 Poster: A snowHead
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Apologies if this is cover elsewhere. I am off this weekend to Belle Plagne with my daughter (10) and a two other families, with a mixture of ages and abilities.
My daughter is in ski school in the morning - she's only spent one hour at Tamworth last year, so is effectively starting anew - and I was wondering where to take her in the afternoons as I've never been to La Plagne before. I'm sure we'd cope and obviously ask locally, but with such a fountain of knowledge on here, it couldn't do any harm to ask.
More importantly I suppose is where to avoid.
Can't tell you how excited I am, I really hope she catches the ski bug.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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johnofthejungle, Took my kids on their first ski holiday to BP 3 years ago. We pre booked our younger two into ESF for the morning session, but on hindsight should have booked the afternoon session instead as this seemed a lot quieter and was cheaper too. The run from L'Arpette was one of the kids favourite, but from memory the queue at the lift to get there was always busy. Try to head off to Les Arcs if you can for some really nice wide open bowl skiing - will take a few hours there and back so watch your timings.
Your daughter will love it as it will be all snowy etc. Sledging is good fun too.
Have a great time
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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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johnofthejungle, I stayed in Belle Plagne last year with a (very) varied group. There are a good amount of gentle blues all around Belle Plagne, mostly heading into Plagne Bellecote, which are mostly nice and wide, and not too steep blue runs, ideal for picking up confidence.
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Boabski
first how do you get each others names in bold? Buggered if I can do it.
Thanks for the advice on L'Arpette and Les Arcs, Do you think she'll be fine to get over and back to Les Arcs towards the end of the week, the runs lend themselves for beginners to do that?
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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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johnofthejungle, simply click on the name of the poster on the left hand side of the screen - I think this also alerts the poster too of any response. Think your daughter will be able to do the Les Arcs thing by middle to end of week. My elder two were 6 and 9 at the time. From memory you can choose pretty cruisy blues all the way to the Vanoise Express.
We stayed at the Crystal Club hotel - Turquoise which had an excellent position - although admittedly we requested a move from some appartments further up (cant remember name) which were (despite booking one for 7 people - we are 5) like a shoe box. There are two ESF's, one higher up and one right beside the Turquoise, so be careful if booking in advance direct
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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boabski, bingo!
We are staying at the Turquoise, and to be honest I haven't a clue which ESF she's booked in at. Would Crystal favour one in particular, or do they use both?
Fabulous news about the cruisy blues to Vanoise Express, I hadn't anticipated popping over to Les Arcs.
Any other gems around La Plagne?
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johnofthejungle, Try if you can to get one of the family rooms - we had a massive duplex room - great. The location is hard to beat if you've got kids. Ski shool meeting point right beside you, and sledging very do-able at night right outside. We liked the food too and staff were all nice. From memory there is another ski school - New Generation perhaps, and I THINK Crystal used them as (again) I think they are UK based. If you've booked in the wrong one you can change as we did.
If you ski down the run behind the hotel there is a small chair lift (sometimes with warm croissants) a few hundred meters down that takes you up to some nice motorway skiing. The run down from the gondola is nice too - although was icy when we were there and a steep pitch freaked out our friends daughter a bit (although this was probably down to some attention seeking!)
We only ventured over to Plagne Centre/1800 one day so can't really comment on the whole area as, due to ski school timings, you can't exactly bug off for a whole day exploring the area. And to be honest I got much more pleasure out of seeing my kids skiing get better each day
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johnofthejungle, we stayed at the Turquoise with Crystal for our first ski holiday five years ago. Assuming Crystal have not changed, the pick up point is the one right outside the hotel.
La Plagne generally is full of lovely cruising blues, though there can be some seemingly steep pitches for absolute beginners; however as your daughters has some sliding experience, perhaps that won't be an issue. (There is a dolly hill not far away for very-first-timers.)
I think La Plagne probably has enough to keep you busy of an afternoon; it would be a bit of a rush to get over to Les Arcs and back with your daughter after lessons. Perhaps avoid the Roche de Mio bubble until later in the week - les Inversens (with its tunnel through the mountain) is great fun but probably a little daunting so early.
Enjoy!
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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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boabski,
great advice, thats' my thought really, I want to make the most of my skiing time, but think it'll be awsome skiing with my daughter, and hoping to enthuse her with the delights of skiing.
I take it the ski schools are flexible then? as she'll be hopefully be in the same class as her friend, that would be a disaster if she wasn't.
Any restaurants that took your fancy for lunch? I imagine they hardly differ.
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TallTone,
tunnels through the mountain!!, this is getting better all the time.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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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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thefatcontroller, geepee,
i'm so excited I'm not sure I'll be getting any work done prior to saturday, it all sounds great so far, and my mate is telling me that we'll be getting a dump of snow over the weekend too.
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You know it makes sense.
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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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| johnofthejungle wrote: |
TallTone,
tunnels through the mountain!!, this is getting better all the time. |
It's fairly flat, approached on a flattish bit, and a fairly short tunnel. But - and unique in my skiing experience - it's definitely a (pisted) tunnel through the mountain! 
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Poster: A snowHead
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thefatcontroller,
Yeah, I had seen this, almost everywhere says it's a perfect location. My daughter is excited, but at the moment more about having a week off school, being with her friends, having snow ball fights and then lastly skiing - I'm hoping skiing will jump up the pecking order a bit....
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| johnofthejungle wrote: |
| Yeah, I had seen this, almost everywhere says it's a perfect location. |
johnofthejungle, We spent a week there with 3 kids. It is perfect
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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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johnofthejungle, It was the obvious choice when I wanted to take my 6 year old on his first ski trip, as I had skiied there on my 3rd trip (2 weeks). Belle Plagne is IMO the best of the La Plagne resorts. When I first went there the Matafan was the only restaurant there and I spent many a lunch time and nearly every evening there. Plagne Bellecotte was good for lunch stops too.
On my last visit, 10 years ago, Belle Plagne had grown considerably but still was a great place to go and the Matafan is still there along with others. Ideal for young kids, as they don't have to lug their skis anywhere. Go and enjoy it and let us know what a great time you had there. By the way, the ESF gets a bad reputation sometimes but the instructor my son had was excellent and bought his skiing on by leaps and bounds in a week. 
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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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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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geepee,
Dav,
Thank you all for your tips and confirmation that it's a great resort for us, I will certainly let you know how we get on
Best wishes
John
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