Claviere - Crystal Club hotel

A snowHead

quick report - just returned from a week in the very sunny milky way.

Spent most of the week skiing the whole area - great conditions throughout, personal favourite of the week was Sansicario for long quiet runs - get the impression that most people only pass through to get one end of the Milky Way or the other - it is well worth a stop.

Onto the hotel and the trip - I have had some pretty carp experiences in clubhotels in the past, but hey, this was a late deal and beggars can't be choosers. Boy was I pleasantly surprised.

Landed at Turin at 9.00still there at 12.30 before finally getting underway. Quick note to Crystal reps - don't lie about why you are still waiting, it only upsets people more Evil or Very Mad

Eventually arrived Claviere around 2.00 unfortunately too late to ski. THe hotel however was a revelation - clean. well decorated and the staff were smiling. allocated a room on the top floor with a seating area in the eaves great.

The food all week was fabulous, as were the waiting staff - the half litre of wine per 2 ended up being around 1.5 litres most nights. The chef and the waiting staff got a round of applause at the end of the week as well as a fairly healthy tip. Bar prices were not horrendous, not much different to the rest of the village at around 4.5 euros.

NIght off was spent at Kilt - as others have said, this is fabulous - I have never been served such a large tasty pizza in a restaurant before.

The skiing was good and varied - Monday - skied Claviere in the morning and Sestriere for a couple of hours in the afternoon. skied to the link at Cesana via the blue road and wished we hadn't - it is quicker to take your skis off and get the chair down - and probably more fun!

TUesday - Montgenevre - link from Claviere fine (but quite a pole), link back very steep and exposed at the top, however there is a red alternative that is not shown on the piste maps. Skiing was great - hard and fast in the sun, and great conditions in the main bowl.

Wednesday was Sauze - the higher runs were fine (above 2000m), below got patchy, icy and stony in place - and if anyone tries to convince you the black run 13 to jouvenceaux is fun don't believe them - it is a very icy, narrow steep in places road with no turning room - on blades probably OK - on skis Toofy Grin

THursday - Sansicario (passed through most days as well) - great day - uncrowded pistes, long runs - the olypic run top to bottom was great, but favourite run is on the left had sidestarting as 79 and running into 71 right down to the gondola midstation (as far as you can go on piste) - not technically challenging, but a great blast

Friday - Sestriere - another good day - speed merchants can't go far wrong with Sestriere, but for me it lacks something - the runs to me are all a bit samey - the same pitch and scenery wherever you are.

Saturday - did the tour visitng favourite runs in each area and the last couple of hours back in Claviere

If you have any questions please let me know on here or by PM

A snowHead

Regarding your point upon returning from Montgenevre to Claviere. I thought it was on the lift map, just had a look. Your right it isn't on the Milky Way map, shows two blacks instead. That is a bit naughty it shows the red as a black.

http://www.montgenevre.com/fileadmin/HIVER/photos_tn/2_station/domaine/vialattea/FA_07_08/via_lattea_zoom.pdf - Milky Way piste map

http://www.montgenevre.com/fileadmin/HIVER/photos_tn/2_station/domaine/monts_de_la_lune/FA_07_08/plan-mdl-optimise.jpg - It is shown clearly on the Montgenevre piste map as piste number 100, which is parralell to piste no. 100 black.

You can also return on the cross country trail it isnt half interesting, but for begginers, timid intermediates and those who don't like heights its the easy way of returning from Montgenevre.

I will look foward returning to this area at some point in the future.

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Hi there,

A group of 11 of us are staying in the Club hotel for a week in February & just had a couple of questions you may have some answers to please?

Are the ski school & nursery slopes far? Also I think I read that you can ski down to one of the lifts from the hotel?

My kids are 5 & 6 & did a week of ski school last year - they could do wide greens & easy blues by the end of the week, but there doesn't appear to be a vast range of blues in Claviere. Is Montgenevre any better?

