The combination of the arrival the first snow of the winter in the Alps this week, the Metro Ski & Snow Show and the UK government’s announcement on budget cuts has generated lots of newsprint about how holiday-makers can maximise their value for money this winter.
At Alpine Ethos we recognise that value for money is of paramount importance to any holiday maker but we also recognise that dirt cheap doesn’t necessarily equal value for money. So here’s our two penn’rth on whether self-catered or fully catered ski holidays offer the best value for money.
Most of the really eye catching deals at this time of year are for self-catered holidays, often in the early season. The advantages offered by a self-catered break are clear. You have the flexibility of being able to eat when, where and what you want and theoretically spend within your budget. However the question is does this provide good value for money?
The answer is...it depends. You can satisfy your mountain fuelled hunger with bread and jam for breakfast, bread & cheese for lunch and pasta and sauce (or equivalent budget meals) for tea. Wash this lot down with some vin ordinaire (unless you're French maybe?) and you’ll be living the bargain-hunter’s dream.
The real question you have to ask is “what do I want from my holiday”? Are you going to want to cook (in what will probably be a small kitchen) every night, wash up and clear down after an epic day on the mountain? If you are in a big group, are you used to cooking for that many people? If you are happy with the cooking there is then the cost to consider.
It’s no secret that mountain resort shops and supermarkets ain’t cheap. You see a large “mountain tax” on every product from booze to broccoli and sometimes it can be an eye-watering calculation to make. On top of that, eating out in the mountains can be pretty pricey too. A decent pizza and a pint can cost you 15 euros and who has just one pint or no pudding on holiday?
A fully-catered chalet holiday is a different kettle of fish. Choose a good company (we’d suggest an independent operator – of course!) and you’ll have the strain taken out of the holiday and give yourself more time to relax with friends and family.
Most operators (us included) will offer hot and cold options for breakfast, tea and freshly baked cake when you get back from the slopes and a 3 course meal with wine/beer for dinner. Your holiday costs are fixed when you make the booking (no worrying about the exchange rate upping a food bill), the washing up is done, the menu is set, the fussier eaters in your group are looked after by understanding chalet staff and you’re not doing the cooking! All you have to worry about is whether you want red or white with dinner and where to eat on your day off.
While a fully catered holiday might seem expensive up front the actual cost at the end of your holiday might not be all that different to a self-catered break. If that little extra money means the difference between pasta and sauce and something like this, is there any real competition?
Friday, 22 October 2010
Friday, 8 October 2010
Winter's nearly here - getting the right gear
As many readers will know, team Alpine Ethos made it back to resort this week. It’s been a few days of unpacking, dealing with the summer post and adjusting back to the pace of mountain life. The weather has been glorious since our arrival. The autumnal colours on the trees look stunning and we’ve taken full advantage of the views of them whilst out walking with Benny.
We have also reacquainted ourselves with our local, La Tsaretta in Les Allues and met Steve, the new business owner, who took over during the summer. He’s been making a few changes to the bar including a new paint job (deep red downstairs – very nice), a new sound and light system, TV and projector and a new menu overseen by head chef, Paul.
Inspired by all the chatter on Goneboarding about the new kit people are planning to buy / wear on the slopes this season we thought we’d share our top to bottom guide of what you need to be comfortable, safe & stylish on the slopes this season:
Helmet – a safety garment for sure but can be stylish and should be comfy & warm too.
Goggles/sunnies – protect your eyes from those UV rays with some trendy eyewear. A second pair of goggles/an additonal lens for flat light conditions can be very useful too.
Buff – good for keeping any cold breeze from whistling down your neck
Thermal baselayer – we’re big fans of merino but this is pricey. A Lifa or other synthetic baselayer will do the job.
Midlayer – this can be anything from a t-shirt to a fleece, it depends how cold it is outside, how warm/cold you like to be and how warm your outerlayer is too.
Jacket – A fashion item as well as a must for keeping you dry and warm.
Long Johns – not the height of fashion we admit but if you have shell-like trousers as opposed to insulated ones you’ll appreciate the added warmth.
Ski/snowboarding pants – Baggy, bright, warm and waterproof is our motto here.
Socks – perhaps the most important piece of kit we own, we go for the single layer, ski/boarding sock which have padded bits where you need them.
Boots – Every skier/boarder has their own preference but getting a good fit is essential for maximum enjoyment on the slopes.
Skis/snowboard – whatever your thing, park, piste, off-piste there are skis and boards out there to suit every style.
Here's wishing away the autumn for winter and a big dump of snow!
We have also reacquainted ourselves with our local, La Tsaretta in Les Allues and met Steve, the new business owner, who took over during the summer. He’s been making a few changes to the bar including a new paint job (deep red downstairs – very nice), a new sound and light system, TV and projector and a new menu overseen by head chef, Paul.
Inspired by all the chatter on Goneboarding about the new kit people are planning to buy / wear on the slopes this season we thought we’d share our top to bottom guide of what you need to be comfortable, safe & stylish on the slopes this season:
Helmet – a safety garment for sure but can be stylish and should be comfy & warm too.
Goggles/sunnies – protect your eyes from those UV rays with some trendy eyewear. A second pair of goggles/an additonal lens for flat light conditions can be very useful too.
Buff – good for keeping any cold breeze from whistling down your neck
Thermal baselayer – we’re big fans of merino but this is pricey. A Lifa or other synthetic baselayer will do the job.
Midlayer – this can be anything from a t-shirt to a fleece, it depends how cold it is outside, how warm/cold you like to be and how warm your outerlayer is too.
