 Poster: A snowHead
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Short version – Fantastic!
Medium version – Great snow, great fun, great progress by the kids, great food, great company and I skied properly off-piste (yes, really!) Shame about the 3.5 hour delay at Manchester and an outbreak of vomiting in our room on departure date.
Long version…
The background…
This was our 4th family ski holiday. The kids are now 7 and 6, with their youthful exuberance balanced by both parents now being over 40. Third holiday with Esprit, having previously been with them to La Rosiere and Courchevel. The mathematically discerning will be wondering about the other holiday. This was at Christmas with Ski Famille to Les Menuires, about which the less said the better!
We chose Peisey primarily because it had lots of tree-level skiing, with access to all sorts of stuff higher up. We’d done some tree-level stuff with the kids at Courchevel last year and the little devils loved it. I don’t really like trees as they tend to get in the way of my lumbering progress, but their protection against the ill-effects of bad weather was also a key benefit.
The departure…
Things did not start well. We checked in at the Manchester Hilton to be told that we needed to check three hours before departure time and leave at least half an hour to get from the hotel to the terminal. Like a pair of lemons, we swallowed this advice and thus arrived a good 40 minutes before the Jet2 desk even opened! Not happy. Kids not in good shape, having been dynamited out of bed a good 3 hours earlier than is their preference.
We eventually got on board, and all looked good for the scheduled 7:05am takeoff. Then, the light flurry of snow outside turned into a whiteout and the airport got shut. Several false starts later, we took off around 3.5 hours late. The delay wasn’t too bad, as at least with snow you can understand the reason for the delay. The kids also blagged a look round the cockpit. (Very small, and very full of old dials and switches. Very little digital. Not sure if this is good or bad!)
The rest of the day was uneventful. We were in and out of Chambery faster than a fiddler’s elbow were in Peisey long before dark. The delay resolved the dilemma of whether or not to buy a half day pass and go for an thrash round in advance of the next day’s lessons. On the coach, there was another family from our chalet, with kids of a similar age to ours. The kids were all soon best buddies, with the three eldest in the same lesson group.
There are a lot of steps down to the bottom level of Esprit chalets, but luckily, the “Likely Lads” (aka Tom and Joe the chalet hosts) took the big bags for us. They seemed quite nifty in the kitchen as well, and we all retired to bed well fed and lubricated, and at something like a sensible time. Ski Esprit’s wine is much better this year. Either that, or my standards have slipped!
Adult lessons…
For the first time in years, Mrs S and I were having lessons. We self-selected ESF group 3, billed as off-piste and moguls. I’m a flat track bully and needed a challenge, whereas Mrs S fancied a laugh watching me. I’d not had lessons for over 10 years, and these were a shock to the system.
Day 1 – Genuine off-piste - After a warm up run, we headed across a field, crossed a road, circumnavigated some ditches (or fell into in my case) and ultimately ended up in the graveyard of the church in Peisey. It would be fair to say that promotion to the next group up didn’t beckon for me, but it was good fun and I learnt a lot.
Day 2 – Meant to be moguls, but too cold to get to Francois’ favourite stretch of bumps, so we did technique stuff on piste. F-ing cold, but I learnt something of prime importance. I don’t lean back as much as I thought. I just lean up rather than down the hill. Reverted to the trick of trying to touch the bottom on the downhill boot with the downhill pole handle. This worked well, and I was soon skiing like Hermann Maier in his prime. Even so, Francois decided to split the group thereafter, and I didn’t make the cut. Deservedly so, it has to be said.
Day 3 – The duffers’ group was assigned Evelyn, a small lady of mature years and the best ski instructor I’ve ever had. In fact, she’s one of the best teachers of anything I’ve had. After a “gentle” warmup, which was more like straight-lining it down an icy red run, we were into the loose stuff again, which I handled OK, before we headed into the trees. I got a compliment for my work through the trees, as Evelyn congratulated me for having chosen my own route down rather than following her tracks. In fact, I’d simply been off balance and missed a turn, but I didn’t tell her that. We did some moguls, which after the powder seemed quite easy, before finishing off with some short radius turns and carving. I can’t carve, it transpired.
Day 4 – Scary off piste – Out of the Trans Arc, off the back and into a powder-filled valley down to Nancroix. Fell over a lot to start with, but eventually decided to give the “skis together in loose stuff” approach a try as nothing else was working. This worked very well - perhaps unsurprisingly!
Compliment or insult?
Many years ago, Mrs S and I had backpacked from Landry, through Nancroix, into the Vanoise Park and thence south for two weeks. I spotted the refuge where we’d lunched on our first day. I mentioned this to Evelyn and we got into discussing trekking, biking, running and CV fitness generally. She gestured to the Nordic course in the valley bottom. “You should try it” she said. “It’s much more about CV fitness than skill.” I still can’t work out whether she was saying that my CV fitness was well suited to Nordic skiing or that she was gently telling me I was dodgy at the downhill stuff.
