10 days in Val D'isere is simply too much for me.........

A snowHead

I have just returned from my first visit in 10 years to Val D'isere and I have to say it's fast becoming a parody of how the English upper middle class behave whilst on holiday. Drunkeness, rowdiness, insularity, arrogance and effing beer bottles everywhere really does spoil what is a great ski resort.

In mitigation, the resort operation is clearly first class and the unbelievable quality of the uphill transport provided by STVI is simply breathtaking. The sheer variety of the both the piste and off piste is stunning and Mountain Masters are top dudes, no debate. However, all of this is seriously compromised by the arrogance, hubris and 'Rule Britannia' mentailty of the friggin' Range Rover brigade who exist in their little Anglo enclaves shouting into their mobile phones and holing up in their precious drinking establishments.

I have to say, it was really funny seeing many of these people struggle on ordinary pistes, for example on the blue Santons where it funnels a little. Shouting, screaming, arguments and complaints were commonplace- a reminder that this resort is not Meribel where this sort of brigade hang out every other year.

Oh yes, those trendy people in Precision were so precise that they gave my 'intermediate' mate a boot a whole 1.5 mondo size too big! Still, he was a very trendy bloke who swore a lot.........

I like the resort, but I dislike it's Anglo culture and I'm not sure when I'll be going again.

Any views?

A snowHead

Oh for this resort to be populated by 10,000 tourists of the upstanding quality of Kevin McClean: educated, internationalist, skiers beyond reproach.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

sounds like Leeds on a Friday night...prettier tho, and the skiing is prob better!!! Very Happy

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Its on my list to go to as soon as I can find a Burberry ski suit wink

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It's fine as long as you know where to go. We found a great little bar next to our hotel - which was a chain hotel, can't remember the name or chain but it's just round the corner from Precision. We had a problem with Precision as well, with the way they treated an absolute beginner and they mounted my new bindings a bit off the balance line (or whatever it's called) which was irritating, but otherwise they were fine.

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kevin mcclean, I agree absolutely. Horrible people go to Val D all the time. Result: the locals hate us - would ratherwe sent the money and stayed at home. I've spent 6 weeks ski-ing there, and sundry odd days/weekends to visit people/do courses etc. Never felt even remotely welcome, the good ski-ing isn't good enough to warrant going there in my opinion.

Having said that, last week I had an unpleasant encounter with a group from a Geordie school - all about 16/17 years old - being extremely rude about and to the natives - who do they think they are? My client and I gave them some suitable abuse, but it didn't work. I hope these sorts are not going to start coming here - the French love the Brits at the moment!! (well, here anyway). Confused

After all it is free

it might be an ugly place, but you don't get these problems in Tignes. Stay there and then just ski into Val D to exploit its best skiing. The snow is often better in Tignes anyway, in my experience.

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I've stayed in Val d'Isere many times, and Tignes once. I love Val d'Isere, I think that it's a great resort, great fun, great apres ski, and great night life. The kebabs are great as well.

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easiski, you don't know which school they were from do you?

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You know it makes sense.

This does seem to be a modern problem. When I was young and skied with my parents in places like Davos and Lech this sort of Englishman just didn't seem to ski and we had a reputation as courteous, civilised people. (perhaps I should say I'm 56)
I don't know if it is the English who have changed or that people who didn't ski then ski now.

It is, though, perfectly possible to spend time at Val d'I and hardly notice these people. I go out and back on the French (ie not chartered by Brit ski companies) overnight train and ski off-piste with Topski or Alpine Experience.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

Well, yes, skiing has been packaged and mass-marketed for people from all walks of life.

It used to be practised by "courteous, civilised people" whose ancestors went around the third world enslaving and exploiting. That's how they got the money!

Their associates (Sir Henry Lunn was the first commercial ski holiday organiser) established the tour operators which now export the social horrors of which Kevin McClean complains.

But - in reality - the local communities of Val d'Isere and all other 'overrun' Alpine resorts should be fully in control of their markets and 'social environment'. The tourist offices of enlightened ski resorts tend to define percentages of skiers they'd like to see from various countries and market their accommodation accordingly - this creates an interesting international mix.

I think Val d'Isere is making a big mistake in riding a bandwagon, presumably for short-term profit. Of course, land and property ownership come into it. Maybe a high proportion of Val d'Isere's buildings are now British owned? Maybe the local landowners should have retained control of their buildings?

A snowHead

David Goldsmith, yes, I like your little dig about the empire but the empire was being dismantled by the time I came along and the group we mostly skied with had made their money in the professions (particularly medical colleagues of my father) or sometimes Swiss and Austrian friends he had made before the war. I was partly reponding to the portrayal of the offending people as "upper middle class" and wondering if that class had changed or what.
Coming from that background myself I had hardly seen this sort of behaviour till I took up skiing again in later life and went on very cut-price holidays (which shows what a protected life I must have lived despite working for a while in Australia).

