Lego and Divegirl's big spring Alps trip!

[divegirl]

So after much deliberating on where to go on a big trip this year we are going to the Alps and we need the collectives advice, help, and hookups. First off the facts:
Fly SF to Geneva on April 14th. Fly home on April 24th. Everything else is to be determined as of now.
Yes, we realize that you all aren't having the best of snow years (Lego's sister was in Cham a few weeks ago and the snow looked scratchy at best). And yes, we are going at what seems to be the last of your ski season but it is the only time we could get away. I suppose if the snow truly sucks we will just drive down the the Riviera and sit on the beach or go hiking somewhere.
Places we would like to experience:
Verbier (duh)
Cham (double-duh)
Anywhere else we shouldn't miss or would be better so late in the season?
Should we just get a MtBlanc Unlimited pass for the whole time, which we understand covers Verbier and Courmayeur or should we go a la carte?
We are planning on bringing all our own gear (flying Swissair the whole way so it's free). The issue is should we bring our AT gear or normal stuff? We would love to tour but at the same time are more comfortable on gnarly terrain on our downhill gear. What's your advice here, especially given the lateness in the season?

Places to stay? Should we just stay in one place the whole time (like Cham) or should we hop around? Rent a car or all public trans? We are open to hotel, apartment, or even a small chalet. Not really looking for anything catered as we would like to hop around to different places for food. Access to some sort of spa/hot tub (shared OK) seems to be a requirement for divegirl. Hotels like that are easy to find (Les Aiglons Resort & Spa fits the bill but is a bit on the high end of our budget) but it seems difficult to dig up apartments in central Chamonix that have hot tubs. Anybody know of things we should be looking at? We aren't on a super tight budget but at the same time we do have our limits.

Finally, we would love to make some turns and drink some beers with the Euro mags! For anybody around we would definitely like to meet up.
Thanks all!

[Mike Pow]

If money's not tight, then definitely rent a car and travel around to where the snow is.

I've had great skiing and powder later than your departure date of the 24th April in:

France: Chamonix, La Grave, Les Deux Alpes, Montgenevre
Switzerland: Engelberg

I would bring AT gear. Offers up massive potential if the best snow isn't lift served during your visit.

[Meathelmet]

Couple of things:

-Get a Car. Public transportation kind of sucks,even if you stay inside one country,let alone if you decide to drive around italy & swizz,then it is a nightmare. Do not spend your valuable holiday waiting for a train that will never come due to some strike.. And the public transp aint exactly free either.

-Touring skis. A lot of resorts start to close down during that time, even if you will have about the best conditions up in the high alpine. With the spring weather, nothing is better than doing some nice tours in the cham/courmayer, La Thuile, briancon area etc.. If there comes a lot of new snow,there is relatively good fat ski rentals in cham/cour/verb.

-Keep your options open. It starts to be the end of the season,so you will find lodging,no matter what.
The alps are at its best when you have an open schedule. That way you can travel where there is snow,sun or a good base. There is just no point to sit stuck in ,say,cham,in cloudy weather for a week when you might have pow fiesta or sunshine 1-2 hour drive away.



If I would be you, I prolly would do somekind of a roadtrip.

Like : Saas-Fe/verbier -to- Courmayer/La Thuile -to- Cham.
High alpine access, good hut systems, not too much driving, good liftserved,access to guided services, 3 different countries.

[sqikunst]

Get a Car. Public transportation kind of sucks,even if you stay inside one country,let alone if you decide to drive around italy & swizz,then it is a nightmare. Do not spend your valuable holiday waiting for a train that will never come due to some strike.. And the public transp aint exactly free either.

Name a place besides Japan that rivals the public transportation in Europe especially the Alps. Travelling around by train does not really suck all that bad, the problem is that lots of the real gems in the Alps are hidden down dead end streets.

Like has been said a car is a good idea. The alps are incredibly dense in terms of ski resorts so hopping 200km can deliver you to a region of the alps where there is fresh snow and tons of it. At that time of year its usually only the alpine that will be open but just for reverence April 27th last year was a sick pow day in Kitz in Austria. Both Verb and Kitz are 500m higher = chance of new snow in April good.

