Ski guiding with TO, what to expect

A snowHead

Booked with Crystal to Val d'isere for 23 Jan which is a novelty for us as for many years we have always done diy hols, but it was cheaper to go
with a TO as we booked a little late. Anyway, they are offering 'getting to know resort' ski guiding, is it worth going along on these ie hidden places, and they also seem to stop for lunch at a mountain restaurant....which I suppose could be a little expensive? Thanks. Puzzled

A snowHead

They will only be able to take you on piste so, if you're advanced skiers or can even read a piste map, you're primarily along for the social aspects. If you're looking for off-piste, they could point out good areas to try by yourselves, but won't be able to take you there. It can be fun, just don't expect too much. If you're SCGB members and looking for something a bit more than the TO can offer (but still not what a UIAGM guide can), then look up the reps' programmes and head out with them - and they normally put together a full guided group one day a week as well.

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

Kiters, if you're new to Val d'Isere I'd go for it - it's a huge ski area, with some really magnificent terrain (and some that's best avoided). As for the $$$lunch ... just disappear at the point of entry "I'm terribly sorry, I have an appointment with my picnic hamper".

Spend lots of time in the Le Fornet area - it's further out than the main runs, is therefore less crowded, has Val's glacier skiing and some great powder slopes, and usually has great snow. Get on a bus to that base station, and take it from there.

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Hey guys, thanks for the info. Will have a look at Le fornet. People we know who have been to Val disere say the folie douche at La Daille is a must, have seen
the web cams and it does look like a good party, but I imagine full of champagne charlies, lol? Cool

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Kiters, I did it with Crystal in Cervinia/Zermatt a few years back and was distinctly underwhelmed and my reasons thus:

i) it was marked as "high intermediate/advanced" but the standard was awful. I by far out-skiied the guides. There was a teenage boy there on his first ever holiday who could not turn or stop, simply go fast. Twice he nearly took me out and when I yelled at him I got told off for not " 'aving a sense of 'umour". Evil or Very Mad

ii) restaurant *was* nice, but it *was* expensive, it took far too long and half the group decided to further impair their skiing ability by getting leathered...

I cried hot, salty tears of frustration with the general ability of the group though. Absolutely shocking!

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TO guided tour?
Good points - getting to meet up socially with other people and maybe with some others to ski with later; getting an idea of the geography of a new resort.
Not so good points - the pace will be set by the slowest skiers; sometimes a bit of hanging around as folk pick themselves up and take ages to get their skis on; on-piste only as has been said.

But remember you are a free agent - you can leave the tour whenever you want. I had a holiday on my own in Tignes some years ago and joined the rep's tour solely to meet people as I know L'Espace Killy pretty well. I did meet people and that made a difference for later in the week, but left the group after a couple of runs because it had snowed overnight and I was missing out on a lot of off-piste fun. Nothing rude about doing that, I'd say. I just said to the rep that I understood why he couldn't take us off-piste so I was heading off to play in the new snow. His only reaction was a rather wistful, "Wish I could come with you." One final thought - don't expect necessarily to get a good skiing model in the rep! He/she will not be an instructor and you may yourself be a better skier - but that's not the point of course. Their job is just to show you around and they can do it well and save you missing out on some good areas you might not have come across on your own.

I would echo Ernst"s good advice there. The Le Fornet area is good and less crowded. Good blasts up on the glacier on and off piste and enjoy the novelty of one of France's few t-bar tows. Great long run down to the valley floor with the option of the quite challenging La Foret black.

Also get yourselves over to the Tignes side and get up the Grand Motte. One of our favourite runs!

Enjoy - it's a wonderful area.

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Alexandra, I have had that happen, after the first run I have simply told the lead person the group is not for me and I would no longer ski with them.

After all it is free

Can't hurt to go along if you feel interested - you must be marginally interested to ask in the first place
You'll likely know within a run or two whether it's for you and if there's any point staying!

Like anything provided by a TO expect nothing and be prepared to give it up, and be happy if it's any good.

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

I remember many years ago going away with Skiworld, to Alpe d'Huez. I'd skied four weeks, that was my fifth, and the first trip where I was skiing on carvers, as to date straight skis had been the order of the day.

The hotel we stayed in was being run by a couple. He, the experienced skiier and putative ski guide, had broken his arm in an accident, so She took us out. I knew that we may have issues when she turned up with snowblades. THe straw that broke the camels' back was the descent to L'Enversin d'Oz (ADH regular might well be wonderig at this point): people were falling all over the place, the conditions were pretty ropy with patchy snow and more than a few moguls. She insisted however that it was a green run and would not entertain the thought that she may have it wrong. We were pretty annoyed as the guiding day was suposed to be blues only, with possibly reds in the afternoon once we'd evaluated people's abilties. It was only when we got off the top of the lift out of Vaujany that I managed to persuade her that she was wrong: using the piste direction signs, I showed her that the green sign she'd seen indicating the piste was in fact the "open" marker!

