Les Menuires; really quiet, no queues & fantastic snow

I was put through my paces by an 11 year old, Charlie English, who wanted to hit the parks in Les Menuires, not really my forte! The English family have stayed in Val Thorens for the last few years and Charlie has skied since he was young. The lessons have certainly paid off as I struggled to keep up with him. I really think it is a credit to parents who put their children through ski school year after year. A ski holiday in itself is not inexpensive and with kit and ski school each year, plus the way in which lessons split the ski day, it does not always necessarily feel like a ‘holiday’. The result after getting little ones up to speed is that mum gets left behind!

One thing worth knowing about is the ‘Super 6’ lessons now offered by ESF. Charlie did not seem to get the most out of his ESF lessons last year, being in a large group with an instructor not too keen on speaking English which left Charlie upset and unable to get the most out of the lessons. The family noticed this year there was an option to pay extra for ‘Super 6’ which means they guarantee that there are no more than six children in each group. During half term ESF groups tends to be around 15 children which can mean as with Charlie, that they do not progress as much as in a smaller group. So if you have eager skiers who want to progress and really need good tuition and you are willing to pay a little more than usual this could be a good option to look our for.

February half term is normally a time for seasonaires to give the slopes a miss however I was pleasantly surprised. I found the slopes in Les Menuires to be really quiet, no queues and the snow was fantastic. We began over in La Masse and then took the Sunny lift, which was well named to reflect conditions yesterday to access the BK Park. There are two different levels at the park with Charlie not fazed by either. After that we dropped down into Les Menuires for some flips on the airbag (not moi!) The airbag is located just at the bottom of the resort and is just 2 euros per jump. I would just say if you have little ones then keep a keen eye on them for the landing as there was an incident with someone setting off too early whilst someone was still on the landing bag.

The weather is starting to come in again today and it looks like a snowy day tomorrow to end the week. Luckily the weekend is looking clear for anyone leaving resort with snow arriving again at the beginning of next week. Temperatures are staying low at around -11 at the chilliest so wrap up warm.