 Poster: A snowHead
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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We went to La Ros in March 2008. First family trip, and very enjoyable. Difference vs the "BC" skiing holidays, but enjoyable none the less!
Our kids were both over 4, so used kids clubs. 4 year old loved hers. 5 year old didn't, as she wanted to be skiing with us in the afternoons. I didn't think the kids clubs were particularly good for the older kids (if 5 is "older"!) The toys were aimed at much younger kids. Other 5 and 6 year olds apparently loved the club, so it's horses for courses, I'd say.
Talking to other people on the return journey, there didn't seem to be anything but psitives about the nursery stuff, but as all our chalet-mates had kids the same age as us, this might be inaccurate.
Accomodation (Arnica) was better than Esprit in Courchevel and Ski Famille in Les Menuires - it's the only bedroom I could walk round in standing up! It was all new(ish) and comfortable.
Food was fab, but we had the "Two Helens" who got promoted to Meribel for 2009 such was their excellence. Expect nothing bar calorific input and you'll be pleasantly surprised. Food in Courchevel was between acceptable and good - I think it's the luck of the draw.
Kids' feeding can be an issue, if only because in the large groups at feeding time, there are many distractions and if you want to guarantee your Treasures fuelling up, you'll need to "hover" and "cajole" etc. Both even meals and lunch club food seemed OK. (Chopped up peppers, carrots and cucumbers served with each meal for example.) Our youngest didn't eat at lunch because she was too busy playing with her new friends, whereas eldest ate each day like she wasn't going to be fed for a week. Youngest consequently kept keeling over in her afternoon Spritelet classes.
Apartments are close to the pistes. (We could ski back to the snowdrift piled up outside the back door!), but don't discount the impact on rate of progress of the few icy steps that you will potentially encounter.
Esprit lessons were via Evo 2. Seemed very good. ESF's beginners area was better, but the Esprit classes are guaranteed all English and the Snow Rangers seem well in with the Instructors (very well in, if memory serves in a few cases!!) and can sort issues out quite easily. Might be tricky and time-consuming with ESF if you have to do it yourself.
Penultimate tip - if flying, try and get to Chambery. It's a long old haul to La Ros (~4 hours from Geneva, for example), whereas Chambery is an hour closer.
Last tip - Just do it and 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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Stayed at Arnica with Esprit in 2006 - we had a great time 4 families of us all with young kids
Very fond memories and mixed ability among the adults, but mostly very experienced skiers enjoyed skiing over to Italy This was Feb half term and a huge amount of fun was had.
Food acceptable to good (depends on the kids cooking it) Childcare spot on - Although same crowd suggested that Esprit don't always achieve that standard.
We have all promised ourselves to go back again as a group - snowsure in a year when others suffered and lovely traditional village.
Beuatiful views across the cloud topped valley to Les Arcs
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- Have any recently holidayed with Esprit in La Ros and how was it? 3 times, last of which was in 2006
- Did you use the nursery childcare services and did you kid/s enjoy it and how did you rate it? Yes, the first time and there were absolutely no issues - in fact we thought they were very good
- For the older kids did you book afternoon snow club and if so did the kids enjoy it? On the last trip, yes. Daughter loved it - building igloos and making/playing with friends
- What was the accommodation like? (Would obviously be particularly interested in hearing from people who stayed at Petit Romeo or Cleopatra apartments...) Haven't experienced either of these (I think they're amongst the lastest additions), but the three others in the same part of the resort were all of a good standard - clean, tidy and generally well-run
- What was the food like? - we are not particularly foodies (would not be booking with Esprit if we were!!!) but obviously would like fresh, health and tasty food!!!! The Shatzi (sp?) left a little to be desired, but it wasn't awful by any means
- Are the apartments as close to the slopes as claimed? Yes! Right by a green run offering ski in/out, though there is some walking/poling once you take the drag up to the next station for the next uplift
- Did you book ski lessons through Esprit and if so how were they? If not who did you book with? Many of the apartments run by Esprit are owned by the Arpin family. They also run a ski school in the resort (can't recall name) and ski hire shops. As such if you book through Esprit, lessons may well be with that ski school. IME, they were very good - I had a private lesson with one of their instructors who was excellent. There were no complaints about the children's instruction - my daughter loved it, her skiing (at ages 4 and 5) improved noticeably and she still loves it. ESF also has an excellent reputation in La Ros AFAIK.
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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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Hi. We went for our first family ski trip to La Rosiere last Feb with our 4 children aged 9, 7 & 5 year old twins. Had such a great trip we got last minute bargain to go again in March. We stayed in Schatzi which is big & a little functional but has enormous rooms compared to other chalets so suited our brood. La Rosiere has a very large & helpful contingent of Esprit staff who were superb with our kids.The very helpful resort rep gave us a tour of all the accomodation as we were planning to return. All the chalets are very close to the slopes & the Grand Alpes chalets are just behind the nursery area & so are very well sited. Food was variable depending on the hosts. As Schatzi is a large chalet during our first week we had a trained chef who was excellant. He had moved on when we returned & the cooking was rather less refined!
Lessons with Esprit are with Evolution 2 & were excellant. By the second week our older 2 were skiing blacks, snow park & into Italy! ESF also have good reputaion although their class sizes tend to be bigger.
All in all it gave the whole family a fantastic holiday & we can't wait to go back to La Rosiere (travelling independantly to save money but booking lessons with Evo 2) at beginning of Feb.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Just to add re different chalets:
Oursen-Highest standard accomodation out of the La Rosiere Esprit chalets esp top floor Charlotte.
Grand Alpes/Ferme D'Elisa/Braconnier-All of similar standard rooms & conveniently placed.
