 Poster: A snowHead
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Hi All,
Am planing our next family ski trip and due to school commitments looks like we have to go at 1/2 term!
Have found some reasonable places to stay but am keen to avoid the crowds, if at all possible, at this time.
Am looking at France as most likely we will be driving ( although doesnt have to be France); have been to Val Cenis before but not in school hols. Was also looking at Le Clusaz.
Any recommendations ??
Thanks in advance
Mitch
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Mitchell, sympathies! We have (so far) managed to avoid H/T but may have to in next few years. That said, I think New Year is getting heaps busier every year, we go to Les Gets then. I would have thought La Clusaz might be too busy. How about looking at a 'satellite' type resort, small but with access to bigger area, or avoid France.
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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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What Lou, says, Satellite resorts work well having done many half terms over recent years, although you still get the transport grief unless you dive, so our best experiences in France have been Vaujany for Alpe d'huez, Peisey Nancroix for Les Arcs. The place that was quietest of all for half term skiiing was Champoluc in the Italian Monte Rosa area however. Happily kids all left school now so I can look on these debates with a relaxed smile 
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Mitchell, we happened to be in Champoluc at 1/2 term last year and I was amazed at how quiet it was. Not much further a drive than, say, Chamonix..
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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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Lou, is right to say that La Clusaz will be very crowded. We are 15 mins down the road, in the sort of satellite resort mentioned (a small ski village with quiet pistes, that links into the 445km Evasion Mont Blanc domain), but as Mountain Haddock, and others have pointed out, there are a number of other good alternatives out there . Wherever you go, I would suggest booking soon - we are nearly full for that week and it's a new chalet, so I'm sure older places and more tourist-known resorts will be get booked up very, very quickly.
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Mitchell, I've heard of a great little place not a million miles from La Clusaz and Megeve ^^^^^^, in fact am going there in March 
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Where the crowd comes from? My answer is the French and may be a small number from UK.
Thus any resort outside France and also away from the French border would be a good bet. Many French think France is the best country for skiing and too proud to ski outside their own country. So one can make use of their attitude.
Cost and accessability also can be the major factors too and so one can find places like St Moritz still dominated by the Swiss and not the other foreign visitors and so crowd is not a problem at 1/2 term there.
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It's not always that easy to predict.
We were in Courchevel at half term last Winter and believe it or not, there really weren't any serious queues. Obviously, we didn't exactly have the pistes to ourselves but I was impressed by how effortlessly the lift system coped. I don't think we waited more than 2 minutes for a chair all week. Conversely, we were in La Plagne 2 or3 times at half term and there were some serious bottlenecks producing quite colossal queues.
Perhaps we just got lucky with a quiet year in 3V or perhaps the system's just better designed?
Anyway, I'd still tend to agree with the comments above though, that on the whole, you're better off outside France at half term.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| Quote: |
| Am looking at France as most likely we will be driving |
There are roads to Austria, Italy, Switzerland now I hear - I think the Romans and Hitler had something to do with it. If you check distances on http://www.viamichelin.co.uk/ you'll see that, for example:
Calais-Courchevel is 599 miles
Calais-St Anton is 618 miles
Calais-Courmayeur is 570 miles
Calais-Verbier is only 544 miles
Not much in it.
You can avoid France and them crowds. The Germans don't descend on Austria all at once like the French and Brits do in France.
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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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Bode Swiller,
Mileage may be similar but is the driving time? Must admit only used to driving on French motorways which are usually pretty good. How does the drive to Austria/Italy compare?
Presume I,m going to need winter tyres if driving through Germany/Austria.
Mitch
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Mitchell, I've driven to Wengen, Nendaz(Verbier area) and Zermatt and the times were similar to my French trips to 3V and La Plagne. I've not done Austria or Italy but I wouldn't have thought it would be much different.
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You know it makes sense.
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I've been to Switzerland the last 2 half terms, Zermatt (09) and Laax this year. Neither was busy even though it also co-incided with Fasching this year.
A couple of years running (06/07) I went to a smaller french resort, St Sorlin D'Arves, busy but not unbearably so.
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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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| Mitchell wrote: |
Bode Swiller,
Mileage may be similar but is the driving time? Must admit only used to driving on French motorways which are usually pretty good. How does the drive to Austria/Italy compare?
