 Poster: A snowHead
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The facts – who we are and why Morzine-Avoriaz
- There were six of us – me, OH, sister, BIL, nephew (22) and niece (19). BIL and niece had to return half-way through for work/uni commitments – the rest of us wept a few tears and then took to the slopes once more.
- We had never visited or stayed in the area before.
- The plane & Geneva airport beckoned (we usually take the Eurostar snowtrain for skiing trips) as it was quick in and out for BIL and niece.
- We like places with challenging pronunciations – Avoriaz still remains a mystery even after a week there (to “z” or not to “z” that is the question...)
Transport
- easyJet flights from Birmingham and Luton, with one of the return flights to Edinburgh. All according to plan, except BIL, who endured a 3 hour wait on the return due to essential maintenance work. (Meal vouchers were promised... but only to my sister who was at the time skiing off-piste on the Morzine side when her mobile bleeped...)
- Transfer – two straightforward trips organised by our accommodation provider, using a 3rd party company. Me and OH used Alpybus on the way out from Geneva. We found a comfortable perch at the airport as there was about an hour delay (apparently due to snow in Morzine... some of that infamous British snow must have fallen out of the French skies...) but I forgave the driver when he offered to carry my skis part way to the car park (a long walk from arrivals).
Accommodation
- Alptitude’s Telemark apartment in Morzine, just round the corner from the Super Morzine bubble. A longer 7 - 10 minute walk to the Pleney gondola, uphill on the way there. We tried to catch the small train one morning, but again it was late due to heavy snow!
- Me and OH had a double with en suite. The family room was great for the others, with twins and a sturdy bunk. Their bathroom was downstairs. Large living area and kitchen. Pluses for us – free wifi, MP3 speaker, half dozen eggcups, washing machine and large dining table, and great views to the Stade from upstairs (good on fireworks night) and down the main street from the balcony (giant carved wooden cows, plastic cows, big hairy happy dogs, and general melee of life which so much entertains us). Rudechalets was opposite, obviously we were curious so checked out their website too...
Skiing areas
- Massive Portes du Soleil region, we went for the full pass which covers many French and Swiss resorts. Where to start...
- Tree skiing was popular due to heavy snow all week. The blue and red runs around The Stash park in Avoriaz were sheltered and fun.
- Mont Chery the far side of Les Gets was incredibly quiet. According to the “ex-pats” the blacks were thigh deep in powder (grooming problems the previous night, again due to snow...). We stuck to the reds mainly and particularly enjoyed the north side as we had it almost to ourselves. The small trees and shrubs off-piste proved forgiving... lots of bumps and some challenging (for us) steep sections.
- More on the Morzine runs below under the Lessons section... mostly enjoyable, but there are also a lot of flat stretches and much poling required when returning from the Les Gets area to Morzine. Piste F was another option, but incredibly narrow and icy at the top.
- Avoriaz up high – we only made brief attempts due to the weather, but enjoyed what we found, particularly as (due to the weather) it was very quiet. Sometimes we felt more like kites than skiers however... wind can be helpful or it can be extremely scary, especially when cliffs rear up from nowhere in the poor visibility.
- On our last day the sun finally put in an appearance and we decided to head off to Switzerland. We went high and over to Les Crosets. Stunning red and black (for snowboarding nephew) down into the resort. We explored other reds – spectacular views (we’d been deprived most of the week so lapped up the scenery) and some brand new fast chairlifts with novel design to prevent anyone slipping out (so novel only my helmet prevented a head injury..... )
Lift system
- Generally very few queues at this time of year. The main problem was the wind, which completely closed down Avoriaz on one of our days. Nephew was desperate to get to snowboard lesson at noon... a) one of the connecting lifts from Super Morzine to Avoriaz was closed.... b) we took a bus to Prodains bubble, and then just before arriving the bus driver announced that this too was closed.... c) we decided to take chair lifts up instead, but again this wasn’t possible due to wind closing down the system. We were just about to give up completely when they opened the lifts and away we went. This was the day we became kites and were just blown down the mountain all by ourselves... Nephew made it to lesson just in time though.
- Some of the lifts do seem old and slow though, and in Mont Chery we found antique two seaters.
Weather
- Three things stick in my mind about this week’s weather in particular, a) everyone singing “I can see clearly now....” in ironic tones.... b) the not pleasant sensation of being “sandblasted” by the fast-flying sharp snow... and c) recalling that famous documentary of the Antarctica penguins huddling together in a blizzard to prevent dying from over exposure...
