Skiing in Chatel at Easter

[twomonkeys2]

Hi there

Hoping for some advice as we are taking our 2 kids for their first ski holiday. I've found a lovely chalet in Chatel we'd like to use and although we could go in half term the price halves for Easter (lift passes go down too). This all makes it much more affordable! Any advice or experience on the levels of snow from previous years. It would be 6 April onwards....

So my main q's are: Is there still snow in the resort? Does it work for beginners who need to be on lower slopes? Presuming it's pretty easy for better skiers to access Portes du Soleil region for higher skiing.

Thanks for advice!

The PdS in general is not the best for late season. 6th April is very late. By mid March there is often low snow/muddy grass on the Swiss side and the pistes into Morzine
With beginner children you really don’t want to be trekking over to Avoriaz every day.
Chatel is a lovely resort but there’s a reason it’s cheap for that week. I wouldn’t take the risk, especially for the kids first skiing holiday.

I agree with the above

thanks so much for the advice! I will think again

Chatel is much better for snow than the majority of the portes du soliel. It's possible there will be a really really bad snow year (although great snow making facilities there,) but in general resorts chose their closing dates knowing their own snow record over many many years. I would pick a lower quieter resort over a packed and expensive Val disere any day.

Even val D’isere may be patcy by mid April. It’s very late in the season.

If I was going that year I’d wait to see what the snows like and book last minute.

I have skied in chattel and I think April is really late to go so low. I would be looking at Tignes or val thorens if you want to gaurentee snow.

ok thanks again. It's just such an expensive holiday I was trying to find a way... but there is clearly a reason for the price!

I'd add Cervinia to skiable Easter locations. Chatel. Not for good skiing.

The snow this year was great in Chatel, but it could be risky. Snow making is good but if it’s too warm then it won’t be great.

Prices are lower for a reason, but it MAY still be worth a look. We had a holiday in Austria with very little snow, and ended up doing some walking trips, which we enjoyed

We’ve had two late ski holidays in Chatel and they’ve both been great but it’s a risk. Easter is really not great for a skiing holiday this year (unless you go high)

Too late, too low.

We’ve been to Les Arcs 2000, 1950 and Plan Peisey for Easter for the last few years. 2000/1950 are particularly good resorts for beginners and there stacks of skiing for more experienced.

We have been to this area twice at Easter and on the first occasion the runs were very limited and we were using the car a lot to get to skiable areas . On the second occasion( last minute holiday last year) we up sticks and left after 1 night as conditiins were so poor. You can be lucky if you leave it to the last minute to book but it is risky. We usually ski at Easter; Tignes is completely reliable and our usual go-to but Serre -Chevalier was good, Zermatt and Val Thorens. We went for Obergurgl one year as it has a good record for snow but weren't lucky although that might just have been bad luck.