J2Ski Holiday 11th January 2015 Sauze d'Oulx
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Thanks Lizzie-B :)
I had actually researched and planned this 'escape route' as it were, before we got there, because I knew that Sauze has a reputation for icy pistes and that the links to the rest of the ski area can shut in high winds.
Admittedly I wasn't expecting the snow to be so poor, but I think it was exceptionally bad for the time of year :(
We were lucky that we picked the right day to go to Val Thorens - some of the others were anxiously checking the weather and wind forecasts, and we had several discussions about when to go. We had to give 24 hours notice to book the bus and we couldn't cancel free of charge - although as Ian W said we could probably have asked the bus to go somewhere else if there'd been a problem in Orelle, like with the wind in Val Thorens shutting the links.
I had skied the '4th' valley twice myself, when I was staying in Val Thorens, so I knew there was a fair bit of ski-ing just in that valley even if the link over to Val Thorens had shut. And I think they put up flashing messages at the bottom of the lifts telling you to get back if they're going to shut the linking lifts.
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Started by AllyG in Find a Ski Buddy / Group Trips 27-Mar-2014 - 256 Replies
Felthorpe
reply to 'J2Ski Holiday 11th January 2015 Sauze d'Oulx ' posted Jan-2015
Just in case you were all getting deja vu, this is the correct thread for the J2Ski trip that has just been to Sauze (take note Bald-eagleman) :roll:
I can see my house from here...
Edited 1 time. Last update at 21-Jan-2015
AllyG
reply to 'J2Ski Holiday 11th January 2015 Sauze d'Oulx ' posted Jan-2015
Thank you Felthorpe - I'm not too sure how come we all started posting up on last year's thread :(
Oh well, I suppose I'd better re-post up my original report on the correct thread ...
Hi everyone, I only got back last night from Sauze so sorry my report is rather late!
I think we all (28 of us) had a great time The holiday was a total contrast to the one last year in Folgarida.
Last year we had masses and masses of snow but we had to ski for most of the time in poor visibility.
This time it was lovely and sunny most of the time, but for the first couple of days we were ski-ing on very restricted pistes confined to only a small part of the local Sauze ski area. This was due to the lack of snow, high temperatures, and the wind.
Apparently (talking to other people in the hotel) on the Friday and Saturday before we arrived it was so windy that they'd shut all the lifts and slopes except the beginner areas!
I was ski-ing the first Sunday and although the chairlift going up to the top in Sauze was going in the morning it was very windy and the chairs were swinging about, and it was very unpleasant right at the top and when I went in a cafe there the only other people in there were the piste patrol! They shut that top lift around lunch time and after that we were confined to only a couple of slopes for Sunday afternoon and Monday.
Tuesday they opened the lift up to the top again but you still couldn't ski out of Sauze, and we were ski-ing on pistes mostly made of artificial snow with mud each side which had bare patches and also some very icy patches. However, it was nice and sunny and I enjoyed myself. It was also very challenging, trying not to fall over on the ice or in a pot hole!
On Wednesday I skied with the Ski Club of GB over to Sansicario (as the link was open) with a couple of other members from our group. I was very impressed with the ski-ing in Sansicario. There were lovely long red runs and there weren't many people there, and I went in two very nice mountain restaurants. Even though there was no natural snow each side of the pistes lower down the pisteurs had managed to get the pistes into good condition :)
On Wednesday, when I was in Sansicario, some of the group skied over to Sestriere.
Some of the others were starting to get fed up with being confined to the poor snow in Sauze after ski-ing/boarding on Monday, so I organized a bus trip to Orelle for Thursday so that we could ski the 3 Valleys. It's only 3/4 of an hour from Sauze to Orelle, the 4th of the 3 valleys (if that makes any sense!). And 5 of the gang who'd hired a car from Geneva went over there on a scouting trip on Tuesday to let us know what it was like, before I booked the bus. They reported fantastic conditions with loads of fresh powder, so 20 of our group signed up for the bus trip.
The manager of the Sauze hotel very kindly sorted out the bus for us on the phone, and got a price, and it was only 23 euros per person return. The lift pass for Val Thorens and Orelle was 50 euros for the day including the Carre Neige insurance.