[Mulletizer]

My take in no particular order: there are normally April storms in the Alps, especially the Southern Alps (La Grave) - don't sweat the snow, things can change dramatically at that time of year.

Don't hold your hopes out for hot tubs; they are not that common anywhere here and especially not in cheaper accommodation. You'll normally get better deals if you book your accommodation ahead of time and for several days (normally a week), although you still might get lucky with last-minute short rentals. Apartments are cheapest but they often won't rent for less than a week. If you are in Cham some top-end apartments that have a pool are the Crystal in Argentiere. If in Cham valley for shorter periods and want somewhere budget check out Bigham's place or the Belvedere.

You may be very likely to pick up a good deal on a week in a British run chalet at that time of year - they run at low-occupancy at the end of winter and often slash prices enormously to fill beds. Typically a Saturday-Saturday gig, would include cooked two meals a day and accommodation. Can be fun, especially if the others there are nice. Search around for that.

If you are exclusively in CH you can use trains, it'll be easy (they are all set up for skiers) and you won't miss out on any skiing; in France doing the same will cost you entire ski days because the rail system is far less extensive and doesn't connect so effectively. There are buses in France though which might save car hire depending where you go. Don't know about Italy and Austria. In all cases, once you are in the resort you very rarely need a car as you can walk everywhere or use free shuttles.

The beach will be most likely be cold in April. Sure, you can sit on it, but you'll probably want layers.

[Hicks]

Name a place besides Japan that rivals the public transportation in Europe especially the Alps. Travelling around by train does not really suck all that bad

Then you haven't tried to just get on the other side of a mountain after a long and remote descent - that alone can take a whole day. It's often easier to rail long distance than just connecting 2 nearby spots.


Equipment: check immediately before departure what the conditions are like and decide from there what to bring. If you only plan on touring occasionally then consider renting AT equipment on site instead of bringing it.

As Mulletizer mentioned base yourself at Cham for a week in order to score better deals and definitely get the car. From there places like Verbier, Courmayeur, Les Contamines are all within an hour's drive so plenty enough to keep you entertained on a daily basis. Plus Cham is a nicer village to stay at than all the other places IMHO.

For the remaining 2-3 days hit up the Briancon area with La Grave, Serre Che, Alp d'Huez, Montgenevre ect. and you have seen some of the best what the western Alps have to offer.

[Scottish_Skier]

> Fly SF to Geneva on April 14th. Fly home on April 24th

Beware that Verbier main lift often close up early and sometimes with little warning... Generally Mt Gele cable car closes first week April and Mt Fort cable car second week of April (which are the 2 main lifts for off piste).

April can be very good for powder at high altitude - but most of the quiet / small / cheap / low altitude euro resorts will be closing about the middle of April. For alpine lift serviced skiing in late April your best bet will be Chamonix, la Grave, Zermatt, Andermatt & Engelberg (there are a few others).

Seeing as your flying into Geneva a road trip via Chamonix, Courmayeur and la Grave would work. This little gite in la Grave is cool, very cheap and slap bang next to the lift station. Plus you will have the resort to yourself at that time of year.

http://gite.le.rocher.free.fr/

[horizon]

I love this thread, since mid-April is the first time I may be able to do some more interesting skiing. There's hope for some light touring for me!

Enjoy your trip! Others have put in a lot of info; if I was you I would spend extra cash on a car to chase the snow / good weather, not a hot tub.

[neck beard]

Car? Get a fucken campervan! Great time of year for it. Take touring gear without doubt, but keep in mind that a lot of the better itineraries by that time may require glaciated travel and all the extra touring gear that entails. This may be especially true after the thin season they have had.

Seems like you will just avoid easter - a very good idea, especially in Chamonix.

