tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-48854192045488974232009-06-23T17:24:31.028+02:00Tips for guests and friends of Finlays Skiing staying in Courchevel including where to ski, eat and drink.Sarah Finlayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01055278187239335795noreply@blogger.comBlogger145125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4885419204548897423.post-80734077613483304372009-06-23T17:19:00.003+02:002009-06-23T17:24:31.040+02:00

This is how the runs above 1850 look today, hard to believe we were skiing on them 9 weeks ago - snapshot taken from the webcam at bottom of our Courchevel page.

Sarah Finlayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01055278187239335795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4885419204548897423.post-81989664355787426852009-06-02T16:05:00.005+02:002009-06-11T16:43:00.021+02:00

The Courchevel lift pass company (s3v) have just sent us their rates for next winter (Dec 2009 - May 2010) - they are up by about 3%.An adult 6 day pass last winter for the whole of the Trios Vallees was 225 Euros and for next winter it will be 232 EurosSee: Courchevel Lift pass pricesfor a comprehensive list of up to date prices.NEW addition to the Courchevel Valley lift pass selection is a - a

Sarah Finlayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01055278187239335795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4885419204548897423.post-11172405781394792822009-05-22T12:19:00.001+02:002009-06-10T12:28:40.867+02:00

We will not be able to offer Chalet St Bernard in Courchevel 1850 for next winter season. We understand that the owner has sold the chalet and that the new owners are developers who plan to knock down the chalet and build something new. We have enjoyed having St Bernard on our programme and will be sad to see it go.

Sarah Finlayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01055278187239335795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4885419204548897423.post-86722151749217601932009-05-19T12:37:00.006+02:002009-05-19T14:14:24.991+02:00

Ann Stark work who was our Courchevel Resort Directors Assistant popped into the Finlays office in Kelso yesterday. She handed us her Placement Report!Many people who met Ann over the winter months in Courchevel or read her great postings on this blog will not have realised that she was working for us as part of her Heriot-Watt University course - Business Management with Industrial

Sarah Finlayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01055278187239335795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4885419204548897423.post-44549756331751431252009-05-03T12:08:00.003+02:002009-06-05T17:03:10.489+02:00

Ever wondered what it is like in the mountains? It is stunning, come and see!We are offering B & B accommodation in two of our Les Coches chalets this summer OR a whole chalet for 8 on a week to week self-catered basis - click through to B & B / self-catering in Les Coches for more information and/or see Summer in Les Coches for a selection of summer photos.

Sarah Finlayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01055278187239335795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4885419204548897423.post-76448646698308672692009-04-21T17:28:00.003+02:002009-05-15T11:33:32.978+02:00

All our Courchevel /Three Valleys chalets are now closed and the ski season is over :'(It has been a really great one with a good covering of snow from very early on. The first snowfall in Courchevel was way back on the 24th November 2008! Which really set the winter off to a grand start. From then on it seemed that we had regular falls of snow throughout the season and even fresh snowfall

Sarah Finlayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01055278187239335795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4885419204548897423.post-42260128058298717442009-04-15T18:51:00.004+02:002009-04-27T15:19:05.107+02:00

Today is charity day in La Tania. It's a day of awesome fun, live music, crazy games and high stakes competitions all in aid of charity. It's been a beautiful day today so we headed down to see what it was all about. Louise, chalet host in Marmottons, baked three cakes to be entered into the cake competition including this beautiful French chocolate number decorated with a rose and rose petals!

Ann Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13641163433440613967noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4885419204548897423.post-38804373910037548522009-04-10T09:16:00.001+02:002009-04-27T15:10:51.739+02:00

I know Karen in Val d'Isere will not agree with me but I took this at 7.45am and I just think I have the most perfect view from our Courchevel office! We are all heading home on the 23rd of April and I have amazing views over the Cheviots at home but they are nowhere near as spectacular as this one! The only downside of the amazing weather is that the snow is getting very slushy, especially in

Ann Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13641163433440613967noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4885419204548897423.post-56326457519040744262009-04-08T20:57:00.001+02:002009-04-27T15:07:37.552+02:00

Today I managed to finally meet up with a couple of friends who are staying in Meribel at the moment for the British Ski and Snowboard Championships. Gemma Russell (right) is Operations Manager for Snowsport GB and Hannah MacGillivary (left) has been in charge of start and finish judging for the Championships. We know each other because we were on the same Scottish and British Equestrian

Ann Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13641163433440613967noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4885419204548897423.post-64335928987574618432009-04-07T17:54:00.010+02:002009-04-27T15:03:47.898+02:00

I was feeling a bit full of the cold today so decided to take myself off on an inspiring walk in the direction of 1850. I walked up the road past Barragiste and onto the walking track. I've used this track to get to 1650 from 1550 before without incident so I didn't think it would be particularly difficult. Wrong! I followed the signs carefully through the woods on the pisted trail and took this

Ann Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13641163433440613967noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4885419204548897423.post-89557343506739530872009-04-03T20:06:00.002+02:002009-04-27T13:43:04.994+02:00

Today I had a transfer to do to Geneva Airport. On the way there I took the speedy toll road between the lakeside cities of Annecy and Geneva to make sure everyone got their planes on time! On the way back though I decided to take the toll free road that runs close to the motorway for a bit more of an interesting journey!Well, that was the plan... until I started following diversions for Annecy.