Presume I,m going to need winter tyres if driving through Germany/Austria.
Mitch |
German efficiency is a brilliant thing You will need winter tyres in Austria though.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Mitchell, we're going to miranda, place at half term - dont know if she still has availability. We went last year and loved it. Click on her link. The Chalet is fab and we loved the ski area. We were used to ski in ski out - this is far from that but it was actually no hassle at all.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Depending on the resort driving in Austria can be easier than France because Austrian resorts are more for weekend visits by the Austrians and the other nationals living close to them. Thus many Austrian resorts locate in the main valley road flat and straight. Apart from point to point Austrian resorts are not known to have dozen hairpin bends to get to like those in L2A or LDH in France.
Ski Welt, Zillertal Valley, Ischgl Valley, St Anton, Solden, Ski Amdae etc are all easily next to the main roads.
Germany and Austria are colder than France but all the trunk roads are regularly cleared as soon as there is snow on them
I have driven every year to France, Switzerland, Italy and Austria and wouldn't regard any one harder than the other as far as driving is concerned. Austria and Switzerland are countries with nothing but mountains and so having a right set of tyres is safe for any visitor.
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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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I was in La Thuile in March and the word on the street there was that it never gets crowded, even at full hotel occupancy/peak weeks. Plus if skiing in France is your thing you can bob over to La Rosière on same lift pass.
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Agree with queen bodecia, La Thuile, went there 2 years ago at half term, at lunch time i had pistes to myself, even with ski school out in the morning there were no queues at all. La rosiere side is busier and there seemed to be a queue sometimes for the moving carpet chairlift to get back from la thuile to there in the afternoon . (sorry can't remember the name of it). La thuile is busier at the weekend but how la thuile lift company make enough money?
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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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I would also suggest la rosiere/la thuile. We went to la rosiere at new year (second most popular week I think) and didn't find it busy. If you are going with children I'd have thought la rosiere would be the better side to stay (more accessible, more chance of other English children at ski school, more choice of accommodation) and then you can venture over to the quiet slopes of la thuile during the day.
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Go to Claviere-it's deserted at half term and doesn't suffer from the mania of the Savoie resorts. It links to a big area too (Via Lattea, methinks!) though the lift system isn't quite Espace Killy. There is not a great deal of yobbish and boorish behaviour either and hence the amount of English alcoholics vomiting, swearing and fighting on the streets is mercifully low. The skiing isn't particularly demanding but this is compensated for by a lack of crowds-you can take some time to admire the scenery rather than worry about whether you're going to be crashed into by a high speed carver-traverser with three weeks experience!
Italian is obviously predominant and this may be a concern for you regarding adequate childrens facilities. Anyhow, I liked it and it was cheap too!!
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| kevin mcclean wrote: |
| There is not a great deal of yobbish and boorish behaviour either and hence the amount of English alcoholics vomiting, swearing and fighting on the streets is mercifully low. |
Is that likely to be a problem anywhere during half term? (particularly as you already know that we have taken Shimmy Alcott out of the equation).
Actually a serious question, though. Bulgaria was admittedly a little "Boozy Brits Abroad" (though this was 10+ years ago) but I've never actually experienced that sort of behaviour on any of the ski trips I've had in France, Italy, Switzerland, Norway, Finnish Lapland, the US... Sure, there have been Brits merrily enjoying a fair few apres ski drinks (me in particular)... but really not seen yobbish behaviour/fighting/vomiting etc. etc. Where is it all happening?
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Lou, 
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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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Kevin's suggestion of claviere is a good one for a quiet resort. It was almost deserted when we skied over to it at the end of March despite lots of fresh snow. However if you are considering the via lattea (milky way) I think montgenevre just over the french border would be a better base if you need ski school as it has a very good International ski school called Apeak. We used them last year and both children enjoyed their lessons and made a lot of progress.
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Are half terms really that bad?
I've been dragging my kids skiing for the last five/six years at half term. I wouldn't say the lift queues were that bad and the restaurants never seem too busy in the evening either. At worst the home run may get a bit congested at chucking out time.
Am I missing out?
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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I was very surprised at how quiet the slopes in Le Tour and Les Houches when I popped over for a few days during feb half term this year. It was snowing most of the time, so maybe that kept the lightweights at home !!!
