Trip Report elSpike's French SkiSki in the time of Covid - Les Trois Vallées
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It’s our final morning here. I think the mountain knows and is showing off a bit.
If you are leaving the Tarentaise over the weekend check with the local tourist office on expected traffic/road conditions - Tignes is already warning that if the snow comes in it could lead to slow traffic & longer transfer times.
Traffic info Tignes - Road conditions in the French Alps
See traffic info to go to Tignes for our ski holidays. Consult road conditions in the French alps with our real time map and read our advices about snowchains, weather or the utility of smartphone for more reactivity.
en.tignes.net
Thanks. We have a private transfer to Chambèry tomorrow morning at 7am for a 10.20 train. It should be a 1.5 hour journey so we’ve given ourselves double that.If you are leaving the Tarentaise over the weekend check with the local tourist office on expected traffic/road conditions - Tignes is already warning that if the snow comes in it could lead to slow traffic & longer transfer times.
Traffic info Tignes - Road conditions in the French Alps
See traffic info to go to Tignes for our ski holidays. Consult road conditions in the French alps with our real time map and read our advices about snowchains, weather or the utility of smartphone for more reactivity.
en.tignes.net
So team. We had a massive day today and we now have to pack for an early morning start so I might have to do todays post on the train to Paris tomorrow. Will see what I can do and how tired I am tonight.
I can say it was an epic day and we made it to 5 of the 6 valleys in the 3 Vallées
Full details later.
The final day of skiing: Le Tour Trois Vallées
Thanks for your patience. We are all aboard the TGV to Paris so I’ve finally got some time to do yesterdays trip report justice.
Another spectacular morning visage from our balcony at Hotel Ours Blanc set the tone for the day. An incredibly crisp, blue sky touching the freshly replenished mountains. You could hear them sing just by looking at them.
The serenity was rudely interrupted by these two, but their presence was another wonderful sign, so we weren’t too annoyed.
Another rapid, but filling breakfast buffet (I had 6 pancakes and bacon with maple syrup. The Canadian staple) and pulling on the trusty Tecnica boots and we were away. There was a small, but pleasing dusting on the walk to the cat track as well.
Resort #1 - Menuires
There was about 3-4cm of loose snow over the grooming on the short run down to Menuires. Almost zero tracks as we were quite early out.
The air was a chilly -10°C so the guns over the slalom area were still going. They were going again when we finally came back this way at about 4 so I suspect they were going all day.
But further up there was plenty of untouched natural accumulation so it promised to be a fun day.
On to our plan.
I had checked the 3 Vallées app over breakfast and saw that Mont de La Chambre and the main gondola at Meribel were showing as closed (red X - Frost) and not the usual orange X indicating they were scheduled to open. Because of this and the anticipated crowds on a bluebird, post snow, day, we initially resigned ourselves to staying in Menuires and Val Thorens. A perfectly acceptable set of resorts but not quite the tour of the three valleys that I’d been thinking about for the past week.
With Chambre out we decided to head down to the ridge above the Bruyers lift next to the Sunny chair to look at the crowd level, and give us the option of Sunny if it was too large.
The run down there, usually chopped up to a slushy hell hole by the first school group was smooth with a delicious covering that made carving a breeze. We flashed down there with Mr16 showering me with snow at each carve, a giant rooster tail following him proudly.
We paused as promised but with Sunny not yet running and a manageable crowd we joined on to the line for the Bruyères gondola.
The line wasn’t quite out of the corrals but it did end up taking us 20 minutes to get on board. It was an interesting scrum at the boarding point with some groups (like ours) deciding to take whatever lift they could and regroup at the top, while others fought vainly to stay together causing blockages. We were very glad to be done with it.
At the top we turned right and made our way to Resort #2 - Val Thorens.
There are two red, one black (and a mogulled to hell black that we don’t talk about) and a nice cruisey blue runs that all link on to the 3Valleeys chair and Furnicular at the top of Val Thorens.
We did them all with faces of delight under our masks.
The frost that was holding up the aforementioned lifts was visible everywhere.
But it was great skiing. Once those were done we took the long blue swooped down into Val Thorens proper with the thought being maybe working out way east on each of the major lifts. While on the Cascades I pulled out my phone to take a picture and the 3valleys app was still open, with the Chambre and Pas du Lac gondola in Meribel now showing green! They were open! The tour was back on!
