The Free's Trip Report for Jan 2007

The Free family made their fifth winter trip to Arc 1950 on 27th January for what turned out to be our best ever trip -  here's our report with a few hopefully useful tips as well.

Hover over the photos for their description and click them to open a larger version.

At the bottom of the report I have included a link to TF1's site that should show the program the kids took part in.
 

Transfer & Arrival
Flew in as usual on the early flight from Stansted to Lyon which did mean getting up a stupid o'clock in the morning but after picking up a Vauxhall Zafira for the five of us (4 in the Free clan and one other) were pleasantly surprised at how much room we had - got the snowboard bag down the side of the car between the seats and the window leaving the third row of seats unused and plenty of boot room for all the bags.

One tip that might be of use - I enquired with Hertz which cars were in the class we had booked and used http://www.buyacar.co.uk/ to check the tyre sizes. Then called them and expressed a preference for a Zafira as the tyres fitted the chains we had bought when hiring a 307 three trips ago.  We were indeed allocated the Zafira so no need to stop to buy chains (Hertz only hire a ski pack not chains on their own) - of course, in the end we had no use for them up or down the mountain but good to know we were all sorted.

Nice leisurely trip with a stop at the Super U at La Bathie for some lunch and provisions followed by peeling off the road just before Bourg and taking the small bridge over the river allowed us up to the resort about 1pm.

E-mail to Cait had done the trick and we were allowed into our two apartments straight away - all clean and tidy so down to the cave, on with the gear and up to Sylvain at 2000 to collect the hire gear, time for a few runs down from 2000 and back up on the cabriolet for the kids to find their legs before ski school in the morning and we were all sorted.

                       

Ski School
Kids were in ski school during the morning and as usual, Spirit instruction was absolutely excellent - both children (Laura who is 10 and Tom who is 7) started off in the only level 3 class which was tutored by Jean-Michel. The class started with seven children but four of them were 13 or 14 and skiing very fast indeed.

Our youngest Tom, tried to keep up but was struggling and midway through the lesson he had dropped down to the level 2 class taken by Mathieu and seemed much more comfortable there. Laura stuck with the Level 3 class and passed her gold very well and to our slight surprise, Mathieu also awarded Tom his gold as he said his technical skill justified it and he had maintained his level of skiing in the Level 2 class. Both will take another Level 3 class in April when I expect there will by two or three Level 3 classes and therefore more chance of one of them being a little less speedy.

As for the adults, Victoria and I had three private lessons with Jean-Paul (who now owns both the Cascade Sucree and Regional Products shop). He's not taking on the tea shop as ITW apparently want €300k for it and its only allowed to serve tea, coffee and cakes so he cannot see it is viable. Our lessons were great and I really started to get the hang of our carving drills on the blue slopes compared to my catching edges and almost falling efforts of last year.

Of course we still have plenty to practice and improve on in our ever desperate (and futile) struggle to keep up with the kids.  I really thought I was doing OK until I found out Laura's class had done the Clair Blanc moguls twice - a slope that intimidates me so much I always move over to the left hand side of the blue from Bois De L'ours as I go past it!

On two of the lessons, the Resort Club had a film crew taking shots of the kids for part of a new promotional video for the village to be played on the internal TV channel and at various promotional events.  We were also very lucky to be asked by Alex over a drink on the last night if the kids wanted to take part in a freestyle lesson he would be running on the Saturday, teaching kids to sit down and ski and twist from skiing forward to backwards and back again.  It would also be filmed by what turned out to be some really nice guys from the TF1 channel so twin tips skis were sourced from Ogier (first time I have hired anything from there (as it cost me nothing!)) and the kids really enjoyed themselves.  Just need to get hold of the details of when the show will be broadcast now and try to get hold of a copy

                       

Eating
Last year, we had an OK meal in East (though service was not good), Los Chicanos was mediocre at best and we found the single item on the children's menu at Chez Anne not enticing enough for us to venture in. Hemmingways not had good reports either so with the exception of going to Il Valentino's in the village (where we have always had excellent food and great service) I wanted to try some places outside the village this year.