The bus picked us up at 8-30 from the nearest car park, about 200 yards away (Sauze doesn't allow big buses into the centre), and I think I was going up the gondola by about 9-30. It's about a 20 minute ride up to the ski-ing in Orelle, and then there's a chairlift up to the top in order to ski down into Val Thorens, or to ski Orelle itself.
The snow in Val Thorens was great, and it wasn't that crowded especially on the higher more difficult slopes (like the one I fell over on!) which had lots of powdery lumps. We divided up into groups but met up from time to time. Those in the car had also gone there, so there were 24 of us in Val Thorens, and a few of them managed to get all the way to Courchevel and back! It was cheaper for those in the car because it only cost something like 55 euros return for the car to go through the Frejus tunnel, plus petrol.
I told everyone to bring their passports with them, because Sauze is in Italy and Orelle and the 3 Valleys are in France, with the border at the Frejus tunnel. We could see some cars and lorries being pulled over by the customs people but we got through OK.
The bus left to take us back at 5 p.m. and although I had a few anxious moments worrying about stragglers being left in Orelle, everyone made it back to the bus by 5 p.m.
Friday there was plenty of snow in Sauze and I skied with the Ski Club of GB again, with the same 2 from our group, and we all got videod for their website. That was fun!
And Saturday was a lovely sunny day with the links open and most of us skied/boarded over to Sestriere. We went down the red runs on the far side and they were pretty steep and difficult and a couple of people went down the black (not me as I was finding the red runs quite hard enough!). There was still quite a bit of ice on the pistes, under the powder snow, and I saw several patches of nasty hard green ice like marble which I carefully avoided!
We've got loads of photos and Piste Paul's son was most industrious at ski-ing after us and taking photos and films every time we fell over!
I skied the final Sunday on my own, and had a 2 hour private lesson (paid for by the tips the others gave me for organizing the holiday) with an instructor who decided to give me an SAS course in ski-ing as fast as possible over all the trickiest areas of Sauze, whilst trying to do short turns (because I told him it was a waste of time telling me how to ski as I only learn by following instructors). Luckily I managed not to fall over, as I'd had plenty of practice racing down those slopes with some of the others and I knew the lie of the land very well! Mind you, they'd practically blocked the end of my favourite run (nick-named the Arc de Triomphe run by the Dolphin Pool by us) with an enormous heap of arficial snow which later on became hugely mogulled and my ski instructor leaped over the mound and down this so I had to follow! He did give me a 'perfecto' for managing to follow him :)
The Sauze hotel was much better than I was expecting. I think the only criticism anyone had of it was that some of the rooms were rather small.
My room was fine, with plenty of room for twin beds, huge wardrobe, desk and chair, double patio doors onto a balcony, and enormous bathroom with shower. And the bathroom looked as though it had recently been done out.
The public areas were really good - large bar with comfy sitting area, an enormous sitting room with pool table, and adequate ski and boot storage.
The staff couldn't have been nicer to us - they were really great :)
They seated all 28 of us together in the dining room, as I had explained that 6 of the Crystal people were actually in our group. And they did everything they could to keep us happy.
The food was fantastic! They made amazing little savoury cake things for us at the end of each ski day, and did an urn of tea (watery I admit but that's how I like my tea). And there was a huge choice of food at breakfast with the chef cooking in the centre of room individual portions of eggs etc. for those who wanted them.
And as for the evening meal - well - you could have managed perfectly well with what they had on the buffet in the centre never mind the 3 course meal that followed! And we had a choice of 3 options for each course, which we had to pick the night before.
The hotel is only a couple of hundred yards from the Clotes lift, and once there was enough snow to ski down to the bottom of the piste it was only about 100 yards to the hotel. And there's a travellator up from the bottom of the piste for the beginners, as that area is a nursery slope during the ski-ing day.
I managed fine travelling from St Pancras to Paris Nord, and then getting the RER to the Gare de Lyon, although there were hundreds of soldiers in the station riding the escalators because of the terrorist risk. The train to Milan is only about 5 hours to Oulx from Paris, and Oulx is only about 10 minutes on the bus from Sauze and the bus only costs something like 1 euro. And coming back on the Monday the problem with the Eurostar was mostly resolved so my train left on time and only took an extra hour to get from Paris to London because of the queue to get through the tunnel, after the fire.
