 Poster: A snowHead
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The basics: dates 30th March to 6th April. crew was me, the wife and our two children, son aged 7 (almost 8 ), and daughter 5years 8 months. DIY trip driving, using the tunnel. Apartment booked via website and local agency. As it is our last opportunity to get a free lift pass for the youngest we decided we would go back to Paradiski and stay in Les Coches for the 3rd time since we started skiing with kids.
Because it was Good Friday we had debated getting out to France the night before or crossing early on Friday but instead stuck to our late evening tunnel booking and driving through the night. We did however start out at lunch time and visited Bodiam Castle in Kent - a fairly well preserved medieval moated castle. We then had a nice evening meal at the The Bull Inn at Rolvenden, though the landlords dogs were a bit unruly! As there was local ales on offer I even risked a sneaky pint. Also going over to stay at Aime 2000 were two other families we knew and it was at this point we got a text saying there were two hour delays on the crossings. Not sure why. Still, I was able to grab 40 winks in the tunnel waiting car park to sleep off my steak and chips. Got at Carrefour just of the main drag going past Chambery at about 9 iirc whereupon we met one of the aforementioned families exiting with their shop! An hour later with madelaines, wine, meat, cheese, etc purchased and fuel tank topped up, we headed into resort. It was a bit sleety on arrival and there was a fair bit of meltwater lying around but plenty of the white stuff on the hill. Annoyingly we'd hit upon the agency lunch hour so had to hang around a bit before we could get into the apartment. With unpacking, tea drinking and the like, the afternoon soon past...
Weather wise the week was a mixed bag with temperatures spring like, never getting massively warm or cold. The odd tightenng/loosening and zipping/unzipping of garments was all that was required. There was some cloud, sometimes at valley level, sometimes a bit higher up. Occasionally there was a snow shower and iirc overnight Thursday probably a few cm's of fresh up top. But not windy and largely settled. The snow pack was pretty impressive for the time of the year as you could see looking at the depth on tops of some roofs and big boulders. A world of difference from the last two easter school holidays. I remember being at the bottom of the Transarc bubble and looking at the piste map board with every light being green. May even be a first for me, that!
As it's been over a week since we've got back I've lost some of the order of events but here's some sketchy details. First of all, from the "cock up" log a couple of listings: We had a toilet stop at the Roche De Mio plateau. Missus and daughter go first. Laddo didn't want to go and so climbed the pile of snow next to the gondola building. As he will do to pretty much any pile of snow if you give him 5 secs of down time. Wife and daughter return so off I trot. Come back and all hell has broke lose. Wife is near the top of the pile of snow in a semi distressed state with a couple of workers also getting rather animated. Son looking bemused. But no daughter. Turns out she has joined said brother on pile of snow and then decided she really needed that giant icicle hanging down the side of the building. And then she was two metres down a snow hole! Anyway fair play to the lift workers they reacted quickly and calmly and got her out. She was a bit shaken, had a bruised bottom and a rip in her salopettes. Plus a lesson learned. Me and mum felt a bit embarrassed. You always think you should have seen the danger. By the same token the innocence of children can be hard to relate to for an adult.
Cock up number two was I'm afraid a tick in my stupidity box. Going down into the valley off to the left as you going up towards the col that goes over into Plagne from the Les Coches sector, there is an old but even though I say it myself quite viscious 2-man chair lift called Bauches. Mum and son pair up to go on and off they swing. Dad lines up daughter. Lift worker carefully helps daughter on to lift. Dad fails to plant @rse on chair properly and gets shoved out. Lift continues with little girl by herself until worker stops it with daughter 3/4 metres off the ground. Long story short the lift guy managed to knock the saftey bar into place with a shovel and a bit of a jump. Daughter was persuaded she could travel alone. Dad red-faced gets on following lift by which an audience of 20-30 people had gathered wondering what all the fuss was about! Slightly surprised how little stick I got from the wife on that one. Needless to say though when we returned to the lift another day, the wife went with the daughter and I was more careful getting on with the eldest!!
Picnic tables are sprouting up at a rate of knots all over the ski area which is great and welcomed by family picnickers like ourselves. Talking of which have they built some kind of platform at the top of Aiguille Rouge. It's almost like going up the Empire State Building these days. Or maybe my memory fails me and it's always been like that. Anyhow we skied all the way from the top to the base at Villaroger in lovely conditions until the slush at the very bottom. Only problem being missy needed a poo halfway down which kind of broke the link  But it really is a fantastic descent. One of the more intriguing pistes I've encountered is Malgovert going back over into Les Arcs 1600 territory from the Comborciers chair lift. Really fun and quirky terrain before opening up into the wider Mont Blanc run.
