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Les Gets - 11-18 Feb 2012 - Trip Report

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
We travelled down overnight leaving the UK on Friday. Eurotunnel was pretty messed up, so even though we were 2 hours early for our train, delays meant that we actually left 2 hours late (so 4 hours waiting at Folkestone Sad )

We arrived at Taninges around 8am having left the A40 at Junction 15 and driven up the valley road, and bought some provisions at the SuperU (although we later discovered that the Carrefour in Les Gets has all the food/drink you would want to buy anyway). We also filled the car with Diesel from the small Garage in Taninges to ensure the -14C wouldn't cause us problems later in the week.

We rented a 4bed apartment in the Chalet Caribou from Alpine Pursuits and it REALLY is a ski-in/ski-out apartment. It is right at the bottom of the La Turche blue run as it bends left to reach the button-tow. The apartment was clean and warm, plenty of room for the 7 of us (the chalet has 11 beds (2 + 2 + 3 + 4).

Skis were rented from SkiRepublic right opposite the gondola station, and had already been set aside with our names on (using the information provided over the internet). So we were skiing by 12:30 on the first Saturday.

Saturday and Sunday were spent getting "ski-legs" back in working order and sticking to the Blues around LesGets, Morzine and Ranfoilly Bowl. The advantage of being next to the La Turche button tow is that you can be going up at 9am with no queuing at all and into the Bowl before most people have clipped their boots on in LesGets.

Monday we left LaTurche at 9am and were in Morzine at 10am (route = Renardiere, Gentiane, Bruyere, PisteN, PisteB). With two "Girly-Girls" of 12 and 13 they're not bombing down the runs like teenage boys, but make steady progress. The mini train across Morzine was quick and frequent and we were on our way to Switzerland. Getting to Avoriaz is a bit flat, so ensure that you tuck all along the Seraussaix Blue (otherwise you're walking). Down the Mossettes blue and then wrap up warm before taking the Chairlift up to the Ponte De Mossette. Even on a sunny day like Monday, the wind was bitter. There is a "new" blue run down into Les Crosets called Grande Conche which seems to link to the Pauvre Conche and Abricotine runs together. Since it is "new" the signposting is a little vague in places. Anyway, by 12pm we were drinking hot chocolate in the centre of Les Crosets. Everyone was tired so we came back (almost following our tracks up the Grande Conche chair and all the way down Abricotine. Back home by 4pm.

It is worth mentioning at this point that there are two routes back to the La Turche side of LesGets if you're stuck to blue runs. Either down into LesGets and up the chair/gondola (which involves queuing with the ski-schools and is a longer run) or down a blue called Granges and up the Charniaz Chairlift. The Granges run gets quite icy and polished at the top by the afternoon, and this is not a nice blue for tired & cautious legs.

Tuesday - everyone was tired, so after a quick blast around LesGets and the Charniaz area we left the "tired ones" while the "stronger" skiers went to Mont Chery. I wouldn't take a "blue runner" there, but for a competent Red skier it is very good and quiet - even at half term.

Tuesday night and all through Wednesday the snow fell. This gave a fantastic new covering, but also terrible visibility. At the top of the Grans d'Or chairlift on the way home I told my daughter to "follow the guy in the chair in-front" while I adjusted my rucksack/poles/gloves. But by the time our chair had arrived at the top she turned and said "I can't see him". Visibility down to 10meters.. nice!

Thursday was another trip to Les Crosets, but now with the experience of where to tuck! Lunch in a lovely restaurant at L'Echereuse with roaring fire and a view of the Swiss Wall. We inspected it as we went up the chairlift...... and ignored it as we skied back down the Chavanette Blue into Avoriaz. The piste map doesn't show this well, but the two are joined to each other.

Friday and Saturday are traditionally "favourite run" days. After a week of skiing I always ensure that we don't have any stupid accidents by overstretching on the last couple of days. Everyone gets to pick their favourite runs, and we all do them together. This works well with the kids who need the "confidence" that they know what they're doing.

We finished skiing at 1pm on Saturday and handed back the apartment and skis. Most of the "changeover" traffic had left the mountain by now, so we had a simple and quick run all the way to Calais. Home in Oxford by 1am... and now back at work Sad


To summarise. I would recommend LesGets to anyone that can ski a Blue or better. If you're a complete beginner, then don't stay out at La Turche (too far to the Green slopes). The full PdS pass makes economic sense if you will go to Avoriaz and beyond at least 2x in a week (which we did). I'm told we were lucky with the snow, it remained fresh and crisp throughout the day. But the network of runs meant that the ski-population seemed pretty well spread out over the area. They could just do with a run from the top of the Folliets du Golf chair to the bottom of the Croix chair Wink
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
jamescollings, nice report.
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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?
Pamski wrote:
jamescollings, nice report.

+1 and wouldn't it be just perfect if they could just speed up the Croix. If I've had a Yeti stop, it's often preferable to ski down to the Chavannes to keep warm rather than freeze on that one Toofy Grin
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Mrs HairyBoy and I went Monday-Friday the same week (kids were away with schooltrips so we took the opportunity for a few days ski-ing just the two of us).

Stayed with Carly and Mally at their Chalet - www.mrski.co.uk

First experience of a chalet and it was great. We were really well looked after by these english owners, Carly helped us with transfers from Geneva with 'Morzexpress' and also picked our lift passes up before we arrived. Food was lovely, ample portions and plenty of wine with the meal. Couldn't have asked for better hosts and would definately recommend this chalet without hesitation.

Top Tip: ski bus (which stopped just outside the chalet) up to the 'Florietes' lift which was really quiet and kept us away from the main village half-term lift queaes at the start of the day.

The main les gets bowl (includes la Rosta chair) was an absolute dream of an area. Snow this year is clearly fab - we had another 6-8 inches on Wednesday to top things up nicely.

The 'Blanchot' was a great stop for a Croque Monsiuer and the best Vin Chau I have ever tasted. Great for a stop on a good day as only seating outside (the Blanchot is halfway down Choucas blue run).

Will definately go back to les gets and would definately stay again at mrski's chalet.
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Great to hear such happy and positive reports. snowHead
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jamescollings, and Hairy Boy, Very Happy Very Happy

Blanchot is one of my firm favourites and I have mentioned it here once or twice. Lovely guy, lovely rum, lovely prices (and he could be forgiven for cashing in on the extras the new lift has brought but he hasn't). I spent an hour there on our second ever ski trip. OH and eldest took the old Blanchot poma lift (was rather steep, especially for beginners). Lift broke down with lots of poor people hanging on for dear life. My OH decided that they would be better getting off and ended up getting stuck in very deep snow. Meanwhile I was left to try and explain to liftie at the bottom what had happened and could he possibly stop the lift again briefly to allow them to ski down the narrow track of the poma - in French Toofy Grin
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Hairy Boy, I do hope that Mally didn't get the karaoke machine out wink
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