snowbizz

[greygirl]

well i went away last week, and snowbizz were absolutely fab, so fab my husband has asked me not to tell anyone!
i will be adding to the review section. we had a great time,and i can reccomend snowdome lessons beforehand - my DD was doing blues by mid-week (and putting me and DH to shame )

Oh i look forward to your review! I'm looking at them for the next season... What was it like for snowboarding, did you see many of them? And what sort of lifts do they have on Nursery and their blue pistes?

Yes.its galling isn't it to see your kids learning so much faster and whizzing down the slopes!

Me too! Just impulsively booked with Snowbizz for Easter week after reading some good things on here. Glad you had a good experience, can't wait to hear more. Thanks!

well if you want a detailed review...

the slopes are mostly blues and reds, there are 2 blacks, a boardercross and snow park. there are 2 rather nasty draglifts (1 of which is banned to anything but skiers as it goes up a 60% incline) but the rest are all chairs. there looks to be some fantastic tree and off-piste skiing if you are up to that sort of thing, as a lot of runs are tree lined and there is a national park next door. we did a lovely run down from 1600 to the bottom of the 6 man chair (1400), and then from the top of there could come down to 1600 again. you could do this on blues or green so was also good for our little one.
i would say it was ok for boarders - there are a couple of flat bits and a little bit of ice in a few places, but lots of chairs.

the ski school is truely excellent and gets children (and grown-ups) skiing happily. The creche was also fantastic. I have booked for next year and we are debating whether to go back at easter.

there isn't a lot in the way of nightlife, but there are a couple of bars and we chatted to other snowbizz people (they're the english ones!). I have done a full 'debrief' for myself for next year, i'll try and post that.
i also did a 'debrief' for myself for next year and if you like i can post that.

thanks & glad you had a great time - I've been looking at snowbizz, but was a bit put off by the accommodation, how did you find it & how old are you dcs ?

Right then my tips following this year's ski holiday:
Journey
Consider parking at airport/meet and greet/hotel so child doesn't have to stand around too much and not too much lugging of suitcases
take sandwiches to eat as we were delayed by 4 hours and a diet of pringles and biscuits was not good
book seats on plane, and bus if travel sick
take travel sickness pills for all kids, and a spare change of clothes for everyone at risk of vomit damage
take a lot of carrier bags, easily accesible (guess why these tips are here!)
colouring books/plastic models to play with
baby wipes

skiing
2 sets skiwear per child
2 pairs gloves per child,
string to keep gloves on,
sunglasses and goggles,
consider P20 for all day UV protection,
big shopping bags for carting boots/helmets etc round in
little plastc bags to keep phone/purse in
thick hairbands to keep hair off face

Appartment
dishwasher tabs and dishcloth (to wipe surfaces with)from home
small bottle washing up liquid from home (or buy big one in resort that you barely use)
take a newspaper so can put on floor and put wet boots on as enter appartment or ?old towel
?old towel for bathmat
take teabags and pasta plus packet sauce for first night in case of unforseen problems
carrier bags as supermarket gone green and no longer issues plasctic ones.
bag per child to take stuff to creche in
lunchbox if child in creche all day
pen and paper

hope that helps somebody!

feelingforty - we went with snowbizz a couple of years ago. The accommodation is right at the bottom of the piste and next to shops, ski school, creche - this is such a bonus with young children.
We were a family of four and had an appt with one double room and one bunk room - children were then 3 and 6.
Everything was in good working order and it was clean.
The only thing lacking for me was a swimming pool but then we were busy skiing most of the time!
If you go with snow bizz ask for an appt facing the slopes as ours looked the other way and we were sometimes woken by bin lorries...although didn't bother us that much and there is a nice view either way.
There is a nice restaurant up the road - we booked snow bizz nannies to babysit once or twice and enjoyed a meal there.
Snowbizz offer a meal deal in one of the restaurants but we didn't use this.

If your children are skiing for the first time or you have any under 3s I would really recommend snow bizz. The ski lessons are good and the childcare is good.

The business is family run and we were well looked after. We travelled by train and got there very early on Sunday. Snow bizz arranged for us to have access to our appt early and it is harder to get this type of service with larger companies.

The main reason we haven't yet been back is that we like to try different resorts. Wish snow bizz were in a few other places!

My dd is 4, but next we take her two younger sisters next year.
the accomodation is very functional, and not massive, but at least a separate sitting area to the kids sleeping area (unlike a hotel room) and you are closer than in a chalet. we liked it - we went back for lunch each day. we had a 2 room appartment, which we will book for 5 of us next year. there is a drying rack also, very useful i thought.
the main benefit is the appartments on are on the slops, in the thick of it. it was literally a 1 minute walk from the ski lockers to the main chair lifts/nursery slopes/creche.

the biggest pain is you have to sweep up after your meals, but my husband helps, and we didn't cook big meals so it wasn't really a problem. it's nice being able to eat breakfast in your pyjamas and start the day slowly!

the food is whatever you want really - a lot of people said they had tried the 'catered option' but actually often just wanted a bowel of soup or pasta in the evenings, so they preferred self catering and being able to suit themmselves.
hope that helps, it is a terrific place to take beginners, especially kids.

Thanks for the info greygirl and grenadine, all very helpful! Getting excited...hope there is still snow when we head out for Easter. One more question - how were the prices/selection at the supermarket?

well it is a slope supermarket, so it wasn't as cheap as aldi, and what with the euro...
there was some stuff that was ok and some stuff (like nice ham) that was not cheap. the bread shop near the snowbizz creche is nice, we bought lunchtime bread every day!
there were cheap yoghurts and butter and stuff, so that was ok.
the fruit was ok too, but not a very big selection (mainly pears apples and bananas) and a salad stall (it is france after all!)

i took a packet of spaghetti and 2 packs of beanfeast bolognaise and that made it cheaper.

thanks to both. My Dd's are 3 (very small) & 6 (very tall!) so although i would have very much liked to go this year, I think we are putting on hold til next year. (worrying about dd3 getting cold/tired/lonely)

I tried to book Obergurgl via ski espirt but must have missed the offer by seconds : - (

Dh was concerned in case the snowbizz apartment was a bit too basic ?