Here are a few of Piste Paul's photos. He and his son took loads, but I have to check whether people mind me posting up their photos before I put them up.
Sportinia, where the restaurants and ski school etc. are. This is the Triplex - the place which accidentally stole one of my inner gloves because I had it on the table outside and it vanished. I think they must have wrapped it up inside one of their paper plates and thrown it away :(
You can see how little snow there was (on Tuesday), although the pisteurs had clearly been working very hard to get some pistes open even though the conditions were so bad!
Here's another of Piste Paul's photos, with me, Bald-eagleman (with the eagle painted on his helmet), a J2Skier friend, and Piste Paul's son. It was taken on the Saturday, when there was plenty of snow and we went to Sestriere.
This is Piste Paul's photo of the covered travellator at the top of Sansicario, taken on the Tuesday. It's a very windy spot just here which is why I suppose they very kindly put it there for us! :)
It's next to the gondola that goes up and down to Sestriere.
I'm not too sure, because we never got there owing to the lack of snow, links being closed, and the wind, but I think you're looking across to Monti del la Luna and Montgenevre.
Piste Paul's photo of the kids ski school lesson in Sauze, taken on Saturday. You can see there's a lot more snow around, and the conditions were great for ski-ing! :)
Piste Paul's photo of his son by the dolphin pool on Monday.
I think this is really red 2000 but as everyone said before we went there, the piste map is pretty much a waste of time and in any case in Sauze during the first couple of days most of the area was closed so one just went up a lift and skied down a choice of about 3 runs and there was no way you could get lost or need a piste map!
You're quite right Admin, my trousers popped undone when I was ski-ing, after a few days of stuffing myself in the Sauze hotel ;)
We have discussed a few ideas but nothing is settled yet and I think one of the others is going to organize it, as I've done it for 3 holidays and it is a lot of work.
Thanks Wanderer :)
Ian organized the airport taxi transfer, which was a big help :)
And when 2 of our group missed their flights to Turin (due to a motorway in the U.K. closing) he sorted them out another taxi transfer to the resort.
Everything mostly turned out fine. The only thing I know I slipped up on is that I didn't specify that the Sauze hotel should take the money from our credit/debit cards over the phone in euros, and some people (those who had cards with free currency conversion) lost about £30 per head because it was taken in pounds.
However, I did learn from my mistake, and when it came to paying for the bus to Orelle I asked one of the group with one of these cards to pay the whole bill and then I collected all the money off everyone in cash in euros and paid him back.
And I also told the manager of the Sauze hotel that it would be a big improvement if his company (which manages lots of hotels) could sort out a secure payment method on the internet. Payment methods are one of the problems with going DIY, and I suppose it's one reason why so many hotels use agencies or tour operators which charge them a lot for this service.
Thanks Dids :)
Yes - I did miss out quite a lot from my report - like when one of the group couldn't get off the chairlift at the top because his rucksack strap got stuck on it and the lift man had to stop the lift and rush out and help him, and he fell flat onto his back (luckily into powder snow so he was OK).
Neither did I mention that another member of the group got blown off the edge of a 'precipice' at the top in Sestriere and luckily managed to hang onto a fence with his ski stick as he was sliding down the extremely steep slope on his front until one of the others rescued him!
I was standing/sitting next to both these people when this happened and it was rather alarming! :shock:
And as for the events in Paris, I was rather worried before I left, in case the city was in 'lockdown' so I was actually relieved that the trains seemed to be running normally and I wasn't too worried about going on the escalators with loads of soldiers armed with huge rifles
Gareth Fair
Great to read that you all had a good holiday but it's a shame that the conditions were so poor, but that's just bad luck.
It's funny how bad conditions can really change your view of a resort and I would imagine most skiers have had a trip like this at least once.
When in doubt?....Flat out.
19:49
Lizzie-B
What a very full report Ally, I enjoyed reading it as I have been thinking of you all out there with the poor snow at first. What a very resourceful party leader you are arranging the trip to Orelle. Thank goodness the snow arrived in the end albeit a tad late. Although it sounds as though you all had a good time and loved where you were staying. I am sure there will be many more great holidays to come. Well done Ally - glad you are all home safely.
Thanks Lizzie-B :)
Oh well, I suppose I'd better re-post up my original report on the correct thread ...