Jacket – A fashion item as well as a must for keeping you dry and warm.
Long Johns – not the height of fashion we admit but if you have shell-like trousers as opposed to insulated ones you’ll appreciate the added warmth.
Ski/snowboarding pants – Baggy, bright, warm and waterproof is our motto here.
Socks – perhaps the most important piece of kit we own, we go for the single layer, ski/boarding sock which have padded bits where you need them.
Boots – Every skier/boarder has their own preference but getting a good fit is essential for maximum enjoyment on the slopes.
Skis/snowboard – whatever your thing, park, piste, off-piste there are skis and boards out there to suit every style.
Here's wishing away the autumn for winter and a big dump of snow!
Friday, 10 September 2010
The 3 Valleys gets better & better....
With kids back to school and our inbox filling up with booking enquiries for the up-coming ski season, we thought it would be a great time spread the news about what our guests can expect from the slopes this season. Every year, the lift pass company invests time and money into improving the Three Valleys ski area and this year is no exception.
Beginner skiers and snowboarders will be able to take advantage of improvements being made to the Altiport area (Meribel’s designated area for beginner skiers/boarders) which include a new ‘cool moon’ quiet piste and a wooded nature trail piste for children learning to ski. The Doron Zen area above Mottaret is also being made gentler to make it easier and more fun for beginners.
Other measures to help people improve their skiing and boarding include an overhaul of the Plattieres Snowpark to make it more accessible to skiers and boarders of all levels and upgrades to the blue (beginner’s) freestyle course at the Moonpark which is being enlarged and new obstacles added.
More experienced skiers will benefit from the improvement to the Cote Brune chairlift which will have an increased capacity of 15% next season making it quicker to get to the higher altitude slopes in the Meribel Valley as well as over to the pistes in Val Thorens. New snow fences (which accumulate the snow) will improve the snow conditions on the Campagnol and Venturon pistes whilst the middle section of the Lac de Chambre piste (coming back from Val Thorens) is also being enhanced.
Improvements will be noticeable in neighbouring Courcheval and include the installation of new snow cannons ensuring that guests can enjoy the tree-lined runs down to La Tania all season long, as well as upgrades to the Family Park and redevelopment of the Women’s World Cup course ready for the race on 21 December.
Those looking to take a break from the slopes will be able to head to the new snack bar at the Adray Telebar where you will be able to relax and take in the view on their new piste-side sun terrace.
If you’re anything like us all this talk of snow will only serve to fuel your desire to liberate your ski kit and hit the slopes! Only 85 days to go...
Meribel lifts open 4th December 2010. All information courtesy of Merinet.com
Beginner skiers and snowboarders will be able to take advantage of improvements being made to the Altiport area (Meribel’s designated area for beginner skiers/boarders) which include a new ‘cool moon’ quiet piste and a wooded nature trail piste for children learning to ski. The Doron Zen area above Mottaret is also being made gentler to make it easier and more fun for beginners.
Other measures to help people improve their skiing and boarding include an overhaul of the Plattieres Snowpark to make it more accessible to skiers and boarders of all levels and upgrades to the blue (beginner’s) freestyle course at the Moonpark which is being enlarged and new obstacles added.
More experienced skiers will benefit from the improvement to the Cote Brune chairlift which will have an increased capacity of 15% next season making it quicker to get to the higher altitude slopes in the Meribel Valley as well as over to the pistes in Val Thorens. New snow fences (which accumulate the snow) will improve the snow conditions on the Campagnol and Venturon pistes whilst the middle section of the Lac de Chambre piste (coming back from Val Thorens) is also being enhanced.
Improvements will be noticeable in neighbouring Courcheval and include the installation of new snow cannons ensuring that guests can enjoy the tree-lined runs down to La Tania all season long, as well as upgrades to the Family Park and redevelopment of the Women’s World Cup course ready for the race on 21 December.
Those looking to take a break from the slopes will be able to head to the new snack bar at the Adray Telebar where you will be able to relax and take in the view on their new piste-side sun terrace.
If you’re anything like us all this talk of snow will only serve to fuel your desire to liberate your ski kit and hit the slopes! Only 85 days to go...
Meribel lifts open 4th December 2010. All information courtesy of Merinet.com
Friday, 27 August 2010
The 7 step Alpine Ethos guide to booking your ski holiday
With the summer hols drawing to a close and many peoples’ thoughts turning to their next holiday in the snow, we thought we’d produce a short guide to all those things worth considering when you’re booking your (independent) ski holiday.
1. Who is in your group?
This is your starting point. The size, make up (family/friends/couples/lads/girls) and skiing/snowboarding ability of your party will determine to some extent where you go, how you will travel and the type of accommodation you will need.
2. Deciding where to go
Ski resorts vary enormously from the picturesque postcard resort of gingerbread house style chalets (Meribel) to their concrete constructed ugly sisters (Flaine); some are famed for live music and après-ski (Val d’Isere), others for on-piste (Serre Chevalier) and off-piste (La Grave) skiing; some are more beginner and/or child friendly, some have many snow parks (Morzine) and others pride themselves on having something for everyone including non-skiers. Groomed slopes and ski lifts vary in number from resort to resort from a small handful (St. Foy) to huge numbers in ski areas that link multiple resorts on one lift pass (Three Valleys / Portes de Soleil). Think high resorts (Val Thorens) for guaranteed snow conditions for early and late season breaks and lower resorts for easy road access.
