Les Arcs 2025-6

A snowHead

Another hot day skiing. We started with skiing with @Owlette, in the vallandry area and later the slopes above 1800 they were all firm and in excellent condition. A really fun ski together. Once @Owlette, had left for family duties we headed over to 2000 and up the grand col. The snow was still firm up there and ok down to plangettes where it started to get soft. It was really heavy when we got to pre st espirit.

We finished the holiday off with arolles. A great 16 day ski holiday with 13 ski days. The pistes were in excellent condition the weather mainly good and the hospitality of the people in 1600 wonderful. And I must say that at 50 euros the season pass was excellent value. I just wondered what possible reason could a lift company have for giving some people, young and old, a free lift pass.

Piste of the day: refuge- the moguls were tiny and just soft enough to make the turns easy.

Now to start tindying the apartment ready for a 10am departure tomorrow.

A snowHead

As @johnE, said, we started the morning together. Fantastic morning ski with John, his wife, son, and friend. Lots of fun playing on the reds around Vallandry and above 1800, and we were the first to ski Ecureuils black as they opened it as we came off the lift. Almost rattled my teeth out of their sockets, it was so icy and bumpy. Piste of the day - Carreley. Perfect mix of firm base with just a bit of give, and no-one on it bar the 5 of us.

Afternoon was a family ski, sticking to lovely cruisey blues and finishing at Folie. Lad1 had his first GCSE filming lesson this afternoon so we made sure we were in 2000 to collect him, then headed back over to the 1800 side via Bois. We had a couple of drinks in Folie for happy hour, whilst Lad1 and Nephew lapped Villards.

Sounds like I need to book onto First Tracks ASAP.

Currently have my feet up on my balcony. Not too shabby a view.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

Despite the warmth the pistes are holding up well. We ski lower down around Vallandry, 1600 and 1800 in morning and then head to Arc bowl in afternoon.

Later afternoon it is a little slushy but personally I’m really enjoying it.

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Despite the warmth the pistes are holding up well. We ski lower down around Vallandry, 1600 and 1800 in morning and then head to Arc bowl in afternoon.

Later afternoon it is a little slushy but personally I’m really enjoying it.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

We had the same idea today @Boris.

Started my day with a reccy to the Vanoise Express as we are heading over to La Plagne tomorrow. Last year, Lad1 and I managed to cock it right up and it took much longer than it should have. I'm wanting to stick to blues, particularly as it's very hard packed in the mornings here. So I pootled down via Plan Bois, Forêt and Poney. Though tomorrow, I suspect we will drop from Poney down the bottom part of. Combe for that last approach to the VE as Poney doesn't half go round the houses.

Then I headed up Peisy and 2300 to get to the top of Vallandry, where I was meeting a colleague who arrived yesterday with her son. I spent an hour skiing with them, letting her son pick which runs we did through the forest, before we headed back towards 1800 and up Transarc as he was hankering for the Boardercross. I said goodbye to them there and made my way back to ski school pick up via Reches. That was mostly lovely but with a bit in the middle that was hard packed and mogally. That bit wasn't fun.

Ski school collection done, Lad2 and Nephew decided to have a chill afternoon so opted to stay with my brother, SIL, and neice. Lad1 went off for his second GCSE filming lesson at 1245. As we were all on skis, I suggested we take Villards up and traverse across to Edenarc, and I'd take Neice between my legs. Neice (age 4) has only seen the inside of the jardin d'enfants and the Chantal run (again between my legs) so she was very excited to go on Villards. Traverse across done, kids left with my brother/SIL, and Mr. O now joining me after a jolly good lay in, we headed straight up Carreley as Lad1 was finishing in 2000.

Edelweiss was slushy and slow, so after a coffee at Le Savoy, and collecting Lad1, we headed up Varet in search of better snow. Headed down to the Grand Col lift, which we then got on, intending to check out Ninja, which I had checked was open whilst at Le Savoy. Told Mr O that it started red, but then we could pick up a blue, so he agreed. As we were making our way up, I was looking for Ninja, when Mr. O pointed out a blue looking bit, with a closed sign. Checked the app, and yep, since closed. A debate ensured where Mr. O was unhappy with the look of either of his options and I said that I'd explain to the liftie and ask if he could download. As we approached the top he said 'eff it, I'll give it a go'. Said he didn't want people looking at him whilst he downloaded.

Readers, he smashed it! Absolutely nailed the entirety of Grand Col. And incidentally, Ninja doesn't start until after the steepest sections, so he'd still have to have done those. I asked him later on 'how was it?' And he told me that he didn't enjoy it, if that's what I was angling for. He did reluctantly concede that it was the best snow all day up there, though.