Hi everyone, I only got back last night from Sauze so sorry my report is rather late!
I think we all (28 of us) had a great time The holiday was a total contrast to the one last year in Folgarida.
Last year we had masses and masses of snow but we had to ski for most of the time in poor visibility.
This time it was lovely and sunny most of the time, but for the first couple of days we were ski-ing on very restricted pistes confined to only a small part of the local Sauze ski area. This was due to the lack of snow, high temperatures, and the wind.
Apparently (talking to other people in the hotel) on the Friday and Saturday before we arrived it was so windy that they'd shut all the lifts and slopes except the beginner areas!
I was ski-ing the first Sunday and although the chairlift going up to the top in Sauze was going in the morning it was very windy and the chairs were swinging about, and it was very unpleasant right at the top and when I went in a cafe there the only other people in there were the piste patrol! They shut that top lift around lunch time and after that we were confined to only a couple of slopes for Sunday afternoon and Monday.
Tuesday they opened the lift up to the top again but you still couldn't ski out of Sauze, and we were ski-ing on pistes mostly made of artificial snow with mud each side which had bare patches and also some very icy patches. However, it was nice and sunny and I enjoyed myself. It was also very challenging, trying not to fall over on the ice or in a pot hole!
On Wednesday I skied with the Ski Club of GB over to Sansicario (as the link was open) with a couple of other members from our group. I was very impressed with the ski-ing in Sansicario. There were lovely long red runs and there weren't many people there, and I went in two very nice mountain restaurants. Even though there was no natural snow each side of the pistes lower down the pisteurs had managed to get the pistes into good condition :)
On Wednesday, when I was in Sansicario, some of the group skied over to Sestriere.
Some of the others were starting to get fed up with being confined to the poor snow in Sauze after ski-ing/boarding on Monday, so I organized a bus trip to Orelle for Thursday so that we could ski the 3 Valleys. It's only 3/4 of an hour from Sauze to Orelle, the 4th of the 3 valleys (if that makes any sense!). And 5 of the gang who'd hired a car from Geneva went over there on a scouting trip on Tuesday to let us know what it was like, before I booked the bus. They reported fantastic conditions with loads of fresh powder, so 20 of our group signed up for the bus trip.
The manager of the Sauze hotel very kindly sorted out the bus for us on the phone, and got a price, and it was only 23 euros per person return. The lift pass for Val Thorens and Orelle was 50 euros for the day including the Carre Neige insurance.
The bus picked us up at 8-30 from the nearest car park, about 200 yards away (Sauze doesn't allow big buses into the centre), and I think I was going up the gondola by about 9-30. It's about a 20 minute ride up to the ski-ing in Orelle, and then there's a chairlift up to the top in order to ski down into Val Thorens, or to ski Orelle itself.
The snow in Val Thorens was great, and it wasn't that crowded especially on the higher more difficult slopes (like the one I fell over on!) which had lots of powdery lumps. We divided up into groups but met up from time to time. Those in the car had also gone there, so there were 24 of us in Val Thorens, and a few of them managed to get all the way to Courchevel and back! It was cheaper for those in the car because it only cost something like 55 euros return for the car to go through the Frejus tunnel, plus petrol.
I told everyone to bring their passports with them, because Sauze is in Italy and Orelle and the 3 Valleys are in France, with the border at the Frejus tunnel. We could see some cars and lorries being pulled over by the customs people but we got through OK.
The bus left to take us back at 5 p.m. and although I had a few anxious moments worrying about stragglers being left in Orelle, everyone made it back to the bus by 5 p.m.
Friday there was plenty of snow in Sauze and I skied with the Ski Club of GB again, with the same 2 from our group, and we all got videod for their website. That was fun!
And Saturday was a lovely sunny day with the links open and most of us skied/boarded over to Sestriere. We went down the red runs on the far side and they were pretty steep and difficult and a couple of people went down the black (not me as I was finding the red runs quite hard enough!). There was still quite a bit of ice on the pistes, under the powder snow, and I saw several patches of nasty hard green ice like marble which I carefully avoided!
We've got loads of photos and Piste Paul's son was most industrious at ski-ing after us and taking photos and films every time we fell over!