3. How will you get there?
Now you’ve decided where to go there are a variety of options open to you in respect of how you get there. Flight + transfer, train + transfer or self-drive are the main ways of getting your group out to resort. Flight-wise there could be up to 4 airports local to your ski resort so researching the best option from your nearest home airport is best but don’t forget to factor in your transfer cost. Your chalet operator will often provide a transfer (either included in the price or for a small additional fee) so it’s worth checking with them first. Those taking the train can go direct overnight or during the day from London St. Pancras to Moutiers or Bourg-St. Maurice. Another option requires a quick connection dash across Paris (this is often cheaper but perhaps not one best taken with children in your party). Favoured by families is the self-drive option which often provides best value if there are 4 or more in the car. Don’t forget it’s a 10 hr or so drive to many resorts from Calais so take plenty of in-car entertainment!
4. What type of accommodation and catering are you looking for?
Ski resort accommodation includes chalets, apartments and hotels. Independently booked chalets will generally be run by enthusiastic hosts (often by the business owners themselves) and are usually fully catered to include breakfast, afternoon tea and evening meals with drinks although it is possible to find self-catered chalets. Apartments are usually self-catered and often you will be left alone once you have picked up your key. Hotels are much like hotels the world over - usually a perfectly comfortable (if perhaps a more impersonal than a catered chalet) way to spend your ski holiday. Families with young children should remember to ask about facilities and menus for younger family members. Another thing to bear in mind is the make-up of the rooms. Many will be twins and doubles but family suites and triples are also available. Check the location of your accommodation too. If you’re not within easy reach of the slopes or the ski bus, does your accommodation provide transport to and from the lifts? Don’t forget, if you go self-catered you will need to think about food and drink; is your accommodation in easy reach of supermarkets and/or restaurants? Factor in a food budget and don’t forget food bought in supermarket resorts is a lot pricier than in your local Tesco’s!
5. Booking lessons, equipment hire, lift passes, ski lockers etc
For all of these things, we recommend speaking with your chalet operator. They will often be able to order your lift passes, book your ski locker (if you want one) and point you in the direction of the nearest (and/or best value) ski hire company. They will also know who’s hot and who’s not when it comes to ski and snowboard instruction in resort. Tap them up for information and booking advice.
6. Insurance
Our advice is don’t leave home without it! Accidents do unfortunately happen, even if they aren’t your fault and you don’t want to be caught short of insurance if you need to be airlifted or stretchered off the mountain. Check your travel insurance small print and make sure you’re covered. If you do happen to leave home without sorting it out, buy the insurance on offer with your lift pass which covers you for all your activities on the mountain.
7. Having fun
This is the easy bit. If you’ve taken everything above into account then you’ve done the hard work. Sit back and relax with a vin chaud and a big slice of cake after a hard day on the slopes!
1. Who is in your group?
This is your starting point. The size, make up (family/friends/couples/lads/girls) and skiing/snowboarding ability of your party will determine to some extent where you go, how you will travel and the type of accommodation you will need.
2. Deciding where to go
Ski resorts vary enormously from the picturesque postcard resort of gingerbread house style chalets (Meribel) to their concrete constructed ugly sisters (Flaine); some are famed for live music and après-ski (Val d’Isere), others for on-piste (Serre Chevalier) and off-piste (La Grave) skiing; some are more beginner and/or child friendly, some have many snow parks (Morzine) and others pride themselves on having something for everyone including non-skiers. Groomed slopes and ski lifts vary in number from resort to resort from a small handful (St. Foy) to huge numbers in ski areas that link multiple resorts on one lift pass (Three Valleys / Portes de Soleil). Think high resorts (Val Thorens) for guaranteed snow conditions for early and late season breaks and lower resorts for easy road access.
3. How will you get there?
Now you’ve decided where to go there are a variety of options open to you in respect of how you get there. Flight + transfer, train + transfer or self-drive are the main ways of getting your group out to resort. Flight-wise there could be up to 4 airports local to your ski resort so researching the best option from your nearest home airport is best but don’t forget to factor in your transfer cost. Your chalet operator will often provide a transfer (either included in the price or for a small additional fee) so it’s worth checking with them first. Those taking the train can go direct overnight or during the day from London St. Pancras to Moutiers or Bourg-St. Maurice. Another option requires a quick connection dash across Paris (this is often cheaper but perhaps not one best taken with children in your party). Favoured by families is the self-drive option which often provides best value if there are 4 or more in the car. Don’t forget it’s a 10 hr or so drive to many resorts from Calais so take plenty of in-car entertainment!
4. What type of accommodation and catering are you looking for?
Ski resort accommodation includes chalets, apartments and hotels. Independently booked chalets will generally be run by enthusiastic hosts (often by the business owners themselves) and are usually fully catered to include breakfast, afternoon tea and evening meals with drinks although it is possible to find self-catered chalets. Apartments are usually self-catered and often you will be left alone once you have picked up your key. Hotels are much like hotels the world over - usually a perfectly comfortable (if perhaps a more impersonal than a catered chalet) way to spend your ski holiday. Families with young children should remember to ask about facilities and menus for younger family members. Another thing to bear in mind is the make-up of the rooms. Many will be twins and doubles but family suites and triples are also available. Check the location of your accommodation too. If you’re not within easy reach of the slopes or the ski bus, does your accommodation provide transport to and from the lifts? Don’t forget, if you go self-catered you will need to think about food and drink; is your accommodation in easy reach of supermarkets and/or restaurants? Factor in a food budget and don’t forget food bought in supermarket resorts is a lot pricier than in your local Tesco’s!
5. Booking lessons, equipment hire, lift passes, ski lockers etc
For all of these things, we recommend speaking with your chalet operator. They will often be able to order your lift passes, book your ski locker (if you want one) and point you in the direction of the nearest (and/or best value) ski hire company. They will also know who’s hot and who’s not when it comes to ski and snowboard instruction in resort. Tap them up for information and booking advice.
