Well, I've looked into it, and the fruits of my research are the following:
My first choice - Whistler in Canada - is hosting the winter olympics right at the time we wanted to go. Basically everything's booked up.
My second choice - Banff in Canada - apparently only has one chalet, plus the town is a bus and cable car ride away from the slopes. Sounds like a right faff.
So I think it's best to postpone Canada to 2011. Instead I'm looking at Europe, and after some discussion with
a few people, I'm going to try for Belle Plagne. We went there for the Millenium New Year, and it was great.
The resort isn't as lively as Val D'Isere, for example, but if there's enough of us, we'll make our own party!
And in any case, apparently you don't tend to make it out of the chalet most nights anyway; but more of that below.
The resort of La Plagne was big when we went there 10 years ago, but since then they've built a double-decker cable
car linking it to Les Arcs so the skiing area is huge now.
Paradiski Piste Map
The Chalet
I'm hoping to book the Chalet Clarine, which can fit 18 people. Obviously, if significantly less than 18 people
want to come, then I'll switch to one of the other, smaller chalets in the resort, but they're all pretty similar.
The 'chalet' actually seems to be part of a large building - I think you basically get one floor. It has 9 twin
rooms, each with an en-suite jacuzzi bathroom, and a central living room/dining room area. The building is right
on the edge of the slopes, so we'll be able to ski in/out.
We'll get a cooked breakfast and a full evening meal each day (bar one, when the cook gets a day off and we go out
to eat), and we get free wine with the meal.
Travel
To get there, I'm going to take the snowtrain. We'll get the Eurostar from St Pancras to Paris in the evening on
Friday 26 Feb 2010, then change trains and travel through the night to get to the resort first thing on the Saturday
morning. We'll get back to St Pancras on the morning of Sunday 7 Mar 2010.
Everyone gets a couchette cabin bed, and the train also has a bar and even a disco! Plus, you get almost
a full day of skiing on both Saturdays, and it's more environmentally friendly than flying!
Having said that, if you want to come but would prefer to fly out on the Saturday morning, that could be arranged
too.
Costs
OK - The price; well, it's going to cost around £1100 per person. The breakdown is shown below (The estimated prices
are this years prices. They'll be confirmed later in the year). The cost includes travel by snow train (and
therefore 8 days worth of lift pass and kit hire). If you wanted to fly, it would be a bit cheaper - probably £100
or so.
You'll obviously need to add some spending money to that, although not very much as we'll no doubt be making
the most of the free wine for most of the time! Plus you'd need to buy lunch, although again you'll get a cooked
breakfast, afternoon tea and a 3-course meal, so I doubt you'll need much at lunchtime.
If you start saving now, it's only £120 per month. :-) You'd have to send the first £120 to me as a deposit in the
next few weeks however.
Item
Price
Basic Holiday
£743.97
8-day Lift Pass
~£240
Ski Hire
~£100
Boot Hire
~£40
Total
~£1120
This is for a lift pass covering the whole Paradiski area (ie including Les Arcs). For a
little bit less, you can get a pass that only includes one day of skiing outside La Plagne, and for a
little more off you can buy just a La Plagne lift pass. The kit hire is for intermediate skis and boots.
Beginner ones would again be a bit cheaper.
If you'd like to come, could you let me know by e-mail, and also confirm whether you want to come on the snowtrain
with me, or fly. The chalet is held until next Wednesday, so if you could let me know before then, that would be ideal.
External Links
Details of the chalet
Information on the resort
A cheesy video extolling the virtues of the snowtrain:
The resort of La Plagne was big when we went there 10 years ago, but since then they've built a double-decker cable
car linking it to Les Arcs so the skiing area is huge now.
