J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by PertyB

To be honest I wouldn't bother stopping. First things first though. Don't hire a car from the french side at Geneva airport as it's really difficult to find your way back at the end of your trip-i've not done it, but heard about it, and, as a regular coming and going to Geneva airport, I can never see the signs that get you round the back into the french side. Everything at GVA is centred around coming and going on the Swiss side. I also think (not sure) that the swiss hire cars have snow chains included as standard. Much easier to exit the swiss side and follow the clear signs from the car hire car park towards france. Easy peasy-can't go wrong and the same coming back-it's all well signposted. The first ski area you will come to if you drive direct towards Tignes (via Annecy) is probably St Martin de Belleville-in the 3V about 30 mins up from Moutiers, or La Tania as someone else has suggested. That's 2 hours from Geneva. I confess I'd probably not bother with such a major diversion and press on down the valley towards Bourg and get to Tignes, though if you stop in Bourg you can get up to Les Arcs. Don't be tempted to head for La Clusaz as someone suggested-totally wrong direction for you. Traffic midweek should be fine.

Ta...most useful..... :roll: ...I hadn't thought of that one.... :wink:

Can I add my vote for St Martin de Belleville...truly lovely resort. Possibly the best run back at the end of a ski day ever-Jerusalem, which is never crowded-even on peak weeks. Have a hot chocolate by the St Martin 2 lift at 4pm and watch the one admittedly bad queue of the area die down as everyone else panics to get back to Meribel et al, then hop on the lift to the top and have the mountain to yourself as you ski back to the village. Utter utter skiing heaven. When we stay there, our (sad?) habit is to get the first lift of the day-and ski jerusalem, and then do it again later on.
Mountain restaurants are not the cheapest admittedly, but the skiing.....incomparable in my humble opinion!
This season we are lucky enough to have a chalet in the Grand Massif area (Les carroz) and though I concede it is lovely, the skiing is just not on the same scale. Nice village though and I even had a chat with a charming frenchman on a ski lift the other day!

Being only english speaking will not be a problem at all. There are plenty of UK chalet and ski businesses that recruit in the UK and many aussies in the alps judging by the Australia day parties! However, in certain circumstances being Australian could be a problem-I think about 4 years ago the french cracked down on casual australian workers. However, I think you can get around that-either with a more relaxed employer or if you for UK companies who don't mind what nationality you are, as long as you have a UK national insurance number-which I think you can on the basis that under a certain age (26?) you are able to work in the UK under a special visa. I did a season 4 years ago and worked with 2 young aussie boys (21 and 26) and also an older aussie couple in their 50s.
Many resorts are full of the Brits (sometime to the detriment of the place), with plenty of australians and kiwis to make up the numbers.
Places you may want to approach directly-
I don't know the name of the owner-other than he's British-but there is a chap based in La Tania (3 valleys) who runs a bar http://www.publeskilodge.com/ and at least 2 restaurants there and in Meribel Village (the Lodge du Village) and all the staff are brits/antipodeans! See the unofficial village web site www.latania.co.uk for the insiders view. The skiing in the 3V is the best you will ever get.
Also in the 3V-Meribel itself-full of english speakers.
I worked for a company called Silverski-a middle of the road chalet company-who are always on the lookout for workers.
Hope this helps

I am looking for a good english speaking instructor (not a "Ben ze knees, shulderz down zee slurp" type) in Les Carroz for a private lesson or 3. Am a 44 year old, female advanced/expert skier who ventures off piste in good conditions and has hardly had any lessons in recent times, though I know there are things I need to improve. Anyone who has had a good experience let me know.

Here's another suggestion to add to your confusion.
We have stayed on two or three occasions in La Tzoumaz (AKA Mayon des Riddes)-over the hill from Verbier and part of the Verbier ski area. It's a pretty little village with good lifts and, in my opinion, some of the nicest skiing in the Verbier/4 Valleys area, including accessible off piste in the trees. I think you could get to it by taking the train to Sion, and then a 30 min taxi ride. We stayed at the Auberge La Tzoumaz (it has a website under that name)-about 5 mins walk to the lift. It's a sweet little auberge, cosy bar, lovely brekkie and nice food in the evenings. There are half a dozen reasonable restaurants in the village, but not much else!
Madame doesn't speak much english, but was very welcoming. She only has about 5 rooms, a couple are ensuite-and nearly all have a spectacular view from big picture windows.

If you're still thinking about Verbier and staying in Le Chable-make sure you ski in Bruson-part of the ski area but you get a shuttle bus from Le Chable up to the lift. It's very quiet and miles away from the madness and hustle and bustle of Verbier (which I think is rather overrated).

Re Zermatt...the journey is long-about 3.5 hours minimum I think on the train, depending on whether you have to change, though I think at its longest it's about 4 hours. In that sense it is a bit of a chore to get there. You certainly would struggle to fly into Geneva, get the train and ski on day 1, or ski on your last day and get a train that gets you back in time for flight check in. As I recall, we had to get up before 6am to catch the first train of the day out of Zermatt to catch a flight that left at around noon.

I have flown and got the train at Geneva to Zermatt. Typical Swiss efficiency means that it is a well signposted short walk to the airport station and everything leaves on time. I can't recall the cost of the ticket-not cheap, and we did the journey in the dark, so I can't comment on the views (but i know they are fab). The station at the other end is right in town, and it rather depends on where your accommodation is as to whether you need an (extortionate) electric taxi. We stayed in the Hotel Bristol (3 star, a bit dated but comfy, great view of Matterhorn, 5 mins up to main Gondola) which was a easy and reasonably flat 10 min walk up through the town, past all the pretty shops and restaurants. But there's loads of hotels etc much closer.I'd say most of the time you don't need wheeled transport in Zermatt-you can leave ski boots at the bottom lift stations.

I know you can get the train from Geneva airport to Le Chable which is at the valley bottom below Verbier. I think you do need to change trains, and I'm not sure about cost. The advantage of Le Chable is that you literally step over the railway tracks to the lift ticket office and ski hire shop and you can take the gondola up into Verbier, takes 10 mins, and runs until about 8pm I think. There's probably some good value accommodation there too.

I have flown to Geneva and hired cars. Car hire is easy-but don't be tempted to hire on the french side, as I understand it's difficult to navigate back in to the airport on your return. Hire on the Swiss side, and follow the signs to France once you leave the car park (dead easy), and on the way back the route back in is much easier.

On Monday I am going to visit Les Carroz (see my entry re looking for season accommdation!) which links into Flaine. My very helpful english contact there tells me it's a 50 minute drive up to the resort-it's only about 70km, and she has had guests on the piste within 90 mins of landing. Not sure about train links but it is literally 10 mins from the motorway, so I guess there must be a station in the valley bottom close by.

Hope this helps!