 Poster: A snowHead
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So the background to this little trip was that we'd done a couple of weeks this season, and decided to try a last gasp week away at the end of the season, and to try and do it on the cheap(ish) - we are three confident intermediates who enjoy cruising the blues and doing 3 or 4 reds in a day, and a couple of blacks in any given week.
We'd heard lots of good things about Rude from the internet and a few reports, and I think read a good article on the guys in some Travel section while in Andorra in January, and a couple of e-mails later we'd found a couple of spaces in Chalet Joseph for the last week of the season. A couple more e-mails later, and there were three of us ready for the trip.
Interesting that a couple of days after we'd booked there were several very positive articles in several newspapers about Rude, including a big double page spread in the Metro about a trip with them. Our timing was perfect, getting in just before demand went bonkers.
So the accomodation was sorted, all we had to do was sort out getting there and back. Some fag packet calculations meant we could either fly with Swissair at £130 per person from Gatwick, which meant a bunch of costs getting there and car parking for the week. So we decided to drive.
Now we'd not driven to a ski trip before, though both of us have done a fair bit of long distance driving before for various things. The time wasn't the issue, but we did need to sort a few things before we went. Once we'd got breakdown cover for the old Subaru, snowchains just in case, high viz jackets, warning triangles, fire extinguishers, oil, tools, and a kitchen sink the car was half full of safety stuff before we'd started packing!
We managed to find a magnetic ski rack for cheap, which helped with space in the car significantly, and everyone was told to pack like they were flying 
After a fairly uneventful journey down through France, via a few main roads instead of motorways, and stopping for lunch and pee stops, we arrived at the chalet around 10:30. Pretty knackered, but a few glasses of free wine helped nicely, and first positive for Rude - the chalet bunnies were up and around and had dinner ready for us.
Day one we got our lift passes from the chalet bunnies and went to see where things were. The word was that the Morzine side was getting a it slushy, and that it was a better idea to head up to Avoriaz on the Super Morzine bubble, which was a 30 second walk from the front door.
We headed up the bubble, and there was a lot of nervous looking around at the very grassy slopes below us, and patches of snow here and there. We didn't need to worry though, we got out at the top of the lift to a nice covering of snow on the piste, and we were headed further up the mountains.
After a day of getting back into it, we had covered a fair few miles, and got in a decent lunch of Crepes and other stuff. Morzine is pretty reasonably priced for food and drink, as long as you don't go bonkers, and lunch was about £10-£15 a head every day including a drink. We did find some gems, particularly the creperie in the middle of the runs from the Col du Fornet - just follow any of the blues down or the Pschott Red, and you will see a little hut with a bunch of tables and deckchairs outside in the middle of everything. Crepes from 2.5 Euros, drinks from 2 Euros, and as long as the weather is nice it's a brilliant suntrap for a relaxing sit down and good food. We went back a couple of times for afternoon snacks and to take a break, and it's a great way to recover from hitting the mogully run that is Pschott (a really good fun run that we did 2-3 times)
One tiring day on the slopes, and everyone was having fun, and had picked up right where they left off on the last trip. Cruising on the blues there was a bit of carving going on, and in the afternoon the snow started coming down thick and fast.
Day two could only be described as incredible. Loads of snow from the night before, relatively low overnight temperatures, and glorious sunshine from first thing in the morning. We skied from 9am to 5pm, something I don't normally do often, and even at the end of the day on lower slopes it was holding up nicely.
Back at the chalet everybody had now arrived and was settling in. Rude chalets seem to be rather well equipped with big screen TV, XBox, lots of films to watch, and comfortable lounge for everybody.
Big plus for the chalet was the free Red Bull. We had cans of the stuff to keep us going, just what you need for a morning break or after a double-crepe lunch. They also did free wine any time of day or night, which helped with the evenings as well - no worries about bottles being taken away at the end of dessert, and it meant that most of the guys stayed in instead of going out for drinks.
After a few days of being out there Iceland decided to be a pain in the backside for the rest of Europe. Again. News started filtering through that flights were being grounded in the UK, and that it might affect people getting home. We were the only ones who had driven over, and most of the rest of the group are currently finding their way from Geneva at the moment.
It did mean that the spare seat in the car was going to be useful for somebody, but we had to work out how to get them on the ferry with us - our booking was for 3 of us, and there would be 4. None of the Calais to Dover ferries had spaces for foot passengers, and most weren't picking up the phone to try and amend our booking. We were going to have to chance it, and the tales of 3 hour delays at ticket offices could have been a nightmare if we'd had to unload our human cargo 
We drove back through France on Sunday, stopping off for a nice picnic in glorious sunshine, and enjoying 80mph on the Autoroutes making good progress. We had to check in for the ferry by 8pm, and having left at 8ish in the morning we had plenty of time to relax on the way and stop when we wanted to. We stopped in Calais to have a bit of food before getting on the boat, and then headed for check-in, slightly concerned that our 4th passenger might not be able to board with us.
We shouldn't have worried. We got to the check-in, and they noticed the extra person in the car. They asked for a passport, and then we were through, no extra charge, no questions, no problems. We got on the ferry and relaxed.
Back in the UK we passed signs telling us Gatwick was closed. No big surprise. Then we passed signs saying Stansted was closed. Further on signs to say Heathrow was closed. No way to get a plane back into the south east evidently. At this point it became pretty clear that we had made the right choice driving, as otherwise we'd still be in Geneva, or worse still be on a long journey in a packed coach with a lot of pissed off passengers.
