 Poster: A snowHead
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Blimey... sorted by early November, what will I do with my days? Flights, Car hire and Accomodation all done. Got into Les Balcons (Village) for 3rd week in March. Good price - 12/15 person (135m2) apartment for €1600 for week including all linen and towels and free entry into pool (it's about €4500 in peak time!). Maurienne Sans Frontieres Pass at €85 will see us having days at Bonneval, Aussois, La Norma, Valfrejus and probably Orelles/3 valleys as well as 2 days locally in Val Cenis for additional €43 in total makes it a cheap ski pass.
Result. Here's hoping the damn flights don't get cancelled like BMI did to us last year!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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carled, Love that area. Have a great time. 
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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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carled,
Have a great time. The ones I have skied have all been really enjoyable. I have not been to Aussois or La Norma. It might be worth finding out about local conditions in Aussois.
It is reasonably close to Val Cenis but on the other side of the valley and is predominately south facing. Last year which was a good snow year we were staying close to Aussois and our landlord was an instructor there. He advised us to give it a miss as the conditions were not good. Although we were a couple of weeks later in the season if there is a warm spell it might not be as good as the others.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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T Bar, cheers for the advice, will keep a close eye on that one!
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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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Hiya all.
We are diy'ing to Val Cenis in 2010 and staying at Les Balcons.
Obviously plan to ski the Val Cenis area, but can you get a bus from VC to Bonneval and is it free with your VC ski pass or do you have to pay for the bus and where does it go from,
Just a few questions!!!!
Thanks
Tim B
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Timbobaggins, are you in the Les Balcons Haut or Les Balcons Village?
We're using rental cars to get about, as I said, but I believe there is a bus that pootles around to some resorts too. If you email the reservations people (I use reservation@les-balcons.com) then they're very helpful.
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Les Balcons Village at Lanslevillard
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Cool Same place as us - we're there 13th-20th March. You?
I'm pretty sure that on one of the threads in here about Val Cenis someone has mentioned a local bus that moves between resorts - have a search and a browse when you have a few mins or just email Miriam on that email link I gave you - she speaks excellent English and is very helpful. Be careful about leaping onto their ski hire offering though. The skiers in our group are finding far better prices by going directly to the sport2000 website. Diamond level skis for 7 days for €67? wowsers. 
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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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| carled wrote: |
Cool Same place as us - we're there 13th-20th March. You?
I'm pretty sure that on one of the threads in here about Val Cenis someone has mentioned a local bus that moves between resorts - have a search and a browse when you have a few mins or just email Miriam on that email link I gave you - she speaks excellent English and is very helpful. Be careful about leaping onto their ski hire offering though. The skiers in our group are finding far better prices by going directly to the sport2000 website. Diamond level skis for 7 days for €67? wowsers. |
Carled no, not the same time we are last week in January, i have found the same with ski hire, defo cheaper by going on Sport2000 direct.
Will get my sister in law to e-mail as she has booked accomadation in her name, i'm just doing the driving and arranged chunnel and overnight stop.
Will try to remember any useful bits we find and stick em on here when i get back so you have a bit of inside knoweledge.
Tim B
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Timbobaggins, There is a bus that goes to Bonneval and the stop is just over the bridge from Les Balcons. The tourist information office is also by the bus stop and they have a very comprehensive bus timetable along with lots of other leaflets and useful information.
With regard to ski hire, have a look at snowbrainer.com and snowrental.com, we have used them when going to Val Cenis and other resorts and they have been very competative.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Avago, thanks, is bus free with skipass or do we pay
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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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If you have the 5 resort ticket the best resort for a day trip is Les Karrellis ,good skiing with an awsome drive up the road which has more hairpins than any resort i have ever been too.Aussois is a bit limited unless you like easy blues ,La Norma has excellent upper slopes and Bonneval wonderful views ,a day trip to Val Thorens will remind you why you didn`t book to go there!
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carled, Timbobaggins,
We're going there to - Jan 23rd, Self Drive and Self Catering.
Booked same accomodation, and kit via Sport2000, need to get on with the Tunnel booking.
Tourist website indicates that a child lift pass is free if both parents buy one - but can't find this on the Lift Pass booking system.
Want to book lessons as well but only seems to be ESF - does anyone know different?
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You know it makes sense.