- For the first time ever the wind blew me backwards away from the place where I was meant to sit down on a chairlift.
It snowed, and snowed, and SNOWED! Every day I think for the whole week. For 4 out of 6 days the pistes were all like skiing off piste for the first hour or so of the day. This was good. We needed a new challenge (approx 13 week skiers who are still tested on challenging terrain and in deep snow...)
Lessons
- 4 of the skiers had lessons with Andy Cavet of LGS on the Morzine side (www.skischool.co.uk). He immediately worked out what we wanted (OH – get me on blacks! Rest – give us perfect technique in 2 hours) and so we tried the bottom half of the black Yeti and worked on short turns/technique for the first session. Lesson 2 was THE powder snow day. Andy didn’t ask but took us to a quiet section of off piste amongst trees, gave us some tips and we just went for it!! I lost count of the number of mega crashes. It was like being a beginner all over again, but we were hooked, and just kept trying and failing all afternoon. (Thank God for the new salopettes...) Andy said – “you can ski the pistes any time, but on a day like this you’ve just got to go off piste...” He was right! (We kept practising at the side of the piste for the rest of the week... with varying degrees of success... unexpected small streams can provide extreme entertainment for the rest of the group I discovered...)
- Nephew, snowboarder, had 4 lessons with Mikael from Mint snowboarding over in Avoriaz. Day 1 was jumping off 1 – 3 metre jumps off piste amongst the trees with just one other snowboarder. By Day 4 the jumps in the park and The Stash were a doddle by comparison... group of 4 blokes by then and more about that in apres....
Eating out
- We ate out every lunchtime, either on the mountain or in resort. Me and OH are veggies, but cheese is a menu staple so we never struggled. Fave places – La Grand Ourse on Mont Chery (real chocolate spoons), Chalet du Nabor at the top of Pleney, Les Trappeurs in Avoriaz, and Chez Coquoz above Les Crosets in Switzerland.
- Nephew’s birthday dinner was at one of the restaurants along The Strip called L'Auberge de la Combe a Zore, just a few places down from The Tremplin. They had chickpea soup on the menu which tempted us veggies in, but in the end I went for cannelloni and it was delicious. Others had escalope and spaghetti bolognese and were similarly impressed...
Apres-ski
- Nephew and niece went out late (10pm) for his birthday in Morzine, but reported it fairly quiet. They tried Dixies Bar, Rhodos and others.
- The next day nephew went out straight after snowboarding with new mates and found Tremplins to be packed, live music and just the right atmosphere.
- Nephew and his Mum watched the England-Brazil footie match, I think at Dixies, and reported a good result and a typically Brit response to said result. The rest of us (sorry) yawned...
- And generally the grown ups dozed back at the apartment, checked the snowheads snow reports, checked the actual snowfall and listened to Mumford & Sons, and relived that hilarious megacrash in the deep Morzine powder yet again.
Conclusion
- Another brilliant week skiing (or trying to!)
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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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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Sounds like you had a good one and it bodes well for us unfortunate types who will be out for half term - surely all that snow can't disappear before next Sunday.
Not to "z" I believe.
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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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Not to "z" I believe.
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Oh. I've been saying AvoriaZ for years... So its just Avoira then?
I get an edulcation in how to pronounce French ski resorts every UCPA trip, Turns out I have been pronouncing pretty much everywhere wrong!
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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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There was a thread on this a while ago ... the "z" in Avoriaz isn't pronounced by locals (nor in "Nendaz" which is pronounced, roughly, "non-da") but they are so used to hearing the "z", especially in Avoriaz, that it has become almost an alternative ... that is what I was told by a local anyway.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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I understand it is a Savoyard thing and that the "z" at the end of names is not pronounced. That said you certainly hear both versions in use and if you say either people will know where you mean.
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no, Avoria. My Francophone Belgian friend pronounces the X at the end of Chamonix. And the place called Gex, in the Jura, definitely pronounces the X too - I asked a woman working in a café there. I had to ask how to pronounce "Laon" too (in Laon, not in Gex  ).
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pam w, there is a place called "Bex" in the valley near Monthey - we stayed there once but we were told not to pronounce the "x", so it was called "Beh", more of an expletive than than a name really ... and they say English is difficult to learn 
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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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sanman, French pronunciation is a lot more predictable than English.
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