6. Insurance
Our advice is don’t leave home without it! Accidents do unfortunately happen, even if they aren’t your fault and you don’t want to be caught short of insurance if you need to be airlifted or stretchered off the mountain. Check your travel insurance small print and make sure you’re covered. If you do happen to leave home without sorting it out, buy the insurance on offer with your lift pass which covers you for all your activities on the mountain.
7. Having fun
This is the easy bit. If you’ve taken everything above into account then you’ve done the hard work. Sit back and relax with a vin chaud and a big slice of cake after a hard day on the slopes!
Friday, 13 August 2010
Mountains of food!
As many of you know it’s been a busy summer for Alpine Ethos with numerous social functions; weddings, birthdays, camping trips and so on which has given rise to lots of opportunities to talk about what we do for a living. It seems that people are (perhaps not surprisingly) quite interested in our chalet venture compared to our previous lives working in the financial sector and often ask us about it at length. Invariably the subject turns to food; what we serve in the chalet and what the local specialities are in and around Meribel and so the inspiration for today’s blog.
Mountain regions the world over are known for their cheese production, and the Savoie is no exception. Local cheeses including beaufort and comte are used in abundance to create that ski resort favourite, the fondue. Traditionally a heated pot of cheese melted together with white wine is placed in the centre of the table and served with bread cubes for dipping and cold, cured meats and salad as accompaniments. Another traditional cheese focused dish is raclette, where a large wedge of (raclette) cheese is presented on a tray-with-heat-element contraption for you to melt the cheese and scrape it onto your plate of potatoes, gherkins, cured meat and salad – yum!
As if this wasn’t enough of a cheese-fest, another local speciality is the humble tartiflette; an oven baked dish of creamy, carbohydrate-loaded loveliness using potatoes, lardons (bacon bits), cream and reblochon cheese.
For those meat lovers, the ‘pierre chaud’ may be your dish of choice, literally a ‘hot stone’ which is brought to your table with a platter of raw meat for you to sizzle to your liking. A variation of the fondue is also found where the cheesy sauce is replaced with hot oil for you to cook strips of meat at your table.
Many of you will already have heard of the dishes described above, so onto a couple of other local plates we’ve come across. Diots de Savoie is the name of the local sausage, possibly the meatiest pork sausage you’ll ever come across which is often found on menus braised in white wine and served with crozets. Crozets are little squares of buckwheat pasta (specific to the Savoie) which are boiled then put into a dish with cream and cheese and baked before serving. It’s not unusual to order a steak in Meribel and find it served with French fries, crozets and bread for that sleep-inducing triple carb hit! We suppose the active lifestyle of the mountains justifies this Atkins-unfriendly feasting.
All this talk of food is making us hungry, time to stock up on some good old UK favourites before we head back to France....Yorkshire pudding anyone?
Mountain regions the world over are known for their cheese production, and the Savoie is no exception. Local cheeses including beaufort and comte are used in abundance to create that ski resort favourite, the fondue. Traditionally a heated pot of cheese melted together with white wine is placed in the centre of the table and served with bread cubes for dipping and cold, cured meats and salad as accompaniments. Another traditional cheese focused dish is raclette, where a large wedge of (raclette) cheese is presented on a tray-with-heat-element contraption for you to melt the cheese and scrape it onto your plate of potatoes, gherkins, cured meat and salad – yum!
As if this wasn’t enough of a cheese-fest, another local speciality is the humble tartiflette; an oven baked dish of creamy, carbohydrate-loaded loveliness using potatoes, lardons (bacon bits), cream and reblochon cheese.
For those meat lovers, the ‘pierre chaud’ may be your dish of choice, literally a ‘hot stone’ which is brought to your table with a platter of raw meat for you to sizzle to your liking. A variation of the fondue is also found where the cheesy sauce is replaced with hot oil for you to cook strips of meat at your table.
Many of you will already have heard of the dishes described above, so onto a couple of other local plates we’ve come across. Diots de Savoie is the name of the local sausage, possibly the meatiest pork sausage you’ll ever come across which is often found on menus braised in white wine and served with crozets. Crozets are little squares of buckwheat pasta (specific to the Savoie) which are boiled then put into a dish with cream and cheese and baked before serving. It’s not unusual to order a steak in Meribel and find it served with French fries, crozets and bread for that sleep-inducing triple carb hit! We suppose the active lifestyle of the mountains justifies this Atkins-unfriendly feasting.
All this talk of food is making us hungry, time to stock up on some good old UK favourites before we head back to France....Yorkshire pudding anyone?
Friday, 6 August 2010
Ski helmets: to wear or not to wear?
Regular blog readers may have noticed a lack of news from our quarters of late and the truth is it’s been a busy few weeks at Alpine Ethos HQ. Three friends’ weddings, one 30th birthday (Andy), a camping trip and a house sale (well, subject to contract) has meant little time to download our thoughts. We have however, just about sold all of the peak weeks of the season. We will be welcoming some new and some returning guests and the enquiries are starting to gain real momentum with early January looking like the next few weeks to sell.
Apart from all of the above, our attention has been recently caught by an upsurge in interest in the subject of helmet wearing for skiing and snowboarding. An MSc student at the University of Surrey is currently undertaking a survey of attitudes towards helmet wearing, causing many of the various ski and snowboard interest groups and websites to wade in on the debate so we thought we’d put our two penn’rth in too!