Many Thanks

Kate

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Kate0, hi I stayed at the Grande Claviere last year. The ski school/nursery slopes are 5-10 mins walk along the road or go out the back of the hotel onto the track (turn left) and you can ski all the way Very Happy

its mainly flat so a bit of poleing but fine for beginners too!
There was enough blues to keep our first time friends happy, some of the reds arent at all steep. Personally I prefer the skiing in Claviere to Montgenevre, pretty tree lined runs mostly uncrowded apart from the main blue leading back to the ski school. Montgenevre I found to be vast with wide open motorway runs, plenty of greens though. We all preferred Claviere.
you can ski back to the hotel, take the chair furthest to the right, when you get off go right and take the red bearing left (if I can find my map I'll give you the numbers), a bit steep in places but you can go round a track to avoid the steepest one, then its a lovely run to almost the back door! I'm still a coward but managed it every day!! (beats walking with skis) Very Happy

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Kate0, We stayed at the hotel 2 years ago, when my kids were 3, 6 and 9. My older two had had one weeks skiing the year before, so similar standard to your two and our kids found the skiing pretty good. The runs into Claviere are pretty easy, although contrary to feefee, I preferred the skiing (and infrasctructure) in Montgenevre. Because of the ski school timing we were pretty much restricted to staying close to Claviere, so unfortunately I got bored with it. Can't say I was impressed by Claviere, but I seem to be in the minority.
Definitely head to Kilt though for worlds best pizza.
The Grand Claviere was fine - the staff were all excellent and the food tasty. We had a massive family room in the eaves (no balcony), but like the rest of the hotel was in need of some money spent on it - don't know if it subsequently has???
You'll enjoy yourself I'm sure. The ski school is around a 5 min walk/partial ski. The run from Montgenevre is close by but you do need to get a lot of speed up otherwise it's more like a cross country track.

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Mister T, Thanks for the useful report.

We're off to Claviere first week Feb. While we're staying in the Hotel Miramonti, our neighbours (as part of a larger group) are staying in the Crystal Club Hotel.

I don't suppose you noticed the Hotel Miramonti and whether it was close to the Club Hotel?

I've struggled to find a decent piste map on-line but I'm told our hotel, although in Claviere, is only 30m from one of the Montgenevre lifts. I was wondering about whether it's possible to get that lift first thing in the morning and then drop straight back into Claviere?

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

boabski, I have been to the area twice. Agree with you I prefered the pistes in Montgenevre, I spent a lot more time there and stayed there.

There is some motorway skiing, but I always found that there was always small jumps etc to play about on the motorways. Also the 'Soureou' from Rocher d'Aigle chair in Montgenevre is a brilliant fun piste. I rather enjoy the short red runs retuning to Montgenevre from Tremplin.

I think some of the skiing is very nice in Claviere in the trees, however it is a bit limited and I found it to be. The run that drops down into Claviere from Rocher d'Aigle is lovely with a steep section at the top. Its just a shame that you have to do a bit of pole-work to get you along further towards the bottom. The black under the Brousset chair was nice in the morning with moguls, it did get icy in places in the afternoon.Higs,

Shame I never got to try the Croce black run in Claviere. I've heard thats good fun.

Best piste map http://www.montgenevre.com/fileadmin/HIVER/photos_tn/2_station/domaine/monts_de_la_lune/FA_07_08/plan-mdl-optimise.jpg It shows the easy green that returns to Claviere which runs parrallel to the cross country piste. No too flat either, its all downhill. The road does have to drop 100m between Montgenevre to Claviere.

Higs, The lift it is referring to will most probably be Montquitaine. You can take it up and return to Claviere along the cross country/green piste along the valley floor. Hardly ideal as it will take about 15mins in total, and the walk from that lift to central Claviere isnt particularly far even in ski boots. The lift gives you good access to the Montgenevre area.

After all it is free

Christopher, La Croce is a good run, if a little stony while we were there. Mainly red with some interesting steepish narriw hairpin bends halfway down. Took us a while to find though - you have to take every right turn from the top of the mountain and it is about half way down.

Higs, If my memory serves me correctly it is towards the other end of the village, however that is not much of a hardship as the walk is only about 5 minutes from end to end - and there are a few bars on the way!

Kate0, The description by others as to location is fine. We skied from the hotel every day (OK turn right and walk for 2 minutes) -any one could ski this. We also skied back to the same point by taking the second shorter chair (the one that links to Montgenevre) the runs from there take you back to your start point. They are red, but the first one has only a short steepish drop that is very short.

