2 Winter 2006 Trip Reports from Guy and Tracy Griffiths

There (eventually) and back again

New Year… 31 Dec 05 – 7 Jan 06

Flew to Geneva (grEasyJet), and collected Hertz car from French side of Airport (cheaper in ‘France’ @ €200 c.f. €300 from Swiss side!). Had to drive extra 20 mins through Geneva town, but seemed worth it for the saving.  Queued for several hours on approach to Moutiers and Bourg, but eventually made it up the mountain to arrive in time for a Crépe from La Bolée – highly recommended for a snack!

There were 5 of us staying in our apartment, and I’d used two of our medium season weeks to book another apartment of the same size in the same week for 5 more mates.  Not sure I should be sharing this info as I was told it wasn’t possible before, but Florence seemed to be happy with the arrangement, and I plan to do it again if possible.  7 weeks is a bit extreme, but the more friends I can take along, the better!

Thought I’d booked a table for 13 at La Casa, but there had been a mix up with the booking, so we were pleased that East would take us on New Year’s Eve for their opening night.  However, a choice of 2 starters, 2 mains, and 2 desserts for €45 seemed steep, especially on their first night.  It went from bad to worse when we got our food though.  Less than half our party managed to eat their food as it was very very spicy hot, and very small portions.  We love hot curries, but this was extreme, packed with chilli but with no real flavour.  I chatted to the owner and one of the chefs to give them some feedback, but haven’t been back since, and haven’t heard good things from other owners either.  Chez Anne seemed a little moody (compared with the summer), and wouldn’t take a booking for 10+ people.  This improved on our next trip though.

The snow was good during the week, and we also enjoyed much après ski during happy hour 5-6 in Bar Luigi, followed by night skiing/snowboarding on Tuesday and Thursday and ate twice in La Casa, which offered excellent value, wonderful food and great service.  We also went to Luigi’s restaurant, which was nice, but had rather too small a choice for our numbers and tastes, leaving us on pasta or cheese & ham. 

The pool was open for one night only, but the sauna and hammam seemed to be working fine.  Very happy with everything else, Intrawest hadn’t sorted our privilege card, but Arnaud and the guys in Concept were very helpful, and happy to sort us out with discounts. 

Birthday trip - 4-11 March 06

Flew to Lyon this time, and drove to Bourg St Maurice in about 6 hours (should take 2).  The traffic control system in Moutiers is bonkers, and although we will drive in the summer, (so we can get to Tignes for some snowboarding) next year we will be taking the snowtrain.  The mountain road was closed, so I spent my birthday on a mattress in the gym in B.St.M. with a few hundred others, which was fun!
Snow chains on at 6am the next morning, and we crawled up the mountain, arriving to a nice greeting in the Prince reception. Norbert had sorted out lift passes, so off we went.

The snow was absolutely incredible, and as a group of mainly snowboarders, we were in heaven!  Sometimes it was frustrating with lifts closed due to the conditions, but there was fun to be had every day, visibility allowing.  Ended almost every day in Bar Luigi watching the funny and transfixing DVDs, and enjoying the high quality live bands – The Creatles were very entertaining and talented, go see them!

We ate a wonderful (if slightly over-cheesy) meal at Chez Anne (even on a table for 10!), and also enjoyed the friendly hospitality at La Casa a couple of times.  Los Chicanos is not to be recommended, mainly due to the very poor service, which we put down to lack of staff.  The food was OK (much better at the owners meeting buffet later in the week).

Check out the wine store Au Tour Des Vins, down past the local deli Saveur des Cimes, which is also well worth a visit.

Apparently there is a problem with all the armchairs in Jardins.  One of the back legs was broken at New Year (which I reported), and in March both chairs were broken.  I reported this to HMC and Melissa (Intrawest), and was told that they will be fixing all chairs before the summer.  Also the Pool and Jacuzzi in Jardins had the same “technical” problem in March and wasn’t open at all.  This must be fixed before the summer, and I will be taking it up with both HMC & Intrawest.

General feedback from all my mates who have been with us this year is that they love it and can’t wait to return to Le Village in 2007, so all round, I’m a very happy owner indeed.

Guy Griffiths (& Tracy)