 Poster: A snowHead
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First post;
Hi We have booked el Tarter hotel nordic from 28yh Dec, our first time sking, we have been skiing for 12 weeks with private lessons, which we will keep up till we leave.
My question is , what should we be doing in regards to booking passes skis etc, wait till we get there or what
cheers
Ade
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Welcome to snowheads. It's a great place!
Good work on the private lessons. I would wait till you get there.
Have you got and taking children - I've seen some skishops run out of kit at peak season and turned kids away if not pre-booked, but I can't imagine 28th Dec in El Tarter to be completely rammed.
The snow record for andorra can be a bit patchy - so check out waht off slope diversions might be available - e.g swimming pool and chuck a pair of trunks in.
Enjoy!
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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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Pace, Welcome to 
It might be worth booking ski hire before you get there as you might be able to get a discount. OTOH, it's not usually that much of a discount so may be better to just wait til you get there. Lift passes rarely have a discount if you buy them in advance so probably worth just waiting til you get there.
One thing you probably do need to book is lessons (assuming you mean you've had 12 lessons, not 12 weeks of full time lessons). Make sure they know how much experience you've had so you don't get put in a group with people who don't know how to put their boots on.
Have a good time!
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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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Pace,
Booking Lift passes wait till you get there it is almost a miracle if you can get a discount by booking in advance for a week
Skis & Boots trawl the web and see if you can get a discount by booking in advance but make sure they know your experience so they can provide the right skis.
Learning: Probably best to book in advance also as said above make sure they know what level you are at.
Bring sunscreen and a hat.
Enjoy hope you have fun
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Are you travelling wit a Tour Operator? If so, you can often book your lift pass etc on the bus transfer. They will give you vouchers to go to the ski hire shop and bring your lift pass to the hotel or arrange to meet you by the slopes in the morning.
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| jan wrote: |
| Are you travelling wit a Tour Operator? If so, you can often book your lift pass etc on the bus transfer. They will give you vouchers to go to the ski hire shop and bring your lift pass to the hotel or arrange to meet you by the slopes in the morning. |
But you will usually end up paying more that way than if you buy yourself in resort. They will quote the same amount in Euros as you would pay at the lift office/hire shop/ski school, but then convert your payment into sterling before charging your card, at an exchange rate which is usually worse than your Credit or Debit card would if you paid in Euros.
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| alex_heney wrote: |
| jan wrote: |
| Are you travelling wit a Tour Operator? If so, you can often book your lift pass etc on the bus transfer. They will give you vouchers to go to the ski hire shop and bring your lift pass to the hotel or arrange to meet you by the slopes in the morning. |
But you will usually end up paying more that way than if you buy yourself in resort. They will quote the same amount in Euros as you would pay at the lift office/hire shop/ski school, but then convert your payment into sterling before charging your card, at an exchange rate which is usually worse than your Credit or Debit card would if you paid in Euros. |
And if you're travelling with a great TO like scaretours they might even not deliver your pass till like erm 10:30am on the Sunday!
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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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The Hotel Nordic is sweeet! The food is superb.. But anyway..
The lift pass office is about 30 seconds walk out the back of the hotel and I think there may be a ski school office there too. If not just head up to the El Tarter ski school office (top of the gondola, the big log cabin that isn't a cafe) and you can arrange everything there, although there tends to be a bit of a queue...
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We stayed there last new year and had a fantastic time.There is a hire shop in the hotel right next to the ski locker room we got good equipment and it is very handy if you need to change anything.Good hotel and it was only 2 euros for a large beer so fill your boots.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Forgot to mention that it is possible to book lift passes lessons and eqipment as a package with the tour operator and it works out reasonabe.The instructors split you into groups based on ability and the lessons are really good but i would advise getting to the ski school in plenty of time on the first day if you want morning lessons as these are popular.
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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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Thank you all very much for the replys, all very helpfull, and painting a picture of what best to do, to make the most of our first of many ski trips, we hope, we are enjoying the lessons so im sure we will love the real stuff.
We have booked with Neilson.
No kids to take.
I think our best purchase so far has been the boots, we brought some after our second lesson, so we could break them in.
Alex at snow and rock Portsmouth has been very helpfull.
Cheers
Ade
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| doghead wrote: |
| We stayed there last new year and had a fantastic time.There is a hire shop in the hotel right next to the ski locker room we got good equipment and it is very handy if you need to change anything.Good hotel and it was only 2 euros for a large beer so fill your boots. |
Great info ta, 2 euros ill be filling boots belly everything LOL.
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You know it makes sense.
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Pace, I would agree with doghead, you will need to get up the gondola (or chairlift which is right outside the hotel, gondola is a 3 minute slide) asap on the first morning to queue up at the ski school cabin to get morning lessons if that is what you want. If need be, one of you go up earlier than the other and then meet up. On the first day the lessons are usually split into 2 blocks of an 1 1/2 hours each, with a break in between. There will be a race at the end of the week which is good fun, with trophies for the winners at the end of the day at the nordic bar!.
The other thing about the nordic that we found was that breakfast does not open that early, and there is often a queue waiting. Dinner is brilliant, You pay for your wine (and water) each night, the waiter will give you a ticket and you pay for it on your way out at the till near the door.
The entrance hall area of the hotel has old cars (one is an old Rolls) in it, plus numerous old motorbikes. If you want an huge supermarket type ski shop go down to the main road, turn left, (opposite direction to going to soldeu) walk down the road (its a bit scary at night) and walk down to the petrol station. There is a huge booze shop / supermarket on the left, and across the road a multi floor ski shop.
Nordic has a pool etc If you want a good night out, get on the soldeu bus, you get it where the huge car park entrance road meets the main road, there are free ones with your lift pass (some buses are not free, it can be a bit cold waiting) and go to fat alberts in soldeu, excellent fun!
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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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More great info thanks, We do fancy a couple of lessons when we get there as we have only been skiing on dry slopes, never snow.
The tip about ski shop is great, we have got most things (lots of trips to snow and rock lol) but i do like to look  .
Fat alberts is a must then, might even try it for new years.
Cheers
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