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A selection of bits and pieces of news from Finlays, our resorts and the world of skiing and snowboarding.
Feb and March saw lots of snowfalls so conditions are now the best they have been at this time of year for a long time. See:
Oh Sunny Day!! from our Val d'Isere diary &
March or January? in our Courchevel diary
More snow is forecast this week (7th April), it really is a bumper end to the season. OUr Val d'Isere chalets are open untill 4th May so... COME SKIING!.
In early December we asked "Will it be a good season for snow?" In January we were delighted to say that it was proving to be GREAT season with lots of snow with conditions in our three resorts; Val d'Isere, Courchevel. and La Plagne perfect. At that time Richard Finlay said "It's as good as it gets!"
From Christmas and New Year & for most of January and into early February it snowed a little every week, topping up 15 - 20 cms at a time. Consequentially, for the first half of the season the pistes were in excellent condition and many runs that didn't open until late in the season last year were open for the Christmas week.
From the second week in February we have had a month of full on sunshine, beautiful sunny days and cold, cold nights perfect ski holiday weather. The conditions did start to warm up by the end of February and pistes were definitely getting slushy in the afternoons.
Conditions changed dramatically on the 11th / 12th March with good falls of snow in all our resorts as postings made on Tues 11th Feb & Wed 12th Feb on our three resort diaries testifies :
Val d'Isere; Winter's Back!!.
Courchevel; Powder Everywhere... and ...looking good in the deep snow.
La Plagne;
Snow.
It also snowed all weekend on 15th & 16th Mar and about 50cms fell then see the post made over that period:
The reason it's snowing....
Then on Good Friday (21st Mar) and through into Easter Saturday it snowed well over 50 cms, temperatures were cold so the snow fell right down into the valley givng really wintery conditions once again. See:
Good Friday! from our La Plagne diary and
That is a lot of digging! from our Courchevel diary
So so far a really bumper season of snow.
The mens world cup races, normally held in Val d'Isere in early December were rescheduled this year to allow the resort to run the races on the "Face De Bellvarde" as a trial run for the 2009 Alpine World Ski Championships. They ran over the weekend, of the 2nd & 3rd February. Unfortunately the downhill on Saturday had to be cancelled because too much snow was falling! The weather cleared on Sunday so they were able to run the Super Combined event. See Congratulations Bode Miller!!! for photos & details of the day and Mysterious new Poma for bit of info on the preparations.
Despite Saturdays races having to be cancelled the event was judged a success and everybody is breathing a sigh of relief and looking forward to The World Championships next year.
On the 21st December the lift companies of La Plagne and Les Arcs announced that the Vanoise Express cable car which links the two resorts, creating the "Paradiski" region, will not run this winter season.
We understand that a fault has been discovered in the cable. Work cannot be carried out during the winter, so it will be repaired in the spring/summer and be ready for next season.
It is disappointing news, but the resort of La Plagne on its own has very extensive skiing with over 100 lifts and 225 kilometers of pistes, see our; La Plagne facts page for more detail.
Also, a La Plagne lift pass will allow one day of skiing in Les Arcs so as a company we are offering our clients a trip to Les Arcs once during their stay in Les Coches. A small charge of 5 Euros wil be made for this service and please note; it will be dependent on the weather and numbers involved.
Campanules in Les Coches, Paradiski (La Plagne & Les Arcs linked), sleeps 18 - 21, it is great to have a large chalet in this increasingly popular resort.
Foxtrot, sleeps 8, a great addition to our Val d'Isere programme.
Our W/E and short breaks in chalets proved to be extremely popular last winter, so much so we are now offering three of our Les Coches chalets for this type of holiday.
The Paradski (La Plagne & Les Arcs linked) is a fantastic ski area just heaps of skiing for a full week let alone for a weekend or short break. See our Weekend, France page for more information.
The Government in consultation with Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), AITO and Tour Operators have agreed to reform the bonding arrangements for the Air Travel Organisers' Licence (ATOL).
From 1st April 2008 instead of tour operators posting a bond to financially protect their customers they will pay a £1 per passenger ATOL Protection Contribution (APC). This will go into the Air Travel Trust Fund (ATTF) which ensures that those buying a package holiday will still be entitled to a full refund if their travel organiser becomes insolvent before they travel, and assistance with returning home if they are already abroad.
Most tour operators are happy with the scheme partly as it will actually cost them less but largely because it levels the playing field vis-a-vis the non-licensable packaging currently being offered by the low cost airlines who currently offer no protection to their clients booking accommodation via click throughs on their sites.
The resort has been working hard this summer and has constructed a very much larger reservoir for water storage. This water is used for snowmaking thoughout the winter. This increased capacity should be of real benefit to our clients as the resort intends to use it, in part, to ensure that the run back to Les Coches, that passes most of our chalets remains open for most of the season.
Work has continued on the beginners ski area, the piste has been regraded so the slope is gentler & more regular and a new draglift has been installed.
We are flying into Chambery airport again this year. Last winter most of our clients that flew into Chambery were delighted with the shorter transfers. There were some chaotic times in the airport but we are delighted that the management have taken on board some of the complaints and are installing a new baggage carousel which should speed up baggage reclaim. Also, the number of flights landing per hour has been reduced which should stop the backlog that occasionally happened last winter.
Val d'Isere continues to prepare for the World Ski Championships which will be held in Februay 2009. This summer has seen more work being done on the new "Rhone-Alpes" slope on the Solaise mountain. This is where the Women's Downhill, Super Combined Downhill and Super G events will be run. It is also intended to test these upgrades by running the women's world cup races on the course this December.
Also, for the championships, a brand new complex consisting of a gymnasium and swimming pool is being built at the foot of the Bellevarde mountain. They have been working on this all summer.
The controversial Air Passenger Duty (APD) is to be scrapped from November 2009, the government intend to replace it with a tax related to aircraft carbon dioxide emissions. How much each passenger will pay will be be dependent on; distance of the flight, age of the aircraft and how full the flight is - not a simple calculation! The tax burden will definitely be higher as the government are hoping to increase their revenue by 25%. This money will not be earmarked for spending on environmental issues but will go into the general Treasury pot. Airlines and environmental groups are currently putting their points of view to the Treasury and proposals will be published in the spring with details finalised in October 2008.
Lots of construction work has been going on all summer going on at the entrance to Courchevel 1850. They are creating a new building to house all the technical services of Courchevel.
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