As I can read a piste map and we usually go in a group, I've never since bothered with TO guiding

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Kiters, We've done these guiding sessions many times over the years....the standard is very variable from really great days out to the day when the rep didn't turn up (the morning after St Patricks day...apparently they had a tummy bug or something wink

) and Mr HH took the lead as he was the best skier in the group that had gathered!!

They have been great for us as we've always skied at different speeds, in a group like this Mr HH could hack off with the speed jockeys and I could ski along at my own pace with the rest of the gang without him needing to worry that I was fed up with being left behind! We've rarely ended up in horribly expensive lunch stops, in fact the reps often know the best value places around.

Have a go, as others have said no one ever minds if you drop out...as long as you tell the rep first, we once had a day where someone didn't bother and we spent ages on the side of the piste while the rep panicked about them having fallen over somewhere and been injured/lost.

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I think Crystal only offer the hosting for 3-4 days in the week but it is worth giving it a go - they are definitely used to people not staying for the full day. I don't think they take you to particularly expensive places for lunch (just normal mountain prices) and it is quite useful to know where you're going to be at lunchtime in case you're meeting up with others. I have found that the quality of the host varies though and it is generally more fun if the host is one of the reps in your chalet as you tend to know each other / can have a bit of banter. The only time I've been with Crystal though, it was a different host who I hadn't known so they may do it differently. Enjoy!

Kiters, it's the luck of the draw for who is guiding.....when i have been working for TO's as a guide, we used to split people up in groups as to there claimed ability. i took the advanced classes, and by lunchtime, people were dropping like marmottes to the lower level ability groups. also, i had off-piste insurance, and enquired whether any of clients that i had, also had off-piste insurance, if they did, we went. you will know after the first hour whether there is any point in you sticking around.....

You know it makes sense.

I met my ski buddies via the Crystal ski guiding day. It was a perfect level cruisy intermediate for me, although I could tell some of the more advanced skiers were a bit bored. It's great for people like me that travel alone but would like to find some similar level people to ski with.

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

I think we will go along for the crack, as many of you guys say, its a chance to see the place, meet a few people and we can leave whenever we want to. Getting a little excited now and its still a week away. Smile

A snowHead

i agree - gone along several times; lumch is often good value rather than expensive

I ofund "folie duoche" to be nowhere near as expensive as we expected, and was a nice end to the week but thta was 10 years ago

One of my favourite runs is "Vez" (red to the rigt of Grand MOtte in Tignes - fantastic views

A snowHead

I didn't go on our ski guiding day with Crystal as I was worried I'd hold people up, but it sounded like a good one - we had a chat about it at the end of the holiday. Our rep was a good rep, and was really, really into his skiing. He said they would cover about 30km in a day (they can track distance by lift pass usage) taking it relatively steady on blues and reds. Lunch would be at a reasonably priced place - but we found all places reasonable in Austria.

The first guided day they did was on the very first day, so even as an experienced skier surely it's good just to get your bearings, and if you have to wait for others, no big deal it's a nice way to break yourself in for the rest of the week.

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

Kiters, I guess it depends on what sort of skier/person you are.

You do run the risk of being in a mixed-ability group which, if you're the sort of person that doesn't like to be held-up / left-behind, might get frustrating.

However, you do get the opportunity to get a feel of the resort, without spending the first day looking at piste-maps.

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agree with much of the above - I've skied with a couple of the TO people who have been very good skiers, including a lad in Valmeinier who came to the rescue when one of the guests broke a ski binding far from base. He gave him one of his skis, adjusted the bindings and skied down on one leg, carrying the injured ski. I was impressed! We also had a very good one with ski Olympic in La rosiere. I don't know how good a skier he was - he was certainly a lot better than I was, and he knew the resort very well. we had 3 days of very poor visibility and we were very grateful for his company. when he was sure there were not french instructors anywhere in our little misty world he would also give us some useful ski technique tips - he was a dry slope instructor I think. He kept assuring us that skiing in poor vis was very good for our skiing, and was generally a very positive and friendly presence. We didn't know the place at all and would have been reluctant to go anywhere, with the kids, without someone like him.

Yes, some groups can be irritating if people either over-rate their abilities or look elaborately bored and pissed off (they can sometimes be the same people.....).

In a Les Gets chalet the guide had a "far and fast" day for the better skiers, which our kids went on. Did the Swiss Wall etc and travelled a long way round the PDS. One of my kids was a very good skier at the time but had such a massive hangover he said he skied on autopilot all morning, just opening his eyes enough to keep the guide in view. they all enjoyed their day.

It's a good way to get to know some of the other guests, and a strange resort. If you want to be stretched in technique terms, take a lesson.

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Ski guiding with TO, what to expect

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