A snowHead

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

It's interesting to note that if it were working class people carrying on in this way they'd be labelled 'yobs' but because it's nice Tory boy-Johnny Wilkinson lookalikes deciding to take a sh it in a teacup, it's perfectly acceptable. I suspect it's breeding which produces this horrible and vile arrogance which resides in this distinct cultural milieu. They simply cannot see beyond themselves, their mobile phones, their cliques and their unshakeable belief in their invulnerability which the neo-fascist regime of public school has imbued upon them.

Is Verbier like this?

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kevin mcclean, carrying a lot of baggage, are we?

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Changing the debate tack a bit I'd agree withTony Lane, that Tignes is a far better place to be staying, I've been to Tignes 6-7 times and think it's great and has a far less Anglo ambience than Val D and is in many respect "easier" to ski in and out of. Don't know about the nightlife in ValD as never stopped there but concur with the reputation.

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Would you like salt and vinegar on those?

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After all it is free

So is Val D where the chavs (of whatever class) go, or what?? Dunno myself, stayed in Tignes (very nice clean and respectable at beginning of season when I went). Slid into Val D a few times - but didn't go into the village so I have no idea how the English upper middle class of Val D where behaving whilst on holiday, parody or otherwise.

Needless to say kevin mcclean's not stating something we didn't already know (although I don't think the problem is limited to the "English upper middle classes" - it's pan-class as far as I can tell, and isn't limited to snow holidays !!). The Costa del Sol is recognisably the ultimate parody of just how bad the British-abroad can be on holiday, and how a mass market can affect the tourist experience in a particular area. I think there's a lot to be said for methods and regulations that moderate foreign tourist numbers so that tourism can exist without having an unwelcome effect on an indigenous population/area.

I too blame mass package holidays. But then I frequently take advantage of the price deals available from exactly that kind of holiday so I'm a little conflicted. Sigh. rolling eyes

Ok, so we have obnoxious elements in British society but we're not unique in that.

I have often encountered obnoxious Dutch (especially young lads, who give the Brits a real run for their money in the arrogance stakes). The French seem to be obnoxious on a more individual level rather than in groups. The Americans are very versatile and can (and frequently will) do either. Italians don't seem to go in for this in my experience and the Spanish are pretty good too.

But these are only one side of the story and for every obnoxious individual or group you have 5 perfectly charming specimens.

That won't change Kevin's view on Val D'Isere as he obviously feels that it attracts too many of the bad elements, but there is no need to beat ourselves up about our Britishness.

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maggi, ise, Laughing

Yes. Well. And now that you mention it, there was a dog making yellow snow around the piste markers....

Didn't see any dog poo-poo in the Jungfrau this Easter - is dog poop a French thing? Or was I just not looking hard enough in Switzerland Shocked

Oh yes, I forgot to mention the 'yummy mummy's' who parade up and down the high street of VD with their designer Mamma's and Pappa's buggies kissing each other on the cheeks exclaiming to each other, 'how extraordinary!' Makes you wanna throw, doesn't it? Who the f*ck are these people and where on earth do they come from?

You know it makes sense.

Manda, The Jungfrau region along with many other areas in Switzerland is well equiped with dog mess disposal bins usually complete with special bags, I'm guessing that local or national law requires dog walkers to use them, so no dog mess in the streets, by and large I've noticed that Switzerland always seems particularly clean compared to other countries and I think this comes across to tourists meaning that non locals also use the appropriate rubish disposal areas

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

D G Orf,
How did we get from "Brits in VD" to "dog poop" wink

in this thread?

A snowHead

Mouth, don't know Laughing

A snowHead

Troll alert , strap into those fighting chairs Twisted Evil

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

Posh Chavs as described above are called "Raaas" where im from, just to keep you all one step ahead

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ise, the difference is that the Swiss tend to obey the laws where as the French ignore any they don't like, thus the Swiss use the bins ............

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I have never been to Verbier, but my experience of other Swiss resorts is that they do not attract yobbish behaviour by any particular class/nationality.

They can be a bit sedate - but better that than drunkeness and rowdiness. The livelier Swiss resorts like Zermatt tend to attract an older clientele who have put the excesses of youth behind them.

Having said that, I did not find it too much of a problem in Tignes or Val d'Isere either; although I was worried by the possibilty of sharing a hotel with a big group of medics/dentists all dressed in black and carrying bongo drums around the luggage carousels at the airport.

After all it is free

kevin mcclean, what on earth possessed you to go to Val D'spair anyway? Ever since I can remember in the "Good Old Days " you've ne'er had a good word to say about the place! For precisely the reasons you complain about.

Stay away, ski elsewhere, keep your blood pressure down....

And of course the Swiss have noise police Shocked

I kid you not Shocked

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D G Orf, do they race to noise-crime scenes with sirens blaring? Confused

Help!!

10 days in Val D'isere is simply too much for me.........

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