Absolute Alps Holidays Ski Blog

With the kids heading back to school and autumn creeping in (conkers falling etc.) its the time to organise your ski trip.

Get organised now to benefit from our early booking offers and ensure you get your preferred week, plus currently many ski flights are still very reasonably priced.

We’re very pleased that the Nat & Kye who worked for us last season are returned for the coming winter, and anyone who stayed with us last year will testify that they were superb hosts.

So drop us a line with your requirements and we’ll see how we can best organise your catered ski holiday in Chatel.

We’ve just a couple of spare weeks left now in March and I’m offering them with a credit crunching 25% discount.  The snow conditions are superb this season and you don’t want to miss out on one of the best European ski seasons for over a decade.

Our chefs this year are superb, we’ve had numerous glowing reports of their culinery magic. It’s almost like an episode of ‘MasterChef’ every night !  Come and treat yourself.

Yes it really has been that good. The number of powder days this season has been amazing, and not just a little fresh topping of snow days but full on waist deep soft fluffy powder days.

For those who prefer the pistes it’s been superb too, with a base of up to 2 metres at times there is not a single muddy patch to be found anywhere on the mountain. With all the pistes in great condition even though its been very busy there haven’t been many big queues because the skiers have spread out across the whole ‘Portes du Soleil’.

Last week was almost a little unusual in that we only had 1 snowy day, next week is shaping up to be back on track with another big dump forecast midweek.

Looks like we’re coming to the end of another extended period of blue skies and cold temperatures, a weather system is moving in this afternoon which is promising to deliver significant snowfalls for at least the next week. The forecast is for up to a metre of fresh snow at the top of the pistes, great news if you like off-piste because with the fantastic base we already have up there it’ll be time for deep powder skiing again !

This will be quite a change from the high pressure which has dominated the weather since pretty much the start of the season, we’ve had sunshine almost everyday. Along with the very cold temperatures the pistes have been in superb condition, very smooth and fast.

It’s been a few weeks now since I’ve had time to update the blog, it’s always a busy time at the start of the season as the first guests arrive. The huge snowfalls we kept having at the end of November and start of December finally gave way to blue skies and sunshine for the last couple of weeks, but the clear skies allowed the temperature to drop very low. Last weekend we had temperatures in resort as low as -16°C first thing in the morning.

The snow conditions have been excellent for the last couple of weeks, it starting to get a little firm in places with the low temperatures. The blue skies have clouded over today and its snowing again, its forecast to be enough to give the pistes a softer feel.

Christmas week was definitely busier than last year, and now we’re into New Year its as busy as it gets in resort and out on the slopes. There are a few queues for the lifts this week, but with the whole ‘Portes du Soleil’ open it not too bad and even the worse queues are less than 10 minutes.

We still have a few weeks left available in March, so contact us soon to discuss your trip.

Last weekend saw fantastic skiing conditions, with snow so deep off-piste that it was only possible to ski the steepest parts of the mountain. Going off-piste anywhere that was not steep enough to be a black, meant sinking up to your waist in powder and having to shuffle back towards the piste.

Chatel is currently reporting snow depths of 180 cms at the top, with over 60cms of fresh snow forecast to fall in the next couple of days.

This weekend sees the full opening of all resorts in the ‘Portes du Soleil’, 600 kms of fresh corduroy !

The sun came out last weekend to give superb first couple of days skiing of the 2008/09 season. Lots of people grabbed the opportunity to enjoy the snowfalls we’ve had over the previous few weeks, the pistes were is great condition and the off-piste had a foot of soft powder to play in.

Temperatures have dropped again now, its snowing again today with more forecast throughout the week. Looks set to refresh the pistes for next weekend.

It’s probably not a surprise to anyone in the UK that we’ve just had a huge fall of snow in the French Alps. The several centimetres of snow that fell around the UK were produced by the cold Arctic winds sweeping down across Europe, the same storms have dropped over 50cms of snow around the chalet and nearly 150cms at the top of the slopes. With temperatures keeping well below zero, down to -20°C at night, the snow certainly going to be sticking around and staying in great condition.

Chatel and most of the other resorts in the Portes du Soleil are planning to open their lifts this coming weekend, one week earlier than planned

Anyone planning to drive to the French Alps this winter needs to be aware of the new French requirement to have a high-vis jacket and warning triangle in their vehicle. The jacket must be available to wear as you exit the vehicle in the case of a breakdown, hence storing it in the boot under all your luggage is not acceptable.

This new law came into force on the 1st October 2008, with on the spot fines of between €90 and €135 for non compliance. Not what you need at the start of your holiday.

The forecasters got it pretty spot on with the snow forecast.

We woke this morning to find about 15cms of fresh snow around the chalet, plus the skies have cleared and the sun is shining.

Always great to see the mountains with a fresh coating of snow, and it’s all the more impressive when there was none 24 hours earlier.