 Poster: A snowHead
|
Just back from Courchevel Le Praz - a trip of firsts in a couple of ways...
1. First attempt at driving to the Alps in Winter
2. First visit to the 3 Valleys for either of us
3. First time staying below 1800 metres.
4. To the terror of my OH, the first time I had ever taken the wheel of a car outside the UK!
5. First trip where more than 6 days' skiing would be possible.
Anyway on to the review
1. The Journey.
Long is the first thing that comes to mind. But it was a lot less painful than last year's Chambery flights! The major issue is the UK part - West Devon to Dover is about 4 hours, not improved by the A303 being closed on the outward leg (which started at 0500). Made the 11.25 ferry as planned (missed previous by irritatingly small amount!) but had we made better time, we had a fully flexible ticket, a left-over from my lovely parents' annual Sea France Carnet. I drove the UK stretch, swapped drivers at Dover after attaching various sticky/magnetic bits to the car. Landed in France about 3pm, and had a room booked at the F1 at Chambery Sud for that evening. Motorway drive was uneventful, but made more interesting by the "what is that white stuff - is it snow - can't be - no actually it really is" just short of Dijon. The sight of stray white stuff where it was not expected meant that we decided to follow the Via Michelin recommended route via Lyon on Autoroutes, rather than the slightly more scenic (and shorter) route down the N504 cutting off two sides of that triangle. Swapped drivers in France when first tank of fuel ran out, and I took over the wheel for the first time. Bit scary, but nice easy junction, and motorway driving isn't very different from the UK - just need a different routine. Swapped back when it got darker and busier as we wanted the more confident driver round Lyon. On the change of driver, the muppet that had booked the hotel realised that the "click here for directions" button hadn't been clicked and printed  so I was aiming for "Chambery Sud Chignin" with only a road atlas to go by. So came off the Autoroute just before the peage section and ambled through dark French countryside (suburbs were on the side I didn't pick!) until by pure dumb luck aiming back to the Autoroute by dead reckoning we happened across the sign for the F1. PHEW, my murder was averted and we put the card in the machine and were admitted to a classic F1 room by 11pm. Next morning was uneventful - car was getting close to empty as we reached Albertville where we filled up on diesel (automatic pumps), failed to locate breakfast and joined the traffic up to resort. Very painless drive - arrived at 1350 at about 8am, obtained lift passes, breakfast and skis and were on the way up the hill by 9.15am! Result!
2. The Chalet
Stayed in Chalet Murielle with Ski Power. Chalet location was great - 50m from the pistes. Beds were comfortable, towels were large and fluffy, room was adequate, cleanliness was adequate, Chef was good, although I would have disagreed with certain of his seasoning decisions, that's just me being picky. The cakes were awesome, especially the two chocolate ones. Think he would have been better and happier where he was purely the Chef rather than host, chef, cleaner etc. The school leavers 2009 hoodie was a bit of a giveaway as to his age, but the food was technically excellent - I would not be surprised if I recognise on of the competitors on Masterchef (probably the professionals) in a year or two!
3. The Resort
Courchevel Le Praz is at about 1300/1350 in the Courchevel Valley. There are about 5 pistes back, 3 reds, 2 blacks, and you can get back from 1850 or the lift above La Tania down opposite sides. The pistes seemed fairly graded at about that level, but the lifts down were relatively easily accessible and ran until 5.30, after which access was by free ski bus. The resort itself was about my favourite in character of all of the 3 Valleys villages, although La Tania and St Martin de Belleville are there or there abouts. Access to the Courchevel Valley was easy - 2 lifts, both seated gondolas go in slightly different directions - both theoretically seat 4, the newer one (Praz) in comfort and the older one (Foret) if you are really friendly, even if one of the 4 is a child. Queues were never big!
We (6 week gung ho male, likes blacks, would like to go off piste if companions become available and 3 week control freak female) skied back on the reds 5 out of 7 days. Came back by bus once due to me being too tired to face potentially icy red, and I came down the Foret lift on Friday as it was a slush fest at the top (2700) and I had a sore knee from a chairlift incident and didn't fancy yet more heavy slush. OH's reveiw on Friday was that it was "entertaining" dodging mud and alternating between fast ice in the shade and nearly coming to a halt on slush.