We quickly did the run we were planning from Cascades and another off the Lac Blanc chair. I strongly recommend the Croissant run to anyone who loves wide, curving, and variable gradient red runs that you can absolutely smash. I exceeded 80km/h at 3 separate points on that 3.5km run. If we had time I would have repeated it, but the game was afoot!
Our fingers were feeling the cold at this point and it was agreed that we would stop in for a Chocolate Chaud somewhere, but we were thwarted at a place called Jasper on the main Val Thorens drag. They wouldn’t allow us to sit inside for drinks, only lunch. Their loss. We kept going, instead planning to take an early lunch in Meribel.
Up Plein Sud and 3valleys again and it was time to say farewell to Val Thorens.
Hello Meribel! Resort #3
Lac de La Chambre - the link course down to Meribel was a reall mixed bag.
With soft and fun parts and icy hellscapes both reading their heads. There was one particular point where there were two bowl shaped ice pits that you just had to train track down or fall over. Weird.
We then took Plan Des Mains up and stopped in at the restaurant below Chatlet for lunch. At 11.40 it was already packed. We’d had drinks here early in the trip, but hadn’t tried the food.
The boys had Savoyard burgers (they came in a brittle croissant like bun and had to be eaten with knives and forks) while I had the sausages and pasta and my wife had a pasta risotto thing. It was functional and filling but not worth a deliberate stop. I didn’t get the menu photo, but the whole bill was €100 for 4 meals and 4 drinks so about standard for all of the casual eateries.
Tummies filled and hands warmed we set back out on our adventure, finishing the run down to Meribel-Mottaret and on to the Plas du Lac gondola for part two!
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Part 2
The line for Pas du lac was very short, Maybe a 3 minute wait, and the journey to the top took about 15 minutes so we were ready to get skiing again.
Resort #4 - Courchevel.
Exiting the gondola we skated down an incredibly icy red section to the junction between Meribel and Courchevel and got to survey a horribly mogulled field before us.
The previous time we had come over here, this had been one of the most fun runs. A solid 100m wide at some points and buttery smooth. Not today. After the continuous freeze/thaw and now 10-15cm of loose snow, I’m certain it was a paradise for the first hour or so this morning. But after lunch all that snow had been carved out to big lumps with treacherous ice patches between. Not fun at all.
But once we made it down to the Marmotts flat part it smoothed out again and we were back in business.
We went all the way down to the Aiguille du Fruit lift where they had obviously been running the guns as there were pools of ultrafine snow all over the place. Luxurious to ski.
We took the lift up and then split the party, with Mr16 wanting to do another Cruex lap while the rest of us wanted to go up Chanrossa to have a crack at the long red that is Jean Pachod. In hindsight, maybe I should have went with Mr16…
The lift up gave us views of huge amounts of untouched powder.
And at the top it was simply breathtaking.
This was probably my most confident run of true trip. I was over on my edges, picking a line that was making the most of my 99mm skis on the edges in the powdery snow. I’m sure you’ve all felt it. That moment when you can just ski and not have to think about anything.
All of that was great until about 3/4 the way down.
My wife caught a photo of the aftermath.
I’m not sure exactly what happened but I think I figured it out. During a sharp left turn I planted my pole trying to get around quicker than a carve would allow. I think that pole then got stuck and as I came past it the left skis outer edge got caught on the pole stopping almost completely. My right ski continued unhindered until my body said “uh uhhh” hand the ski somehow ended up overlapped and now my legs were crossed with skis on the opposite sides. Over I went, sliding a good 15-20m down the hill, upside down and with my skis crossed. I wasn’t hurt in the slightest and more shocked at “how the hell did that just happen?!”
I picked myself up and continued on, though mildly distracted trying to unravel what had happened. We met up with Mr16 and did another lap of Creux for luck before turning our eyes up the mountain again.
Coming up Marmotts my GoPro ran out of juice so the remaining photos are from my wife’s GoPro (that also ran out soon after) and our phones, so there will be fewer action shots.
At the top of Marmotts we found a captain America gorilla. I don’t understand art but there it is.
We crossed over the Saulire pass again and headed into Meribel and started thinking about making our way back.
The top of Meribel was fairly chewed up, much like Courchavel on the opposite side, but there are significantly more branches off the run, distributing people, so they were in much better shape.