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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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Mosha Marc, yep
Drluvski, probably. Half term here is usually a zoo.
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Mitchell, Hi there. I did my first ever half term hol with the family a couple of years back in Morillon and was delighted with how civilised it was. Very little lift queues and I would not have really know it was half term apart from the dates. Add ski-in, ski-out convenience to that and it made for a really good family option for half term.
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You know it makes sense.
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if in France at half term it's probably best to get out on the first lift, then stop for a drink/snack lunch at about 11.30, then ski all through lunchtime. In some places it's time to call it a day when the afternoon ski groups pour out of the restaurants into the lift queues.
Another reasonable tactic is to get into ski lessons - lift priority, and the instructors know where to go.
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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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| Mosha Marc wrote: |
Are half terms really that bad?
I've been dragging my kids skiing for the last five/six years at half term. I wouldn't say the lift queues were that bad and the restaurants never seem too busy in the evening either. At worst the home run may get a bit congested at chucking out time.
Am I missing out? |
That's exactly right.
"Half term is awful, avoid at all costs, especially France etc etc etc" is received wisdom, and entirely false.
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Poster: A snowHead
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| Mr Technique wrote: |
| "Half term is awful, avoid at all costs, ......." |
Which will bring up the question of cost.
Half term - be prepared to have your budget doubled. 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Be prepared to spend a little bit longer shopping around for accomodation and book your flights early. Compared to trips in Jan and March I've never spent more than about 20% more on the Feb Half Term week.
Of course if all you do is pick up your phone and say "Hello Crystal/Neilson/Iglu/etc I want to ski at half term therefore please RAPE ME TO DEATH" then yeah, you'll pay 2x or 3x.
Last edited by Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person on Mon 20-09-10 14:17; edited 1 time in total
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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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| Quote: |
and entirely false.
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it's not entirely false, as many people who have spent half term in busy resorts - or who live there all season - can testify. But, as ever, some resorts can cope better than others and as the Brit half term always coincides with one of the four French holiday weeks, any resort which is very well known to British skiers can get very busy. It depends what you're used to. When people say "we never spent more than ten minutes queueing" I think "  ten minutes, in a lift queue?" I think it's busy if you can't ski straight onto a chair. The places with top class lift systems can get a lot of people up, but then there are a lot of them coming down. But a small, less well known, resort at half term is probably about as busy as some of the big stations are at the end of January. The last few times I've skied for odd days in the Espace Killy and the 3 Valleys - low season - I've felt like a country bumpkin dumped in London in the rush hour, surrounded by boys who think they're racers, 40% of them out of control. No problem with lifts; the systems are so good. But the pistes are busy.
Of course it's doable, as is bringing up 3 beautifully behaved children on benefits. But it is nonetheless madness to do it if you don't have to. Self catering rental will generally be 2.4 times higher at half term than at the end of January, or later in the season. Apartments in our development will cost you 400 in mid January and 11 - 1200 at half term. Even the cheap and nasty ones are, whilst still fairly cheap, much more expensive than January and equally nasty. Travel is also far more expensive (or if you drive, much more congested) but lift passes and food/drink will generally be the same - though lift passes are poor value if you spend 5 minutes in a queue every time you use it then have to weave your way through the crowd on the way down.
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Half Term 2009, in a big (150km of piste) area in France, we spent £520 per person for flights, car hire, accomodation, lift pass, and equipment hire.
Is that 2.4x what it costs in Jan? Because quite honestly if I could find a way of doing a Jan trip all in for £220 I'd be pretty chuffed.
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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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Mr Technique, wot I said was that in our development, and other places I know, you pay 2.4 times the cost for accommodation. Or more. Accommodation which will cost £150 a person can cost £50/60 a person in low season. That is a straightforward statement of fact and I think similar differentials between low and high season are very common throughout France. No idea about other places. Of course you can do ski holidays very cheaply if you are smart and plan carefully; it remains the case that you can do them cheaper in January than at half term. 150kms of piste isn't big for France of course - our area has more than that and hardly anybody has heard of it.
If you are prepared to forego the more luxury end, and get maximum occupancy of a basic apartment, the cost of accommodation in low season is negligible - less than a very basic lunch and drink each day.
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