 Poster: A snowHead
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Just returned from a week in Les Arcs, staying at Arc 1950. Four of us travelling, booked through Crystal for £467 inc. ski carriage, flights from Exeter & transfers, self catering in a two bedroom apartment.
Transfer & Apartment
Flew from Exeter to Geneva, flights were on time, plenty of Crystal reps on arrival who directed us to the correct transfer bus. Had to wait an hour for a family who made their own way to the resort but decided not to tell Crystal about it, but no matter, we were soon underway. Got to Bourg st Maurice trouble free by which time it was evident there was a lot of snow around - I've been to Les Arcs before when the snowline is half way up the mountain - this time, there was a good couple of feet on the ground at Bourg, with obviously more to be found on the mountain itself.
Got up the hill at about 2pm, dropped off at 1950 & checked in. The 500 EUR deposit they squeezed out of me was a bit of a surprise, but no matter, hopefully I'll get it all back!  Room wasn't ready so dropped off the gear in the luggage room and went for a stroll around the resort, by the time we were back all was in order - room was spacious & well equipped, although we were glad we went for the larger room (four sleeping in an apartment which could sleep six with the sofa bed), as it would have been a pain getting the sofa bed out every night, as the living area was fairly tight for space with all the furniture etc. Were in the Le Hameau de Glacier block which is one of the oldest, still in good condition, nice view of the mountain from the balcony & comfy beds. Went for a swim in the Outdoor pool & then hot tub - be warned, these will be pretty damn cold!
Ski Gear & Passes
Had our own ski gear so can't comment on rental, we did however pick up our lift passes from the pass office in 1950. Had booked the Pass Tribu online before we left (http://en.lesarcs.com/group-tribu-pack) which saved us a fair wodge. Only covers Les Arcs & Peisey/Vallandry (ie not over the Vanoise express), imho there is plenty of territory for a week with just this area, aside from the fact that if you're in Arc 1950/2000 its a fair traverse to the Vanoise Express & a fair way to come back. Pass office were very efficient & thankfully spoke very good english when my french broke down!
The Skiing!
First four days on the slopes were absolutely brilliant - bluebird skies & hardly a hint of wind. Mornings were typically spent trying to teach my better half to ski (a third week nervous intermediate), and afternoons were spent jumping down steep bits of mountain with my brother. Les Arcs was brilliant in this respect, with lots of nice long blues & gentle reds for practising & improving in the mornings, and some great steeps & couloirs as afternoon entertainment. Even a week & a half since the last snowfall there were still the odd pocket of powder to be found, and the cold temps kept conditions very good. Tons of snow on the slopes, not a patch of ice to be found, and tons of snow off-piste. Towards the end of the week (prior to the snow Friday/Saturday) the off-piste was beginning to develop a ever-so-slight crust, but nothing that couldn't be powered through.
For beginners, Arc 1950 & Arc 2000 are probably not the best - there are some great runs in the Arc 2000 bowl, but getting across to the terrain on the Arc 1800/Plan Peisey side isn't the easiest, and the blues running down from the Bour de'ours or Comberciere chairs have the odd steeper section or cliff edge section which may deter beginners. I would recommend Arc 1800 or Plan Piesey as there is some great beginner & intermediate territory on this side of the mountain, and also more shelter if the winds are high. Slopes were fairly quiet across the board so not an issue here. Having said that bearing in mind that 14-21st Jan is a quiet week, the main run down to Arc2000 could get busy in peak weeks.
IMG]http://i40.tinypic.com/j82nx0.jpg[/IMG]
Lunch usually involved a brie & ham baguette made in the morning in the apartment & eaten at a suitably picturesque spot, or sneakily eating said baguette at a mountain restuarant after buying a drink.  Food was reasonable for mountain prices, but did vary a lot depending on where you went - a large beer was anywhere between 4 & 8 EUR so check the prices first! Favourite spot was the Col Des Frettes, only a hut really but in the sunshine was great setting there with reasonably priced fare, looking down the valley towards Moutier.
Villaroger was open right to the bottom, and makes a fair challenge for the legs if you go via the Aguille Rouge. Tended to get a touch hard packed & shaded by the afternoon so probably an area best tackled in the morning when the sun is on it. Lifts up are slow but great scenery made up for that! Also in attendence were some huskies at the resturant at the top of the Soliet run (I forget it's name) - you definately heard them before you saw them!
Day 5 saw conditions turning a bit more overcast but still great snow for skiing. Covered a fair bit of the mountain and even tackled the snow park - skiing round on twin tips you kind of have to do a trick or two in the park - unfortunately none of my party saw mine but did see me stack it on the last jump! Obviously the terrain park is not my natural homeground... Jumps were in good condition & graded for the different levels of skier / boarder. The bashers were also busy building some mahoosive jumps for the serious park users.
The last day ( Friday) was a tale of snow & wind in the Arc 2000 bowl. Snowing continually all day with increasing winds & decreasing visibility meant that the pisteurs slowly closed all but the Marmottes lift in the bowl, which in effect put an end to our last day's skiing. The lift light board in Arc 2000 showed plenty of runs open on the lower slopes, so again, if you're staying in Arc 1800, 1600 or peisey vallandry you would be better placed for skiing in windy condtions, with the tree cover giving shelter & hence more visibility.