According to the student conducting the survey, helmets “may reduce the risk of serious head injuries by as much as 50%”. In some resorts, notably in Italy and Austria, there are laws mandating the wearing of helmets for children aged under 14. But after the death of Natasha Richardson in the 2008-9 season, wouldn’t it make sense for everyone to wear them?
Andy and I have been wearing helmets since 2006 following a scary moment when I crashed on my own on an icy patch of snow and used my head to break the fall. It hurt and I briefly lost consciousness. I needed no more convincing that a helmet was a necessary piece of kit and promptly walked straight into the nearest shop to make my purchase. Now, I’m not saying it was the most stylish piece of kit (it really wasn’t) but it did the job and finally, this season I got around to replacing it for something a bit more lightweight and acceptable amongst my peers. Many of the seasonnaires we know wear helmets and will claim good reason for doing so. It seems to us, that this inexpensive piece of kit doesn’t restrict your ability to ski or snowboard, keeps your head warm in place of the beanie you might have been wearing and just might help save you from ruining your holiday or season through serious injury.
Whilst we are clearly advocates of the wearing of ski & snowboard helmets we do understand it is a personal choice, it’s just that personally we don’t ride our bikes without bike helmets, nor drive our car without wearing seatbelts. Anyway, boarding without a helmet actually feels pretty weird these days causing us to be doubly careful which is not much fun with a board strapped to your feet and a snowy mountain or two at your disposal. We’ll be wearing our helmets next season, the question is will you?
Apart from all of the above, our attention has been recently caught by an upsurge in interest in the subject of helmet wearing for skiing and snowboarding. An MSc student at the University of Surrey is currently undertaking a survey of attitudes towards helmet wearing, causing many of the various ski and snowboard interest groups and websites to wade in on the debate so we thought we’d put our two penn’rth in too!
According to the student conducting the survey, helmets “may reduce the risk of serious head injuries by as much as 50%”. In some resorts, notably in Italy and Austria, there are laws mandating the wearing of helmets for children aged under 14. But after the death of Natasha Richardson in the 2008-9 season, wouldn’t it make sense for everyone to wear them?
Andy and I have been wearing helmets since 2006 following a scary moment when I crashed on my own on an icy patch of snow and used my head to break the fall. It hurt and I briefly lost consciousness. I needed no more convincing that a helmet was a necessary piece of kit and promptly walked straight into the nearest shop to make my purchase. Now, I’m not saying it was the most stylish piece of kit (it really wasn’t) but it did the job and finally, this season I got around to replacing it for something a bit more lightweight and acceptable amongst my peers. Many of the seasonnaires we know wear helmets and will claim good reason for doing so. It seems to us, that this inexpensive piece of kit doesn’t restrict your ability to ski or snowboard, keeps your head warm in place of the beanie you might have been wearing and just might help save you from ruining your holiday or season through serious injury.
Whilst we are clearly advocates of the wearing of ski & snowboard helmets we do understand it is a personal choice, it’s just that personally we don’t ride our bikes without bike helmets, nor drive our car without wearing seatbelts. Anyway, boarding without a helmet actually feels pretty weird these days causing us to be doubly careful which is not much fun with a board strapped to your feet and a snowy mountain or two at your disposal. We’ll be wearing our helmets next season, the question is will you?
Friday, 9 July 2010
Missing out on summer in the Alps
As you probably know by now, the Alpine Ethos team are back in the UK for the summer and don’t get us wrong we’re happy to be here. This week has involved a visit from Heather’s mum and dad, some culinary experimentation (beef paprikash, a Jamie Oliver style meringue pudding and another Leon cookbook great – the Tuk Tuk salad), as well as a scary trip to the vets for Benny who had a suspected case of a potentially life threatening stomach condition. Fortunately it was only suspected and not the reality – phew. But aside from all that, we can’t help but keep an eye on what’s going on in and around Meribel whilst we’re away and, to us, it looks pretty good!
Things kicked off last weekend when the ski lifts opened for the ‘Big Bike Weekend’ which began with a 20 km bike ride open to anyone who feels the need to launch themselves on a mountain bike from the top of the Saulire (2,600m high) down the ski slopes and through the forest below to Brides-les-Bains at 600m. The first rider made it down the course in just 24 minutes!
The next day, cyclists took back to the mountains for the Three Valleys rando-tour, an 80km cross country mountain bike course with 1,100m of ascents and 3,400m of descents. You could start from any of the 3 valley resort stations and could duck out at various points if you didn’t quite have the stamina. Whilst we don’t consider ourselves hard core mountain bikers we definitely would have given these two events a go....maybe next year.
Obviously these types of mountain biking course aren’t for everyone, but there are loads of things to do in Meribel over the summer. The lifts stay open from early July until late August (27th this year) for hikers and mountain bikers (your bike is carried on a rack attached to the back of the chairlift). There’s also horseriding, segway transporter courses, rafting, canyoning, via ferrata (high mountain wire climb) and parapenting. For those land sports lovers there are plenty of quality tennis courts and a high altitude golf course and last but not least for those who really want to take things easy there’s always the swimming pool and relaxation spa.
When you’ve finished with some or all of the activities we’ve described some of Meribel’s best bars and restaurants are open for business and if you happen to be in town for 14th July, don’t miss the Bastille day celebrations in Les Allues, complete with Oompah band and a music and firework extravaganza.
So, as you can see, there are plenty of reasons why we’re thinking about being back in the Alps this summer. Ah well, there’s always next year.
