 Poster: A snowHead
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Well, after getting plenty of advice and stuff here, I said I would post a review, so here goes with an attempt.
1st week of Easter hols, sun 28/3 to sun 4/4. Booked with Neilson through Co-Op Travel (ta for patiently going over options for ages, Clare at Co Op, Prescot, and getting a really good deal for us), stayed in Sant Andreu apartments (decent size, well enough appointed for a ski holiday, with all bedding and towels supplied - makes a difference for baggage weights not taking towels!). Me not skied for 25 years, and boys done about 8 lessons on dry slope.
Summary for when you get bored of the drivel below...
Arinsal has enough decent slopes for beginners/intermediates (and advanced, for a shorter periods). bars/restaurants are mostly good, and reasonably priced. Village is quite small, but is clean, pleasant and well enough maintained. Lifts work well, and are all staffed with helpful people (getting a 6 year old newbie up lifts can be difficult, but is helped by decent lift staff). Instructors were excellent, thanks to Tony, Sean, Krusty and Darin (and Luke, Tony's 8 year old who really showed us how to ski). lower slopes turned slushy after about 1 or 2 pm, but given it was late March/early April and only about 2000m, that is not surprising. Toulouse airport is one of the most disorganised poorly staffed airports I have been through (only slightly better than Luanda International, Angola), and would avoid going through wherever possible.
Top holiday, good place, good luck with the snow conditions, and decent instructors.
End of summary...
Set off from Manchester, flying with Thomas Cook - all good, on time, clean, seats all together, nothing major forgotten.
arrives in Toulouse airport (new terminal) about 20 mins early. Still looking good. Passport control consists of 3 desks to serve what appears to be about 4 flights, and unfortunately the passport scanners are not working properly, so a good 30 to 45 mins waiting to get through passport control - never mind. Baggage then takes a further hour to get through - memo to self "Try via Spanish side next time".
3 &1/2 hour bus ride later we are at Arinsal, but no snow visible at village level or to where gondolas get out of sight - oh dear! rep assures us there is plenty of snow and snow cannons.
no skiing first day, so unpack and takes the kids out for eats - eldest finds most expensive restaurant (Argentinian Steak House called Surf), food was great, beer was too, so happy dad n lads head off to prep for day 2 carnage at ski hire shop!
Day 2 - lift passes now work so we get up on the first gondola of the day, and are relieved to see a good covering of "snow" on the pistes (turns out to be snow cannon stuff due to no snowfall for a couple of days). get put through the conveyor belt of the ski hire shop and out the other end to go find our ski classes.
Sort kids with their instructors, switch on radios, find meet time and place, and go find adult classes. Kids get sorted into beginner (6 year old), and intermediate (11 year old). Instructors are brits, irish and saffies. Get sorted on green run into classes, I end up in the smallest group.
so off we goes up the mountain and hits a few runs. Tony, our instructor from Kent (smashing fella, and good instructor) drops us down a short black run on our first afternoon, at which point somebody mentions we are the "advanced" group - big grin getting down that wee run 
Lessons over, kids buzzing over the radio, then we meet, eat, and ski some more.
Finally get off the slopes about 430 ish when the lower slopes are turning to slush with a consistency of mashed potato. Skis in cage, boots over shoulder, and off we goes, tired and happy, for eats and a little beer or 2 followed by showers and early night.
Day 3 - it has snowed overnight ) gets up the gondola and about 2 &1/2" of nice squeaky powder has covered the slopes. It feels good under foot/ski.
drop kids at lessons, off up mountain ski a few red runs and catch cable car across to Pal. was good, but seemed to have fewer runs, and more blues than in Arinsal - my be perception, I dunno, just seemed that way. Was very relaxing skiing them in comparison to the reds and odd black in Arinsal. Back across do a few more runs with minor coaching points along the way, and head down to meet the kids. They don't want to eat just yet, so we go ski some more, find a cafe have a sarnie and hot choc, and ski till 5 - damn that was tiring. ski cage, gondola, bar/restaurant (run by another saffie chap, can't remember name of bar, but food was fair to good, prices reasonable, and atmosphere good). back to apartment, shower, prep for morning, and early night.
Day 4 - overcast, but no fresh snow other than cannon stuff. By 10am, snow was falling again more good runs, fair coaching points and good banter in the group. Get to do biggest black run in the resort "la Capa", IIRC - was really good, got adrenaline going and think I made a pretty clean go of it. Eldest lad gets moved up from Krusty's intermediate group to advanced kids group with Darin. then the usual mix of find kids, eat and ski till 5, followed by food/beer (irish place called the Derby, run by a couple of saffie instructor brothers (Darin & Dean).
Day 5 - some more overnight snow (only a light dusting, but enough to make things interesting with changes under ski from soft powdery drift to scratchy packed snow cannon stuff). Lessons over, meet with boys and ski right through to 5 (boys both going right up the mountain by now and even wee man is doing blues and the wider reds). Off for food/beer, shower and early night.
Day 6 - usual early start, drop kids and get off to own lessons. Slalom course set for all classes, so eldest lad has a 5 Euro bet he can beat me - Mwuh huh huh! we go do a few runs while kids do their slalom races. we get our turn and guess who crashed and burned! So 5 euro lighter when I meet up with the kids for lunch and cert presentations. then skiing through to 5. skis away, bit of gift shopping, and yup food/beer, shower, early night!
Day 7 - first up the gondolas again, no lessons, straight up the top, do a few runs with the kids, then take wee man across to Pal for a few runs over there (and a step across into Spanish territory). Back over to Arinsal, do some more runs (watch eldest do a short black run, snack for lunch, ski through to 4 drop rental kit back at shop, and down for ...
Early start (0335 pick up) on day 8, so all packed day 7 evening, showered and bed early. up at 0300, and a blizzard is blowing outside! gets sorted on to coach, and crawls along out of Andorra, only to find snow is even heavier on French side. Follow a snow plough at 20mph until we get low enough that it is now rain, and set for Toulouse airport.
arrive at Toulouse 10 mins before desks are even open, joins queue, and waits patiently - 2hrs later, we are close to the front of the check in desks! some screens showing "immediate boarding", some are showing "delayed 1hr 50 mins" fellow traveller asks one of the airport staff which screen is correct, only to be told "I don't know. There are too many British in Toulouse Airport. British should not be in Toulouse airport!" Note to self "wherever possible, avoid Toulouse airport".
Arrive home 1hr later than planned, tired, tanned and happy! Now considering own boots for future trips, as feet/lower legs only just recovering!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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seems i'm not the only one to have 2 decades between ski trips, i now go bi annually with daughter, hopefully 2 more trips before she ditches me, then i'll be posting for a ski buddy, as missus won't come even for spa pampering
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