I skied the final Sunday on my own, and had a 2 hour private lesson (paid for by the tips the others gave me for organizing the holiday) with an instructor who decided to give me an SAS course in ski-ing as fast as possible over all the trickiest areas of Sauze, whilst trying to do short turns (because I told him it was a waste of time telling me how to ski as I only learn by following instructors). Luckily I managed not to fall over, as I'd had plenty of practice racing down those slopes with some of the others and I knew the lie of the land very well! Mind you, they'd practically blocked the end of my favourite run (nick-named the Arc de Triomphe run by the Dolphin Pool by us) with an enormous heap of arficial snow which later on became hugely mogulled and my ski instructor leaped over the mound and down this so I had to follow! He did give me a 'perfecto' for managing to follow him :)
The Sauze hotel was much better than I was expecting. I think the only criticism anyone had of it was that some of the rooms were rather small.
My room was fine, with plenty of room for twin beds, huge wardrobe, desk and chair, double patio doors onto a balcony, and enormous bathroom with shower. And the bathroom looked as though it had recently been done out.
The public areas were really good - large bar with comfy sitting area, an enormous sitting room with pool table, and adequate ski and boot storage.
The staff couldn't have been nicer to us - they were really great :)
They seated all 28 of us together in the dining room, as I had explained that 6 of the Crystal people were actually in our group. And they did everything they could to keep us happy.
The food was fantastic! They made amazing little savoury cake things for us at the end of each ski day, and did an urn of tea (watery I admit but that's how I like my tea). And there was a huge choice of food at breakfast with the chef cooking in the centre of room individual portions of eggs etc. for those who wanted them.
And as for the evening meal - well - you could have managed perfectly well with what they had on the buffet in the centre never mind the 3 course meal that followed! And we had a choice of 3 options for each course, which we had to pick the night before.
The hotel is only a couple of hundred yards from the Clotes lift, and once there was enough snow to ski down to the bottom of the piste it was only about 100 yards to the hotel. And there's a travellator up from the bottom of the piste for the beginners, as that area is a nursery slope during the ski-ing day.
I managed fine travelling from St Pancras to Paris Nord, and then getting the RER to the Gare de Lyon, although there were hundreds of soldiers in the station riding the escalators because of the terrorist risk. The train to Milan is only about 5 hours to Oulx from Paris, and Oulx is only about 10 minutes on the bus from Sauze and the bus only costs something like 1 euro. And coming back on the Monday the problem with the Eurostar was mostly resolved so my train left on time and only took an extra hour to get from Paris to London because of the queue to get through the tunnel, after the fire.
Here are a few of Piste Paul's photos. He and his son took loads, but I have to check whether people mind me posting up their photos before I put them up.
Sportinia, where the restaurants and ski school etc. are. This is the Triplex - the place which accidentally stole one of my inner gloves because I had it on the table outside and it vanished. I think they must have wrapped it up inside one of their paper plates and thrown it away :(
You can see how little snow there was (on Tuesday), although the pisteurs had clearly been working very hard to get some pistes open even though the conditions were so bad!
Here's another of Piste Paul's photos, with me, Bald-eagleman (with the eagle painted on his helmet), a J2Skier friend, and Piste Paul's son. It was taken on the Saturday, when there was plenty of snow and we went to Sestriere.
This is Piste Paul's photo of the covered travellator at the top of Sansicario, taken on the Tuesday. It's a very windy spot just here which is why I suppose they very kindly put it there for us! :)
It's next to the gondola that goes up and down to Sestriere.
I'm not too sure, because we never got there owing to the lack of snow, links being closed, and the wind, but I think you're looking across to Monti del la Luna and Montgenevre.
Piste Paul's photo of the kids ski school lesson in Sauze, taken on Saturday. You can see there's a lot more snow around, and the conditions were great for ski-ing! :)
Piste Paul's photo of his son by the dolphin pool on Monday.
I think this is really red 2000 but as everyone said before we went there, the piste map is pretty much a waste of time and in any case in Sauze during the first couple of days most of the area was closed so one just went up a lift and skied down a choice of about 3 runs and there was no way you could get lost or need a piste map!
Admin wrote:
Sounds like you were well looked-after by the hotel which is always good to know... although you might have all put on weight by the sounds of it... :lol:
You're quite right Admin, my trousers popped undone when I was ski-ing, after a few days of stuffing myself in the Sauze hotel ;)
Ranchero_1979 wrote: What is the plan for next year?