Friday, 2 July 2010
Feeling a bit flighty
It’s been a week of both work and pleasure (well sort of) at Alpine Ethos HQ. We broke out the BBQ on Sunday, whipped up some tabbouleh, happy carrot slaw (a winner from the Leon cookbook) and a few other leafy offerings and threw some snags, drumsticks and burgers over the coals for our mates. It being the England vs Germany match (and having too many people to fit in our lounge) Andy rigged up our TV for an open air transmission. So it was fun to catch up with all our mates but of course the result left a few of our BBQ friends a little down in the dumps.
On the work front, Heather’s made in-roads into gathering all the data ready to prepare our first accounts and Andy’s been immersed in all things HTML and our new website is really starting to take shape.
As well as making our new website shiny we are also updating the information contained there and this week has seen us focus on the ‘how to get to us’ page, an important page of information if you’re booking any holiday independently. While railway timetables are not yet available flight times and prices are now published and there are some bargains to be had at the moment.
We looked at a number of options for 4 adults travelling to us from the North (Manchester), South (London Stansted) and Midlands (Birmingham) for the same week, 16th January to 23rd January.
Easyjet proved cheapest for flights from Stansted and Birmingham to Geneva for 4 adults including one bag each. Stansted to Geneva was a mere £300.42 return while flights from Brum were just £288.92. Jet2 proved the cheapest option from Manchester at £327.84 return. Remember those prices are for the whole group not each person!
Once you have made it to the airport you’ll need to get from there to the resort. Competition is fierce in the transfer industry and your basic options are a private or shared transfer. Private companies such as My Mountain Transfers will meet you in arrivals (with your name on a board for added glamour!) and take you straight to your destination for 260 euros each way.
Alternatively you might want the cheaper option of a shared transfer with a company such as Ben’s Bus. They operate a number of services each day, so you may have a bit of a wait in the airport before leaving but for £67 return per person smaller groups may like the savings!
In the course of doing this research we thought it would also be interesting to compare the prices our guests might pay for their total package with those of the large ski package holiday companies. With a flight from Stansted a group of 4 adults staying with us would be paying £623 each for flights, private transfers and accommodation (or £577 with shared transfers) the former of which works out at around about £30-£50 per person cheaper than package operators in and around Meribel. So this just goes to show that if you’re willing to put in a bit of time booking things separately you can tailor your holiday to your own needs, save a few quid to boot and get yourself some Alpine Ethos hospitality to boot.
Have a good weekend
Heather, Andy & Benny
On the work front, Heather’s made in-roads into gathering all the data ready to prepare our first accounts and Andy’s been immersed in all things HTML and our new website is really starting to take shape.
As well as making our new website shiny we are also updating the information contained there and this week has seen us focus on the ‘how to get to us’ page, an important page of information if you’re booking any holiday independently. While railway timetables are not yet available flight times and prices are now published and there are some bargains to be had at the moment.
We looked at a number of options for 4 adults travelling to us from the North (Manchester), South (London Stansted) and Midlands (Birmingham) for the same week, 16th January to 23rd January.
Easyjet proved cheapest for flights from Stansted and Birmingham to Geneva for 4 adults including one bag each. Stansted to Geneva was a mere £300.42 return while flights from Brum were just £288.92. Jet2 proved the cheapest option from Manchester at £327.84 return. Remember those prices are for the whole group not each person!
Once you have made it to the airport you’ll need to get from there to the resort. Competition is fierce in the transfer industry and your basic options are a private or shared transfer. Private companies such as My Mountain Transfers will meet you in arrivals (with your name on a board for added glamour!) and take you straight to your destination for 260 euros each way.
Alternatively you might want the cheaper option of a shared transfer with a company such as Ben’s Bus. They operate a number of services each day, so you may have a bit of a wait in the airport before leaving but for £67 return per person smaller groups may like the savings!
In the course of doing this research we thought it would also be interesting to compare the prices our guests might pay for their total package with those of the large ski package holiday companies. With a flight from Stansted a group of 4 adults staying with us would be paying £623 each for flights, private transfers and accommodation (or £577 with shared transfers) the former of which works out at around about £30-£50 per person cheaper than package operators in and around Meribel. So this just goes to show that if you’re willing to put in a bit of time booking things separately you can tailor your holiday to your own needs, save a few quid to boot and get yourself some Alpine Ethos hospitality to boot.
Have a good weekend
Heather, Andy & Benny
Friday, 25 June 2010
Summer & ski schools
It’s amazing how quickly Friday comes around. Leeds has been bathed in sunshine for the past week which has seen the Alpine Ethos team with hedgetrimmers and strimmers in hand meaning our garden is now tidied and ready for a BBQ on Sunday. In addition our tans are topped up and England are through to the last 16 (as optimistically predicted in last weeks’ blog).
The sun being out has also been an inspirational force in the kitchen this week. Griddled aubergine and courgette pasta with mint and lemon dressing has been a particular highlight, (summer in a bowl!) as well as a little experimentation for next season. Gooey banana flapjacks should be a firm favourite during afternoon tea and the homemade chocolate sorbet Heather knocked up on Wednesday night is competing for a place on the menu too.
This week Heather’s been speaking to one of our February half-term bookings for next season who were enquiring about suitable ski schools in Meribel. Whilst it may seem early to be thinking about this now, peak weeks, especially half-term book up much quicker than most and now is exactly the right time to be making enquiries and bookings if you want to ensure the type of lesson, instructor and time-slot you want.
Some of our half-term guests are a party of 3 adults and 5 children and rather than putting their children into group lessons, they are exploring the option of a few private lessons for them. Price-wise it works out similar to a week of group lessons and but they are guaranteed an instructor all to themselves and can book the times and days they want allowing them some whole days on the slopes as a group as well as some children-free skiing time for the adults.