We reserved a table with Laurent at Il Valentinos by e-mail before we left the UK for the Saturday night arrival and Friday night departure - I sent him a picture of the four of us with the e-mail so he could put a name to a face and he said it was helpful as he knew a lot of the owners but not always their names. Food there was the usual high standard and service excellent as well. Several people were turned away on both nights so booking is definitely recommended.

Had a chat with Laurent and he said that Xmas and New year were very busy, the week we were there was quieter and the week after would be similar before the French and UK holidays started when it will be very busy. March is also looking very busy apparently.

Sunday night we ate in and on Monday, we went to Chez Eux at 2000 - had the raclette meal for two and the beef fondue for two as well (not just me - four of us) and it was all very good - great service and food and will go back.

Tuesday lunchtime was in Bélliou La Fumée by the St Esprit with the owners discovery afternoon - really great food in almost obscene portion sizes and great value - definitely recommended for a "take it easy day" so you can relax and enjoy the place over a 2 hour or so lunch and gentle ski in the afternoon. Great food and company for lunch made it very enjoyable.

Tuesday night was Chicken and chips indoors with two chickens from the Spar - we were lucky as we went down at 5:30pm and was told the chickens would not be ready for an hour but nobody mentioned that it was possible to reserve them (though later inspection of the sign at the Spar does say you can) - when we went back at 6:30pm, we took 2 of the only 3 remaining unreserved chickens so reservation is definitely needed.

Wednesday night we went to Chalet De L'arc - bit nervous of the walk up but it is all very well lit and very easy. We had a great meal in there. I had the porc which was very good but will be trying the Lamb shank on my next visit as it looked superb. Menu was very much smaller compared to lunch time but we found all the food very good, service great and deserts a treat - we were all down by 9:15pm and managed to get the cabriolet back down to 1950. The place was very busy by about 8:30pm so best to book before hand - note it is only open Wed and Fri during the evening.

Thursday night we were going to go to East for the mongolian barbecue but we were all pretty tired out so we decided to try the take away tiffin boxes from East. Ordered it at 5pm for pick up at 6:30pm. The girl at the counter was really helpful and we were able to have the kids menu as a takeaway but without ice cream for €7.50 euros instead of €13.

At 6:30pm we were back and it was all ready, nice and hot and the food was really really good. Great Thai curries and rice with very good spare ribs as well and we had three vegetable currys thrown in which were great - nice crunchy fresh "just cooked" vegetables in a really good sauce. We also went for the 3€ naan breads some garlic and some peshwari) and they were very good as well - much better than the €1 ones. For five of us, it came to 60 euros and was thoroughly recommended.

Friday we went back to Il Valentinos and had the usual great food, service and hosts. So for village restaurants, we only tried Il Valentinos for eat in and East for take away, both of which were very very good. Other people we talked to said they thought Los Chicanos was no better than average and we wont return (after a poor experience last year) until we hear something better. Hemmingways, Luigis and Chez Anne didn't really grab us this trip

Lunch times was a mix of being in the apartment, the excellent waffles from Jean Paul at La Cascade Sucree and I'm almost ashamed to say, Melis. Culture Vulture that I am, I still think the Meli burgers are very good and I did try the kebab making its debut this year and it was very good - chicken rather than lamb in a fluffy pitta type bread with salad and a sauce.
 

                       

Snow Conditions
After the heavy snow on the Tuesday into Wednesday before we arrived, temps had stayed cold (-8 when we arrived on Saturday and that was when it had got warmer) and the on piste snow was in very good condition.

Every day was a clear blue sky day with temps getting gradually warmer with a 2900m freezing level when we left but the snow stayed in great shape thanks to the excellent pisteurs and only in a few places did the new snow get scraped off and reveal ice beneath which I think was formed on the weekend of 20th Jan when freezing levels got up to 3600m and then temps plummeted to -17c just before the snow arrived. One particular run next to the Cachette down to 1600 was a very good example of that and had my skis sliding away from under my whilst trying to warn the rest of the Free clan.