I’m that west side run from Saulire all the way down to Meribel via the Meribel Altiport and Rond point had to have about a dozen different ways just on piste. Add the off piste stuff between and you could do an entire holiday only taking the one gondola the whole time.
We then took Legends and Tougnette 2 up to the top and entered our fifth resort for the day.
Resort #5 - St Martin de Bellville
For some reason I didn’t get any photos of the ski down to the St Martin Express. I thought I had stopped and pulled my phone out but I must be remembering it incorrectly. It’s a shame because Pramint was in its best condition of the trip. We came back up and across to the Granges. There were jokes about taking the pole lift up to do Teppes again but they were met with strong looks of disapproval ಠ_ಠ so we didn’t end up doing that.
We had plans to work our way across to Becca from there but the combination of it being close to 4pm and the sheer number of people cut that short so we did one last run down 3 Marches and back up Roc2 for the final Grand Lac + Violet back to Menuires.
Coming up Menuires that last time was bittersweet. The guns were still going, creating a fine mist of snow driving over the chair.
We finished out our ski trip in such classic fashion. The boys shot off down to the hotel like rockets. Smashing down with such strong form and drive. I lost sight of them within the first 60 seconds. But my wife and I took our time, drinking in the sights that had become so familiar over the past few weeks.
With a few tears in our eyes, we paused for one last selfie on our “home” piste and said goodbye to Les Menuires and this wonderful chapter in our skiing journey.
So we managed to get 5 of the 6 resorts in one day. We could have gone over to Orelle and got the whole set, but only if we didn’t stop to ski some of our favourite pistes. I’m sure we will be back here at some point to go there again.
It’s only fitting that Menuires put on a fireworks show right in front of our balcony that evening to say goodbye.
This has been exactly what our family needed after some very trying times over the past two years. Thanks so much to all of you for your advice on things to do and see in the 3 Vallées. Without this community we would have missed out on a lot!
I’ll do my usual summary posts on all the major topics (hotel, ski rental, how our kit held up, restaurants and travel) while we are in Paris.
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Now that was the perfect ending for a ski holiday - almost!
So being in Courchevel i thought you were flying out, but rather it was you who was flying and Toboganing.
However may be the departure was cancelled anyway.
Great report form 3+1 Vallees!
(or like you say: "we made it to 5 of the 6 valleys in the 3 Vallées")
Worth waiting for! Thank you very much!
Returning to Paris.
It was a predawn departure to get us down to Chambèry for our train.
We again used SkiCabs to do a private transfer. It’s worth every cent. Stephanie, our driver was excellent and got us to the station in about 90 minutes.
Once there we had a bit of a wait as I’d built in a bit of time in case the weather made it slow going. We grabbed some quiches and croissants from a bakery across from the station and camped out in the waiting area till our train departure.
We again booked 1st class tickets on the TGV to get access to a table of 4 and as guaranteed a space for a ski bag as you can get.
The new rules mean that we couldn’t eat on the train so we arrived in Paris a few hours later very hungry.
We decided to stay close to Gare du Lyon, again for luggage considerations, so we booked in to the Mercure.
It’s got an ok view.
We quickly dropped our stuff and went across the road to the terminus cafe for a late lunch.
We then took a walk around to stretch our legs.
We also stopped in at a tea place to pick up some supplies as Wife and Mr16 were all out.
The rest of the afternoon we lounged about and then went out for dinner at a crepe restaurant that was pretty ordinary so I didn’t take any pics.
It’s weird. The view at night is pretty ordinary. Scroll back up and look at the day time one.
A quiet day in Paris.
We all slept in this morning, not getting loving (this should be moving. I'm leaving it unchanged because someone points it out below) until after 8.30am.
We took breakfast at a cafe not far from the hotel called Quai 33. They had the usual Petite Dejourner either stand alone or with eggs that they hilariously called the Englaise!
After eating, we took a stroll, partially to stretch our legs, and partially to wait until the Tea shop we went to yesterday to open so my wife could buy more of the one she liked.
There is a light exhibition at the museum of natural science happening, but the tickets are all sold out so we visited during the daylight where it is freely accessible. It showcases the various prehistoric ages with giant installations that glow in the dark.
We walked through the Jardin Des Plants on the left bank of the Seine to get to iLe St Louis.
We had our sights set on an ice creamery that also did good hot chocolates but it wasn’t quite open as we arrived (10am opening is a sort of guide it seems) so we continued on to look at the restoration of the Notradame cathedral.
