 Poster: A snowHead
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Having found Snowheads a useful source of information (and entertainment) ahead of 2 recent ski trips, I thought I should try to give something back by providing a report on our half term trip to Champoussin.
Given we had to go half term week, I don't think we could have done much better.
The Swiss side of the PdeS worked wonderfully. There were no lift queues – maybe the longest wait was a couple of minutes at the Les Crosets chair. First time around we opted for a short side step up to the drag that runs in parallel, but it really wasn’t necessary as the queue for the chair moved along quickly.
Comments about lack of investment in the lift infrastructure are fair enough, but improving the lifts would probably result in increased crowds so I wouldn’t change too much. Any drag lift fans (Red 27?) will be in heaven – the buttons were particularly comfortable. So much so, that I managed to get a bit too relaxed halfway up Les Crosets. I gained a reputation for falling off the drags as a first week beginner in Ellmau 20 years ago. Very few of the 9 subsequent trips have passed without at least one fall off a drag.
Apparently we did benefit from the fact that the Swiss Valais and Geneva regions had just finished their respective holidays. Outside Switzerland, Champoussin is only really marketed to the Dutch and it wasn’t a big holiday week for them either. This all helped to ensure uncrowded slopes with a good variety of skiing.
We had glorious sunshine for pretty much the whole week. The steaming hot days resulted in some slush puppy runs on the south facing slopes. The link to Crosets included the last stretch of the run we did last year when we skied across from Morzine. It was in much the same state – not a great advert for Swiss PdeS skiing. However that’s not a fair reflection. The pisteurs did a fantastic job with the 2 week old snow, returning the slopes to near perfect conditions for the start of each new day. The majority of the runs held up pretty well all day, and the slushy ones were negotiable and only used to link from one area to the next.
Kids all progressed really well at ski school. I skied with my teenage son and daughter on the last day. This was their 3rd week’s skiing, and their pace has really picked up to allowing us to ski all our favourite Swiss slopes in the 1 day.
If you have your piste map handy I can recommend a few runs in case you’re ever in the area:
- a non stop red/blue from the Pointe de l’Au (2152m) down to the lowest point in Champoussin (1600m)
- the Champeys black/red above Champoussin
- a motorway blue from the top of the Champeys chair
- the ski school blue (Sopaya)
- the top half of the 2 reds dropping into Morgins – take the drag from halfway down rather than going all the way down the road run to the chair in Morgins
- a lovely little red in the Crosets area called Marcheuson
- any of the 3 runs under the Crosets chair
- the run down from the Grand Conche (although Mike took this on in a rare moment of thick cloud and didn’t enjoy it quite as much)
- the blue at Combes and the parallel run through the jumps of the “fun park”
Avoid
- the long red Ripalle -> Grand Paradis
- the long blue from Mossettes to Morgin
(both have nice stretches, but overall involve too much pole work)
A couple of notes on the piste map:
- the red from the Pointe de l’Au doesn’t seem to be marked and takes a little bit of finding. One route is to start on the signposted blue to Champoussin and then take a sharp unsignposted right just after going under the chair.
- the map shows a chair at the bottom of the Champeys run. We were told that this hasn’t been in service for the last 2 seasons.
Champoussin is a very small resort – 1 hotel (Royal Alpage) plus chalets. We did try all 6 restaurants (2 were in the hotel). They were all pretty good – with good service and tasty food. La Virage (near the ski school), Le Poussin (next to the excellent Champeys run) and Chez Gaby (opposite the Champeys chair) were all lovely little sun traps for lunch.
We were looking for a “ski to the door” hotel within a couple of hours of Geneva or Grenoble, offering en-suite accommodation, ideally with a pool for the kids to allow the rest of us to enjoy our first beer of the evening. The Royal Alpage was the only affordable one that we came up with – we had no complaints in relation to any of the selection criteria, although the lack of any life in the resort was an issue for at least one member of our party. We were half board – breakfast and dinner both went down well. There was no choice with the dinner menu, but most of the main course options (e.g. lamb steak, red mullet, guinea fowl, cheese fondue etc.) all went down well.
It wasn’t quite ski to door, but you could come off the pistes at Le Poussin and it’s less than 5 minutes walk back from there. You could pretty much “ski from the door”, but it took us a couple of days to realise it. There is a short pisted run from opposite the hotel down to the bottom of the Champeys T Bar. Unfortunately the warm weather meant there was no snow on the top of the run, but a short scramble down the hill was infinitely preferable to any unnecessary walking.
For anyone at ski school, you can take a blue across from the top of the T Bar down to the ski school meeting point. Beginners need to allow for a 10 minute walk after turning left out of the hotel. We didn’t allow for this on the first morning and the students in our party were lucky to meet up with a class on their first run down.
I’m happy to recommend “Ski Lifts” for any PdeS airport transfer. I booked a shared transfer with them last year when travelling on my own to meet up with friends in Morzine. This year there were 8 of us, so we went for a private minibus transfer. It was a beautiful 90 minute journey taking in the north side of Lac Leman and lovely mountain scenery after Monthey. Ski Lifts have been very prompt and efficient for all transfers.
The train to Val D’Illez (via Aigle) might be a good option for a smaller group. I don’t think there are many shared transfers to Champoussin!
In summary, Champoussin is an excellent choice if you’re OK with a small resort with very little by the way of nightlife.
I thought Champery might be a good possibility for the future, but not so sure now. The attractive 6 man (fast) chair is a mile out of town, so any of the decent accommodation would be nearer the cable car. Not may favoured option for the first lift of the day.
Morgins or Les Crosets might be good alternatives if you’re looking for other resorts in the area.
Now the question. Looking beyond the Portes de Soliel, can anyone recommend anything similar for Feb half term next year. The dilemma is how to find a bit more life in the resort without encountering the crowds on the slopes. I vote for uncrowded slopes every time.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Great to read some up to date info. I'll be in Morgins this time next week.
I haven't managed to find a piste map online with all the piste names on it yet. I'll have another look.
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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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Alan G, great report, thanks
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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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improving the lifts would probably result in increased crowds
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this is a very good point. Daughter and BF were in Flaine last week (ie the second half term week; teachers). They said lift queues were no problem, but because the lifts were depositing people at the top so fast the pistes were extremely, and uncomfortably, crowded a lot of the time. They enjoyed it, nonetheless. Maybe the fact that the lower areas of the domain were closed or not much fun, because of the snow conditions, meant that the higher areas were extra crowded.
Very useful report, Alan G, 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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FAQ
very handy for those based on the south coast... 