 Poster: A snowHead
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Hi All,
we are thinking about a second trip towards the end of feb/beginning march. Now i understand this is french school holiday time so my question is, is it THAT bad? never been skiing during uk or french school holidays before but we are looking at a great deal to risoul going on the 26th Feb and i'm concearned this clashes with french school holidays, how bad is it likely to be there? its not really classed as a 'major' resort anyway but we don't wanna go and find ourselves queing endlessly for lifts, which, to be honest we have always managed to avoid, i think the longest we ever waited for a lift once was about 10 mins in Italy, when other lifts had been shut due to wind..... any thoughts or experiences on skiing during french ski holidays much appreciated!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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My experience of Risoul is from about 5 yrs ago. I don't know what it's like during French hols, but our French friends who have the pad there that we used to borrow, always avoid it. That might be that it is just quieter at other times, or it might mean it is a nightmare during hols. There were a couple of lift bottlenecks when we were there, even on quietish weeks, but these might have been fixed since.
So sorry, not much help, except that our friends avoid it. We've often been the week directly after though and it's been lovely - long ski days and sunshine but still cold enough for new snow overnight.
D
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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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cbowls30, always busy in french school holidays, but the weeks can vary depending on which areas of the country are on holiday. UK will not be on holiday though, but the Dutch might be and that can also increase the numbers. Lift times can vary depending on the quality of lift and the size of the ski area (I don't know Risoul) but you are more than likely to wait more than 10 minutes in some french ski resorts. We go at the height of the holidays so exepct queues and busy pistes. If you are not used to that and can go at a different time then probably best avoided
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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For this Yank, what exactly constitutes the Southern Alps? Will be in Lech during that time frame.
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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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Toadman, no., Lech is definitely not Southern Alps. We're talking French Alps in this case.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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cbowls30,
Whilst it will obviously be busier than at other times, Risoul won't be that bad. Basically it's because the Parisians can't be bothered to drive that far south 
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Hi, I went to Vars/Risoul a couple of years ago in mid march, so not French holiday time and it was empty. No queues anywhere, quiet pistes. Now I am guessing but during french holidays I can imagine that the resort is busier so your friend avoids it, as they are used to uninterupted cruising, but I bet it is not crazy busy as I imagine bigger name French resorts to be. I would think that you would be fine, if you accept that going anywhere in France during that week will mean some queuing, you can not go far wrong with risoul. It is a great ski area, lots of variety and very under rated. To be fair though, I stayed in Vars, which seemed to be a bit quieter both on the slopes and in resort when compared with Risoul.
If you want to go skiing at that time, and want to go to France, then Risoul would be one of the best places to go regarding queuing. However, if you are still worried and want to really avoid potential crowds you could either change the country (Italy or Austria should be quieter) or change the date of travel?
Hope that helps.
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Went to Risoul at New Year a good few years back. It was busy but OK and we all coped. It's a fairly large ski area so careful planning and you could probably avoid waiting in lift queues once you get away from the "main areas".
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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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| Quote: |
its not really classed as a 'major' resort anyway
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that's not really relevant. In fact in the "mainly French" resorts, the contrast between quiet times and school holidays times is much more marked than it is in places like the 3 Valleys, where there are loads of British (and other) tour operators delivering big groups of people every weekend.
We spend the season in a small French resort (Les Saisies) - except for the 4 school holiday weeks in February/March because we don't do lift queues. It's not intolerable in holiday time, by any means, but we are used to having chunks of mountain all to ourselves. If you have to go then, why not try somewhere in Austria or Italy which might be quieter - though I can't advise which Austrian or Italian resorts might be best, or when the local holidays are.
Also, the "major" resorts often have much more capable lift systems which can cope with crowds better than smaller resorts (though that does tend to have the effect of making the pistes busier than I am prepared to pay to ski on).
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Would the same ring true for Les Alpes D'Huez?
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| Quote: |
Would the same ring true for Les Alpes D'Huez?
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Not sure what you mean - Alpes D'Huez, and Les Deux Alpes (two different resorts in the same neck of the woods) are both big French resorts and will both be busy, like all French resorts, for the whole of the 4 week French holiday period. As for the balance of disadvantages between long lift queues and/or busy pistes, I couldn't say. I'd just choose not to go to either at that point. 
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