Resort- La Tania
Date 5th-12th Jan 2013
Chalet Baikal
Free Ride Republic
Who- Group of 8, mixed ability. 1 first time skier, and 2 who have skied for over 30 years.
Six of us arrived in Geneva around 1pm on Saturday; the other 2 had driven on Friday and met us in resort. The company owner greeted us for our transfer, which was included in the price. The weather was glorious, and forecast to be the same for at least the next 5 days. The transfer took approximately 2.5 hours and traffic for a Saturday was reasonably quiet, I expect this was due to January being a relatively quiet month.
We arrived at the Chalet at about 4.30pm. Baikal is toward the top end of the village, in between the draglift and the blue run back to the Gondola. The property is a large typical chalet. It has been split into 2 properties, and can sleep 10 one side and 8 the other. We were in the larger side, and had 2 more guests arriving later. The ground floor is where the Chalet hosts living area is, plus a boot room (with heaters for 5 pairs), ski rack, and toilet. The first floor has a living dining area, plus an open kitchen. While not huge, the 10 of us regularly sat around comfortably in the evenings. There was a TV with freeview, Wii, and wireless. We literally did not turn the TV, or Wii on, however, I am sure if you were unwell for a day, this would be very useful. The free wireless seemed to work ok, and skype calls worked in most rooms.
On the first floor are 3 bedrooms (2 twin, 1 dbl). These rooms are on the small side, and there was very little space for unpacking and storing items. One of the twins has a balcony, but due to the bijou size, the bed was blocking the door, so it would be difficult to get out on it. There was also a shower room, a bathroom and a separate toilet. So 6 people sharing 1 toilet. Not ideal, but if you were desperate, you could go down the 2 floors to the boot room.
I did not venture upstairs, however I believe there are 2 much larger rooms built into the eaves, with plenty of storage space and a shower cubicle in each room. There was also a separate toilet.
One big bonus of the property is an outside hot tub on a terrace. We used this a lot, more then we first thought, and it was great for aching legs.
The Chalet hosts are Brad and Suzy, a young Kiwi couple. I cannot praise them enough. It’s my first experience of a Chalet holiday, and I can now completely see why the hosts can make all the difference. The food was excellent and plentiful, individual requirements were catered for with no issues, and they were great fun to be around.
After we had settled in we walked into the village to pick up our boots and skis. We had all used alpine resorts, and that meant intersport in La Tania. The shop is small compared to some of the other hire places, but the equipment was of a good standard, and we had no complaints. One of the guys in my group has size 14 feet and is 6ft 5, so not surprisingly he ended up with brand new boots, and some very nice skis!
After a lovely beef bourguignon, we all excitedly went to bed in anticipation of our first day skiing.
The 3 valleys is offering a discount if more then 3 people book a lift pass at the same time. This is worth doing, and saved us 15 euros each. Ralph, the company owner had been on purchased these for us on the first evening, saving us having to do it ourselves.
The weather for the first 4 days of skiing was exactly the same, so I won’t repeat it again. Sunny, great visibility, with a high around 4 degrees C. Sunglasses and sun cream at the ready!
There had been loads of snow in the area in December, so I should never have worried when seeing the forecast. It was still pilled up very high in the village, so no danger of it running out!
Day 1 Skiing.
I had not been to The 3 Valleys before, in fact, I had never been to a resort anything close to it on scale and extent. You really do have to go there to appreciate it. We spent the first day mainly in the Courchevel valley, although we did head over to St Martin in the afternoon. We mainly stayed on blues, with some reds as we got our skiing legs back. The snow was great. Some perfect corduroy groomed pistes, and some less groomed with softer snow. The runs around the Altiport, and also leading down from the Biolley 6 man were some of my favourites of the day. Why are the runs down to 1650 so deserted? They are great. The couple who’ve been skiing for 30 years proved extremely helpful. Rob (who comes on here sometimes I believe) knows the area like the back of his hand. He was also great at pushing us intermediate skiers to try things we might not have done. By the end of the week he had all 8 of us skiing together, and the complete beginner skiing black runs for fun! We tried a little off piste on the way down to St Martin, and heading home through Mottaret. Even though the snow was not fresh, there were still plenty of untouched areas, and some pretty powdery stuff that I spent most of my time face first in! Please excuse my use of (probably incorrect) terms; I am a complete novice with off piste, and only skied 3 weeks before this holiday, 13 years previously.