4. Restaurant on night off
Went to Azimut on the Wednesday. It was the first place we came to that appealed when we ambled out on Tuesday after dinner to book. It was absolutely fantastic, and I would seriously recommend a visit even if you're not actually staying in Le Praz. We had the 25 Euro menu (menus from 23 to 80 Euros for Tasting Menu) which was 3 courses, but also included an extra mini soup dish (Lentil soup, yummy). We had one each of the two options and swapped mid way through. Chestnut and Cep Soup/Salmon Tartare starter, Pollock with a yummy sauce, possibly saffron and chicken with wasabi cream which was properly to die for. Would go back like a shot when I go back to/past Courchevel!
5. The Ski Area.
Went for 3 Valley passes as we wanted to explore as it was our first visit. Obviously we hardly scratched the surface, although we did manage to visit all of the tag sites for the 3 valley escapade over the 7 days...
Courchevel. Love the ski area. Very civilised, not many queues, most lifts really comfortable - padded seats rather than standing room only in telecabines. Didn't find a piste I disliked, although Combe de Saulire was pretty "entertaining" as I always seemed to do it on the way home from Meribel, with light about as flat as a pancake (even with low light goggles) once it had chopped up into large piles of soft snow. Managed not to join the many tumblers, although I was about as elegant as a baby elephant on roller skates, especially when I spotted the bump as I when through it!
Grandes Bosses was a lovely blue and Loze Red was a groomed motorway which gave me the confidence to ski a bit faster as there were no obstacles to land on. On a practical level there were plenty of clean public toilets throughout the area - reducing incidences of yellow snow!
Meribel. The snow here really seemed to suffer in the sun, getting slushy quite early in the week. Geai, Renard area was good for playing around on small low angle moguls - glad I did as it gave me confidence for the chopped up red home runs later that day. Mont Vallon area has two lovely red pistes, although you have to be careful which order you do them in to avoid a long skate/pole/walk. The obvious route back to Mottaret (Ours) is best avoided as it is flat and slow at best when icy, and slush is just frustrating as however hard you work to keep your speed, you still end up skating/poling back to Meribel. Better route and time planning can avoid it though...
Les Menuires/St Martin de Belleville.
Jerusalem was fantastic, gorgeous run, and St Martin looks like a nice place to stay, although I'd imagine that lift queues suck in the holidays. Les Menuires is the first ski resort that it actually as ugly as they say. Lifts were a lot less comfortable than Courchevel or Meribel valleys and there seemed to be more of the evil chair lifts that try and remove your legs just above the boots and then stop and sulk because they failed! Some of the more modern chairs looked like they were designed by a race of tall people - my feet were dangling above the foot rest on several of them and I'm not very small at 5'5". Would ski there again, but wouldn't want to stay there. Scariest moment of the holiday in Les Menuires. Horrible lift called Croisette - open gondola thing. Would rather go down a narrow icy path with a cliff on each side than go near it again. Looked similar to the "Jardin des Enfants" lift in Courchevel. Had only really sore fall at a chairlift arrival
Val Thorens
Really want to go back. Orelle valley was stunning, with amazing snow. Pluviometre was busy and I get the impression that Cairn through the middle of town had endless potential for amusing onlookers as it was chopped up into substantial soft moguls by lunchtime, but was a blue and a very necessary thoroughfare. Plan d'Eau Chair was on the green tag thing, so went to do it - wouldn't do it again - flat blue (Boulevard Cumin) down and we both have some good bruises from the impact of the chair. The long toboggan run sounds awesome too
Conclusion
Generally want to go back lots and lots of times
Driving can give more days' skiing, but is similar in cost (for 2) to flying. Tempting depending on accommodation options though as 8 days' or 7 as in this time. Flexibility to break journey also good.
Staying low is fine, no need to worry about staying at 2000 if the runs down are open! Driving in France isn't that hard, even for a wuss.
Oh, and I really need to sort out my ankle flexion issues - then I might be able to pressure my whole ski without sticking my behind out!
|
|
|
|
FAQ