Holiday Reviews 2023

Cervinia, Italy

It was a small group of 20, including several new members, and that made for a friendly bunch. 4 ski groups were formed.

The slow opening of the lifts and some high winds in Cervinia curtailed some skiing. However, those who signed up for the “away-day” in Pila had an amazing day with lovely groomed pistes and sunshine. This turned out to be the skiing highlight for many.

Friday’s apres-ski event was in our hotel bar. The jazz/blues entertainer encouraged one extrovert (from another group) to do the Full Monty. As the hotel provided the last evening’s entertainment Arp skiers were saved from providing their own!

On the last Saturday all the lifts were open from the get-go. Was that a coincidence? Most of us managed to catch up on missed runs, and all skiers had a great day.

Overall it was a good trip. The Hotel Petit Palais was close to the Plan Maison cable car. The hotel staff were very helpful, though some members noticed a drop off in service over the final 12 hours.

My sense was that although the rooms were a touch small most would choose the hotel again, but with the limitation on the lifts being opened, some would not choose the resort again.

Steph Tucknott.

Madonna di Campiglio, Italy (A)

Back -to -back holidays were organised allowing a total of 40 members, including some new to the Club, to travel to the Alpen Vidi Hotel. The hotel had a new Spa area and refurbished rooms and the staff looked after us extremely well.

On Tuesday of the first week very high winds and driving snow meant that many of the lifts were closed. However, for the rest of the week we had sunny days with the fresh snow.

The Skirama Regional Lift pass covered Madonna and the linked resorts of Folgarida, Pinzola and Marileva. There was more than enough variety of slopes to keep all the ski groups happy.

The fresh snow held up for those arriving for the second week.

This was a much more eventful week, with some ARP members having adventures in the Spa and some disagreeing with netting on the slopes. We had more than our fair share of accidents during this week.

One lady broke her humerus in two places, falling on a steep icy slope whilst walking back to the hotel. Despite her nasty accident she remained with the group and maintained her sense of humour. (No pun intended!)

A snow boarder crashed into another member. She was evacuated from the slopes by helicopter and was flown to the main hospital in Trento. She was eventually flown back to her local UK hospital, by Lear Jet, having spent a week in the Italian hospital. Despite these accidents, which marred the trip, everyone was well pleased with the hotel and with the skiing opportunities, and would return to Madonna di Campiglio again.

Sheila Walker

Madonna di Campiglio, Italy (B)

See Week 2

Les Arcs, France

For once everyone’s journey went smoothly and Manchester Airport was an absolute breeze!

We were warned on the coach that there was plenty of snow but the runs were very hard packed and icy and that the resort was busy. This was exactly what we found on our arrival. There was still plenty of good skiing to be found and to compensate we were rewarded with sunshine and clear blue skies every day.

Some groups stuck to skiing in Les Arcs with the faster groups travelling to La Plagne where the conditions were pretty much the same.

There were several injuries this week, the most serious being sustained by an experienced skier although no one else was involved. She was hospitalised for several days in Bourg before being flown home where she is continuing her recovery.

The airport security at Grenoble were rather overzealous almost arresting one lady member for not having an entry stamp in her passport (something for us all to take note of). A selfie stick was confiscated as it was considered to be a potential cosh and the offending gent had to sign a form, which was in French. We hope he has not signed away his rights to visit France in the future.

Val Deere.

Courchevel, France

This was a smaller than usual group of 19 skiers of which 15 were supposed to be flying from Gatwick. However, 2 missed their flight but they did catch up with us in Moutiers. The party was made up of 10 men and 9 ladies with a wide range of age and skiing ability. For some it was the first time on the slopes since the pandemic and for some the first time with ARP.

This trip was organised with Le Ski, who specialise in ski chalets. We stayed in their largest one, “Rikiki”, In Courchevel 1650. The chalet has a capacity of 22 guests. We were wonderfully taken care of by 3 lovely chalet personnel for 5 of the 7 nights.

The bedrooms were small but the chalet had a good -sized communal area, a well frequented hot tub and it was only 20m. from the slopes.

We had great weather but there was an increasing deficit of snow, with some pistes being closed for lack of snow cover. Other pistes had treacherous ice patches. Thankfully we did not have any serious injuries and nobody missed their flight back!

Niraj Mehra

Baquiera, Spain

There were 28 members booking this trip with 4 making independent arrangements, flying in from 6 different airports. Guiding is provided at Baqueira by Ski Inspired and we were able to settle into 4 groups. We skied every day. Most days had bright sun, blue skies and little wind giving us skiing conditions we will remember for a long time. A fall of snow gave good covering later in the week and hearing one groups’ experience, of their skiing off-piste with virgin snow, made us all appreciate what a really joyful day it was.

An accident on Tuesday resulted in a lady member being seen by doctors in the hospital in Viehla. Luckily no bones were broken. On Friday we were shocked to see the “blood wagon” arrive at the bottom of the slopes carrying one of our own. We were even more amazed when the person was unstrapped and walked away unscathed. IT’S A MIRACLE! Evidently the person involved had taken her skis off, intending to walk down the final slope to the village. This is not allowed so two very cheerful medics brought her down by “blood wagon”. She rather enjoyed her experience!

The Tuc Blanc Hotel provides excellent accommodation and wonderful food. There is a hot tub, swimming pool and massage facilities, all well used by our members. The hotel provided some entertainment including a Tapas Evening. Performers for our final evening’s entertainment were thin on the ground but many members enjoyed the Quiz evening.

Alison Boswell

Les Deux Alpes, France

Strikes and air traffic control issues meant that travellers from Manchester and Gatwick sat on the tarmac for 3 hours before departing! Worse was in store for the Stansted travellers who didn’t make it to the resort until the next day!

The sunny days at the start of the week meant the higher slopes were busy. With a glacier at 3400metres, Deux Alpes is snow sure, for now, even if the slopes at 1700m.were in need of a good fall of snow.

Alas one member had a serious fall on Monday. Luckily, she had purchased the Carre Neige that morning and was whisked off by helicopter. She spent the rest of the week learning to negotiate crutches and a leg plaster. Thanks to all ARP members who rallied around and helped out.

The long -awaited snow arrived on Tuesday. Some lifts on the glacier were closed for a time on Wednesday due to 50km/hour winds. The rest of the week was warm and sunny and we enjoyed our skiing. The new snow didn’t last long at lower levels but the intrepid ARP people always found snow, with one group testing their knees on the mogul fields. The new snow on top of ice meant that the avalanche risk was high for the rest of the week and frequent explosions were heard.

The Hotel Base Camp Lodge was close to the slopes with a flat walk to the nearest lift. We all had south facing rooms with balconies and the food was plentiful in the restaurant.

The attractions for me choosing Les Deux Alpes were the snow sure glacier and the superfast link to Alpe d’Huez, promised for December 2022. Alas there was no sign of the fast link, and queues for the glacier were tedious, partly because the lower resorts had no snow.

Anne Horne