We stopped at Bulle for a drink and by this time it was 4pm. I said we could go on down to the Bois lift and up over that way or we could jump straight on Arcabulle, but it would require him to do a short red (Reches above the Derby lift). He was up for that, so off we went. Dents du peigne was chopsy as anything about 3/4 along before the turn to 1800. Completely mogulled and in the shade. We then dropped down Reches, round Derby and onto Traversée - and over that bridge bit I've been trying to work out how to get to for 4 years - all the way down Traversée until we hung a left just above 1800 to finish in Folie.

Piste of the day was Traversée! Wide open and nobody on it. A far cry from coming up Bois and dodging literally hundreds of people trying to get down Arpette. Now that Mr. O will do the top part of Reches, I think that'll be our preferred route back.

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We’re heading over to La Plagne as well today, boy having an outing on skis!

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Enjoy! I am about to rouse the troops as I want to be on as close to first lift as possible.

After all it is free

This is me. Say hi if you spot me.

@Owlette, good luck with the filming. Got my lads done last week, with most of the skills stuff on the red under the 2300 chair, then a few runs on the black Bosses to top up the difficulty level.

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@Boris, @Owlette, hope you have a great day - after last week, my advice is avoid the Bergerie lift if you can, longest wait last week was 15 minutes, really does need to be updated or have a second uplift somewhere else that can spread the load of people trying to get back to Bellecote.

Can highly recommend the Champagny side, seemed like no one remembered it existed when we were there. Do ignore the Becoin blacks, most horrendous experience getting down those, they're solid ice.

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When we went over to la plange last week there was no queue at all for the bergerie or arpette lifts, but I have to confess I hated the ski back to the vanoise express. The snow was very very heavy in the afternoon.

I agree about the champagny area.

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@johnE, it was a mixed bag for us, made worse by the fact the Bergerie lift was our closest chairlift so we had to use it to go to Bellecote first thing. Mind you, we did have times when it was quiet. When it was busy we took the opportunity to go down to the 1800 lift and then head over the Montalbert side. Worked out nicely most of the time.

I did like those fast pass lanes in Les Arcs; didn't see any in la Plagne, guessing it's just a feature of the Les Arcs side. Very forward thinking.

Very taken with the les Arcs side of Paradiski; seriously contemplating it for next year, really suited our group and my lad absolutely lived the snowpark. I reckon I could just lap Secret all day given the right conditions

Long shot - Anyone know of any Irish people travelling home from the valley that could take a pair of skis home for me?

You know it makes sense.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

@sugarmoma666, yup! But their current offer is €400! I’m tryna get for €375 he he

A snowHead

It's a rare day/time when Bergerie, Collosses and Arpette don't have a bit of a queue.

But to be fair the throughput is decent.

With our kids grown up now, we will fill any gaps rather than insist on going together as many seem to.

A snowHead

No queues of any description today, so much so that the 5 of us often travelled up separately so we could each take a ski school child, as there were long queues of them waiting.

went over to Montalbert partly as never been, but also as boy was staying there last week so giving us a tour.

Headed back over to Vallandry just after 3 for a quick dip in pool. Overall snow holding up really well but heavy going lower down.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

This is no help if you're already queueing at Bergerie, but if you anticipate there will be a queue there, you can always take the (longer) Aollets drag out of Plagne Villages, or the (shorter) Dou du Praz drag just above Plagne Soleil - you can ski from the top of both to Plagne Bellecote. Both are normally quiet and are reachable from the top of the Grand Rochette gondola. Or in absolute desperation, the PV drag is just a walk across the road from where the telebus drops you from Plagne Centre! God knows how long it would take to pole across from Bergerie to Boulevard (which is v slow), then ski + walk to the Telebus, etc.

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Where do you think the snow is better at the mo?
Agree it’s holding well but was really heavy in at about 3pm in La plagne. We went to Les arcs for the day and it seemed better. But then we didn’t ski in Les arcs late afternoon.
Might see how I can download in La plagne as had really tired legs in the slush!

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

We felt the snow was better all day in La Plagne, apart from the last bit down to the VE, which was heavy. Not slush, just very soft.

No queues of note today. Only queued very briefly for Roche de Mio (from the base) and Grand Rochette. We had planned to get Bergerie but when stood in Plagne Centre near Colorado having just lapped that, we couldn't figure out where it was. Grand Rochette said Bellcote, and we knew we needed there for Arpette, so we just got that instead, resulting in a lovely long ski back down.

Got on Arpette at 3.10, and onto the VE at 3.50.

