Snow sure resort in France, Geneva area, early April?

[HilfeBitte]

Hi, just wondering if any experienced skiers can help?

We are absolute novices trying to book a holiday for the first week of the Easter holidays. The only flights we can get are to Geneva, so it needs to be somewhere close-ish to there, ideally within 90 minutes drive.

But also somewhere high enough and with reliable enough snow at that time of year that we’ll be able to actually ski! Bearing in mind we will be on the nursery slopes to start with at least and very unlikely to graduate beyond green runs.

Is there anywhere that fits those parameters?

We've been looking at La Clusaz, which is supposed to be good for beginners, but which also apparently has a lot of rain. Also wondering about Les Gets.

If anyone has any first hand experience of these resorts at that time of year, or any others, would welcome your wisdom!

TIA.

Ah ok, not really familiar with the greens there and I've only ever stayed in Le Fornet (lovely and quiet with what feels like your own private cable car up to some of the best skiing in the area - just the slight risk of a massive avalanche wiping out the entire village every couple of decades...)

Flaine is your best bet near Geneva. It usually has plenty of snow in the first half of April. Stay in Flaine itself at that time rather than the lower villages.

We have skied in Avoriaz at Easter before for the first week of the school holidays and had good snow but effectively it was a week earlier than this year. Have also skied Flaine at Easter but again it was earlier.

For the most snow sure resorts, you do really need Val Thorens, Tignes or Val d’Isere but they are a good 2.5/3 hour transfer from Geneva.

I don’t know Val Thorens but PP have set out the nursery slopes for Val d’Isere well. In Tignes they are also at resort level, although once you’re a bit more confident you can go up to the Bellevarde area which is shared with Val d’Isere. I wouldn’t buy a lift pass for the whole area in advance if you’re all beginners, ski school should tell you when to get them. I know Val d’Isere also offers one that covers just the gondola up to the Solaise and the lifts there, aimed at beginners.

FWIW the last time Easter was this late (2011) we went to Tignes and had a great time but it was very slushy at resort level by mid afternoon. This year we are going to Val d’Isere.

Avoriaz.
Les Gets is closing on 6 April.

Try the hotel La Galise in Val d'Isère - very central, basic but perfectly comfortable, lovely owners.

Have you looked at flights to Oslo and skiing in Norway. We went last year, great snow at Trysill, easy drive in hire car. Quieter and the exchange rate meant cheaper or same as France.

In Val d'Isere there are green nursery slopes close to the town - depends where your accommodation is though, as to whether you would be close to them, but there are further green and blue slopes for beginners to progress onto much higher up the mountain (those on the Solaise for example). You'd descend in a cabin at the end of the lesson, so no need to ski down (the slopes to the resort are all red anyway) but imagine you would spend a large part of your beginner week using those higher slopes. Much better snow quality than you'd get in the village too.

The op is not wanting to ski at Easter itself but the week commencing 5th April and Flaine would normally be ok then. They have said they don’t want a long transfer so the Tarentaise resorts aren’t suitable.

We are in Morzine this week for ski week and there is no snow, it's awful. There's literally a strip of artificial snow on a couple of the low runs and enough for skis school. It's so warm. Our friends have skied in Avoriaz which is higher but it's not the prettiest resort. You need to go higher OP. You should be ok in Avoriaz. We rented a place for the season in la clusaz last year and that's not high or easy skiing. Most of the slopes are in the shade, steep and icy. But it is very beautiful, alot more picturesque than Morzine, Les Gets etc and much smaller and more charming. They have a stunning pedestrian lift with beautiful views but for another time when you have snow.
Les Gets is brilliant for beginners, very easy skiing.

Not wanting a long transfer is all very well but when you go skiing late in the season in these days of much less reliable snow it might be worth rethinking priorities. There is no point going to a resort close to the airport with no snow!

Really sorry to hear that, hopefully some new snow today or tomorrow. We were in 3V last weekj and conditions were really good by recent standards. But I mourn for the snow we used to have 10-15 years ago, let alone the 80s and 90s.

Me too, Piste B was the first run I ever skied and snow was plentiful so I went up and down it for 2 days.
Went back to Morzine a few years ago and couldn't face skiing it even for old times' sake.
Stay up on the Pleney and ski up there or over to Les Gets; there are plenty of blues higher up to learn on.

Also remember at Val di Sere at the bottom the village chair lift and other drag lifts you don't need a ski pass for. You won't need a ski pass as a beginner on snowboard first few days there these slopes are fine to learn on

Yeah you’re right. Whenever we’ve been there we stayed in Le Fornet and didn’t take much notice of what is in town.