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Zwee, it's a very French resort, but the should be an Ecole Internationale
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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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Time to bump this thread to the front!
We are also off to Termignon w/c 27th March by car & eurotunnel. I have a couple of queries if anyone has a chance to respond. If no answers I will try a new thread!
1. Road conditions - what should I expect. We have been to Norway in March in a blizzard and Romania in melted slush but never France at this time of year. Any idea whether winter tyres would be worthwhile? Bearing in mind snow chains for my rear wheels are £250 and there is no way on earth I can fit them to the front..
2. Piste conditions - How were/are they?
3. Ski pass - With two adults, 1 reasonably good 7 year old and an adventurous 4 year old is it worth getting the Val Cenis pass or the aventure pass and skiing along the valley? My wife isn't that adventurous though.
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Poster: A snowHead
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AndrewBailey, what do you mean by "aventure" pass? The Maurienne Sans Frontieres one? That's the one my group's probably going for, but only because we want to have a bit of exploring out in Valfrejus, Bonneval, La Norma and probably Orelles/Val Thoren. Do you really want to commit yourself to 5 different resorts in 5 days with a non-adventurous wife, a 7 year old and a 4 year old? If it's another pass I'm unaware of, please fill me in!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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AndrewBailey, I would have thought the standard pass would be enough for your family - I think that the lift pass allows you a discount at the other resorts anyway if you did want to try somewhere different.
There is a "Village" pass which doesn't take you up very high - we considered getting one of these on our leaving day but in the end we didn't have time.
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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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The road from motorway to Val Cenis is not too bad - only 30 minutes. We had winter tyres on and chains in boot (isn't that a legal requirement?) but we didn't need chains. On our way home (was snowing) some were stopping to put chains on to go up but many were not - its not overly steep or narrow.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Off topic, but in 1994, Mrs Snowplough and I backpacked down a decent chunk of the Alps and came via Peisey, Tignes, Val D'Isere, the Col De L'Iseran and then into Bonneval. We then went down the Arc valley, taking in Lanslebourg, Lanslevillard, Bramans and Termingnon. All claimed to be ski resorts, but there was a stinker of a heatwave at the time and it's hard to imagine it ever snowing there. Stunning scenery, though.
Went back to Bonneval in 2003 with car and baby and it was even hotter! Did venture high enough to see some snow, though. Even more stunning scenery over towards Italy.
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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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Thanks for the notes and advice.
carled, You are right on the San Frontieres pass being the one I was talking about. My eldest son is keen but it might be a handful with the other two.
Zwee, Good to know it is motorway all the way. Will go with winter tyre set up rather than summer set up as I would hate to get caught out. If it gets warm enough to melt them then we won't be skiing anyway!
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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AndrewBailey,
Unless you are sure you will be skiing different resorts the Sans Fronteries one is not a good buy as you have to ski different resorts each day with it. You cannot use it twice in the same resort. If you do plan to ski dfferent resorts each day it is excellent value.
The amount of time spent travelling is not small and with young children I would go for the local pass. If you want to ski somewhere different for a day it still gives you a decent discount.
If the weather is good Bonneval is a great place for the day and reasonably close, very attractive but the four year old would probably find it tough going .
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I'm not entirely sure if its been answered yet but when i was guiding in VC for the 08/09 season, the bus was free. They didn't check anything, you just piled on. Not that it was ever very busy. Bus up to Bonneval was about half an hour from Lanslebourg if i remember correctly. We never used it to get to anywhere else as the times weren't that useful. Places like la norma required a change as well i think. Bonneval is good for views and is generally quite a pleasant place but is very small. Not counting lift time you can probably ski all runs in about 10 minutes.
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el nombre,
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Not counting lift time you can probably ski all runs in about 10 minutes.
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Think we have a new candidate for the UK ski team with 35k or so of runs you are averaging over 200k/hr. 
Yep its small, but having skied a few days there I reckon it is worth at least a day of any skiers time. Over 1000m vertical starting at 1800m it oftern has the best snow in the valley late season and the length of piste underplays it somewhat as the top bowl provides a lot of variety IMHO.