The whole of the iLe St Louis and iLe de La Cite is so Parisian it hurts. The narrow streets lined with the distinctive architecture. It’s a lot like the facade of the Palace near the Louve but much less uniform. I love all the massive doors, along with their smaller more practical door beside them.
The ice creamery “Berthillon” was open as we returned so we stopped for the hot chocolate.
It came laid out in a deconstructed manor, each element exquisite in their own way. The chocolate was initially quite sweet but mixed with the milk it settled into itself.
It then started spitting so we motored back through the Bastile Opera and picked up the tea before rushing back to the hotel.
Just near the hotel is a pharmacy that advertised that it does Antigen Covid 19 tests in 15 minutes so we took the opportunity to do our pre-departure tests then too.
Singapore’s Vaccinated Travel Lane with France requires a antigen rapid test (aussies call them RATs, Singapore calls them ARTs but same thing) or a PCR within 48 hours of departure. They need to come from a recognised testing facility and be verifiable (qrcode) which all Paris pharmacies that offer tests adhere to.
The process is very simple. You provide your name, date of birth and a phone number. The pharmacist takes the sample (the kit is identical to the ARTs you buy for self testing) and 15-30 minutes later you get a SMS with a link to your results PDF.
In our case, mine and the boys came through pretty quickly but I had to go back to the pharmacy after about an hour and he printed my wife’s result out. The system must have eaten her digital version.
All of that said, it felt really good to get that negative result.
I also grabbed some sandwiches from a bakery as I came back from that second trip to the pharmacy.
The afternoon was spent hanging out in the room as the weather was pretty crap.
We took our dinner at L’Européen which had great reviews and looked very fancy.
La Carte - Brasserie "L'Européen"
Découvrez la carte de notre brasserie traditionnelle du 12ème arrondissement
www.l-europeen.com
Unfortunately the meal itself was quite underwhelming with lapses in service staff, the meats being over cooked, and an incorrect bill that needed to be corrected at the end.
To wrap up the day we watched a couple of episodes of the latest season of The Expanse.Last edited:
The penultimate but really the ultimate day.
Our last full day in Paris started very wet and dreary. The weather was showing it would clear up later but at points as we waited for the sky to lighten it was bucketing down.
Because of that, we took our breakfast at another of the cafes that line the edges of Gare du Nord called Aux Caudron.
It’s pretty similar to all of the other cafes in this strip offering two choices for the Petite Dejourner, one with and one without eggs. The main guy spoke perfect English with a hint of a Swiss accent in there. For some reason the wife and I woke super hungry so we went off piste a little and ordered the standard and added a full omelette on the side, while the boys chose the Englaise, consisting of an English muffin with egg, ham and cheese as there hot dish. Our order overwhelmed the tiny Parisian tables so we ended up taking over one each!
Our stomaches full we had a 30 minute walk through the now drizzle to get to our booking for another Escape Room.
Along he way we passed by Place Des Vosges, which is the oldest planned city square in Paris. It has the quintessential fountain and is lined on all sides with Parisian apartments. It was lightly populated with families going about their Sunday mornings and would have been somewhere I would have loved to sit and watch the world go by.
But we had a submarine to rescue so we only paused briefly.
We returned to HintHunt, the same group who did the Pirate themed room we did when we were in Paris earlier in the trip. This time the room was themed on a WWII u-boat and had two different scenarios you could choose, one about fighting a submarine battle and the other about repairing a deadly malfunction. We naturally chose the more difficult of the two which had a very aggressive 30% pass rate.
We made it with under 3 minutes to spare!
I won’t give anything away but the two HintHunt rooms we did this trip were right up there with the best rooms we have ever done (we’ve done at least 50 at this point). Their fit outs are exquisite and they rarely rely on escape room tropes. The submarine one had us enthralled from the very first minute and it really felt like a race against time! Do look them up if they are your cup of tea!
The submarine rescued, we strolled over to collect our reward in the form of one of the top 10 hot chocolates in Paris. Blé Sucre.
Along the way we saw plenty of street art and the ubiquitous giant doors that I love so much.
It then started to rain heavily again so we retired to the hotel to wait it out.
About 3.30 the sun started to come out.
With the light about to fade we raced over to the natural science museum to take a proper look at the unlit, Festival of Lights, exhibit that we couldn’t get tickets too. It was super impressive and I’m sure it was even more so in the evening.
