Meribel for begninners?

A snowHead

Hullo everyone
New to this forum and to skiing. We want to start this winter, taking our 5 and 3 year olds, but want somewhere with a touch of comfort and convenience. A friend suggested Meribel as a popular choice - I was looking at catered chalets via Snowline and VIP, but they seem quite a distance from the beginners slopes. My question is - is this likely to be a problem. Also, is Meribel suitable for beginners with children?

Many thanks for any advice - I appreciate most people on this forum are much more advanced than I am , so specially grateful. Smile

A snowHead

extrepid, Welcome to Snowheads

There's a really good thread on skiing with children here.. http://snowheads.com/ski-forum/viewtopic.php?t=53038

As you state - super important with kids for them to be on/next too the nursery slopes - if this also provides a safe area for tobogganing and making snowmen etc then even better. If you and your partner are beginners too then it's even more important to get the location as close to the slopes as possible - so that you have options to return at lunch-time or when you need/want a break.

I don't know Meribel well enough to comment on suitability for kids, although at their very early stage in their progression I would have thought a smaller resort with a more dedicated child specific tour operator would be more suitable.
The october '09 edition of "Daily Mail Ski & Snowboard Mag" (available WH Smiths etc) has a over-view of 21 family tour operators, although ones that seem to be mentioned enthusiastically on here include: Family Ski Company, Ski Famille, Snowbizz amongst others.

Good luck

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

extrepid, welcome!!

meribel has a couple of good ski schools Magic academy is very good with kids. meribel village is a nice place to stay with kids...

You need to Login to know who's really who.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Thanks for the advice so far. Pam-W, we are thinking of going in January - is that good or bad?
I have had a look at skifamille and family ski company and they seem to be based mainly around Les gets, Reberty and Trois Vallees. I am getting the impression from here that these may be a better choice for novices than Meribel.

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extrepid,
Meribel is in the trois vallees as is Reberty. Though Reberty is probably a little cheaper than Meribel it does suffer some of the same problems.

Les Gets gets a lot of recommendations on snowHead

for childre. On my brief visit it looked very pleasant, It is a low resort and could suffer in a poor snow year, though snowHead

reports suggest it is pretty reliable,on my one visit in Jan it had decent cover when other resorts were lacking.

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

extrepid, Hi and welcome to snowHead

Although we now live very close to Meribel pam w, is quite right when she says you won't do justice to the ski area but you will pay for it. When our children started skiing (at similar ages to yours) we went to Les Gets for many years as it's a great family orientated resort and altho low has a good snow record. We never had a bad holiday there or bad snow conditions and found the slopes perfect for young children.

After all it is free

extrepid, January is a good choice - cheap, and not nearly as busy as either New Year or the 4 February/March holiday weeks. Can be a bit cold - but you can't have everything! Later in the month is better than earlier, from the snow point of view.

Les Gets is a good choice too - family oriented, pretty convenient, not intimidating skiing or surroundings. Puy St Vincent is another resort which gets a very good press here for families. However, it might also be useful for you to browse through the forum to have a look at the discussions about very young kids learning to ski. There are some Snowhead parents who have their littlies skiing at a VERY young age (a super vid recently of a 2 year old!). However, they are very competent skiers themselves. It's pretty difficult when you are all beginners, and having to get the entire family into (different) classes, all kitted up with skis, boots, ski passes, dressed for the cold, choc bar in pocket, gloves on every hand, on your first morning, is a daunting task.

There are lots of arguments for going with a family-oriented tour operator who will help you with all this. It costs more (obviously) but having help with things like meeting kids from ski school is very valuable and could make the difference between loving it and just deciding it's all too much like hard work.

A 3 year old can't often cope with lessons - indeed most of them struggle with going to the toilet, with all that gear on (something to practice at home!). A ski kindergarten where they can have a little slide, play in the snow, have somewhere warm indoors to have fun, is more the order of things. Many ski schools won't take children into "proper" ski lessons until they are 6 (a rule born of long experience...)

Our 3 and 6 year old grandchildren are starting, with us, this Christmas. We know the resort intimately, we know the kids, we will devote the week entirely to their holiday enjoyment (rather than getting out skiing ourselves) and we are competent skiers who can help them practice and have fun after their lessons. But I still have major doubts - the 3 year old will be desperate to have a go, but I'm not convinced he'll want another go..... and the 6 year old is a bit of a princess, not the most physically adventurous child in the world. I have some pet local ski instructors who I know will be super with the kids - but...... if they take to it, and enjoy it, I'll be over the moon.

Sorry - this long story is just to explain why it's a major challenge for a first time family on their own! I'm sure there'll be people along with specific suggestions for family-friendly ski operators who will take a lot of the burden from your shoulders - and you could also do a forum search. Given that you are going in January you are not under great pressure to book up in the next few weeks - so you can take your time, talk to some of the companies and see which give you confidence that they understand your needs.

extrepid, If you fancy the Three VAlleys then La Tania is very good for kids, enclosed and traffic free with bars overlooking the nursery slopes

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

extrepid, not sure i agree that Meribel isnt suited. with a 3 and 5 year old your main concern should be the standard of the kids club/creche and school.

meribel and mottaret have very good organised kids club with connected indoor areas should they get cold, play ground areas, magic carpet lifts, organised hot lunches etc... meribel also has an indoor ice rink, swimming pool and spa for a very reasonable cost so you do other things. Skiing all day as a beginner is very tiring and i would suggest other activities...

as beginners you wont buy a full 3 valleys pass, a meribel only will do just fine so cost is comparible to most major resorts. sure you can go to some tiny place without any non skiing activities, poor lift system, no resort buses etc slightly cheaper...

pam w, Meribel itself is 1400 metres and mottaret 1700. not low at all, how high is Les Gets? i seem to remember like 900 metres..

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

Les Gets is just under 1200m I think, but most of the skiing is a gondola ride above. I'd far rather have small kids in Les Gets than Meribel. It's more family oriented and less intimidating. When I last skied in Meribel (last year, can't remember quite when, March I think) I found the slopes down into the Rond Point (where I'd parked) rather intimidating - tracked out snow with far too many cowboys who thought they were Bode Miller zipping down at high speeds. The snow was probably rather icy down there just because of the sheer volume of traffic across it - up at Mont Vallon it had been great.

I'm sure there are good places to ski with kids at Meribel - but equally sure there are much better places in the mountains for a first time family to choose. In the 3 Valleys I'd go for Courchevel 1850 or 1650 (I've never been to La Tania but people seem to rate it for families). Mottaret would certainly be much better than Meribel - I think Mottaret is better all round, actually. I freely confess to disliking Meribel but I think it's for sensible reasons. wink

I fail to see what people see in the place, actually - it's certainly not one of the more "convenient for the skiing" spots in the 3 Valleys and I'm a bit allergic to bars where the staff don't speak French and all the signs are in English.

snow reports

extrepid, the Ski Famille (and Family Ski Company) chalets in Reberty are footsteps from the magic carpet beginners area and pretty much ski in / out - 2 mins tops to the slopes. That way you can combine bginner friendly with 3 Valleys. When I was looking for family friendly chalets in the 3 Valleys I ruled out Meribel very early on for all the reasons flagged up above.

As pam w says Les Gets does work well for families and if looking at January you might be glad of being on lower tree lined pistes rather than higher up and more exposed to the elements.

Help!!

Meribel for begninners?

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