IMO the reds are largely overgraded and should be somewhere between red and blue. You will also like the runs to Sagnalonga ( on the Claviere pass, turn left at the top of the mountain), there is a longish blue and shorter reds that are wide. The blues actually travel through the village there and are quite fun fast cruising.

To all staying there, you will not regret it - the staff and food were excellent - quite a few of the staff are there for the fourth year - and it shows!

Enjoy

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Higs, Your right about getting to Col Beouf from the top of Montquitaine. I use to detest walking in ski boots, but this year I didnt have much of a problem walking distances shorter than 200m. But I still get your point about not walking, skiing is much more fun. There is a bridge over the road, that has been built for that purpose.

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Higs, the Miromonti is up a small road, off the main road through the centre of town, the Crystal hotel is on the junction of the small road and the main road, only 100m apart. The lift next to the Miramonte would be an unlikely way to get to Claviere slopes as its on the opposite side of the valley for one thing, you would need the Mont de lune pass to use this lift everyday. Its not too far to walk down to the Claviere lift.

We stayed at the Miramonte last year and I posted a fairly detailed report.

I preferred Montgenevre for ski area and general facilities, went back last year and going back in 48 sleeps.

boabski, I don't think you are in the minority re Claviere, it doesn't match up facilities wise to most other resorts. Having said that there is a choice of bars and the people are friendly, Montgenevre is only five minutes away and the ski area is extensive.

Higs, YEs they do share transfers.

Official story was that we were waiting for a plane that had landed and were waiting for baggage - however even at Turin Airport 2 hours isa bit of a wait!

Then it was a surge of late bookings that caused the problem logistically, then surprise surprise, a FC flight landed and we were on our way 45 minutes later - talking to people from the flight, they landed on time.

Hopefully you will have better luck than us.

You know it makes sense.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

Higs, the family at the Miramonte did an earlier evening meal for the kids when we were there last year, we had to ask though. Not all the family speak English, I think only the mother who was very nice speaks it.

A snowHead

Think part of the problem might be the organisation (or should I say lack of it) at Turin airport. When we landed we were on tarmac for 45 minutes waiting for steps alone. Then on way back they changed the check in desk 3 times and although the plane was delayed no flight information telling us of any delay. It has to be the worst ran airport I have encountered. God knows how they dealt with the Winter Olympics Puzzled

A snowHead

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

boabski,

I think part of the problem is that they are heavily unionised and have rights......

Last year we waited an hour for our luggage - after half an hour my mate stuck his head throuth the carousel curtain to see our luggage on trolleys, but the entire baggage staff having what a ppeared to be a tea break.

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Higs, What I will say about the airport is that the departure lounge looks a lot nicer now it is finished. However there are nowhere near enough seats for a ski flight day, and what seats there are appear to have been made out of cardboard. Food and drink is very expensive, even allowing for the exchange rate, and guess what? approxiamtely 1000 ski customers, and you still have to queue up to pay and then queue upto be served in the one cafe that was opened.

Regarding check in, we were on an early flight out and our transfer was the first in - so that was a doddle.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Higs, I don't think the airport is bad as your making it out to be. Since 2004, I have used it 12 times (6 holidays).

It has improved since its Olympic renovations.

Arrivals. The queue for passport control has significantly decreased through time. Baggage reclaim doesn't take long, and the skis come through quickly aswell aslong as your not landing when there has been a succession of full charter flights. Hire car, railway station, bus stop and taxi rank are all easy to find. Even with Ryanair, the buses to the terminal are fine compared to Bergamo/Rome Ciampiano. Otherwise with British Airways and even Easyjet I think both use the gates with jetties.

Departures. Short queues for security. The area through the gates lacks much, it has a small cafe and a shop selling English papers. Once you go through to the gates they use for flights to Britain, which involved passing through passport control you cannot leave and are stuck to your flight takes off.

To conclude it isn't a bad airport, although people have had bad experiences. There was snow on the ground at the airport on the saturday after christmas, and they did a good job with clearing it. There werent any delays due to Turin, only due to crashing computers in traffic control HQ in Maastricht.

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Claviere - Crystal Club hotel

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