We then visited Arènes Des Lutèce, a first century Roman arena that is still being used for people playing games and kicking soccer balls around! (No photo cause I hit the 20 limit)
And on the way home we stopped by the Parthenon (French mausoleum from Louis XV times)
And generally took in the Roman quarter as we wandered the streets.
The boys went back to the room for an hour while the adults took in one more afternoon drink and people watched.
Our final dinner was at a fabulous beer garden called the viaduct. It’s set into the arches of one of the train lines near the station. It has pizza, pasta and burgers, along with Parisian brasserie favourites.
The boys had the ubiquitous burger while we had the Duck confit and Steak Tartare respectively.
Perfect final meal.Last edited:
Last night we received a message from Singapore Airlines indicating we should get to the airport early due to anticipated “congestion”.
Knowing the pain we went through at CDG a few years ago where we waited in a security line for a couple of hours, I prebooked an Uber van (luggage and 4 adult sized humans) for an eye watering €80 that would get us to the airport 4 hours early.
Check in was relatively painless, with one minor scare where the agent was asking for my Australian Government arrival qrcode. I thought I’d missed something until I realised she assumed we were going to Australia due to our passports. That confusion solved, she methodically went through our paperwork:
Rapid test result (she checked with her qrcode app) within 48 hours of departure
- this one was a minor concern as we noticed too late that the pharmacist had put Mr16’s name in as “surname middle first” but not even a blink ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
SG govt Safetravel health declaration
SG Vaccinated Travel Pass
And of course our SG work passes for right of arrival in SG.
All that done they tagged our baggage and we were on our way. I did have to put our skis in a special caged trolley where in Singapore they magically whisked them away from the counter before I could even register.
The security line was a 10 minute wait at that time but I imagine it’s way longer now as more people arrive at the airport. It was way emptier when I took this photo about an hour ago but the place is buzzing now.
We are now waiting in the lounge with just the PCR to pass on arrival in Singapore.Last edited:
Have loved your TR @elSpike setting a new bar.Last night we received a message from Singapore Airlines indicating we should get to the airport early due to anticipated “congestion”.
Knowing the pain we went through at CDG a few years ago where we waited in a security line for a couple of hours, I prebooked an Uber van (luggage and 4 adult sized humans) for an eye watering €80 that would get us to the airport 4 hours early.
Check in was relatively painless, with one minor scare where the agent was asking for my Australian Government arrival qrcode. I thought I’d missed something until I realised she assumed we were going to Australia due to our appointment. That confusion solved, she methodically went through our paperwork:
Rapid test result (she checked with her qrcode app) within 48 hours of departure
- this one was a minor concern as we noticed too late that the pharmacist had put Mr16’s name in as “surname middle first” but not even a blink ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
SG govt Safetravel health declaration
SG Vaccinated Travel Pass
And of course our SG work passes for right of arrival in SG.
All that done they tagged our baggage and we were on our way. I did have to put our skis in a special caged trolley where in Singapore they magically whisked them away from the counter before I could even register.
The security line was a 10 minute wait at that time but I imagine it’s way longer now as more people arrive at the airport. It was way emptier when I took this photo about an hour ago but the place is buzzing now.
We are now waiting in the lounge with just the PCR to pass on arrival in Singapore.
With apologies to @Heinz
Are we all going to just brush past this? You have shared so much this trip elSpike! and I have thoroughly enjoyed it. I wish you went to A-Noste instead of L'European. Always next time. I imagine you might be back, but also imagine you might head to Austria or Itlay or Switzerland or ??? next. All of which are amazing. Well I haven't been to Italy yet but it is coming.
Ok. Summary time:
The trip as a whole
Our family has loved every minute of this trip. It has absolutely been worth the expense, the stress of planning, the stress of travelling during the pandemic, and the time away from home. Travelling for a full month has been such a refreshment from the last 2 years being stuck on our little island home.
I think if we were to do it all over again we would probably change our itinerary a little and go straight to the mountain, to Annecy over the Christmas new year week and back to the mountain. That middle week there was a little full for our tastes.
Paris
Paris is a lovely city and we’ve had a great time here one both ends of the trip. That said I don’t think we need to spend any more time here. We’ve done all the major things and two teenage boys means we can only do so many museums.