We have discussed a few ideas but nothing is settled yet and I think one of the others is going to organize it, as I've done it for 3 holidays and it is a lot of work.
Wanderer wrote:
Seriously, well done Ally on another successful trip. As the usual organizer for my family and a few friends, I have some sense of what's involved but given the scale of the operation, the diverse people and travel plans, etc, I know that you will have put in a very considerable effort to make the trip work for everybody :wink:.
Thanks Wanderer :)
Ian organized the airport taxi transfer, which was a big help :)
And when 2 of our group missed their flights to Turin (due to a motorway in the U.K. closing) he sorted them out another taxi transfer to the resort.
Everything mostly turned out fine. The only thing I know I slipped up on is that I didn't specify that the Sauze hotel should take the money from our credit/debit cards over the phone in euros, and some people (those who had cards with free currency conversion) lost about £30 per head because it was taken in pounds.
However, I did learn from my mistake, and when it came to paying for the bus to Orelle I asked one of the group with one of these cards to pay the whole bill and then I collected all the money off everyone in cash in euros and paid him back.
And I also told the manager of the Sauze hotel that it would be a big improvement if his company (which manages lots of hotels) could sort out a secure payment method on the internet. Payment methods are one of the problems with going DIY, and I suppose it's one reason why so many hotels use agencies or tour operators which charge them a lot for this service.
Dids1 wrote:Wow. What a lengthy report and I bet you missed loads out too!
Seems like you take everything in your stride, including terrorist issues in Paris.
Well done Ally.
Thanks Dids :)
Yes - I did miss out quite a lot from my report - like when one of the group couldn't get off the chairlift at the top because his rucksack strap got stuck on it and the lift man had to stop the lift and rush out and help him, and he fell flat onto his back (luckily into powder snow so he was OK).
Neither did I mention that another member of the group got blown off the edge of a 'precipice' at the top in Sestriere and luckily managed to hang onto a fence with his ski stick as he was sliding down the extremely steep slope on his front until one of the others rescued him!
I was standing/sitting next to both these people when this happened and it was rather alarming! :shock:
And as for the events in Paris, I was rather worried before I left, in case the city was in 'lockdown' so I was actually relieved that the trains seemed to be running normally and I wasn't too worried about going on the escalators with loads of soldiers armed with huge rifles
Gareth Fair
Great to read that you all had a good holiday but it's a shame that the conditions were so poor, but that's just bad luck.
It's funny how bad conditions can really change your view of a resort and I would imagine most skiers have had a trip like this at least once.
When in doubt?....Flat out.
19:49
Lizzie-B
What a very full report Ally, I enjoyed reading it as I have been thinking of you all out there with the poor snow at first. What a very resourceful party leader you are arranging the trip to Orelle. Thank goodness the snow arrived in the end albeit a tad late. Although it sounds as though you all had a good time and loved where you were staying. I am sure there will be many more great holidays to come. Well done Ally - glad you are all home safely.
Thanks Lizzie-B :)
Edited 14 times. Last update at 30-Jan-2015
AllyG
reply to 'J2Ski Holiday 11th January 2015 Sauze d'Oulx ' posted Jan-2015
Piste Paul's photo of the bottom of the Clotes piste, taken on Saturday. When we arrived it was only mud below that line where you can see people standing in a row, which is the route to the chairlift.
They seem to use the area between this line and the road as a nursery slope during the day, and it has a travelator at the side.
It was great when it snowed because we could ski down to the road and only have a very short walk back to the hotel :)
And to get to the chairlift from the hotel we could either walk up the road or take the travelator and ski across to it.
Thanks billip1 :)
Here's Piste Paul's photo of Sauze in the dark. It's a much bigger place than Folgarida, where we went last year, and it's got a pretty vibrant night life! A few of our gang were extremely late coming in one night ...
Piste Paul's photo of me in Val Thorens, on Thursday, when we booked a bus to take us to Orelle and back.
The ski-ing there was great, but the lunch cost us twice as much as it did in Sauze :(
And another one of his photos, of Val Thorens. It was a truly gorgeous day (as long as you kept out of the wind at the top!).