Favourite runs for me have to be the Droset off the Droset chair, the area off the Comberceire chair and the bowl accessed off the Bois De L'Ours chair. The intermediates in the ground loved the Plan-Vert & Edelweiss off the Arcabulle chair, and the Barmont & Myrtilles runs over towards Vallandry.
The Journey Home
We were due to leave Arc 1950 at 4am Saturday morning, however with the sheer amount of snow falling and forecast to fall, as well as the road being closed for blasting, we were informed Friday evening at 7pm that we would be leaving at 8.30pm. A rapid bit of packing, quick clean of the apartment (to try to get my 500 EUR deposit back  ) and a crepe and we were off. Crystal took us by coach down the valley, through Moutier and, to my surprise, back up the other way to Bride-les-bain, where they put us up in some apartments for the night. The snow was pretty heavy at this point even on the valley floor
Unfortunately the Courchevel rep had forgotten to bring the keys down so we had to wait an hour before the room keys arrived, and they were also one key short. A couple of hours sleep were had (dispite the fairly raucous party held by the French students occupying the rest of the building) before we departed again at 5am for the trip to Geneva, still snowing at this point but big heavy flakes rather than the finest powder that was falling in Les Arcs as we left. Once again Crystal reps were in short supply, and common sense was even harder to find again. Our bus to Geneva turned out to be a bus to Moutier, where we had to change to another bus for the rest of the trip - thankfully one of the other guests on the bus spoke French as the Driver spoke no English and there were no Crystal reps to be found! Eventually we did get to Geneva & home, but did seem like a long transfer.
Summary
Overall a great trip, fantastic snow, not a single lift wait, deserted slopes & sunshine most of the week. Arc 1950 is a great place to stay with a real mountain village feel to it, not overly manufactured as some would suggest - my only gripe would be the hot tubs, which were frankly not at all hot, more luke-warm. When it's -9 the last thing you want is a cold hot tub!
Snow was fantastic all week, not a spot of ice to be found although busy runs could get the odd bit of hard pack towards the end of the day. When it did snow at the end of the week it was perfect light powder, and anyone out there this week will have a great time. Crystal did get us to and from the resort as promised, but the fiasco on the Friday night was a pain, especially with the reps who were fairly clueless when they could be found.
Would go back there again without hesitation.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Pictures are bigger than expected...apologies if they take a while to view!
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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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ciderchap, Our return journey from 1950 with Crystal was also "interesting".
We were due to leave Arc 1950 at 05:45 on Saturday but because of the decision to close the road between 2000 and Bourg from 05:00 to 07:00, Crystal decided to bring the pick-up forward by one hour i.e. be ready by 04:45. This seemed a bit optimistic given the delays that happen with pickups and so it proved to be. 04:45 came and went, the road was closed and the bus was stuck at 2000. Some of the people waiting to be picked up at 1950 weren't contacted and after having waited for half an hour in the perishing cold had to go back to their hotel reception to try and find out what was going on. Others people were told to go a hotel reception (Manoir, I think) where there was no Orange mobile coverage. They had to contact the reps by standing outside in the freezing gale to get any updates.
The road was opened at around 09:20 and the 1950 people were told to get ready for a 09:40 pick-up. Then the fun really started. A coach had beached itself on top of the crash barrier (mountain side) on the bend at the exit from the 1950 car park. The traffic from 2000 was stopped but the police were still letting traffic up the road from Bourg and chaos resulted (but at least it provided some entertainment whilst we waited and waited and waited). At 10:45, we finally got on the bus (some 6 hours later than planned) and 2 hours later (yes, 2 hours) we arrived a Bourg.
(On the journey down, the bus driver, who had limited English, suddenly shouted out "Yes, we have a winner" when he spotted a (Belgian) BMW going up and then sliding back down the road as his rear wheels lost grip whilst his beautifully chained front wheels proved to be of no help. The police were making people chain-up at Bourg but were clearly not checking that they were putting the chains on the correct wheels!
Eventually, we got to Geneva. The people flying with Thomson Airways to Bristol were put on a flight to Gatwick and were to be bussed from Gatwick to Bristol.
On arrival at Gatwick, it turned out that a large quantity of luggage (mainly skis?) was still in Geneva; cue lots of form filling. Most people cleared the airport at 18:00 (UK time) and those going to Bristol got on the Thomson-supplied bus for the next stage of their journey.
Obviously, Crystal can't be blamed for weather, beached bus, traffic chaos etc and they did good job of getting people back to the UK as quickly as they could. However, there were a couple of serious problems with the communication of what was going on to the people in 1950 and the decision, mentioned in your post, to bus the 04:00 people out on the Friday night because the road was to be closed at 05:00 on the Saturday and yet tell the 04:45 people that they would be making the journey as planned (albeit an hour earlier than scheduled) seems very odd.
In any event, a bit of any epic journey and it could have been a lot worse. Oh and yes, the skiing was wonderful.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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By the sounds of it we got off lightly with our return transfer!
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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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Never seen a snow circle before!!
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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| Quote: |
| On arrival at Gatwick, it turned out that a large quantity of luggage (mainly skis?) was still in Geneva; cue lots of form filling. |
... and just to complete this, the skis were delivered to my home at 8:30 on Tuesday morning.
If they did this all the time and could guarantee it, it would be a great service! I would rather not have to carry them through the airport to the car etc 
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