Club Med Val Thorens used ESF.
Val d'Isere/Tignes, Jan. 7-15, 2023
- Thread starter Sbooker
- Start date
And your assessment? You have perspective.
I will report more from today later but my daughter borrowed her mum’s boots and skis this afternoon. Her last time on skis was pre Covid. December 2019 in Japan. It’s like she last skied a month ago.
She’s going back to skis once the snowboard lessons with her friend finishes.
She’s going back to skis once the snowboard lessons with her friend finishes.
Alpine Experience ran a tight ship in terms of wanting people to farm their turns. I was with iSKI on the days with all time powder conditions. Val Thorens had weather/conditions challenges, but ChrisC said ESF did a good job of showing me key off piste itineraries.
ChrisC
Well-known member
I was booked with Oxygene but they cancelled due to lack of participants????
So I tried Snoworks and they were booked out. A English fellow I skied with (on piste) back in March gave me Phillips’s name. He’s with ESF. I know they get a bum rap sometimes but he’s been fantastic. (I’m getting French lessons for free each morning when I’m with him).
I was the only American in Andermatt in 2020. They were annoyed... I got placed in lower-level groups.....they did not always want to deal with Americans songs.....F- the Germans.
In, Andermatt, I got skiing with an outdoorsy girl from Switzerland, the sad old racing guys retreated at lunch....and it was just me ....and her.
But we survived .....big day at Gemsstock/Andermatt.
She had just been in rainy BC in 2020
Last edited:
Three of the kids were in lessons yesterday. They have all progressed wonderfully. My lad has ditched his lessons. Spent the morning skiing the overnight fresh snow off the side of the pistes on the Val side. Tom zoomed down The Face with aplomb.
The three others joined us this afternoon as the cloud started to close in. Got the novelty photos with the big Val D’Isere sign and the ‘heart’ frame at the viewpoint. To my disappointment Santons was closed for some reason???? Certainly not due to lack of snow. I enjoyed the ‘half pipe’ style when just me and Kylie were here last March.
The kids were very impressed with the fancy gondolas. Also we had a great coffee at Maison Chevallot in Val village. Only 3 Euro for a cafe crème and very reasonably priced pastries too. No croissants?
The kids were absolutely shattered last night so I cooked and we ate in. I had to wake two off them for dinner at 7pm.
The three others joined us this afternoon as the cloud started to close in. Got the novelty photos with the big Val D’Isere sign and the ‘heart’ frame at the viewpoint. To my disappointment Santons was closed for some reason???? Certainly not due to lack of snow. I enjoyed the ‘half pipe’ style when just me and Kylie were here last March.
The kids were very impressed with the fancy gondolas. Also we had a great coffee at Maison Chevallot in Val village. Only 3 Euro for a cafe crème and very reasonably priced pastries too. No croissants?
The kids were absolutely shattered last night so I cooked and we ate in. I had to wake two off them for dinner at 7pm.
So you think Lily will be up for exploring more ski resorts with you and Emily after Les Arcs?
So your crew got to ski the moguls on Epaule de Charvet?
Santons is a terrain trap if there's unstable snow. We skied the skier's right wall above Santons in April corn in 2018, dropping into the piste only at the very end. The opposite wall was sun baked and probably vulnerable to a wet slide if disturbed. A deep gully like that would also not have done well in the rain a couple of weeks ago.
So your crew got to ski the moguls on Epaule de Charvet?
Last edited:
I think so. I guess we’ll see this time next week. I don’t understand the concept of getting tired/bored of skiing but to some it may be a thing.
I don’t know where that is. The kids (aside from Tom) have not snowboarded any moguls.
Kylie hates them by the way.
If you were at the top of Santos (red) and it was closed, Epaule de Charvet (black next to it) is the only other way down from there.
Oh. It appeared the whole area was closed. I could be wrong though. We went back up the lift and took the Face down to Val. Kylie opted for the red halfway down.
The Face was fairly grippy. Although it was about 10am so hadn’t been skied off as much.
There was overnight snow and it continued until about 11am. Then sunny/partly sunny weather before it started snowing again about 2pm. The hill is in fantastic shape now.
We headed down to Les Brevieres to take advantage of tree cover in the morning. I know you’re all hard core skiers so it’s probably not cool to enjoy 4 inches of snow on groomers but to holiday skiers it’s pretty special. My wife was in her version of powder heaven. In between the runs was superb as the snow from previous days is still in good condition.
Visibility wasn’t great on the way down to the trees area but it didn’t matter on the groomers. They were perfectly creamy.
Weather started to clear.
Obligatory Aguille Percee shot.
Some of the rock formations on the western part of the ski area are vaguely Dolomites like. Or is my assessment distorted?
Last day today so Kylie called it at about 1pm to go have lunch in our lodging and start to get organised to pack up tomorrow. The view from the apartment toward Val direction.
The kids got all the novelty photos. They’ve all had an absolute ball. The ring in kids have impressed me with the way they have picked up snowboarding and the dedication to time on the hill even in low vis conditions.
(My lad and Jye spent the afternoon today building little jumps on the side of the runs into the soft area off the piste. I’m pretty sure Jye is hooked).
Off to Les Arcs tomorrow to set up for our stay there. Kylie and the girls are catching an early morning train to Lyon for a mid holiday city break. I will take the train with the girls and try the challenge of having a ski day in the Three Valleys on Sunday. I will meet a fellow from the Snowheads forum in Meribel. He’ll show me around for the day apparently.
We headed down to Les Brevieres to take advantage of tree cover in the morning. I know you’re all hard core skiers so it’s probably not cool to enjoy 4 inches of snow on groomers but to holiday skiers it’s pretty special. My wife was in her version of powder heaven. In between the runs was superb as the snow from previous days is still in good condition.
Visibility wasn’t great on the way down to the trees area but it didn’t matter on the groomers. They were perfectly creamy.
Weather started to clear.
Obligatory Aguille Percee shot.
Some of the rock formations on the western part of the ski area are vaguely Dolomites like. Or is my assessment distorted?
Last day today so Kylie called it at about 1pm to go have lunch in our lodging and start to get organised to pack up tomorrow. The view from the apartment toward Val direction.
The kids got all the novelty photos. They’ve all had an absolute ball. The ring in kids have impressed me with the way they have picked up snowboarding and the dedication to time on the hill even in low vis conditions.
(My lad and Jye spent the afternoon today building little jumps on the side of the runs into the soft area off the piste. I’m pretty sure Jye is hooked).
Off to Les Arcs tomorrow to set up for our stay there. Kylie and the girls are catching an early morning train to Lyon for a mid holiday city break. I will take the train with the girls and try the challenge of having a ski day in the Three Valleys on Sunday. I will meet a fellow from the Snowheads forum in Meribel. He’ll show me around for the day apparently.