This had been by far my most fun day skiing ever! Finished off with a Vin Chaud at the top of the La Tania Gondola, some lovely cake at the chalet, hot tub, and a great roast pork and potato dinner.
Day 2 Skiing
5 of us decided to head to VT, and this proved to be easy, and not too time consuming, and included my first ever black run (a short groomed run into VT, can’t remember the name). The highlight of the trip was heading up the Cime de Caron, having lunch at the top, then skiing down Coombe de Caron, which turned out to be a mogul steep black run. Rob again proved essential, and he talked us all through it, we took our time, and all felt very satisfied with our efforts. You really do need to push yourself to improve, and I also agree that you should not spend a long time looking at slopes from the top, just get on and ski it, and back yourself. We slowly made our way back towards La Tania, stopping to have a little fun (at my expense), as we tried out the rollers and half pipe in the DK Park. I tried a few more jumps afterwards, with little success, but as we settled in for our vin chaud I decided that this had now been the best day I had ever had skiing! A lovely lasagne followed a humid hot tub, and after we decided who had won splat of the day, we retired to bed.
Day 3 we all started out skiing together, including the couple that were in the other room in the chalet, who we were getting on great with. We headed up Suisse then skied creux, which was excellent fun. Although our little foray off-piste from the top of the cat track was not too successful! 10 became 7 as the day went on, and we skied some more of the un crowded 1650 slopes, before trying out some more black runs, including Suisse, and one off to the Meribel side from the top of visselle? Mont Vallon was also a lot of fun. We met up with the rest of the group later at the Folie Douche to see what all the fuss was about. It is an incredible place, and you can hear it from a long way off. We had planned to be picked up from Rond Pont at 6pm (a service offered by Ralph at no expense), but decided at the last minute that we would rather ski back to La Tania and have a drink in the Ski Lodge. We had 8 mins to get to the Loze chair. It was a mad dash, and a bit of a challenge for our complete beginner, but with much begging in Franglais, we persuaded the lifties to keep it running for a few extra minutes. It is worth mentioning at this point that the Loze chair had been the only slow chair we rode for the first 3 days. The place is amazing; you can completely avoid slow chairs if you want to.
After a late dip in the hot tub, and bangers and mash, talk turned to the plans for day 4.
We had mentioned the ‘escapade’ a few times during the week, and we decided that if we were to try it, then it would have to be Wednesday. Seeing two smiling faces on the La Tania website, of guys who had completed it that day, was spurring us on to have a go. At first all of the group were planning on giving it a go, but after a reality check, it whittled down to 5 of us. In the previous 3 days, we had managed an average of 16 lifts a day, with the most being 18. To complete the ‘escapade’ we would need to ride 35 lifts, and this included several slow chairs, and 2 long drags.
Day 4.
So there we were, naively standing in the front of the queue for the Gondola, determined to complete the ‘escapade’ as a group of 5. I will not go into too much detail about it, but will happily answer questions if anyone has any. Despite a few late opening lifts, stoppages, wee breaks, crashes, and falls, we managed to complete it and get to the Plantrey lift at 4.31pm, 4 mins before it closed for the day, and we did it as a group of 5. Rob again was the key. Apart from 2 runs, he was 100% sure of the route, meaning the rest of us could just concentrate on skiing. I would say that you should think long and hard about whether you want to try this or not. I am massively proud of what I achieved, and the feeling was a highlight of the week. However, it was not a ‘fun’ day. It has fun elements, but it was hard work, and I was just skiing from one lift to another, without being able to take in everything around me. I am not sure I would do it again, but I do now have a certificate and badge to show for my efforts. We skied over 56 miles in the day, and covered just under 100 including lifts!
It was Chalet Host’s day off, so we had a very nice meal in La Tania, pint in the pub, then home to rest the weary legs.