Day 5 – Yee har!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! – It had snowed over night and conditions were great. We started with another gentle warm up, this time down the Ecureils piste into Peisey. There may have been a few turns, but I was having too much fun to remember. The leaning down the hill trick was working well. I felt like I was on rails (all things being relative, though) at times, and could turn pretty much where and when I wanted to. After this, we went back up and did some off-piste stuff through the trees to the “Retour Combe” drag lift. Not sure whether the run down or this lift was worst. Only one nearly left me singing soprano, though.
The rest of the lesson passed in a blur of carving, short turns, moguls and seemingly random trips through the piste poles into large holes and wooded sections. It was a fantastic week of lessons.
The non-duffers group in which Mrs S ended up had a good time as well, unencumbered as they were by the slowcoaches. At one point, Mrs S stopped alongside to hand over a surplus sweater for me to carry (I may not be very good but I still have some uses!) before clattering off after her group. Evelyn was practically purring with pleasure at the elegance of Mrs S’s progress. The old chest swelled with spousal pride, it has to be said!
Kids lessons…
Elder daughter was in “Sprite Intermediate” with her younger sis in “Sprite Improver”. ESF were in charge of both. Both reported great fun in the lessons, and their progress through the week was evident from their performance in the afternoons skiing with us.
Elder daughter got her 2* badge, with younger daughter getting a 1*. Both were very happy. Best of all, younger daughter can now do the skating thing on the flat and uphill, meaning less towing and pushing for Dad!
Idiot Dad alert…
On the first afternoon, Mrs S and elder daughter had gone off to play off the Derby lift. I stayed with younger daughter on the learner area above Peisey. This is a fenced off section of a blue run with a slalom course and a drag lift, much to the youngster’s delight.
On the return journey, we went up the 2300 lift before Idiot Dad made a spectacular navigational blunder, and we ended up going down Ecureils! We got from marker post 10 to 5 without any bother, but then it got a bit steeper and the youngster sat down for a rest and noticed the piste marker.
“Daddy! You’ve brought me down a black run!” she observed.
It told her it was a dark blue marker.
“It’s b-l-a-c-k black, Daddy! I can’t ski there” she responded. She actually spelt out black for me.
I considered my options.
1 – Sit down and wait for piste patrol
2 – Ski down
I chose option 2, knowing that we could always go for option 1 - Assuming I hadn’t got us both killed! I’d done the run in the morning and had thought it was quite easy, except for the steep bit towards the bottom, so it wasn't a complete gamble.
Mercifully, the piste was not busy, so we were able to zig-zag our way down unmolested. The younger legs weren’t up to the icy stretches, but skiing directly in front, I was able to side-slip us both down where necessary. Marker posts 5 to 3 seemed to take forever, but we were soon overlooking the final steep bit onto “Retour Plan Peisey”, and by hook or by crook we very quickly reunited ourselves with blue terrain.
“Well done! You’ve just skied your first black run!” I told the youngster. She was very quiet and then said “You shouldn’t have taken me down there, Daddy.”
“I wouldn’t have taken you there if I didn’t think you could do it!” I said with as much confidence as a man feeling his nose grow a foot longer can feel.
The youngster stood up proudly, beamed and shouted to passing strangers “I’ve just skied my first black run!”
I reported our deeds to Mrs S and then the rest of the chalet. They all said I was daft, but you could see them all thinking “Well if she can do it…” Mrs S just said I was daft and she certainly has a point.
The final day…
We teamed up with the other family and embarked on a day best summarised as snowpark, powder, trees, lunch, vin chaud, more powder, more trees, moguls, more powder and tired legs. My best day of skiing ever. One of the other chalet mates even accused me of looking “classically stylish”, which topped everything off perfectly.
Departure day…
See “Medium version” above. You don’t want the details. Very tiring all round, but Mrs S and elder daughter are recovering well.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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The Flying Snowplough, fantastic report, thank you so much for cheering my day!
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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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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Hurtle, thanks!
genepi, it was actually "B", "L", "A", "Curly C", "Kicking K". The youngster is a stickler for spelling! When we did the valley stuff it was on the Thursday and it was all a bit crusty after the previous day's sun - not that I was complaining. 
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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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The Flying Snowplough, really enjoyable reading your report. We were also the area last week and some of your experiences sound familiar. 
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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The Flying Snowplough,
Great report - we are also Esprit regulars and are looking at Peisey after doing Kaprun for 3 years. This is really helpful in choosing for next year
Great BLA C K story - i could just imagien my 6 yr old daughter saying exactly the same (with curly and kicking as well) and in exactly teh same tone
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The Flying Snowplough, great TR, glad that you all enjoyed it so much
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The Flying Snowplough, nice trip report!
