 Poster: A snowHead
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We are off to Avoriaz on 12th March for the first time. 2 adults and 2 kids. Have booked the kids into the Jardin de Enfants for their lessons and they will be in the bronze level (3rd week skiing). Have received stuff through post today which says they will need the Avoriaz lift pass at sometime during the week and the instructor will tell them when.
What to do? I was going to book us all the whole PDS passes online cos they have a family deal which is 10% cheaper than the individual passes. But if the kids only need the Avoriaz pass for 5 days or less this would be cheaper (and presumably at bronze level they will not be able to venture too far?).
Does anyone have experience of the bronze level in this ski school and how many days the kids will need a lift pass? are there free lifts that they will use on some days?
Also any other advice/tips about the resort and the skiing there would be appreciated.
Thanks
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| nicathy wrote: |
| Also any other advice/tips about the resort and the skiing there would be appreciated. |
1) The Goat village is easily missed (has about half a dozen restaurants in it) - just below Lindarets - and can be seen on the left as you reach the top of the Ardent cable car.
2) The Swiss wall - lovely tumbling down a steep slope of mashed potato (the timid can get the chair down).
3) The Portes du Soleil circuit - a great day out
4) If at Falaise there's a nice start to the day down Proclou to a coffee stop at the bottom of Super Morzine.
5) They're building a new 5* apartment complex at the entrance to Avoriaz - may cause some upheaval.
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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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Was there last weekend and we (as a family) are there around 3 times a year.
With regards to skiing with the kids, if they can ski REDs then they should be fine to explore the PDS. There is a red down to Plaine Dranse which opens up a lovely ski area. The run down to the Argent is a Blue and you go through a nice Goat village on the way which is lovely to eat in. The Avoriaz area is great and last weekend I spent the whole time there despite having a PDS pass. Its high up (which with the current ski conditions makes it the best bet) and it has LOADS of options... from the Lil' Stash for the kids to the Fornet Ski Cross area...
There are a couple of nice parks for the kids to try. One next to the learner area and the other on the way down to the Lil Stash (through the tunnel)
If the kids are nervous, please be aware that SOME blues in the PDS would be Red elsewhere and can have steep bits.
Great area though....
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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 these tips.
Don´t think any of us are up to the Swiss wall but will head down to Goat village.
We are staying at Faliase so will def start the day down Proclou to get rid of the cobwebs.
Thanks for advice about the kids, not sure they are up to reds yet so think will just get them Avoriaz pass (maybe we could upgrade for a day towards the end of the week). Thanks for the warnings re some of the blues being a bit like reds, can you remember which ones so we can avoid at first?
Thanks again
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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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First of all, you will want a Piste Map:
http://www.avoriaz.com/station-alpes-france/modules/plan-des-pistes/index.php?lg=uk
Now, I would reccomend Proclou as a good run. This goes past the lil'stash and also a kiddie jump park (its called the Burton park or something? From the learner area, you go straight down under the tunnel. This also has some nice wooded area's on each side which you can go through (the kids love the little bumps and stuff) There is a chair at the end of this that takes you back to the top for another run! You can also take Seraussaix lift up and the Seraussaix run down again (from memory this is quite a shallow run but I havent done it for a year or two so Im not 100% sure)
If the kids are absolute begginers this is where I would go. Once they can link their turns (and you'll be suprised at how quickly this comes about) then even those "blues that are a bit like reds" are only like that for small sections. I can thoroughly recommend the Abricotine run, its really long (there can be some pole-ing along flats involved so you might want to keep that in mind) It goes down to the Linderette area and from there you can get to the goat village. The bottom of Abricotine is quite steep though and you should be warned that people do tend to straight line the final couple of hundred yards. Dont be too put off of it though as my 7 year old and 10 year old love it.
All in all, once they can link those turns then they can pretty much explore everywhere....
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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If you're in Falaise, Proclou starts on your back door step (the tunnel under the main road into Avoriaz is for everyone joining it from the learner area and snowboard park). This may be affected by the new apartment building (I've not been since they started this).
The Village/Jardin des enfants is in Avoriaz centre. So someone has to ski down to drop off the kids and then either get the poma back up, or whiz right down and get the leftmost chair and then ski back to Falaise or ski down alongside the snowboard park, through the tunnel to join Proclou.
Proclou is so flat that even the most timid snowplougher will realise they have to straight line it to avoid coming to a halt. So good for learning parallels.
At the end of Proclou the further chair is for SuperMorzine (an easy ski area - stay on the flat top route if you want to avoid a sometimes fierce poma). The earlier chair goes off to Lindarets (lovely tree skiing).
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I think from memory the run at the back of the Falaise towards the tunnel is open! When we were there the week before xmas! Back for "Paddy's day"! 
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