Overall, we were all incredibly impressed with Morzine - the access to Avoriaz and all of Portes du Soleil meant we could ski all week and not hit the same run twice, lots of choice of restaurants and plenty of snow right up until the end of the week.
Rude Chalets seem to have worked out the formula - good food, plenty of drinks, lots of things to keep you occupied between skiing and dinner, and dinner and bed, the rooms were large, bathrooms large, and everything clean, tidy and well organised.
For any vegetarians out there I don't eat fish, and had the veggie option that night, and frankly there were a few other people who seemed pretty jealous of my dinner, so definitely a thumbs up on that front.
Could anything have been improved? For me, the only downside was a pet hate of mine, when booking double rooms and getting two single beds shoved together. Inevitably it means somebody rolling over in the night and the gap between the beds opening up, and the solution seems simple enough - fix the beds together. Travelodge have worked it out, so it can't be that hard for a chalet that had at least 3 couples in it that week to do the same. That said it was a very minor niggle, the rooms were very comfortable, and with an Xbox in every room you could watch a DVD before bed in your own room and the location was great.
On the resort front, the only problem was the awful piste maps. They are just unmitigated crap. On one side you've got a map of the whole resort, which has the lifts on it, but none of the names of the runs, so you can't plan where to go unless you are next to a lift and work out which way round you are - much easier when the map says A to follow the run with A written on the piste markers at the top. They have more detailed maps on the other side, which are much better and include the named runs, but the map only covers one of the resorts - this means you end up carrying around 3 piste maps to go skiing for the day. They also don't mention anywhere that the map on the other side is pointing in another direction to the one on the front - a close-up of the big map would have been fine, but instead you end up totally confused by a run which is pointing in one direction on the big map, and the other on the small one. Portes du Soleil is a massive ski area, but so is Espace Killy and they don't have this problem, neither did Grandvalira. Decent piste maps are about all I could suggest they improve on the ski area.
Photos to follow, once we get the camera downloaded, expect lots of sunshine, quiet pistes, and us enjoying a great week on the snow with red noses and goggle marks 
Other stuff that we didn't do but others might be interested in, the same week we were there several of the snowboarders were on a park & pipe week where they got tuition on how to do tricks and technique and stuff. The sessions seemed to be run by professional snowboarders, and everyone who went on the sessions seemed to really enjoy it. Definitely worth looking out for if you are on a board, plus Rude are a Burton test centre. This meant more boarders than skiers in the chalet, but everyone had a good time, and on the ski guiding days both groups went out together and had a good time.
Of the trips we've done this year this was by far the best food, the best standard of accomodation, and some of the best skiing conditions. If you are booking for next season it's definitely worth giving Rude a call, their prices were pretty reasonable, around £400 for the week excluding flights (but they do free transfers to/from Geneva) and I'd say that was very good value for money against the cost of some of the other trips we've looked at for this season. OK, it was the last week of the season, but lucky for us our gamble paid off on the snow. I'd definitely go back, and hopefully they will expand into a few other resorts soon and we can try out some other resorts from the same standard of accommodation.
Would I self drive again? Yes. Having the car didn't benefit us in the resort, but being able to take 20 DVDs with us, taking spare clothes, pillows, and having a decent toolkit certainly helped with feeling like there was nothing we could have wanted for, and when one of the girls spotted a pair of skis she wanted in the right length, barely used for 60 Euros, we just chucked them in the car. The time taken was slightly longer than flying, but the cost was very very similar including all the tolls and fuel. It only really worked for money because there were three of us in the car, with two it would have been a fair bit more expensive than flying, but then on the way home we realised the value of independence - of course if the ferries had stopped we'd have been screwed, and it's not like a volcano goes off every week, but it did give us options.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Monium, great TR Thanks for posting it, one to look into for the future.
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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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Sounds like a success! 
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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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Thanks for that great post...very informative! We have also just done first driving trip to Morzine, although with a different company (Mountain Highs). Also had an excellent time! Wish I had spotted those 60 euro skis first.... 
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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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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Monium, good post. Though I was expecting a bit more stowaway drama at Calais 
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Monium,
Very good report; curious to know how long it actually took you to drive from Calais to Morzine( and return)?
Just 'done' the drive a bit further south & was considering Morzine/Ls Gets area for next ski season on a driving holiday.
Thanks
Mitch
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Mitchell, Calais to Les Gets is approx 8 hours. Driving to Morzine will add a whole 15 mins to your journey
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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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Lou,
Really, thats much better than the 12 it took me for Maurienne valley at Easter! ( would that 8 include a couple 'quickish' stops?)
Am looking at a few options for next 1/2 term ( I have to ; its the kids you see ) , could anyone indicate 'how' busy the ski area is likely to be ? (mobbed, seriously mobbed, nightmare or not too bad?)
Thanks in advance
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Mitchell, we have made effort to always avoid H/T because it is very busy on the pistes. Though New Year seems to be getting busier each year
We drive end December and again early April. Next year school hols don't start until 9th April ish, so will be a late gamble again but we haven't been disappointed in the last four/five seasons.
We also avoid Sat to Sat changeover days which will make a difference in how long the drive takes particularly at half-term. I would say that my 8 hour estimate would usually include a couple of quick stops but not in peak times. If I had to travel on a peak Saturday, I think I would stay overnight somewhere fairly close to ensure early arrival.
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FAQ