We are out there with Esprit too in 2 weeks time, good to hear the wine has improved (although IIRC i don't think it was too bad last year when we stayed with them in Courchevel)
You don't mention much else about the accomodation etc. I trust this was all OK ? We are travelling with 4 yo and 1.5yo - so full use of childcare facilities for us this year and I can't wait til I can 'mistakenly' take my boys down the Ecuriel too!
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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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Richie_S, our chalet (Castor) was very good. We had the suite in the loft, and the adult room (kitted to take 5) was spacious in the extreme. Unlike any other chalet bedroom I've been in, I could stand in the middle and do star-jumps without hitting anything! The other rooms were reportedly similarly good, albeit kids and adults were not directly connected. (We specifically wanted the kids accessible, as elder daughter sometimes goes walkabout in the small hours, hence the suite.) The lounge was very spacious, and we even had padded dining table seats. Everything seemed relatively new as well. The only obvious deficiency was (another) dodgy Esprit cooker, but the Likely Lads had worked out how to deal with this.
Which chalet are you in? The Hermeine and Renard involve relatively few steps, but the three at the bottom (Castor, Ecureil and Hibou if memory serves) involve ~100 steps, which could be an issue / great CV training (depending on your view!) with an 18 month old.
There is a ski locker in the upper most chalet, so you don't need to lug skis up and down all day, although the boot room in the chalets are then very small, which was fun with 5 kids needing to get "booted" pre lessons at the same time!
We used Coco Club, about which the kids raved. The 3 year old in our chalet did morning snow club and there was ad-hoc use of afternoon snow club by the other kids, all to a similar level of appreciation. The snow club room is very big so there were a lot of obstacle courses set up!
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Richie_S,
Been with Espit past 3 years - always had the same 4 wines, but no ciomplaints there. Always manage to get everyone off the Merlot and the other red onto the white Costieres de Nimes - must be something in the austrain air or something - i hardly ever touch any white wine at home
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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The Flying Snowplough, yup we are in the Hibou at the bottom...and it is made clear that it is a bit of a climb up in their brochure. Still, I can treat the climb up as a warm up ! Your comment has thou reinforced my decision not to take the Phil and Teds buggy and instead take our smaller buggy - as we really won't be using the buggy in resort on this basis.
Great to hear the snow club has a lots of space - some of the places we've been to, the nursery and snowclub venues are more modest in size.
1 and a half weeks to go, and can't wait!
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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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Just returned from Plan Peisey.... we also had an awesome week!
Esprit staff were good as ever. And it was nice for my youngest that one of the nannies from last year (when we went to Courchevel) was in Peisey this year recognised him instantly and rushed over for a hug!
Really pleased with the food this year... slightly older (girl) chalet hosts could cook really well.
Wine - good.
Chalet's - lovely - no TV's thou, which I had expected (if you think this is important, we didn't)
Steps up from chalet - don't under estimate them! (you learn quickly to triple check you have everything before leaving the chalet)
Snow conditions - superb all week ! (thou a little icy into resort, for that last 300m home at the end of the day)
Ski school.... once the kids progressed up the mountain , I think it was really good... useful debutant area (button, but no carpet). The Le Foret run ( which I always avoid unless absolutely necessary) is really good to give the young 'uns a long be easy run to undertake. The reds into Peisey all good and my friends 7.5 and 5.5 yr olds both progressed to these in lessons.
Personally thou I think the Piou Piou area (where my 4 yr old spent the week) is too small, and they could really do with building a small kids trail into the forest (this is what they have in Courchevel 1850 and we thought was superb last year)
Still, I took my 4 yr old up the Peisey chair on the last day, and I had a great run down with him - whilst he was chattering away singing out "to infinity and beyond!"
Food on Chalet hosts day off - L'Armoise in Peisey was very good - all the meat was cooked to perfection. Burgers in the Flying Squirrel as good as always.
Peisey is a small quiet resort but it had all we needed and a great friendly bar in the Flying Squirrel. Mont Blanc over in Vallandry (only 10 minutes walk) was also good for a change of scene.
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Richie_S, glad you enjoyed your stay! Our kids are already demanding that we re-book for Peisey in 2011.
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You know it makes sense.
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The Flying Snowplough, my 4 yr old really didn't want to leave - he was sad all the way home. (perked up at home thou when we gave him toast and marmite in front of the telly in front of his favourite dinosaur programmes thou!)
As for me, oh... let me see..... 2 more weeks and I fly out for a long weekend with 'the lads' for a non family orientated trip of much shredding, beer drinking and general tomfoolery! 
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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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Richie_S, you lucky barsteward!
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FAQ