Schatzi-Functional but rooms are vast. Ideal location at foot of main slopes.
Landelieres-Slightly less convenient as longer walk into town.
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- Have any  recently holidayed with Esprit in La Ros and how was it? We have just come back, spent new year (2009/2010) in La Ros
- Did you use the nursery childcare services and did you kid/s enjoy it and how did you rate it? We didn't use the nursery as our kids are 7 and 10, but the parents who put children in it thought booth the nursery and the staff were great.
- For the older kids did you book afternoon snow club and if so did the kids enjoy it? We booked our kids into morning and afternoon ski lessons as it is one of the few resorts where Espit offer it. TBH that was one of the main reasons for going to La Ros. On the first afternoon they went to snow club after lessons and enjoyed it. The snow rangers were also good. Our kids also went to coco club in the evening and enjoyed the games organised.
- What was the accommodation like? (Would obviously be particularly interested in hearing from people who stayed at Petit Romeo or Cleopatra apartments...) We stayed at the Schatzi and thought the accommodation was good. Nice big rooms. Our room looked out over the nursery slopes.
- What was the food like? - we are not particularly foodies (would not be booking with Esprit if we were!!!) but obviously would like fresh, health and tasty food!!!! - The food was okay
- Are the apartments as close to the slopes as claimed? Yes as mentioned earlier you can ski onto the green then pole. I liked being in the schatzi as you could walk across the road to the main chair up the mountain. I also liked the facts that it was easy access to the nursery slopes.
- Did you book ski lessons through Esprit and if so how were they? If not who did you book with? We booked with Esprit. The instructor was the best the kids have had so far and skiing both morning and afternoon with the same instructor meant they came on really well.
HTH
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Thuile - just remembered what the connected resort in Italy is called - North facing and can be Icy I recall
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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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We went to la rosiere but not with ski Esprit. However we did notice the Esprit chalets are mainly well located for the ski school and beginners slope. There is an easy button lift in front of some of their chalets and gentle run down so they look well located for children learning to ski.
La Rosiere in general had loads of easy and intermediate skiing and good snow cover when we went. It was very cold when we went but that was new year. Other than that a good place to go for families. The link to La Thuile is a real bonus..we had great fun skiing there (our children were in ESF lessons and creche for morning plus lunch) and we had plenty of time to get over to the la thuile side and back. There is also a great red run from the area of the Ski Esprit chalets down to a lovely log cabin selling hot chocolate and waffles.
We noticed the Ski Esprit nannies seemed to sometimes take the babies/toddlers in their buggies on circular trips on the resort bus in the afternoons - not sure if this always happens or not.
We almost booked with Esprit but didn't in the end due to the fact they are flying only and we wanted to go by train. The train is only a short taxi ride from the resort so no long transfer. we booked cimes blanches appts (luxury with swimming pool) in Les Eucharts area of la rosiere and used the ESF creche and ski school there.
If you want the chalet set up and guarantee of English skiing lessons for the children, English nannies etc I'm sure Esprit would be a good bet. Our 6 yr old was fine in the french ski school (it was holiday time so he was in an all english group). It wasn't so good for the 3 yr old who didn't seem to do much in the ESF piou piou group and got very cold.
Would definitely recommend La Rosiere as a resort although very pricey in the cafes with the poor exchange rate
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I am amazed when people say esprit is expensive. I have searched high and low for family deals and the best I have found anywhere is generally £50-100 off per child. With Esprit you get one child free and the second at 25-30% off. The starting price of 6-700 is pretty damn good too for a catered chalet.
My huge fear when going on ski trips with the family is childcare. I am terrified of companies that use local ski schools and child care and you have to march your kids off and pick them up 3 times a day and everytime they want to stay with you. With esprit you just leave the kids with them and they sort it all during the day, lesson, play, food and everything in your chalet. You can come back and see the kids whenever you want to and they are always happy.
esprit is fairly basic and the chalets can be tight, lacking in drying areas and the lounges very uncomfortable, but it is at a price that is affordable. I have seen other holidays that cost 5-6K and you are never convinced that the child care is goiing to quite what you want anyway.
I went to les arcs and the chalet was nice but virtually undrerground but it had everything we wanted. My kids are 6 and 4 and they are generally awake until 8-9 pm playing in their rooms, they get up at 7 but just do not need as much sleep as other kids. I can not go to a hotel and leave my kids unattended two floors above and in a chalet i know they will enter the dining area 10 times a night but in an esprit chalet this does not seem to matter.
The care is 90% of the holiday to me and esprit are the only company that ticks that box and at a price i can afford as well.
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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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We have used Esprit for nine years and go to Belle Plagne on Sun for our tenth. This will be our last year as we do not now need their excellent childcare. Travelled with a group of 8 children each year and been at La rosiere for the last 3 years
Overall the childcare is excellent, the 'esprit' service very good compared to many tour operators. Food has varied between OK and excellent and is totally dependent on the chalet hosts. We stayed in chalet Romeo which has been reduced in size this year. It is 'rustic' compared to some of their more modern chalets however perfectly adequate and a good size and in an excellent position. Right next to the Ski Evolution nursery slope though the kids meet outside the Cleopatra-though they take the kids there for you.For access to the main lift avoid using the poma and walk up the steps and across the car park]
La Rosiere is a good family resort. In good conditions when the link to Italy is open it has everything for piste skiers. Depending on the ability of the group in fresh snow there is ample off piste if you know where to go! In my view the main drawback is its exposed situation in bad weather with the majority of skiing above the treeline. There are 2 lifts that serve treelined slopes which have a good vertical descent well below the resort. I believe that these runs are now open so you would be OK. The link to Italy closes regularly.
Looking at the above all positives so go for it!!
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FAQ
