The Latest from the Flexiski staff

Just one day skiing and I could go home happy!

Posted: Sunday 20th February 2011 by leonardo

Whilst sipping champagne and savouring the delicious canapés after their first day of skiing, the returning Brown party (this year with increased numbers), said they had such a great day of skiing that if they had to go home now, it would still have been worth it. Praise indeed for the snow conditions and weather, despite the lack of new snow at the time! And this was before they had even tasted the delicious dinner being served in Chalet Leonardo that evening.

Fortunately they still had another couple of days on their ski break so they took full advantage of the enormous Three Valleys ski area and the blue skies to top up their tans, although the bottle of factor 40 was welcomed by more than a couple of faces and foreheads throughout the day. Having spent a long and hard day skiing in Val Thorens, Friday was spent exploring the best slopes that Courchevel has to offer at a supposedly more leisurely pace! After skiing every possible descent from the top of Saulire and a better than expected descent through the off piste under the Chanrossa chairlift on the back of Courchevel 1650, the coffee break was postponed in favour of another run down an almost perfect Combe Saulire. As we caught up with the rest of the group who had removed their skis and were ready for a drink, we descended into the heart of Courchevel 1850 for a delicious sun soaked lunch on the terrace at the Le Tremplin accompanied by some expertly chosen wine. The complimentary genepi was just enough to get everyone started again for the afternoon which was taken at an only slightly more gentle pace, with the afternoon finishing with a well deserved cold beer in Jacks bar just in time to catch the rugby scores.

Courchevel seems to be the favourite area to ski at the moment as Jon, our Ski Event Manager was called upon to accompany some guests from the Hotel Saint Louis in 1850. The morning was spent exploring Courchevel 1650, an area the father and son team had not yet been to. Under Jon’s expert direction they were able to tick off that they had skied down every run on his piste map as they enjoyed a well deserved lunch in the sunshine at the Cap Horn. As the wonderful food restored everyone’s energy levels in preparation for the afternoon skiing in Courchevel 1850, they were able to observe the arrival of the shiny helicopters and private jets bringing French guests into the resort for their half term ski break. With Courchevel 1850 thoroughly explored in the afternoon, they headed back to the Hotel Saint Louis and Bar 1226 for an après ski drink or two to ease their aching legs and to toast a great day skiing enjoyed by all.

With schools in Paris off for the next two weeks, the amount of people in fur, gold or white ski suits has almost doubled overnight and the average age of the people of the slopes has more than halved as the children both French and English enjoy a week of skiing in the February sunshine. However with a bit of local knowledge even at this busiest time of year, it is still possible to ski on uncrowded pistes and to avoid lift queues as the enormity of the Three Valleys areas shows why it still remains so popular with so many.