I have always found lifts under the lifts somehow a bit of a cheat or a bit dodgy. Not where it's quite open. I mean more when it's through the trees. I don't know why really. Anyway we skied under the Plan Bois chair up from Les Coches a few times when we had powder snow the christmas before last. And we did it loads this time. Even though for the most part it was less powdery. There are some great variation of pitches, some nice little jumps and hollows. Some of the piste alternatives are fairly tame or icy. It's hard to ignore and we ended up skiing home that way every night.
Over the course of the week we split our time about 50/50 on the two sides of the Vanoise Express and used the good snow conditions to effect skiing to the far reaches of the large area. One of the places we didn't go was up the Bellecote bubble and onto the glacier. That was because the one time we wanted to there was mechanical problems with the bubble. Heard it had occured earlier in the week aswell. Maybe time for an upgrade!
Les Coches seemed to be making plenty of effort to entertain in the evenings. We tended to make full use of the longer days on the slopes and what with beer and tea drinking, cake eating, showering and preparing for dinner we never seemed to get round to checking it out when we got back. What a bunch of stick in the muds eh! But you could hear the music and loudspeakers and see some activity.
The eldest child is still coming on leaps and bounds skiing wise. We bought him some poles halfway through the week and you really can take him anyway these days. He seems really quite comfortable on ski's and it's great to see him so relaxed with what he is doing. We encourage him to work on his technique, do long turns, short turns, tricks and jumps. And indulge in his constant hunt for "jumps". The younger one seems reluctant to get out of her snowplough and into parallel. We had a few successes on shallower terrain but being female and a red head you can't push things! I pinched a few forays into safe off piste just to keep my hand in. The wife was angling to take the Saturday off and go visit some landmark or other but was persuaded otherwise. And it was a beautiful day with hardly anyone about. We met up with the other families mentioned at the start of the report a couple of times. Once to ski for a couple of hours and for a quick chat over lunch on the last day, which was a nice sociable bonus to the trip.
So all in all another great, fun family ski trip. Long may they continue
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Layne, You'll be pleased to hear that the Bauches lift is being replaced by the Coqs chairlift, possibly this summer, as the lift company think the Coqs lift isn't needed over in the Montalbert sector.
The Bellecote glacier lift is due for replacement but such a massive cost will probably not go down well with the shareholders or the Paris stock exchange.....
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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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Layne, that Bauches lift claimed a Ski Club leader this year. Not only did he fall off, but poor chap then forgot to duck and got hit on the head by the following chair. Knocked out for some seconds, concussed for an hour or so. Lucky he was wearing a helmet or could have been a lot worse.
boredsurfin, excellent news about the Bauches upgrade. But if the Coqs lift goes, does that mean the only way back to Plagne Centre is the La Roche lift?
And how do you find out about these changes?
What really needs upgrading is the long slow Fornelet lift (210 chairs): the other 2 lower villages (Montchavin/Les Coches and Champagny) have a gondola - poor Montalbert has the longest slowest chair that renders you cryonic in cold weather.
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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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Jonpim, Montalbert is getting a Gondola but at a cost of 5 lifts being removed, you are quite correct the only way out of the Becoin and Montalbert sector will be by the La Roche lift which is having more chairs added to it giving uplift of 2800 seats per hour from the current 1800 seats per hour.
Best site for info is http://perso-laplagne.fr/Actualites.htm and http://www.leforumdeparadiski.fr/viewforum.php?f=7
If you are on Twitter montalbert73 is OK for news at times 
Last edited by You need to Login to know who's really who. on Wed 17-04-13 9:40; edited 1 time in total
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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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Layne, that Bauches lift claimed a Ski Club leader this year. Not only did he fall off, but poor chap then forgot to duck and got hit on the head by the following chair. Knocked out for some seconds, concussed for an hour or so. Lucky he was wearing a helmet or could have been a lot worse.
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Jonpim, I know I shouldn't, but I did laugh out loud at that
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Thanks peeps. Will definitely be telling the wife about the Ski Club leader  And of course about the replacement of the lift.
Thanks for the links boredsurfin, some very interesting developments. Montalbert was one corner of the domain we didn't reach though I remember it could be quite painful to get out of from previous trips.
I find the Bellecote a bit of an oddity in some ways but clearly for a number of reasons is essential to the status of the area. If breakdowns are ever frequent they may have to bite the bullet I guess.
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Ha! Yep, any snow pile and mine are on it. There was a huge pile outside the snow hire shop that they kept playing on and it was a miracle there were not casualties as it wasn't exactly safe over the far side!
The week we were there I think only two lunchtimes were good for picnics but I agree with you about all the tables. Always amuses me seeing them in a blizzard though!
My six year old is the same about jumps.. it never even occurred to me that this would happen before we went, but you live and learn!
Great review, really enjoyed reading it especially as it was mostly similar area at almost the same time!
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