If you are looking to book lessons for peak weeks (or any other skiing/boarding hols for that matter), it is worth doing a bit of research before you go. Many French resorts now offer a much wider variety of ski schools than ever before. Two schools that we recommend to our guests are Parallel Lines and New Generation in Meribel who were set up by and are run by Brits. Both have gone to great effort to differentiate themselves from the standard ESF (Ecole du Ski Francais) offering. Their instructors are largely native English speakers (a real differentiator in the eyes of many of our guests last season) and they pride themselves on their variety of lessons. You can choose from the usual group classes for various abilities and ages, technical classes to improve your piste performance and/or skills sessions where you choose your area of focus. This choice goes a long way to ensuring that everybody, regardless of age and experience can improve their skiing whilst on holiday.
Snowboarders visiting Meribel aren’t left out in the cold either. Snowboarding school Cab9 are ready on hand to provide expert tuition by experienced snowboarding instructors. Note the distinction – these guys are not ski instructors who snowboard but people who live and breathe snowboarding and provide second to none tuition in all aspects of the sport.
So, if you’re planning a trip to the slopes this winter, why not check out what lessons are available to get the best out of your holiday and don’t forget to book early!
Heather, Andy and Benny
The sun being out has also been an inspirational force in the kitchen this week. Griddled aubergine and courgette pasta with mint and lemon dressing has been a particular highlight, (summer in a bowl!) as well as a little experimentation for next season. Gooey banana flapjacks should be a firm favourite during afternoon tea and the homemade chocolate sorbet Heather knocked up on Wednesday night is competing for a place on the menu too.
This week Heather’s been speaking to one of our February half-term bookings for next season who were enquiring about suitable ski schools in Meribel. Whilst it may seem early to be thinking about this now, peak weeks, especially half-term book up much quicker than most and now is exactly the right time to be making enquiries and bookings if you want to ensure the type of lesson, instructor and time-slot you want.
Some of our half-term guests are a party of 3 adults and 5 children and rather than putting their children into group lessons, they are exploring the option of a few private lessons for them. Price-wise it works out similar to a week of group lessons and but they are guaranteed an instructor all to themselves and can book the times and days they want allowing them some whole days on the slopes as a group as well as some children-free skiing time for the adults.
If you are looking to book lessons for peak weeks (or any other skiing/boarding hols for that matter), it is worth doing a bit of research before you go. Many French resorts now offer a much wider variety of ski schools than ever before. Two schools that we recommend to our guests are Parallel Lines and New Generation in Meribel who were set up by and are run by Brits. Both have gone to great effort to differentiate themselves from the standard ESF (Ecole du Ski Francais) offering. Their instructors are largely native English speakers (a real differentiator in the eyes of many of our guests last season) and they pride themselves on their variety of lessons. You can choose from the usual group classes for various abilities and ages, technical classes to improve your piste performance and/or skills sessions where you choose your area of focus. This choice goes a long way to ensuring that everybody, regardless of age and experience can improve their skiing whilst on holiday.
Snowboarders visiting Meribel aren’t left out in the cold either. Snowboarding school Cab9 are ready on hand to provide expert tuition by experienced snowboarding instructors. Note the distinction – these guys are not ski instructors who snowboard but people who live and breathe snowboarding and provide second to none tuition in all aspects of the sport.
So, if you’re planning a trip to the slopes this winter, why not check out what lessons are available to get the best out of your holiday and don’t forget to book early!
Heather, Andy and Benny
Friday, 18 June 2010
Small is beautiful
Having arrived back to our house in Leeds after 7 months away we’ve had a busy week in the garden, trimming, tidying, mowing, cropping and lopping. The harsh Yorkshire winter didn’t stop our herb patch attempting its annual takeover of the garden nor the privet hedge from expanding upwards and outwards.
Alpine Ethos work has been on the back burner a little this week while we wait for our broadband to go live (why does it take over a week to sort out for a house with an existing phone line?) but some really promising enquiries and another deposit cheque cashed make for a very positive week despite that.
We said last week that we wanted to talk about some of the key issues facing us as business owners and as chalet operators in the ski and snowboard industry. We thought that a sensible place to start might be what got us into the business in the first place.
Independent vs. package holidays
We have always been keen independent travellers, with the planning and research a key aspect of any holiday we take. We have been on snowboarding holidays with both package operators and independents for roughly the same price and have always been blessed with good snow and sunny weather.
What we found with the big tour operators was that we were dealing with a one stop shop, with all travel and transfers included. Whilst this saved us time in the booking process we found that we were tied to timetabled travel times (and type of travel) which often involved early morning trips to the airport. In resort we found ourselves in the hands of young and inexperienced chalet and resort staff which led to varying standards of organisation, hit and miss meals and without wanting to sound too negative, poor quality of wine.
Whilst these things didn’t ruin our holidays, it was on the flight home from our last package holiday that we hit upon the idea that we (armed with our knowledge of what we think makes a good ski holiday together with our catering and hosting skills) may be able to provide a better standard of hospitality whilst maintaining excellent value for money. We felt that as an independent chalet operator we would be more invested in making our guests’ holidays a real success than the package companies and decided to stake our reputation on just that.
We now pride ourselves on providing consistently good food and wine, a warm and friendly atmosphere in the chalet and practical advice whenever it is needed. Skiing and snowboarding holidays can be expensive and we aim to ensure that when you leave it will have been money well spent.
