been missing a trick or two.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

1937 -Création du premier téléski (Comborcière)
1985 -Liaison des domaines skiables de LA TOUSSUIRE et du CORBIER avec la construction du télésiège de liaison (domaine Grand-Large)
1987 -Mise en service du premier télésiège quadriplace 1991 -Extension du domaine skiable à celui de St-Sorlin-d'Arves par navettes (domaine Super Grand-Large) 1999 -Neige de culture sur 12 hectares - piste Grande Verdette et Côte du Bois.
2003 -Liaison des Sybelles par le massif de "l'Ouillon" : 310 km de pistes reliées.
2004 -. Restructuration du front de neige
. Création de 2 téléskis débutants
. Création de deux télésièges débrayables 6 places 2005 -. Restructuration du secteur du Grand-Truc avec mise en place d'un télésiège 4 places et création de nouvelles pistes
. Installation du système "mains libres" 2006 - Renforcement des points de vente au niveau du front de neige 2007 - Restructuration du secteur de Bellard avec un télésiège débrayable 6 places et la mise en place de neige de culture
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
If one talks about snow sure I would have thought Sestriere at 2035m level would have better snow than Montgenvre at 1850m. The former is at the deep end of a quiet and desrted valley whereas the latter is along the main road between France and Italy.

I like Montgenvre and it did have a lot of snow in my last visit but so was the rest of the Milky Way. There was nothing wrong skiing the newly groomed Olympic runs in Sestriere and Sanscario too. They were so easy and smooth that we didn't know they were black slopes.

Many large linked skiing area can have a different enjoyment if you are not pushed with time to return to the starting point. If one can ski in Sestriere in one day, starts Sanscicrio in another day and the go to Montgenrve to ski the third day that experience can be different to skiing from Montgenrve to Sestriere and hurry back to catch the last lift in the same day.

There is a big gap of my knowledge about the French resorts in the South Alps. I know they can be good places to ski when there is plenty snow around. Currently my attention is with the 319 Austrian resorts and some of the Swiss areas. I would be in a better position to judge the lesser known resorts after trying more of them.

I generally find Austrian resorts are more underrated than the French. To start with there is very little French skiers there who form the major invasion to the French resorts. The quality of the infrastructure, snow condition and cost are better in Asutria than in France. However many Austrian resorts are not big enough to sustain a full week skiing and so they are seldom marketed. That I suspect it could well be true for many of the French resorts in Southern Alps which may have lesser snow than in the resorts of the Northern Alps. Where the Austrian resorts are large and marketed as premium holiday places their prices can be expensive for the British skiers.


Last edited by Poster: A snowHead on Mon 28-01-08 17:14; edited 1 time in total
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
saikee, WRONG Sestriere was struggling last year and Montgenevre wasnt. The snowstorms get funneled over the col and Monty gets better snow and it doesnt lose it as easy as the southfacing slopes which link it with Sauze.

You dont notice the road anymore, as its undergound.

I agree with your last paragraph.
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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?
pam w wrote:
saikee, we're not going to tell you about our underrated resorts, because we don't want them overrun with Brits! Laughing


I heard someone else speaking english last week, maybe the invasion has started.
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Latchigo, and it has the ESI run by my pals William and Maryline Turnes. Very Happy Very Happy
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
boredsurfin wrote:
La Rosiere - a bit of the beaten track and wind prone but highly reccomended by several snowHeads.
Details here http://www.mountainheaven.co.uk/catered_chalets/skiinglr.html
http://www.mountainheaven.co.uk/catered_chalets/larosierelr.html Very Happy


I'll second that one.
One of my favourite resorts so far.
Links nicely with La Thuile in Italy, and some absolutlely stunning runs down into La Thuile for a cold beer and a pizza.

Hope to go back there soon!
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Valberg ...
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 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
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Areches-Beaufort
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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!
Christopher wrote:
saikee, WRONG Sestriere was struggling last year and Montgenevre wasnt. The snowstorms get funneled over the col and Monty gets better snow and it doesnt lose it as easy as the southfacing slopes which link it with Sauze.

You dont notice the road anymore, as its undergound.

I agree with your last paragraph.

we was there last march
good snow there and claviere
after claviere they was using hay for the chair lifts as they was hardly any snow
we spent most of our time off piste
when it snows at montgenevre you have the slopes to your self as nobody comes out Very Happy
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