Fortunately, as the temps rose the by now harder pistes had the top surface softened in the sun and great conditions everywhere above 2000m were maintained - pieces of "icy snow" were evident but nothing too serious. A few bare patches down at Arc 1800 were evident at the end of the week but for what has been a very poor season snowfall and temperature wise, the Les Arcs pistes were very good - can't comment on off-piste as I'm not good enough yet!

New Arcubulle lift is a very useful addition though it is a big punt to get to it from top of Pre St Esprit if you dont want to go down and back up Marmottes. Plastic covers are great and must have been brilliant in the really cold temps the week before. Apparently, it is still running in and cable tensions being fine tuned so not yet running at full speed (a couple of days Plagnettes was quicker). Shorter Plagnettes to just ski the reds is also great.

I found it a little more difficult now to maintain enough speed to come down the blue past Arcubulle and through the gap to join Marmottes at Chalet De L'Arc without having to push as a skier or walk as a boarder as you have to come across the traffic more and the volume of people there means you need to slow down to be safe. I still feel that whole area could do with some recutting to try to make it flow better and have less flat area issues.
 

                       

Owners Discovery Day
As briefly mentioned above we joined the owners day at lunchtime to do the intermediate red run session after lunch.  A quick trip up Marmottes and Arcabulle and a fairly rapid (by my standards) descent all the way down to Bélliou La Fumée for a sumptuous lunch and wine supplied by ITW.  We took the children with us and this year they were the only ones on the trip but some excellent company at the table made us and them feel very welcome and they thoroughly enjoyed themselves.

After lunch, the group split into two with half going for some more challenging stuff off the Aguille Rouge whilst our group went up Bois De Lours and down to the bottom of the Transarc, back up to the top and down the reds to the right of the Plagnettes and Arcabulle lifts (as you look up the slope) with Olivier.  I lost the group when I stopped to help a snowboarder friend of ours but a quick call to Mrs F had me joined back up with the group by the bottom of the Transarc though the lively ladies in our group (you know who you are!) soon had me regretting that!  Oliver had them for an all day lesson the next day - whatever that guy earns it's not enough!! - in all seriousness it was a real fun afternoon and much enjoyed by all of us.
 

                       

HMC Service
I met Cait and told her she was getting rave reviews on the web site - she has a new e-mail address for owners to use if they are coming out and have any special requests it is owners.arc1950@hmc-hotels.com . She cannot guarantee to be able to help with everything as she still needs to liase with the reception desk boss for early arrivals and late check outs but she will do her best and was able to get us into our apartments early and we kept ours until 2pm on the day we left (though it was a quieter week of the season).

Generally, I found everything from HMC was slicker and more professional - the greet in the car park, the check in, the staff in uniforms, the midweek clean was very good, passing a message on from ITW was done immediately and late check out and continued access to the room and cave was easy.

The PDC swimming pool temperature is higher than last year and whilst I would like it a bit warmer, you did not see kids and adults alike shivering in it after five mins like the two previous years. PDC hot tub was hot (not warm) as well on the day we went down and was very nice to sit in (see pic for proof). Judging by the steam coming off the tub most days and the number of people in it, it seemed to be that way for the rest of the week as well.

In summary, the HMC service was excellent and for our trip this year, everything that we had expected and hoped it would be from year one. I was very pleased and sincerely hope it continues in the seasons ahead.

Overall, our best trip to 1950 so far.

 

                       

 

                       

Below is the news article that appeared on TF1 on 21st February - Laura makes a very fleeting appearance in a pink jacket and grey trousers with my son Tom (all beige jacket & trousers) a slightly longer participant with one of his goes at skiing backwards. Despite strenuous attempts by both parents to get in the background of some shots, both appear to have ended up on the digital equivalent of the cutting room floor.