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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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I'm not saying the skiing there isn't good and it may be a bit of an exaggeration but i don't think it is hugely. There's about 15ish runs. alot of them are only just short cuts of other runs and wouldn't take longer than 30sec (probably less but i can't really remember and don't want to look any more of a dick). If you pretty much straight lined every run which apart from a couple would prove no real difficulty to a decent skier it wouldn't take very long at all.
The black run down from about half way down to the bottom might cause a few problems as it was unpisted when i was there and the green would probably take a fair chunk of time... Sod it i reckon its' doable (maybe) where's the sign up sheets for the uk ski team.
I would have liked to try some of the off piste round there but piste wise, the resort is limited. And now i almost want to go back just to see how long it would take to ski all that.
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el nombre,
Yeah I was being slightly facetious but the length of piste I have heard stated is 35Km which does work out at 210kph if you could ski it in ten minutes.
It is certainly a very small resort one of the smallest I have been to which is not part of a bigger domain or pass sharing agreement. But like some small resorts such as Glencoe (which is significantly smaller) it provided me with an enjoyment totally disprportionate to its size. With the glacial scenery I reckon its a bit of a wee stunner.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Yeah apparently Val d'Isere has wanted to link up for a while but whoever it is that is in charge of Bonneval (not sure if it has its own mayor or what) doesn't want to which is fair enough i guess as it would probably ruin the whole ambience of the place. I also heard that it's a world heritage site or something. Whether thats true i don't know.
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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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Back from trip now. Weird conditions. Start of week was flipping freezing and by the end of the week it was boiling hot! We were at nearly 3000m in La Norma on Friday at about 1pm and the snow was melting in front of us. Heavy, slushy, messy and too, too warm. On the snowboards it was bearable but even I started feeling sorry for the skiers. Once you got to 2000m or so the snow was so grabby it was almost impossible to board on as you were constantly being pitched over the front of the board. Curiously one of the group found it more to their liking as, not being a hugely experienced boarder, the dragging effect was probably less noticeable and just generally slowed them down more on the steeper sections!
Skied (starting Sunday 13th) Val Cenis, Orelles/Val Thorens, La Norma, Aussois, Valfrejus, La Norma and Val Cenis. Somewhat disappointed with number of non-detachable chairs we encountered. Slopes generally quiet with occasional busy sections. Start of week the snow was packed but well preserved, end of week was just utter, utter mush. On a side note, never seen so many identical jackets before - it's that horrible quiksilver red/white/black patterned thing. Some poor snowboarding sap (English, apologies if you're on here, but you looked blooming awful) was wearing the matching jacket/trousers and, dear me... just "no".
La Norma was small but had two and a half outstanding features. Firstly the black run up high (sadly served by only a sloooooooooooow chair) was flipping awesome. It's just a steep red, but by god it was fun to blast down. Secondly was the snow park jumps where the 2ft kicker was the first I'd ever attempted and after sitting down on trying it the first time, I then made several successful leaps for my first ever "proper" jumps and it was flipping great! Came within a whisker of taking on the next jump down which was a 4ft kicker with an 8ft table to clear, but never quite plucked up courage! Boarder cross in Aussois was fun, some nice runs around there too. Valfrejus was a bit limited and disappointing, Val Thorens was busy but had good lifts and Val Cenis has some nice runs but is also a bit limited and has poor lifts. However, for €131 for lift pass for week (€85 on Maurienne Sans Frontieres and then €28 for Val Cenis one day and €18 for La Norma on reduced rate) can't fault it. Also managed drive from Grenoble airport to Val Cenis and back and all day trips out on just one tank of fuel so £60 shared between 4.
Very picturesque valley, shame about last 2 days of snow/slush!
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carled,
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€28 for Val Cenis one day
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We got a reduced rate for a second day in Val Cenis last year, did you try?
Shame about the end of week conditions sounds like a similar story elsewhere.
Slighty suprised you did not like Valfrejus, I thought it was pretty good though the 'village' is no object of beauty.
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You know it makes sense.
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T Bar, we tried for the Maurienne Sans Frontieres pass on the Sunday in Val C, they said they'd "run out" so we had to buy a day ticket there and then. We then travelled to Orelles on Monday and bought the 5-day pass. We used up those 5 vouchers on Orelles, Valfrejus, Aussois, La Norma and Val C on the last Saturday. We had one more "paid for" resort which was La Norma as we liked it best and it was nearby. Reduced rate was €18.
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FAQ