Recommendations if you come here:
- Get a nice hotel. It makes the world of difference being in the central areas with a good bed to sleep in. Both the Hotel du Lovre and the Courtyard Marriott have been great. The first was much more Parisian and I think I preferred it to the more spartan marriot, but I also loved the view of the city from the latter so it’s a coin toss.
- Spend the money to go to the top of the Arc de Triumphe. It’s spectacular.
- Do do a puzzle room while you are here. They were excellent.
- If you are going to take more than 4 metro/bus trips a day get a travel card, otherwise just pay by journey.
Annecy
Gosh I love that little town. I can’t wait to return to the sub alpine region again in the other seasons. It’s a little touristy but for great reasons.
Recommendations:
- if you eat at one Savoyard restaurant in Annecy make it La Chalet. Best fondue. Best staff. Incredible location.
- a walk along the lake in the afternoon is breathtaking
- don’t bother shopping for ski gear etc in Annecy. Might as well wait till you get to the resort. Same prices and probably better selections.
Intercity Trains
We had two excellent train trips on SNCF TGVs. We did it in first class (maybe a 30% premium on tickets if you book ahead). There are at least two big luggage areas on each level of each carriage that will easily take a full sized ski bag. Had we known how easy it was to travel with the skis we probably would have stuck to our original plan to do a couple of days on the German border region before Annecy.
Do note that you are currently not allowed to eat or drink on board due to Omicron. They were policing that on board too.
Mountain transfer
We booked through SkiCab for both Annecy to Menuires and Menuires to Chambéry station. The booking process was pretty easy and their communication by email and text message was very good. Both ways we were in a Mercedes van that could have easily fit 6-7 adults along with all luggage and skis. The drivers were both very safe and punctual. Overall the private transfer was worth the cost, especially when we saw the somewhat chaos of the public bus that would have taken us to Moutiers train satiation had we chose public transport.
3 Vallées
Man. What an amazing set of ski resorts. I’ll have to break this bit up into many sections, but overall the resort is so well laid out. I feel like we could have skied here all season and never got bored.
Skiing
We had a mix of bluebird and low viz days, along with a snow drought, rising temps, freezing temps and some occasional snow dumps. At all times we found fun. The resorts, particularly the way the pistes are designed to flow into each other were superb. After spending most of our skiing in Japan where linked resorts are still very fragmented, this was so refreshing.
The 3 valleys are largely intermediate to advanced level, though a novice would do well if they stay in Val Thorens, lower Meribel or lower Courchevel.
They all have great snowmaking and even on the lowest days there were >300 open pistes.
Ski passes
We chose to get a Liberté Season Pass. This gave us discounted tickets, free days at day 10 and 16 and the flexibility to ski either one resort or the 3 valleys each day. It also saved us on the days where some didn’t ski. That worked out financially better than just getting tickets for every day.
Ski rental
We organised ski rental through our hotel from AbsoluSports. The experience was wonderful. They have this season brand new skis for all levels. The boys ended up demoing Black Crows Camonix Jr all mountain skis. I’ll let them describe their ecxoeience in their own words:
Mr13: One of the best things about the skis that I rented was the curled tips. These allowed me to ski over uneven terrain and cut up slopes without wobbling or losing balance. Another would be the length of them, as they meant that you could go over dimpled terrain and not catch a tip. I would recommend these skis to anyone who doesn’t like falling over when going fast.
Mr16: While the skis where excellent in all kinds of snow, you can immediately notice the these are advanced skis. They make beautiful turns and maintain control at higher speeds though because of the edge it is easy to lose control if you are not focusing. Overall these skis are perfect is you want to push yourself but not ideal if your just sitting back on the slopes.
The rental team dropped the skis at the hotel inside our lockers and then at the end we just left everything outside the locker room and they picked them up. Too easy.
Hotel Ours Blanc
What a great little hotel. The rooms are excellent and everything is newly renovated. Every room has a view. The beds are nice and firm and the radiators keep everything toasty. I did like that there was a full size bath tub in both rooms. The spa is a nice addition with the only criticism being I’d have liked to have the pool temp about 4-5° warmer.
Half board was great and not having to figure out and book dinner every night was a real relief. That said the buffet did get a little repetitive and both my wife and I had some gastric related issues on separate occasions that are hard not to attribute to specific dishes that we each only had on those days.
