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Esprit - Chalet Verwall in Obergurgl - anyone been?

10 replies

CaurnieBred · 15/01/2011 18:15

Hi there - just wondered if anyone has been here this year/going. We have booked for March and just looking for any up to date info (I have searched and there was stuff on here and on Snowheads, but not for a year or two).

Thanks

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tulpe · 18/01/2011 09:43

Hi Caurnie

We went to Verwall 3 years ago so not particularly up to date but may help :).

The chalet itself is basic but ok. The lounge is on the top floor and is tiny and snug! You get to know your fellow chalet mates rather quickly :o

The ski hire store is 2 mins walk away so very convenient for togging everyone up on Monday morning before lessons etc.

Ski bus stop is 2 mins walk and there is easy access to both Obergurgl centre (10 mins walk but a couple of mins on the bus) and Hochgurgl - I think about 15 mins on the bus but worth it because imo the skiing is better and prettier there. Be careful of the last lift from that area though - I think it closed around 4.30pm and the last bus from there to Obergurgl left around 5ish.

Presume you are going with Esprit?

The childcare was ok but I had to get a bit arsey with the staff to get them to do anything fun with DS1 during Snow Club hours as they seemed to think just leaving him to play on his DS every afternoon was entertaining enough Hmm (he was then 7). Of course, that's perhaps a moot point as they change every year I would imagine. I also didn't like the fact that the creche was in the basement - a bit dark and dismal.

Any questions just ask :)

CaurnieBred · 20/01/2011 21:09

Tulpe: thanks. We are going with Esprit - our first time (previously gone with Ski Beat and Le Ski). DD is 6 and will be in lessons in the morning but we are hoping to follow on from last year and pick her up from the childcare at around 3 pm and do some family skiing then so will hopefully avoid death by DS. What was the Cocoa Club like in the evening?

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tulpe · 20/01/2011 22:03

We only used the Cocoa Club once. DS1 liked it - they made models and sang silly songs :)

I think the problem with Snow Club was that most children DS1's age were either doing full day ski class or skiing with parents (obviously this will depend on ages and abilities of other children in chalet at the time). Sadly DS1 wasn't at a standard to do the all day classes. We ended up taking him out several afternoons for hot choc and cuddles and trying the occasional blue run with him but he wasn't terribly confident at the time so it was a bit limiting. However, snow club is supposed to be outside making snow men, snowballing, sledging etc and that is essentially why we paid for it because we hoped he would be having alternative snow fun.

Suzy100 · 30/01/2011 18:29

Hi CaurnieBred

We have booked for the Verwall for April at great expense as it is Easter holidays Shock.
Please let us know how you get on - we have DD age 3 who will be in the nursery, DS age 6 who will be in ski school & supervised lunch and DS age 10 who will be skiing with us as Esprit don't run any advanced kids ski lessons in Obergurgyl.
Both DS are booked onto Coco Club.
We have picked the resort because it is high & Easter is so late. We are going with two other families.
Hope you have a great holiday. The snow seems to have been better in Austria than the Alps so far this season.

CaurnieBred · 31/01/2011 11:09

Will do. I'm a wee bit apprehensive about this chalet/company to be honest - we have had such lovely chalets for the past three years with Ski Beat and Le Ski.

I have also seen a picture of the dining room of the Verwall that seemed to have individual tables restaurant style rather than communal table(s): for us, the whole point of going on a chalet holiday is the evening social aspect/chatting around the table (this wasn't an Esprit photo by the way, here)

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tulpe · 31/01/2011 20:10

Caurnie - don't worry about tables in dining room. At breakfast tables were divided but evening meal we were all on one long table. We did the "moving along after each course" thing too so you got a new person to talk to with each course :) but that was instigated by our group (which comprised a good 2 thirds of the chalet) but worth considering if things get stale.

CaurnieBred · 01/02/2011 11:39

Thanks Tulpe - it wouldn't be the end of the world if I had to talk solely to DH for the whole week but it will def be more fun exchanging daily exploits stories with the other guests. (Plus we usually get to pinch the leftover white wine as not many tend to drink it, preferring the red . . .)

