"Ace" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 30 Mar 2008 23:19:53 +0100, "Mike Mather"
wrote:

On the Morillon/Samoens link 'itinaire liaison', there is a 30m
very narrow tunnel that is paved with ice. Watching me get spat out the
other side on my snowboard, kept the kids going for the week.

Odd, that. It's not usually icy. Anyhow, you should just add this to
the list of reasons to use two planks instead of one.

A lot of the links are quite flat, particularly when going over to Les
Carroz (Arete et al), so as a snowboarder these became a bit tedious

And another

Yes, I won't start a debate on the merits of both, but I intend to start
learning on the dry slope over the Summer to keep my options open. The
conditions were perfect for a board last week, but watching my daughter
carve some effortless turns on a perfectly prepared Chariande run made me
even keener to try it.


A general European negative (read whinge) at the moment is the strengh of
the Euro (weakness of the £?).

Move abroad then. It's a UK problem, not a European one.

Agreed, If only it was that simple! On our return my first taste of the UK
was some 'fantastic' customer service at a motorway service station.

The lift passes for a family of 4 were nearly
£600. There is no family pass option like there was in La Plagne a couple
of
years back (do they still do the family of 4, for the price of two adults
and one child?).

Not heard of that one, I must admit. Sounds like a good idea though.

When we stayed in Belle Plagne about 4 years ago, I bought a family ski pass
as above. To make it even better the lift pass office said we could use it
on the Saturday from 1400, so we had a bonus 3 hour session in the
afternoon. I found this on the LP website. The price is ?680 for 6 days,
with each additional child ?148.50,

"Families made up of 2 parents and 2 children aged between 6 and 17 qualify
for the family price if they buy 4 identical ski passes simultaneously
(valid for 6 days and more, same dates and ski aera). Other teenagers in the
same family aged between 14 and 17 years qualify for child price".


Eating on the mountain at lunchtime was also expensive, but bravo for the
GM
management who have put in heated picnic rooms across the area.

Really? Where are these then? Cos I didn't see any in the three weeks
I was there over xmas/new year.

As Roger as added there is one on the top of the Les Carroz gondola which
was packed every day. I spent a week there is 2006 and didn't notice it
once, so I'm not sure if they are new additions. It is on your right as you
come out of the gondola.

There was another we used at the bottom of the Le Lac chair (vernant) to the
right of the lift pass booth. This was empty and looked brand new.
There are several others marked on the piste map in most of the major areas
(top of grand plattieres, Morrillon at the ski pass booth, Samoens by
Chariande 1, to mention a few) and though I didn't visit them to confirm
they are there, I assume they must be in place.

Mike