I’d go for Avoriaz OP

We have skied in Flaine 3x first week of April and been very lucky with snow. However it is noticeably worse down near resort level where the beginner slopes are. As a beginner I would want a resort which is 1800+ and also avoid resorts with mainly south facing slopes eg La Rosiere or Alpe d’Huez.

If you can face a longer transfer then Tignes, Val Thorens, the higher bits of La Plagne and Les Arcs come into play too.

Have you looked at packages - these can include flights to Chambery airport which is small, almost package only and is much closer to a lot of these resorts (esp La Plagne/Les Arcs). Ski Solutions is worth a call for packages. Inghams or Crystal also fly there I know.

I can’t thank you all enough for all your comments and suggestions, really really appreciate everyone taking the time to post and your thoughtful responses! Sorry not to reply sooner; I've been struggling with a nasty virus, but it was so useful to hear all your perspectives, and to have some really great explanations of how things work in a ski resort!

We decided on Flaine in the end - bit of a gamble, but there are a lot of things about the resort and the hotel we found there that really work for us, and speaking to people in the resort (hotel, ski school), they seemed pretty confident, going on recent past experience, that it wouldn’t be a total bust in terms of snow.

I should have mentioned that our flight doesn’t land in Geneva till 8.30pm, which did make the idea of a long (and very expensive) transfer to get to the really snowsure areas quite unappealing, although we did think hard about it. We’ll be lucky to be checking in by 10/10.30pm as it is, without factoring in delays of any kind, so ultimately we didn’t want to push it any further back. We were restricted in flights as we’re using air miles, and there weren’t any left to anywhere else for skiing! And we can’t leave any earlier in the day on the 4th due to work/school commitments.

We also looked at Avoriaz, given so many of you recommended it, but just couldn’t find any accommodation that ticked all the boxes. The hotel we’ve found in Flaine is right by the beginners slopes/ski school meeting point (so no long trek while carrying skis!); has a ski shop on site; and offers half board, which we really wanted, seeing as we’ll probably be too knackered to think about where to eat! Also has a pool/spa and just looks somewhere nice to chill if we don’t fancy being out all day, every day, but still affordable.

And of course the fact Flaine is supposed to be particularly good for beginners was a factor.

Again, thank you so much to everyone who posted, it really helped a lot.

Sorry to hear how bad conditions were for you there, hope they improved over the week.

@HilfeBitte im glad you have booked and hope you have a great time in Flaine. It is normally open till the end of the third week of April and has good snow depths at present. I wonder if you have booked Hotel Alhena as that is very well situated for the beginners area.

Most of the runs are north facing and it would be best to stick to the blue north facing runs in the afternoon. Tourmaline faces a different way (might be south) so will be ok in the mornings but might get heavy going in the afternoons. There should be enough snow it is more a question of avoiding the bottom of some red runs later in the day when they might get mogulled. If you are having lessons your instructors will be able to advise on the best runs for your level and the spring conditions.

We did Flaine at Easter about 10 years ago and it was fine, although the school Easter holidays were effectively a week earlier. I would love to go back but haven’t managed it yet (well we were meant to go on Easter 2020…). The only downside is that we found the long blue (tourmaline I think) that is the run back from the wider Grand Massif ski area got soft and cut up very badly by early afternoon but if you’re all beginners it’s easy enough to avoid.

Architecturally Flaine is…interesting. Built in the Bauhaus style and a lot of concrete, most of it is the French equivalent of listed. I loved it but there aren’t very many chocolate box chalets about.

ETA: I hope you have a fantastic time!

Well done OP!

For lunch I recommend le Grain de Sel and also the sandwich place just down from it - both have nice sitting areas outside on sunny days. If your half board has a night off, eat at 1967 restaurant, it’s great.

If you arrive late on sat you’ll need to get your skis and boots first thing Sunday right before ski lessons. It may be a bit of a rush. Think about where you’ll leave your shoes if going straight to lessons (sounds like your hotel reception will be right next door which is a good option ).

Also see if you can get your skis passes through your hotel so they are at reception and you don’t have an extra trip to get them.

In general the slopes on the left hand side of the piste map lose snow much quicker than the ones on the right hand side. And obviously lower down loses snow more quickly. Luckily there is a slightly higher beginner area as well as a lower one.

Enjoy!