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Katy1234 · 20/02/2011 13:12

Hi CaurnieBred
We stayed at the Alpenblume in Obergurl with Esprit last year (Jan 10). It is literally opposite the Verwell and my son used the Snowclub which is in the Verwell. I think the chalet is similar to the Alpenblume in it is fairly basic (or 'rustic' as I'm sure the brochures would describe it!) but perfectly fine and what I would expect for skiing accommodation. The location of the Verwell is really good - practically next to the ski school meeting point and nursery slopes. The Esprit experience I think is fab - this was our third holiday with them, and once again I could not fault the childcare. Each time we have used them I have always felt very comfortable leaving the children in their care. I also like that they are very flexible with regards to dropping off/collecting the kids at times that suit you, rather than set times (which is the problem I had with Mark Warner).
Obergurgl is a really nice resort - for some cruisy skiing though I would suggest going over to Hochgurgl (you can either get the gondola over or a bus gets you there within 10 minutes).
My son (6) was in the ski school arranged via Esprit and made fantastic progress - he was out with us skiing blues by the end of the week. I'm sure you'll have a great time!

CaurnieBred · 21/02/2011 19:14

Thanks Katy. Really counting the days now and DD is brushing up on her skills at Hemel indoor slope during half term.

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CaurnieBred · 20/03/2011 23:45

hi Suzy100. We have just got back from our trip. I agree with Tulpe and Katy1234: the chalet is certainly not modern and the food was average. However, we had a great time. DD did not find her bed comfortable (she was on the sofa bed) but luckily there were spare duvets so we used one as a mattress topper for her). Our bed wasn't particularly great either and it was quite creaky!

The flights and transfers all went well. We could have done with a bit more communication from the staff (eg, we had booked the Monday morning "kickstart session" to be told it wasn't running as they were guiding instead. However, as we later found out on the Friday it had been moved to the Wednesday lunchtime but as we hadn't been told about it, we missed it).

The childcare was excellent - a very high ratio of rangers. Quite a few of the staff were male and who just seemed to be full of enthusiasm (Dewey for one), which was a nice change - the noise the kids made in the morning when they were getting ready to leave for ski school . . . DD loved the Snow Club and we had to basically force her to come out and ski with us! She also loved Cocoa Club and chose to go there every evening rather than watch a movie with some of the other kids in the chalet who weren't booked into it.

The food was average - we never met the chef (an unknown guy just seemed to lurk around during the evening meal). The Assistant Chef (Calumn) was great and really went the extra mile though. The kids meals were also average and DD didn't eat a huge amount.

The rooms have TV (apart from room 1) and most of them have CNN and Channel 4. Some of them had BBC1 (but not us - room 6). It was handy to watch for the weather forecast and to see the three piste webcam feeds.

The set up with the lounge upstairs was weird and we didn't use it much. Luckily the family who were in room 1 were more than happy for us to sit around in the dining area in the evening (I'm not so sure I would have been so happy as we could be quite noisy).

The location is great. The chalet is at the end of the main piste (from the photos we thought we would be skiing down from the chalet to the main lift, but it is actually the other way around); however it is easy to ski back to. (The kids in ski school were usually taken across to the main area by skidoo.) There is a small button that takes you up a small hill so you can hit the bottom of the red run down to the Festkogel gondola but this takes you quite high up the mountain. On 3 out of our 6 days we had snow and low cloud cover so we didn't use this as it took you too high and into the areas with poor visibility. On Friday this and most of the other lifts were closed due to high winds and in Obergurgl only the area by the Nederhutte was open. We had shedloads of snow though, so those going this week will have a fab time (forecast is for sun all week, lucky swines!).

We were on the late Gatwick flight (eg, left the UK at 1430 hrs and returned at 1825 hrs). Our transfer didn't come to collect us until 1415 hrs so it meant we were able to go out with DD and ski this morning in the glorious sunshine. You have to be out of your room by 1000 hrs anyway, so at least we were able to fill our time. It cost 35 Euros each to extend our pass from 6 to 7 days however if you think you might want to do this, if you prebook a 7 day pass this is only 25 Euros more than the 6 day pass. We hadn't taken the Esprit ski hire and so had to pay an extra 31 Euros to extend that, but those who had used the Esprit service weren't charged any extra.

There weren't any horrible runs and even the blacks would probably be classed as reds in France.

Have a fab time. Am depressed now we are home!

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