AllyG
Actually Gareth, I don't think the conditions spoilt my enjoyment at all - but then I am rather unusual and I found the fog in Folgarida last year very amusing!
I didn't lose any ski-ing time because of the wind, the lack of snow, or the restricted pistes. And I really enjoyed ski-ing in the sunshine
I mean, even when we were only on a few pistes it was still masses bigger than a snow dome, and we were out in the open air able to enjoy the view and the mountain restaurants.
Plus, I certainly didn't find the area boringly easy to ski! In fact, I found it highly challenging simply trying to ski under control without falling over on the ice ...
And, it was great to have so many friends, old and new, to ski with. Wherever I went on the slopes I seemed to meet up with members of the group, or see them from the chairlift
21:20
Snapzzz
Didn't you get over to Sestriere then? was the link shut?
21:29
AllyG
Hi Snapzzz,
Yes, most of us got over to Sestriere on Saturday, and I think maybe a few people got there on Wednesday as well, although I'm not sure because I was ski-ing in Sansicario with the Ski Club of GB and 2 other people from our group on Wednesday.
They seem to use the area between this line and the road as a nursery slope during the day, and it has a travelator at the side.
It was great when it snowed because we could ski down to the road and only have a very short walk back to the hotel :)
And to get to the chairlift from the hotel we could either walk up the road or take the travelator and ski across to it.
billip1 wrote:Great report Ally; hope next year's trip is as enjoyable as the last two I have been on under your auspices.
Thanks billip1 :)
Here's Piste Paul's photo of Sauze in the dark. It's a much bigger place than Folgarida, where we went last year, and it's got a pretty vibrant night life! A few of our gang were extremely late coming in one night ...
Piste Paul's photo of me in Val Thorens, on Thursday, when we booked a bus to take us to Orelle and back.
The ski-ing there was great, but the lunch cost us twice as much as it did in Sauze :(
And another one of his photos, of Val Thorens. It was a truly gorgeous day (as long as you kept out of the wind at the top!).
AllyG
Actually Gareth, I don't think the conditions spoilt my enjoyment at all - but then I am rather unusual and I found the fog in Folgarida last year very amusing!
I didn't lose any ski-ing time because of the wind, the lack of snow, or the restricted pistes. And I really enjoyed ski-ing in the sunshine
I mean, even when we were only on a few pistes it was still masses bigger than a snow dome, and we were out in the open air able to enjoy the view and the mountain restaurants.
Plus, I certainly didn't find the area boringly easy to ski! In fact, I found it highly challenging simply trying to ski under control without falling over on the ice ...
And, it was great to have so many friends, old and new, to ski with. Wherever I went on the slopes I seemed to meet up with members of the group, or see them from the chairlift
21:20
Snapzzz
Didn't you get over to Sestriere then? was the link shut?
21:29
AllyG
Hi Snapzzz,
Yes, most of us got over to Sestriere on Saturday, and I think maybe a few people got there on Wednesday as well, although I'm not sure because I was ski-ing in Sansicario with the Ski Club of GB and 2 other people from our group on Wednesday.
Edited 4 times. Last update at 21-Jan-2015
Felthorpe
reply to 'J2Ski Holiday 11th January 2015 Sauze d'Oulx ' posted Jan-2015
Val Thoren was brilliant and the weather was just perfect. I love that resort, lots of long wide runs. The red back down to Orelle was a killer though at the end of the day, very bumpy and icy in patches just to catch you out. My legs were killing me by the time we got halfway down and no coffee stop until the bottom. Then we had to walk up to the cafe, as the piste stops below it. I really needed a beer!
I can see my house from here...
Edited 1 time. Last update at 21-Jan-2015
Lizzie-B
reply to 'J2Ski Holiday 11th January 2015 Sauze d'Oulx ' posted Jan-2015
What a very full report Ally, I enjoyed reading it as I have been thinking of you all out there with the poor snow at first. What a very resourceful party leader you are arranging the trip to Orelle. Thank goodness the snow arrived in the end albeit a tad late. Although it sounds as though you all had a good time and loved where you were staying. I am sure there will be many more great holidays to come. Well done Ally - glad you are all home safely.
AllyG
reply to 'J2Ski Holiday 11th January 2015 Sauze d'Oulx ' posted Jan-2015
Lizzie-B wrote: What a very resourceful party leader you are arranging the trip to Orelle.