I learned to ski in Flaine 30-plus years ago OP, and have very fond memories of it. The view across to Mont Blanc from the top of the main gondola on a sunny day is stunning. As a beginner we stayed in the Flaine bowl for the whole week and didn't venture into the Grand Massif at all, but there was plenty there to keep us occupied. At the end of the week we spent our morning lesson (we used to do full days back then) skiing from the top of the gondola back to the resort along a blue run (Crystal?) - the sense of achievement was immense. Have a great time

Hello! Apologies for this update being so late, but just wanted to let you know that we had an absolutely brilliant time in Flaine - the snow was thawing alright but they put a LOT of energy into curating the slopes with snow cannons and “dameuses” (“snow groomers”, apparently, vehicles that drive round the pistes every evening and into the night, piling up and smoothing out the snow - though I expect you all know that!) so we were able to ski no problem. It did look a little odd on the south facing slopes which were bare in ever growing parts around the snow-covered pistes; but it was still very gorgeous.

And learning to ski under glorious blue skies and blazing sunshine was actually delightful, if a bit hot - especially in the magic carpet tunnels!

I didn’t mention the fact that I’m 62 and have a few injuries/chronic conditions, so learning to ski now was a bit daunting, but I’m so glad we went!

I had actually skied a tiny bit before - went on a one night/two day trip back in the 80’s (when I was in my 20’s - a long, long time ago! ), but felt like I’d never really learnt for all the actual skiing I did then. Just one two hour lesson with about 20 others where each of us only got to go down a very short nursery slope about three times, and the rest of the time spent milling round like lost souls, in utter confusion, no idea where to go or what to do. And of course falling over. Never got anywhere close to doing any runs; I don’t think we even bothered putting our skis on the second day.

But the environment made such an impression on me and I’d been longing to get back to snow covered mountains ever since. It’s been this dream to get back there and actually ski, but for one reason or another I could never make it happen till now. Like mrssquidink, we were booked to go skiing (to L’Alpe d’Huez) in April 2020, and I was so gutted when it didn't happen. Having acquired a couple more injuries since then, it was looking really tricky, and fitting in around DS’s exams was tricky too, and I could see myself just getting older and unfitter and the chance just slipping by. So this was such a big deal for me, making it happen, getting there, leaning the basics, and not coming home with any more injuries!!

I booked us private lessons directly with a couple who’ve been teaching out there for decades. We just had two hours a day for five of the six days we were there, and didn’t do much skiing besides that tbh - wanted to take it easy really and was very nervous about coming a cropper on my own! DH gave it a go for a couple of days, but he’s never really wanted to ski and didn’t really enjoy it, it just confirmed for him that it’s not really his thing. He was still very happy to be there though, and that DS and I were enjoying it so much.

And DS (17) absolutely loved it - the skiing, the mountains, everything - which was one of the best bits. I’m so pleased he can ski now, even though he didn’t make as much progress as if I hadn’t been slowing things down! We did three different green runs but didn’t get as far as blue runs; when we took the Grandes Platières cable car up to the top of the mountain (great tip, stringbean!) - it was indeed stunning but I really wished I was competent/confident enough to be skiing back down on that blue run! It’s on the bucket list now.

We’ve been back two weeks now and things have been really hectic since, so it all feels a bit dreamlike, but I’ve got the fridge magnet to prove we were there 😂 and am just so happy we made it. Thanks again for all the tips, especially those who recommended Flaine, it really worked so well for us!

minipie thanks for the recommendations, we had a very nice lunch at the Grain de Sel one day, also a couple of good lunches on the terrace of our hotel, soaking up the sun. And one at the cafe on top of the mountain, looking out over Mont Blanc. We tried to book for dinner at 1967 but left it too late and it was fully booked up for the rest of our stay by then, but we had a good dinner at Sabaudia up in Flaine Forêt.

And yes, our instructor took us up to the higher Flaine Forêt beginner level from the get go, as she said the snow was better there. Everything was such a learning curve - we did chair lifts and button lifts as well as the télébennes/bucket lifts and the magic carpets; if we do go back - and I really hope we do - it will all be so much easier, now we’ve done it once and got to know all that stuff.

I am so glad you went and had a fantastic time! Just be warned - probably for your DS’s sake - that it’s an addictive but sadly not cheap holiday…

If you like the mountain scenery, the Alps are also beautiful in the summer just with less snow (obviously).

Thank you! And yes, the Alps in the summer are on the bucket list too.

I’m hoping we can manage one more family holiday - and then DS will have to fund himself from then on, if he wants to carry on!