J2Ski Holiday 11th January 2015 Sauze d'Oulx

Ian, you might recall my post about the Hotel when Ally booked the trip. I did warn people about the hotel being very noisy when people came in or out in the evenings/early mornings. You hear every single noise in those corridors and stair wells, even people snoring next door!
The food there was ok from memory, nothing great but wholesome and home cooked. The bar area was never used when I was there either, it was miserable and unwelcoming, a bit like the owner himself at the time!!!
Its such a shame you had such awful conditions for January, but again it is not unknown, and another reason I raised my eyebrows when the trip was announced.

So it seems to me that the trips over to Orelle and up to VT were a good idea to get some decent snow, until hand its mega resorts popular with UK skiers- miserable self service restaurants, paying for toilets, over priced rubbish food, and expensive drinks.
My impression of 3V area, EK and Paradiski is pretty much of exactly that, which has always put me off going to any of them.

I have only been to VT the once, when I learned to ski 16 years ago, and my memory was of a dull soul less place, tall blocks of grey and brown buildings dropped into a bleak exposed area. I haven't been rushing to go back since, although many people swear about how good the 3V skiing is.

My own experience of France, after careful research, led me to ADH 3 times and Serre Che 4 times, both places I found to be interesting, prettier, cheaper and with far more options on and off the mountain for food and drink. Yes, both have areas in their resorts with the usual French apartment blocks, but the old town in ADH is nice and Serre Che has lovely villages in Villeneuve and Mopnetier with traditional architecture and charm. I know YOU rave about Le Grand Bornand for much the same reasons. We have to remember that in France, much of the skiing is reported to be excellent and places have been purpose built in those areas - Flaine, Avoriaz, VT and Tignes are examples of these concrete monstrosities but with excellent ski areas, whereas you go to Austria and a lot of Italian resorts, and yes Switzerland if you can afford to, and they seem to be authentic mountain villages and towns from where you can ski almost as if it is an added bonus. Sauze itself has a lovely old village as you may have discovered, although ~Sestriere fits the French mould as it was in fact a purpose built resort for the workers of FIAT from Turin to use.

Anyway. Lets talk about those bacon & egg costumes shall we.......

I went to have a look at the old, mediaeval part of Sauze, one evening after ski-ing, whilst I was looking for the Post Office.

I'm afraid it was getting dark at the time, and I was using my cheap waterproof disposable camera, but you can get an idea of the narrow streets and the old stone built houses.



Sauze d'Oulx used to be French, until the Treat of Utrecht in 1713, when it was given to the House of Savoy, and later became part of the new country of Italy.

The historical events of Sauze d'Oulx are closely tied to those of Oulx and all of the Susa Valley, that saw firstly the passage of Julius Caesers Roman Legions, and in following centuries the incursions of the Goths, the Lombards and the Burgundys. The region which was part of the Dauphine was conceded to the French Monarchy in 1343, and with the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713 it was assigned to the House of Savoy.

At the time of the Battle of the Assietta (1747), Sauze d'Oulx was the Headquarters for the French army and after the retreat, many of those that were killed in battle were buried in Jouvenceaux in a place, which ever since then has been called Las Fossas. The body of the French General Charles Louis Arnaud Fouqueet de Bellisle was buried in the presbytery of the church in Sauze, three years later he was moved to his homeland,
- See more at: http://www.visitsauzedoulx.it/en/cosa_vedere/sauze-d-oulx-1000-anni-di-storia/#sthash.Zar3ANvU.dpuf

The third building down on the left of your picture used to be Il Lampione (could still be, for all I know!), a lively bar that opened late into the night! My head hurts at the memory!

LOTA wrote:My head hurts at the memory!

Stay positive LOTA - at least you can remember!!
:mrgreen:

Tony_H wrote:

So it seems to me that the trips over to Orelle and up to VT were a good idea to get some decent snow, until hand its mega resorts popular with UK skiers- miserable self service restaurants, paying for toilets, over priced rubbish food, and expensive drinks.
My impression of 3V area, EK and Paradiski is pretty much of exactly that, which has always put me off going to any of them.

The food and drink in Val Thorens was expensive, you're quite right, but my group of 6 people didn't eat rubbish food from a self-service place (or pay to use the toilet). For lunch we went to a nice restaurant in the Caron district of VT, with lovely views of the mountains, and had a really tasty meal, with quality food :)
The restaurant we went to is supposed to do the best pizzas in VT, and the soup and lamp chops were great as well :)

Here's the bill:



And here's one of Piste Paul's lovely photos of us enjoying our lunch! :)



The only problem we had in that restaurant was persuading the staff to give us the bill! As you can see from looking at it, we were there at 2-30 p.m. and we knew the gondola we needed to get back to Orelle, the Grand Fond, closed at 4 p.m. and we weren't entirely sure how to get to it!

Fortunately one of the group I was with had been to VT before and worked out which lifts to go up from where we were - the Cascades followed by the Portette, and finally the Grand Fond. And we got back to Orelle with plenty of time before the gondola down to the car park shut at 4-30 p.m.

The whole day out in VT was very expensive, but it was well worth it! This is what it cost me:

Bus = 24 euros
One day local lift pass plus carre neige insurance = 50
Elevenses (including blueberry pie!) = 13.50
Lunch = 15
Total = 102.5 euros = £82

Shocking prices

Merci... Au revoir more like!!

Tony_H wrote:Shocking prices

Well, the day to VT was our treat day out :)

The whole holiday itself was very cheap :)

Most people paid 480 euros for the hotel and 6 days area lift pass, around £100 for their BA flight Gatwick to Turin, 50 euros for the return airport transfer Turin to Sauze (privately booked by us) and 72 euros for advanced ski hire.

So the total for most people = £550

I don't know how much everyone else spent on lunch and elevenses on the slopes in Sauze, but I spent about £12 each day.
Total for 6 days = £72

The final total for how much I spent on my entire holiday, including the day out to VT, the train fare for travelling 250 miles to London and back before I started, ski-ing for 8 days, and 2 days travelling to Sauze and back again, was only around £1,000.

Return train fare from here to London (advance tickets) = £44
Underground tickets across London = approx £10
Return train fare St Pancras to Oulx via Paris = £117
2 RER tickets to get across Paris from Gare du Nord to Gare de Lyon, at 2 euros each = 4 euros = £3.20
I bus ticket from Oulx to Jouvenceaux (the Edelweiss hotel took me back to Oulx for free) = 1.90 euros = £1.52
2 nights in the Edelweiss hotel = 70 euros x 2 = 140 euros = £112
7 nights in the Sauze including 6 days area lift pass = 480 euros = £390
8 days advanced ski hire from Gros Sport in Jouveneceaux = 95 euros = £76
Sharpening my skis in a different ski shop = 15 euros = £12
Trip to Val Thorens, total cost = £82 (as detailed previously)
7 days elevenses and lunch on Sauze slopes = £84
2 extra days lift pass in Sauze = 60 euros = £48
Tip to Sauze hotel = 10 euros = £8
Tip to bus driver for VT = 10 euros = £8
2 hour private ski lesson = 70 euros = £56 (paid for by tips to me from group).
Post cards and small gifts for family at home = 15 euros = £12
Food costs travelling to Italy and back = £30
9 days tourist tax at 1.50 euros per day = 13.50 euros = £10.80
Total = £1048 (plus the £56 for the private ski lesson)

Edit
I forgot to include the cost of my travel insurance, which was £65 for the executive level of cover with the Ski Club of GB and only covered that holiday, as I won't be ski-ing again for another year. As well as the usual things it also covered me for off-piste ski-ing without a guide and end supplier failure.