With regards to the independent travel aspect we believe that it is easier to organise your trip than ever before. Flexibility is the key meaning you can choose a travel option that suits you, be it train, plane or self-drive. Sites like Snow Carbon for train travel and flight comparison sites allow you more flexibility should you want to squeeze that extra day on the slopes into your holiday or just fly at a more sociable hour than you might otherwise.
If you’ve never tried an independent ski chalet holiday before, try it, you may never look back.
Heather, Andy and Benny.
Alpine Ethos work has been on the back burner a little this week while we wait for our broadband to go live (why does it take over a week to sort out for a house with an existing phone line?) but some really promising enquiries and another deposit cheque cashed make for a very positive week despite that.
We said last week that we wanted to talk about some of the key issues facing us as business owners and as chalet operators in the ski and snowboard industry. We thought that a sensible place to start might be what got us into the business in the first place.
Independent vs. package holidays
We have always been keen independent travellers, with the planning and research a key aspect of any holiday we take. We have been on snowboarding holidays with both package operators and independents for roughly the same price and have always been blessed with good snow and sunny weather.
What we found with the big tour operators was that we were dealing with a one stop shop, with all travel and transfers included. Whilst this saved us time in the booking process we found that we were tied to timetabled travel times (and type of travel) which often involved early morning trips to the airport. In resort we found ourselves in the hands of young and inexperienced chalet and resort staff which led to varying standards of organisation, hit and miss meals and without wanting to sound too negative, poor quality of wine.
Whilst these things didn’t ruin our holidays, it was on the flight home from our last package holiday that we hit upon the idea that we (armed with our knowledge of what we think makes a good ski holiday together with our catering and hosting skills) may be able to provide a better standard of hospitality whilst maintaining excellent value for money. We felt that as an independent chalet operator we would be more invested in making our guests’ holidays a real success than the package companies and decided to stake our reputation on just that.
We now pride ourselves on providing consistently good food and wine, a warm and friendly atmosphere in the chalet and practical advice whenever it is needed. Skiing and snowboarding holidays can be expensive and we aim to ensure that when you leave it will have been money well spent.
With regards to the independent travel aspect we believe that it is easier to organise your trip than ever before. Flexibility is the key meaning you can choose a travel option that suits you, be it train, plane or self-drive. Sites like Snow Carbon for train travel and flight comparison sites allow you more flexibility should you want to squeeze that extra day on the slopes into your holiday or just fly at a more sociable hour than you might otherwise.
If you’ve never tried an independent ski chalet holiday before, try it, you may never look back.
Heather, Andy and Benny.
Friday, 11 June 2010
What now?
In the last 12 months we’ve quit our corporate jobs, bought a ski chalet business in Meribel, learned how to run our own business, recruited staff and successfully run two chalets. We’re both about to turn 30 and neither of us have a job (as such). What do we do now?
That is the question we have been asking ourselves since the end of the last season and our return to the UK. So far we have caught up with friends and family, hit the mountain biking trails of the Kielder Forest and the 7 Stanes and relaxed a little but the nagging question has been how we drive our business forward and really make it our own.
Amongst our ideas so far was a decision to put pen to paper (well, fingers to keyboard) and write about some of our activities, concerns, ponderings, successes and challenges as we run the business. Alpine Ethos 2.0 is the result, a weekly blog about what we’re up to, information about the chalet and travel industry and snow business in general, cookery, economic and environmental issues and more. If all goes to plan the blog should be as informative as much as it is an outlet for our weekly travails.
This week has seen us knuckle down and spend a good proportion of our time in research mode. A new website has been on our radar since buying the business and having discovered the cost (ballpark £4k) of a shiny new one Andy has been geeking away. HTML and CSS have become his new specialist subject (previously pub quiz trivia) and he seems to be making some progress. Heather is writing copy for the site and reading ‘Anyone Can Do It’, the story of the founders of the Coffee Republic chain of coffee houses. It’s a story and entrepreneur’s handbook and judging by the amount of time spent scribbling down notes while she reads it is proving useful.
The next blog is due this time next Friday by which point England will be safely on their way to qualifying for the next round of the WC, we’ll be back at Alpine Ethos HQ in Leeds and a week closer to the big 30. Two of those are definitely going to happen anyway.
Andy, Heather and Benny.
That is the question we have been asking ourselves since the end of the last season and our return to the UK. So far we have caught up with friends and family, hit the mountain biking trails of the Kielder Forest and the 7 Stanes and relaxed a little but the nagging question has been how we drive our business forward and really make it our own.
Amongst our ideas so far was a decision to put pen to paper (well, fingers to keyboard) and write about some of our activities, concerns, ponderings, successes and challenges as we run the business. Alpine Ethos 2.0 is the result, a weekly blog about what we’re up to, information about the chalet and travel industry and snow business in general, cookery, economic and environmental issues and more. If all goes to plan the blog should be as informative as much as it is an outlet for our weekly travails.
This week has seen us knuckle down and spend a good proportion of our time in research mode. A new website has been on our radar since buying the business and having discovered the cost (ballpark £4k) of a shiny new one Andy has been geeking away. HTML and CSS have become his new specialist subject (previously pub quiz trivia) and he seems to be making some progress. Heather is writing copy for the site and reading ‘Anyone Can Do It’, the story of the founders of the Coffee Republic chain of coffee houses. It’s a story and entrepreneur’s handbook and judging by the amount of time spent scribbling down notes while she reads it is proving useful.
The next blog is due this time next Friday by which point England will be safely on their way to qualifying for the next round of the WC, we’ll be back at Alpine Ethos HQ in Leeds and a week closer to the big 30. Two of those are definitely going to happen anyway.
Andy, Heather and Benny.
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