[freak]

bring touring gear (and glacier gear).
dont book too much in advance (go to chamonix/verbier for a day or two each if you want to), stay flexible.
car is really nice if you want to follow the snow/see different stuff. campervan even greater and gives you tons of flexibility.
follow the snow for the euros thread and see where the conditions are nice. if youve got a car you can ski in the morning in chamonix and be in eastern CH or western AT in the evening...
say hi if you come to tyrol (i doubt you will, but who knows ), well be skiing/touring.

freak~[&]

[hutash]

If you have the bank, consider hiring a guide. That can save you a shit load of time since they know the logistics for a lot of great runs that us mortals would never figure out.

[davieboot]

If you have the bank, consider hiring a guide. That can save you a shit load of time since they know the logistics for a lot of great runs that us mortals would never figure out.

I agree with this, with one caveat. You don't need to hire a guide the entire time you are in an area. Hiring a guide for a day or two can give you a good sense of the area and let you venture off on your own after that. Just make sure to ask a lot of questions during the day or two you are paying the big bucks.

[duffski]

ski vacations are all about the snow so leaving your options open until the last minute is always a good thing. if you want to go somewhere specific, like cham and verb, then by all means book something now to get the deals. hotel les grand montets in argentiere has a hot tub, sauna and heated pool. i stayed there in 2006 and thought it was really nice and a decent value. you are walking distance from the best resort in chamonix valley and a quick train ride down to chamonix and the other area resorts. getting to verbier by train from cham is quite easy as well and only takes a few hours if i remember correctly. the train from geneva to chamonix is simple as well since the train station is right next to the airport. i hate driving in europe and love the trains for how simple they are to use and how often they run. look into getting one of the eurorail or swiss passes if you plan on moving around a lot, if not then just pay the individual fares. traveling with ski equipment is not difficult on the trains as long as you keep it to a ski bag and a large rolling bag for your boots and everything else or a backpack you can strap your boots to.

[divegirl]

This is hilarious because Legoskier actually posted this thread under my name when I was drunk and tired after work like 4 nights ago after an 11.5 hour shift. Thanks for all the advice so far y'all, we'll sift through it and post back in a bit.

Regarding tickets, should we get the mont blanc unlimited pass, or go day by day? Lego heard there were 2 for 1 deals going on during this time (4/14-4/24).

Also, we'd love to ski with some of you. We're not super hardcore but we're not gaperly either. Of course we've never skied the Alps, either. I really want to ski Cosmiques and Rond, but at the same time I don't want to shit my pants too hard. Any advice on guides is helpful, too.

[rob stokes]

Cosmiques and Rond were both in condition as of last week...I was in La Grave for a week so not sure about now.

Cham info.....Les Anglons is right across the road from my appart, and although I have only been in the lobby it looks pretty nice....another bonus is that it is VERY close to the Midi for early morning missions and its also close to the bus stop to get to other Cham resorts.

If you only have 10days I wouldn't worry about road tripping....just come to cham, get the unlimited and spend your time skiing here, Verbier and Cormy. There is plenty to go at for sure!

Regarding touring gear......there is a lot of lift stuff like, as you mentioned, cosmiques and rond. But there are some awesome days out for touring such as the Breche du Pissux (spelling) and stuff over on the Italian/Hellbroner side.

Oh, the Anglons is close to the pub too....

[Arno]

The Aiglons is a pretty nice hotel for the price and the masseuses in the spa are hawt

[whipski]

Hostelbookers.com

will give great ideas where to stay cheap but not necessary to book with. Just chase storms and prob folks at the hostels will be dialed
into weather and you can carpool with folks on daytrips that don't have transporrt and share fuel costs plus get local knowledge to ski
stuff you wouldn't attempt necessarily left to yourselves.

[Shadam]

From my limited experiance there a few years ago in Apirl,
a car makes "winging it" easy, and roads are clear and not much traffic.
no need to book anything as accom vacancys are everywhere.
most lower mtn trails were grass meadows/ cow paddocks.

[Mrs Roo]

I know a really good Cham based guide. British guy, has lived there for 20+ years, always finds good snow. I've skied with him 3-4 times. I'll PM you his email address.