Thanks Lizzie-B :)
I had actually researched and planned this 'escape route' as it were, before we got there, because I knew that Sauze has a reputation for icy pistes and that the links to the rest of the ski area can shut in high winds.
Admittedly I wasn't expecting the snow to be so poor, but I think it was exceptionally bad for the time of year :(
We were lucky that we picked the right day to go to Val Thorens - some of the others were anxiously checking the weather and wind forecasts, and we had several discussions about when to go. We had to give 24 hours notice to book the bus and we couldn't cancel free of charge - although as Ian W said we could probably have asked the bus to go somewhere else if there'd been a problem in Orelle, like with the wind in Val Thorens shutting the links.
I had skied the '4th' valley twice myself, when I was staying in Val Thorens, so I knew there was a fair bit of ski-ing just in that valley even if the link over to Val Thorens had shut. And I think they put up flashing messages at the bottom of the lifts telling you to get back if they're going to shut the linking lifts.
Flat country skier
reply to 'J2Ski Holiday 11th January 2015 Sauze d'Oulx ' posted Jan-2015
Hi Ally, a great report, enjoyed reading it. Never thought that Val Thorens/Orelle is so close to Sauze d'Oulx. Worth remembering for future.
My daughter was in Claviere with school week before Christmas, they were taken to Sestriere by coach every day. At least sounds that more skiing was available for your trip.
Once again, many thanks for posting, you all seem to be a great group of people, hope I can join you one day in the future.
My daughter was in Claviere with school week before Christmas, they were taken to Sestriere by coach every day. At least sounds that more skiing was available for your trip.
Once again, many thanks for posting, you all seem to be a great group of people, hope I can join you one day in the future.
Edited 1 time. Last update at 22-Jan-2015
AllyG
reply to 'J2Ski Holiday 11th January 2015 Sauze d'Oulx ' posted Jan-2015
You can see how much time you save by going to Val Thorens via Orelle, on this map, that I cropped from Google Maps. It's only about 45 minutes from Sauze to Orelle, but about 3 hours from Sauze to Val Thorens by road.
And there's a huge car park at Orelle right next to the gondola and there's a cafe etc. there and you can buy your lift passes.
I think the car park must have been free because the company that supplied the bus said they might have to charge us extra for parking, but they didn't :)
Ski-ing into Val Thorens from the top of the chairlift in Orelle was easy enough - there seemed to be a choice of blues and reds and we didn't bother using the piste map. And after that we just skied wherever we fancied going.
Coming back from our lunch stop in the centre of Val Thorens we had a quick look at the piste map and went up the Cascade lift to get a bit of height, and then up the Portette lift which had a sign at the top saying which way to go to the Grand Fond lift and Orelle, and finally along the flat blue at the top of the Grand Fond lift.
The red run down to the gondola in Orelle was really hard, as Felthorpe said, when we did it because it was steep and very icy with lumps of powdery snow/small moguls. However, there's also a blue down to the gondola and some (very sensible!) people in the group took this route.
When we were there the last gondola down officially left the snow in Orelle at 4-30 p.m. and it takes about 20 minutes.
And there's a huge car park at Orelle right next to the gondola and there's a cafe etc. there and you can buy your lift passes.
I think the car park must have been free because the company that supplied the bus said they might have to charge us extra for parking, but they didn't :)
Ski-ing into Val Thorens from the top of the chairlift in Orelle was easy enough - there seemed to be a choice of blues and reds and we didn't bother using the piste map. And after that we just skied wherever we fancied going.
Coming back from our lunch stop in the centre of Val Thorens we had a quick look at the piste map and went up the Cascade lift to get a bit of height, and then up the Portette lift which had a sign at the top saying which way to go to the Grand Fond lift and Orelle, and finally along the flat blue at the top of the Grand Fond lift.
The red run down to the gondola in Orelle was really hard, as Felthorpe said, when we did it because it was steep and very icy with lumps of powdery snow/small moguls. However, there's also a blue down to the gondola and some (very sensible!) people in the group took this route.
When we were there the last gondola down officially left the snow in Orelle at 4-30 p.m. and it takes about 20 minutes.
Topic last updated on 19-February-2015 at 09:30