Absolute Alps Holidays Ski Blog

New Pointe de L’Au 4-person Chairlift

I’m most excited about the new Pointe de L’Au chairlift because the ancient, slow and very long 2-person chair it’s replacing was by far the worst lift in the whole of the PDS. It was a bottleneck between Champoussin and Les Crosets, which regularly managed to create massive snake like queues even when there wasn’t that many people around.
But the new high speed 4-person will make a massive difference for everyone exploring the great pistes on the Swiss side of the PDS, which are always a lot quieter than the main area between Avoriaz and Pres-la-Joux. The Swiss side has now had 4 new lifts in the last 4 years; 2 in Les Crosets, 1 in Morgins last year and now this one.
Along with the piste enhancements which happen along with the lifts the skiing on the Swiss side has really improved in the last few years, its’ infrastructure was poor in comparison to the French side but now it’s right up there and people should definitely spend some time exploring the area.

New Morzine Pleney Telecabin

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Calling the Alta Badia valley beautiful is an euphemism. And to describe its beauty here is a difficult task. You should really visit it yourself to discover the infinite forms of this dolomitic land. The tradition accounts this as one of the first places where winter sports started. It is easy to imagine how  developed and specialized the touristic offer of hotels is here.

Trentino is the ideal place for trekking or biking, or to try soft activities such as Nordic walking, yoga and outdoors exercises.
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Easyjet have another flight sale on for the next 5 days for all flights between February and July 2012, combine this with our late discount offers on our remaining couple of weeks in March and you could get yourself a fantastic late discount ski deal.

This season is turning out to be a corker with absolutely tonnes of snow on the mountain now, just need a sunny day so we can go out and enjoy it.

Easyjet are currently offering £10 off for any flights booked to Geneva, Grenoble or Salzberg for travel between 1st January and 31st March 2012. Just enter the discount code “SKI1210” when booked, offer ends 19th December 2011.

We still have rooms free in Chalet Les Trois Canard, contact us now for cheap ski holidays in France and we can organise your perfect ski holiday.

Massive storm currently over the French Alps, very heavy snowfall and strong winds up high. Looks like we could have almost 1 metre of  fresh new snow falling at the top the mountain over the next 24 hours. Followed by some very cold temperatures in the next few days, down to -20°C at the top.

I think we have probably already had nearly the same amount to snow fall this year as we received all of last year, looking good !!

Snow is currently falling throughout the French Alps and most resorts including Chatel will be opening their ski lifts this coming weekend the 10th December. The last clear blue skies we saw were last Friday, since then its been snowing on and off in the mountains, last night the snow line dropped into Chatel village at 1200m and is due to continue to drop down the valley for the next few days.

By the end of this week there should be a significant depth of snow on all the upper and lower slopes, I expect all the snow cannons will be working overtime during this cold spell.  Chatel have added another 32 snow cannons to their slopes during the summer, bringing the total to an impressive 175 in the Chatel domain, with the whole Portes du Soleil boasting 835 snow cannons this year.

Chatel ski lifts are due to open this weekend the 10th December 2011.

I spent this morning changing the tires on the car to snow tires, snow shovels have come out of the garage and have seen their first action of the season clearing the stairs outside.

We still have 3 bedrooms available between 20th and 27th December, get in touch to organise your last minute Christmas ski holiday with a 30% discount.

All inclusive ski holidays seem to have become the latest crazy this year with all the big operators advertising their great deals. But there is nothing new about this concept, independently operated ski chalets have been offering these holidays for years.

I think independent chalets really have the ability to offer a better service in this area than large tour operators, because of the attention to detail and one to one customer contact that is provided.

Here at Chalet Les Trois Canards we have been providing excellent value ski chalet holidays for over 5 years, once the guest arrives at the chalet they should have no more hassle, thus enabling them to to relax and enjoy their holiday.

Being a year round resident of the resort means we have the local knowledge to ensure that every guest will be able to experience the best the resort can offer, whether that maybe skiing / apres / restaurnants.

For most independents the chalet business is there main source of income and so it is very important to them that the business works well. Which means that its important guests go home very happy with their holiday.

Our main delivery of wine arrived today and has been stored away ready for the winter ski season.

Relaxing with a glass of wine in the evening is a perfect way to recover from a busy day on the slopes, all included in the service of your ski holiday at Les Trois Canards.

We carefully select our red, white and rose wines to accompany and compliment our delicious evening meals. Often one of the highlights of our guests stay.

This year we will have ski boot warmers in the chalet so everyone can start the day with toasty warm feet, perfect for those cold winter mornings.

Down at the Pre-La-Joux ski slopes work is nearly finished on this years improvements. There are now snow cannons covering all the main slopes in that area “Snow Sure Chatel”, and a sparkling new “Rochassons” 6-man fast lift which has replaced the creaky old 2-man.

Bring on the snow, winter here we come!

The trees are all in full autumn colours are the moments and the next strong winds will probably see most of the leaves stripped from them.

Over the last month we’ve had 3 separate storms come through which have left snow on the mountains around us, and a few flurries have reached down into the resort. All the peaks are still white at the moment because its very chilly on the mornings now and despite blue skies with plenty of sunshine its not until after lunch its becoming warm.

The chalet is all set for the winter now, logs are all stacked, the grass has had its final cut, wines have been ordered and I’ve spent the last month varnishing the inside of the chalet.

I saw on the BBC news the other day they were talking about another cold winter and mentioning again Low Solar Activity, a favourite topic of mine – see previous posts.

All in all winter is coming and its time to book your ski trip, we still have a few rooms available over Christmas and New Year. Get in touch to organise your holiday.

The season is in full swing again, we had a very white Christmas. It snowed all day on Christmas Eve and into Christmas Day. Today on Boxing Day we have been treated to beautiful blue sky and sunshine, even if it was a little chilly. In fact its the first time in a few weeks that it’s been colder here than it has been in the UK.
The pistes are all looking and feeling superb, here we go again