We loved all the funslopes, and the tunnel run. Overall, we've had a fab day.

Bro/SIL and fam had a good day without us. Their kids went into ski school this morning, and this afternoon Nephew and Bro have been lapping Villards. Sunday and Monday were a bit wobbly for the adults. Neither were sure skiing was for them. Then on Tuesday, it clicked and they've got the bug. They're already talking about next year. Nephew has taken to it like a duck to water. Neice is 4. She's just loving the snow and only skiing during lessons.

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@Richard_Sideways, Cheers! Instructor said they got everything except the timed stuff (which we'd already planned for) and that he is going to link each of the videos to the criteria for me. Lad1 spoke highly of the instructor.

@Specialman, I did tell you that Les Arcs is awesome!

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After all it is free

Annual humiliation day today, went up to the XC track with boy Laughing

If you have the Essential pass you can get a free day at the Peisey XC course, equipment and pass. Well worth giving it a go if you want a change of pace.

Just don’t go with someone who races at World Cup level to humiliate you Laughing

Although he did do a great job coaching me around today

Can’t believe only one day left

@Owlette, we got lucky - there was an ESF slalom course setup under that 2300 lift, a quick chat with a grizzled ESF red jacket who was taking 2 people to it got us verbal permission ("eet eez for ze ESF only... but I don't care, so *gallic shrug*") and the lad put 2 runs down it with me filming. There is also the boarder-cross course setup at Riders Nation (beware of the step drop!) or the banked slalom over the otherside of La Plagne, above Champagny.

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@Richard_Sideways, I know the aet up you mean, I've seen it before, in use.

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A more relaxed ski day yesterday. I took my brother and SIL out for the morning. My SIL wanted to lap the new beginners area at the top of Villards to find her ski legs, so my brother and I initially lapped Minis, but that was rock solid, so then we had a lap of Belvedere, dropping onto the Maitaz section that takes you past jardin d'enfants. SIL now ready, we headed to Vallandry via Belvedere and Forêt. At the intersection where Forêt and Barmont split, my SIL wanted to take the left path (Barmont) as it was flatter. Brother opted to drop down Forêt. I had forgotten that Barmont brings us out directly opposite the Grizzly lift and to get down to Vallandry would require us to drop down Aigle red. However, my SIL was a superstar. She didn't fret at the sight of red poles, she just took it steady, and she nailed it. A quick coffee stop at Le Rilax and we headed back up Vallandry and back to 1800 via Forêt Pitchouns, where they bumped into their ski instructor and group.

Lunch was at Le Spot. Everyone said it was good. I was less impressed with my vegetable soup, which was the consistency of water and you could see oil floating on the top. Tasted fine, but definitely more of a broth.

SIL and neice headed back down Transarc and the rest of us headed to 1950 bia the Boardercross. My brother, from hating skiing on Sunday because his legs were shot, has taken to following me off to the side to do all the little jumps, so he loved the Boardercross. Mr. O and Bro had a coffee at Monkey Coffee, and kids abd I lapped Marmottes, where Lad1 went into full teaching mode with nephew. Kids asked for a shorter ski afternoon as they wanted to swim, so up Marnottes and Arcabulle and back to 1800 via Reches top and Traversée. Nephew had done Reches in his lesson that morning and my brother took it steady and was fine getting down it.

Last day of skiing today.

I was amazed at how well bottom of Foret was holding up, we did it yesterday as well. May well have passed you as staying right by Grizzly

Will be a relaxed day and early finish today to pack and clean - good job as knees are shot

You know it makes sense.

I often stop at rilax for lunch and quite like the place with the little dog trotting around and the notice telling you that they don’t have wifi so talk to each other instead. The onion soup is brilliant though philistine that I am I’d be tempted to toss a bit of soy sauce in.

@Owlette, have you informed your husband that rêches used to be graded black? Don’t mention that by taking traversée you avoided the steep section.

@Boris, I was amazed how good the bottom of traversée was as well. it might be the only time I’ve seen it open at Easter.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

For lunch in Les Arcs my 2 favourites are both in the Vallandry area:
- La Fragola Di Neve (the snow strawberry) at the bottom of the Derby lift - excellent Italian-themed snack bar with burgers, paninis, focaccias, etc. Easily accessible by all levels of skier.
- Les 3 saveurs near the top of the Peisey chair. This one is quite well hidden and can be accessed by a short walk up from the Peisey, from the top part of black Ecureuils or there's a cut through the trees from blue Crive off the 2300 lift. The views across the valley from the sun terrace are brilliant and there's a very varied menu at the snack bar. I particularly recommend the Sandwich Américain.