Day 5
The weather had changed, it had become colder, and you could see the cloud was coming in. We headed up to the top of the Suisse chair fairly early, but the visibility was dropping fast. Skiing down the cat track part of creux was not fun, as you could not tell where the edge was. We headed down into Meribel and decided to stay fairy low, before heading back to the Courchevel valley after lunch. From the top of the Loze, we did what turned out to be my favourite run of the week, Dou de lanches? A fairly steep black that runs down to the bou blanc bowl. From there we skied down to Le Praz on Jockeys (another great one), before heading up to 1850 and skiing dou de midi, which was another almost untouched run down to 1550. January is a quiet time, and we rarely had to queue all week. Some of the runs into meribel, Motterat, and 1850 were crowded, but it was easily possible to find empty slopes somewhere, even on a day when you would expect everyone to stay low in the trees. It had started to snow around lunchtime, and we were hoping for a lot more overnight. Coffee cake, hot tub, chicken curry, splat of the day award, then bed.
Day 6
We woke up to find a lot more snow then the predicted 10cm, so were anxious to get out early to experience what was a first for most of us, a ‘powder day’ The first run was carnage, apart from our 2 experienced skiers, the rest of us were dropping like flies, scattered around the slope as if skiing on a minefield. We eventually got the hang of the different technique needed, and had an absolute blast. La Tania has to be one of the best places in the 3 Valleys to be on a day like that. We only skied the reds and blacks around Le Praz, La Tania, and 1550, played around in the trees, and enjoyed some waist deep powder off piste.
Tartiflette was the final meal, and was a great.
The skies had cleared by Saturday morning, so we were treated to some phenomenal views as we slowly got ready for our transfer back to Geneva, for a slightly delayed, but uneventful return to a drizzly Gatwick.
Overall, it was a fantastic week, and we are already talking about planning next years trip. The points I make about the size of the rooms on the first floor, lack of storage and hanging space, and lack of en suite are minor issues, and for the price we paid I feel we got great value for money. Transfers and packed lunches were included in the price, and this was a massive bonus, as was the hot tub. We booked for a group of 8 at the end of August, and this was the best deal at the time. As I mentioned earlier, Brad and Suzy were fantastic, and anyone booked into the Baikal this year will have a great time.
La Tania itself is a great resort. It was perfect for a group of mixed ability skiers, and serves as the perfect base for the 3 Valleys. It sits picturesquely in the trees, which really come into their own on a poor weather day.
In total we paid £780 each which included, catered Chalet accommodation, with all the usual stuff that comes with that, 6 hot meals, unlimited wine etc, flights, transfers, packed lunches, lift pass, and ski hire.
Happy to answer any questions
Wow its long; if anyone has got this far, they are very patient!
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
jonkgray78, excellent report; you were extremely lucky with the weather, that might turn out to be the best week of the entire season. Gorgeous weather, then a nice dump of snow. You could easily have hit a week (like this one) with a great deal of the poor vis and flat light you disliked so much.
Your holiday sounds to have been super value for money; having a local guide is invaluable in such a huge area.
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?
I will put some up when I get them on my computer. For now though, here's a short video of me trying the half pipe for the first time! It doesn't go so well. Its the DK park.
Great Report.. maybe see you back in La Tania next year
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
In La Tania for 19th to 26th week staying in the Grand Bois apartments traveling with Crystal.
Long journey because of divert to Lyons from Chambery and the usual chaos that causes.
La Tania is pretty, small, purpose built and quiet in January.
Very good apartment, well equipped, big enough for 2 to be comfortable, avoid 9th floor its a public walkway.
Brilliant week skiing, sun, new snow, more sun and temperatures that kept the snow in good condition. Lunch and coffee outside most days, big grins all round.
Quiet slopes, few Q s, have skied the 3 Valleys for years and still find slopes we've overlooked. It is a wonderful place to ski.
Getting to be 'an older' skier now, and January seems to find a lot of us on the slopes, and grading down a bit... it is possible to ski the whole of the 3 valleys on blue and greens..... and get many miles under the new skis!
FAQ
Poster: A snowHead
