Beginner with no clue!

jastem wrote:Ally - you're right about the budget - I had forgotten that he would need equipment hire and lessons. ) It isn't an ideal beginner area either. We stayed in Courchevel 1650 a few years ago and found 1850 the most stupidly expensive place ever to eat or drink on the mountains! The lower villages were better value though. It is a fantastic ski area.

Jastem,
We will be staying in a P&V Maeva residence in Courchevel 1550, and not eating out anywhere! I have heard about the terrible prices, and I shall enjoy myself very much looking at the prices of all the clothes I'm not going to buy and meals I'm not going to eat :D

Sm4sh,
Self-catering is usually the cheapest option, but not if there are only 2 of you. Apartments seem to cater for a minimum of 4 people, and if there's only 2 of you to have to pay a supplement if you get it through a tour operator, or you have to pay the full price of an apartment and divide it in half, if you deal direct.

Feb half-term is generally the most expensive time to go, and prices are often double what you pay during the cheaper weeks.

Our budget looks something like this, for the one coming with us who's only done one week of ski-ing before.

Direct Eurostar train return from St Pancras to Moutiers = £300
Return bus transfer Moutiers to Courchevel = 15 euros
1/3 share of apartment for 4 in Courchevel 1550 = 330 euros

esf ski lessons 6 days 9.30 -11.30
= 190 euros

Intersport ski and boot hire 7 days = 80 euros

7 days lift pass Courchevel valley = 219 euros

7 days extra carre neige ski insurance (so they take her in a helicopter if necessary without arguing about it) = 18.9 euros

Total = 853 euros plus £300 = about £1100-

Ally

Tony_H wrote:But one gets what one pays for, doesnt one?

Oooh you've gone all posh...Maybe you should go to Courchevel with Ally! :D

snowb4ndit wrote:

Tony_H wrote:But one gets what one pays for, doesnt one?

Oooh you've gone all posh...Maybe you should go to Courchevel with Ally! :D

Snowbandit,
You needn't bother trying to get him to come with me, he doesn't like me any more, he won't give me any more cuddles ... :cry: :cry:

Tony,
I think you forgot about the price of lessons for Sm4sh :?:

Ally

lol i think maybe if i get the hang of it and enjoy skiing i could look into it another year & prob miss out the ibiza holiday.
In Bulgaria we are in apartments. theres 3 of us so we paid the under occupancy.
And whats with the Helicopter insurance, that incase u break ya legs at the top of a mountin or something?? i thought if that happend they would have to take you in a helicopter, i also thought that your normal insurance would pay that as it is a ski holiday insurance you would be getting. Then again insurance companys do like to rip ya off!!

Sm4sh,
I didn't know you were in the Flora apartments, I thought you were in the Flora hotel. The apartments are supposed to be better than the hotel, according to those reviews on Trip Advisor :D

And if you're in the apartments I suppose you won't have to worry about the standard of the evening meal, because I don't suppose there is one!

Ask Bandit about the rescue services in the Three Valleys, where we're going. She had a really horrible experience in Val Thorens where they refused to help her (I think it was take her to hospital - she wasn't actually lying flat at the top of a mountain somewhere) until she paid them up front in cash, although she was badly hurt, and as far as I remember (as I said it's her story really) one of her friends had to go to a cash machine and get out a pile of euros :shock:

You're quite right, your own ski insurance does cover being rescued and medical help, but of course you don't get the money off the insurance company until after you've put in the claim form and it's all been agreed. In Bandit's case they wouldn't take her word for it that they would eventually get paid, and they wanted the money up front. The Carre Neige insurance is a French insurance linked to the lift pass (if you pay exra for it), so they know they'll get their money, and they will rescue and give medical help without arguing about it.

Anyway, after what happened to Bandit, I wasn't risking it, and we're double insured (although we can't claim twice of course!).

Ally

as if they would do that. i thought that as you pay for a lift pass that the madical centers would take you to a hospital without any arguing. So as im a beginner im best keeping a couple 100 euros on me incase i fall over and hurt my self :lol:
Yeh its the apartments but arnt they attached to the hotel? and we get breakfast and evening meal in with it. dont know why as normaly when i go away in apartments you have ya own little kitchen n that dont you.
never really thought of it.

sm4sh wrote:as if they would do that. i thought that as you pay for a lift pass that the madical centers would take you to a hospital without any arguing. So as im a beginner im best keeping a couple 100 euros on me incase i fall over and hurt my self :lol:
Yeh its the apartments but arnt they attached to the hotel? and we get breakfast and evening meal in with it. dont know why as normaly when i go away in apartments you have ya own little kitchen n that dont you.
never really thought of it.

200 euros... :lol: :lol: :lol:...What ever you do don't fall over and hurt yourself!

god how much did you have to pay? lol i should b alright is im on the beginner part. not like i will have to go far to get to a hospital will i? lol