A snowHead

The 3 Saveurs is indeed very good - stopped for a beer there today.

Well if you’re heading out next week there is still plenty of snow and majority of runs open. Looks like will be a little cooler as well.

Recommend being on first lift then ski through to 2 or 3 with a quick coffee stop. Certainly gets slushy and lumpy lower down after this time.

A snowHead

Snow was in terrific condition today with temperatures noticeably cooler.
Brother and I headed up Transarc after ski school drop off and stopped at Monkey Coffee to rest his legs after Col de la Chal and Vallee. Then back via Bois and down to 1800 with a quick detour through the snowpark. Left him with SIL at 1115 at the top of Villards, and headed off for a few solo runs. Up Vagere and repeated the run that John and I did on Monday. Sadly Carreley has deteriorated significantly over the course of the week. A mix of solid ice and brown patches. Should have stayed on Froide fountaine next to it as that was in great nick. Up Arpette and back down to 1800 where I skied into neices ski school as they were lifting her onto the podium to present her with her medal. Beautiful timing.

Lunch at Pizza Attitude. Lad2 opted to stay with SIL and Neice and have a playing in the snow afternoon. Rest of us headed up top. Mr. O and Bro stopped at Chalet de L'arc for a pint (most expensive beer of the week declared Mr. O), and Lad1, Nephew, and I headed up Varet aiming for Grand Col. Vallee at the top is also in poor condition, with exposed stones. Better from about halfway down. Nephew enjoyed Grand Col. Lad1 went into coaching mode and I brought up the rear. No falls until the final section before the flat where he didn't quite make a mogul and just sat down.

Picked up the menfolk from the pub and headed back to 1800 via Comberciere amd Belvedere. As we got to the Mont Blanc lift, there was some sort of crazy high with thing going on.

Everyone has had a fabulous week and are ready for our own beds now.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

Not sure how clearly you can see people on the ropes

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The crazy thing going on at the deux tête is the annual high wire festival. They stretch wires around the rocks and, em, people walk across.. Definitely worth stopping for a while and watching. When I was 60 years younger I’d love to have a go.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

We did stop for a while to watch. I was equal parts impressed and horrified!

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I was asked today about where the nicest Hotel in Les Arcs is.

Thoughts?

After all it is free

Probably the taj-i-mah in 2000. I’ve only been there for dinner but it looked rather nice if a tad expensive.

Enjoyed all the insights into LA life on the thread - looks like this year has been a cracker for you all. Have stopped in LA1800 / Eden Arc a couple of times and last time (post COVID) we really struggled to find any resto's that could accommodate group of 6 on same day bookings. Also the FD seemed to have really impacted a lot of the apres in LA1800 that was present 'back in the day'. So we reverted back to VDI for the last few years - swallowing up any cost increase. VDI seem to have really pushed the accommodation prices even further for '26 and don't think a change of mayor is going to reverse that any time soon... so back considering Paradiski for '27 and as ever appreciate relevant comments on following -
Summary of our typical group - 8 (+/-) x people (all 50+) - all abilities - and 1 or 2 in group non-sliders. Typically need 4 / 5 bedrooms - at least a couple being twins. Not that many of these to choose from in Les Arcs? Need somewhere lively-ish for a few apres beers and some of the group might head out later on a couple of nights (depending on conditions next day). By no means party people every night. Typically a mix of dine in / dine out (maybe 50/50). So easy access to reasonable supermarche is important.
Should we limit our search to LA1800, or be considering 1950 / 2000 + Vallandry? I can't recall if you can get across to the Foret piste >>> Vallandry directly from FD? So clip in and go...could it be a better bet than 1950/2000 as any FD folk would need to change buses in 1600 to make it home to 1950/2000?
Street view makes the Sherpa in Vallandry look a reasonable size and there do seem to be several larger properties out that way. So should we be looking at that option? Is there some non-skiing activities out that way? Circuit D shuttle bus seems to be hourly until 23:30 ish which might be a compromise any late night folk have to consider...

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@JP Wolf, there are 2 Sherpas over Vallandry way, one in Vallandry and one in Peisey. Both are reasonable size and generally well stocked. Certainly there are more chalets around Peisey and Vallandry area, as well as at bottom of bucket lifts, which are of teh size you need.

There are a few bars, I've never been into nightlife and choose Vallandry as it is generally quieter and more family orientated.

Assuming FD stands for Folie Douce, yes you can get back to Vallandry from it on Belverdere which drops onto Foret - is fairly flat so may need some skating to start with to get up speed.

Help!!

Les Arcs 2025-6

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