Access to the pistes were easy and the location was perfect for us.Last edited:
Last night we received a message from Singapore Airlines indicating we should get to the airport early due to anticipated “congestion”.
Knowing the pain we went through at CDG a few years ago where we waited in a security line for a couple of hours, I prebooked an Uber van (luggage and 4 adult sized humans) for an eye watering €80 that would get us to the airport 4 hours early.
Check in was relatively painless, with one minor scare where the agent was asking for my Australian Government arrival qrcode. I thought I’d missed something until I realised she assumed we were going to Australia due to our appointment. That confusion solved, she methodically went through our paperwork:
Rapid test result (she checked with her qrcode app) within 48 hours of departure
- this one was a minor concern as we noticed too late that the pharmacist had put Mr16’s name in as “surname middle first” but not even a blink ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
SG govt Safetravel health declaration
SG Vaccinated Travel Pass
And of course our SG work passes for right of arrival in SG.
All that done they tagged our baggage and we were on our way. I did have to put our skis in a special caged trolley where in Singapore they magically whisked them away from the counter before I could even register.
The security line was a 10 minute wait at that time but I imagine it’s way longer now as more people arrive at the airport. It was way emptier when I took this photo about an hour ago but the place is buzzing now.
We are now waiting in the lounge with just the PCR to pass on arrival in Singapore.
It has been a pleasure.
We will not go in your foodsteps this year! But close!
With just the Singapore re-entry to write about, I’d like to take an opportunity to thank everyone involved in commenting, reading, and generally supporting these TRs.
A genuine thank you from me and my family.
And thank you for taking the time. I know how much work it is to bring these TRs to life and it’s greatly appreciated by someone who is unlikely to visit the Alps this summer.
No probs.
I know very well the time and effort that required to go into these TR's. Everyone has a different style. I have mine and tend to stick with it and enjoy doing so. I couldn't possibly manage the amount of detail from the culinary view and general detail that @elSpike provides here and in his previous Japan TR's nor match the story telling ability of @blueandwhite. It is good to have a variety of TR's especially now when so few of us are able to do so.
Great reports mate, have thoroughly enjoyed reading them. Need to up the ante on my food reporting to even come close!With just the Singapore re-entry to write about, I’d like to take an opportunity to thank everyone involved in commenting, reading, and generally supporting these TRs.
A genuine thank you from me and my family.
Agreed that every TR is wonderful and I appreciate them all. I’ll never match @blueandwhite in storytelling though. Probably not in skiing ability either. Some of those runs sound harrowing. No probs.
I know very well the time and effort that required to go into these TR's. Everyone has a different style. I have mine and tend to stick with it and enjoy doing so. I couldn't possibly manage the amount of detail from the culinary view and general detail that @elSpike provides here and in his previous Japan TR's nor match the story telling ability of @blueandwhite. It is good to have a variety of TR's especially now when so few of us are able to do so.
That said. I can’t wait to do more meet ups with everyone at some point. Was the highlight of Shiga a couple of years ago.
Maybe mid year in Australia if we are lucky!
Fantastic trip report @elSpike, it has been a joy to read each morning. Our last snow time was the Shiga Kogen trip where we met you, so this has been a vicarious snow trip for us. Thanks for taking us all on it with you.Thanks for sharing in such detail. It was a wonderful trip down the Annecy and 3V memory lane for me and you write really well. I think I need to give this escape room thing a try with the kids!
Not canned until the end of the month but single digit percentage I reckon.A very excellent trip report @elSpike just the right balance between words and pictures.
Thank you muchly for the effort and the happy skier vibe.
Euro trips are awesome
Are you Thredbo bound this winter?
Sorry for the thread hijack @elSpike
@CarveMan Personally I think March should be very doable. All the experts suggest we should be through this Omicron surge by mid February.
elSpike - if your trip report doesn't inspire CarveMan to head to the Alps nothing will. Very entertaining and a comfort to those of us that are stranded here in the Oz summer.
Great stuff Spikey. Your enjoyment of every element of the trip was inspiring. There’s nothing like a grand ski tour en famille.
Just carry a tennis racket - apparently Sooty's government will let you do anything you want, then.
I haven't even read the half of it but the bits I've seen are very thorough and an interesting read. I'll be certain to read from start to finish!
Kudos for taking the time to post in near real-time - I certainly didn't have that kind of motivation...
What is it with the French and overcooking/poor cuts of meat?