Sounds like you had a great time & I think I'll be adding it to my list off possibles for next year.

there's a tv (so lots of exposure to german/french cartoons), a dishwasher, 4 hobs in the 2 bed appartment, microwave, toaster, tables and chairs, and a sofa.
we found it great i have to say, if a bit small (than say a house ) but we always like self catering.

Feelingforty
My DD was 3 the day we arrived at the Snowbizz holiday. She is petite and was at that stage quite shy. She really enjoyed the Totons class as it was only 1 hour. DS 6 did the longer ski school and then they both had lunch in the creche. We booked them in the creche on a couple of afternoons and spent the other afternoons playing in the snow.

In a way the 3 yr old was more confident as she was too young to feel anxious. This year age nearly 5 she is feeling worried about going skiing but I think once we get there she will really enjoy it and her skiing will take off.

Puy St Vincent is in the southern alps so is quite warm in March and some days were almost too warm for a jacket (for adults)

Its hard to know what to say about the appartments as people's expectations vary a lot. It did not have luxury fittings/furnishings but was spacious enough and was clean. The piste side location made up for the lack of luxury for us. Nevertheless it would be even better if snowbizz had some 4 star appts but then the cost would go up at lot I'd imagine.

clueless - I'm afraid I can't remember much about the supermarket. We ate out a lot of the time either up the mountain or the restaurants at the bottom of the slope. I remember the nice bakery mentioned above.

thanks - without sounding completely precious (or wet !) is the sofa & beds comforable ?

I think we will ski next Jan, would you recommend this resort at this time.

Good idea re beanfeast/pasta. The packets of rissoto are good too.

Also, just wondering why you had to sweep up...is it because no cleaners come in ?

The beds were comfortable when we went 2 yrs ago. We did not use the sofa bed and would recommend booking enough accommodation for everyone to sleep on proper beds (double room plus bunks).

The appartments are clean on arrival. They are hard floors not carpeted so the broom is supplied for you to sweep up crumbs under the table during your stay I think. We put everything in the dishwasher and wiped surfaces before leaving but you are not expected to do full clean..cleaners come in after you leave. Unless anything has changed.

We went mid march and it snowed a lot while we were there. I expect it would be fine in Jan but we haven't yet tried this resort in Jan.

Thanks everybody that was really informative. Thinking about it seriously for us for the next season with a 4 and 7yo but i'm a novice Boarder and need some chairlift acccessible blues.

Grenadine - how did you get there via train? Did Snobizz pick you up from the station (which one?) or how did you get to the Resort?

we only had to sweep up because french bread makes a lot of crumbs, and you don't have to do any major cleaning.
jan this year was sunny and apparantly colder than expected but with thermals and a neck fleece it was absolutely fine (even at 9am).
with the beds, we were fine. if you have 5 people and you book a 2 bedroom appartment you can actually pull out the bed from under the sofa and fit it in with the 2 bunk beds, so the living room is still usable after kids have gone to bed. we tried this to check for next year!

Kiwinyc - Snow bizz charged us the self drive price less the eurotunnel fee I think.

We booked the train ourselves. Eurostar to paris. Then sleeper from Paris to Argentiere les ecrins, on the line to Briancon. It was only a short drive up the mountain from Argentiere les ecrins. Snowbizz booked a taxi for us from the station to the resort - paid seperately for that.

We are a family of four so booked a first class 4 berth compartment on the sleeper so we didn't have to share with anyone. If any of your children are under 4 at the time of travel you don't have to pay for the eurostar seat for them (unless you want the space).

The major drawback is having to change stations in paris and cart luggage/puschairs from one station to the other..we got taxis between stations in the end as there was no lift to metro at gare du nord.

However it was great having an extra day in the resort to get ourselves organised with ski gear and if you stayed till Sunday on the return you would get 2 extra days. However I don't think there is snow bizz childcare on sundays. We came back saturday overnight in order to be back for school on monday.

Thanks Grenadine, its great to know how you can get there by train, DH is really interested in trying this way. DD2 will be ready for the Toton Class (She's 4 in May) and it sounds perfect for her.

thanks for the update...looks like there will be competition for next year. My Dd's will be 7 & 4...maybe see you there !

Feelingforty - we want to go early Jan next yr also so stay in touch because we deffo might see you there! We sound v. similiar because i've dismissed the accommodation in the past as being a bit too basic but it sounds like the convenience of being right on the piste makes up for it and theres more in the village than i realised.

Anyway it'd be great to knowing that our DD's might have company with other girls the same age so I'll keep an eye out for you when I start looking at booking. Training it sounds great actually, cos I also didn't like their flight times - 6-7am flights aren't our cup of tea!

kiwinyc - sounds like a plan..will keep watch on this (are you a kiwi in NYC?)

I will too! (I used to be a Kiwi in NYC...! Now live in London. )

Old thread, but we went with Snowbizz after finding them on mumsnet and they were just amazing!

@2boysl As one of the 2010 contributors to this thread (different username) I'm really glad to hear you had a good time with Snowbizz. Are they still able to employ British childcare staff post Brexit? My dd who was in Snowbizz Totons class in 2008 is now a very competent skiier!

Yes we were there this season and still British nannies.