Fly to ski

The problem is not many resorts spend money on long greens… Courchevel has a few quite long greens going from 1800 to 1650 but it’s quite far from Annecy.

Morning Peter – the closest to Annecy is the resort of Semnoz. http://www.semnoz.fr It would really need to snow since it is pretty low and pretty late in the season. Even if it snows it will be slushy. There are only easy runs there nothing major. If you hop on the Motorway in Annecy north it shouldn’t take you more than 40 minutes to an hour to get to places like Les Gets or Megeve – much higher up but again pretty easy skiing – they are large boulevard like slopes without too much interest for more advanced skiers but very good for beginner to intermediate as they allow for loads of space even if things do get a little steeper. The other option – not sure if you have thought about that would be to fly in the Grenoble Isere LFLS – there are shuttles there to places like Les 7 Laux etc. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_sept_Laux
which I think you could find very interesting – you can use Chambery LFLB as your alternate (both have ILS) and Grenoble is a pretty sure bet this time of year in terms of flyability and skiing. happy to discuss over the phone if you want to.

Wim

I’ve done Annecy and we went to Morzine this week-end. We took the skipass “Portes du Soleil” to have the full access.
The snow was good and weather was perfect. Plenty of beginner slopes Peter you should tried it.
It’s pretty high so the snow should hold for a bit..

Romain

My recommendation would be Les Gets in the Portes du Soleil area, too. Our then 2-year-old fell a sleep during her first decent on the greens.. :-) Plenty to ski with everything from beginner to intermediate plus easy access to Avoriaz should you wish for more excitement.

Plan on a 1,5 to 2 hrs drive from Annecy, though. Or land alternatively at Lausanne.

I thought Meribel was supposed to be good for beginners too but have no personal knowledge of it.

Peter wrote:

I wonder what transport options there are from Lausanne, across the lake?

I believe there are ferries from Lausanne to Evian-les-Bains. I once took one of those myself, Cannot remember what time of year, but I think they run all year to carry commuters across the lake.

It is quite easy to get permission signed off from a French Instructor that will allow you to fly into Albertville. I have that permission signed off for life and use it as my alternate for Courchevel or even stop there for a coffee. Once you have that signed off (no special training is required) you can go and fly there and get a taxi or go by public transportation into the Alps from the Albertville airport restaurant.

From Albertville you have access to the French Alps and you can go e.g. to Courchevel or Val Thorens. Both have wide and easy slopes. Of course, they have black slopes as well.

Transportation from Albertville: http://www.rome2rio.com/s/Albertville-France/Courchevel