Ann Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13641163433440613967noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4885419204548897423.post-32876564431636729862009-04-01T20:58:00.002+02:002009-04-27T13:39:02.649+02:00

Firstly this morning I had a call saying hot ashes had been left on the balcony of a Chalet and burned a hole in the balcony, then I had another saying there was a lift strike in Meribel and Val Thorens ... I was panicking about both when I realised it was April fools day! You guys got me good! Today the plan was to go Telemarking for a bit of a laugh (thats skiing with funny boots and

Ann Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13641163433440613967noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4885419204548897423.post-72792608193322705682009-03-31T22:34:00.002+02:002009-04-27T13:32:27.422+02:00

Today we decided to head over to Val d'Isere to get the use of our second free day there. This time we really were away by 8am which was pretty good for our day off we thought! We headed to park in the Persval car park outside the Finlays Val d'Isere office and said a quick hello to Karen and Richard before hitting the slopes.We tried to avoid the queue at the Solaise lift by first getting the

Ann Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13641163433440613967noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4885419204548897423.post-57121851163545094142009-03-29T10:58:00.000+02:002009-03-30T09:13:26.167+02:00

Last week when I went to Grenoble in the coach on transfer day there were lots of laburnum bushes flowering. As the grass is now so much greener down the valley, the bright yellow of the laburnum and the green of the grass made it feel very spring-like, even if the weather was a bit nippy!This week though there were little pale yellow primroses clinging to a lot of the banks at the side of the

Ann Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13641163433440613967noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4885419204548897423.post-13952636787810008072009-03-27T20:47:00.002+01:002009-04-27T13:28:18.833+02:00

So this was the snow slowly sliding off the roof of Delage on the 20th March. My bet was that the snow shelf would fall on the 26th... This is it on the 24th... And a little corner of it fell off on the 26th, but the rest held on...But this was the scene on the 27th, I was one day out! I heard a huge bang, followed by lots of smaller ones this afternoon as the whole shelf crashed down onto the

Ann Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13641163433440613967noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4885419204548897423.post-68439512815529370142009-03-25T15:07:00.003+01:002009-03-26T12:47:47.801+01:00

It's been snowing on and off in Courchevel since about Monday night, yey! From my very well known, extremely scientific method of leaning out of the window with my ruler, I can say we've had between 15 and 20 cm in 1550 and maybe a bit more in 1850. Skiing yesterday was absolutely freezing because it was so windy though. At the top of Plantrey the lifties were having to heave us off the chair

Ann Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13641163433440613967noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4885419204548897423.post-53436667663671773592009-03-23T14:59:00.001+01:002009-03-25T15:07:06.058+01:00

The boys have built a jump just off Dou du Midi and these photos have just come to light from last week. I heard all about it but I didn't see the back flip/no-handed-cartwheel myself. David took some photos of Graham though so here they are - awesome! I'm very jealous!

Ann Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13641163433440613967noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4885419204548897423.post-49594534314994647802009-03-22T18:54:00.001+01:002009-03-24T15:49:04.175+01:00

This was the view from the Cretes chair today. You can just see the red parachute of a parapenter in the centre of the photo. It was much colder today so I went out in a jacket for the first time in a while and there was no sunbathing! It was still beautifully bright, just really cold. We're due a good top up of snow this week. Although the snow is fine in Courchevel some extra wouldn't go amiss

Ann Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13641163433440613967noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4885419204548897423.post-54479014941377619152009-03-20T16:43:00.001+01:002009-03-24T15:47:49.049+01:00

With all of the boiling weather we've been having during the day (21° in La Tania today) and freezing temperatures at night, the snow is starting to slide off the roof of Delage at the back. This amazing overhang really can't last forever, so bets are being taken as to which date it will fall on! Hmm, my guess is the 26th March but I'll let you know when it does go... Apparently when the snow is

Ann Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13641163433440613967noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4885419204548897423.post-91301791921550183942009-03-18T22:47:00.000+01:002009-03-20T08:58:28.597+01:00

For the first time ever, tonight we witnessed Courchevel lose at the ice hockey. Now, I'm sure it wasn't the actual national team but the posters were advertising 'Courchevel v Russia' which I thought put them at a bit of a disadvantage straight away. There were national anthems and the Russians did play in blue, white and red so maybe it was... Anyway, 5-0 down after the first period and not

Ann Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13641163433440613967noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4885419204548897423.post-45293942242828538482009-03-17T21:09:00.008+01:002009-03-24T15:45:19.127+01:00

Today saw us head over to Les Arcs for a bit of fun. Eight of us went across and did a few runs, then stopped for lunch at a baked potato place - as many potatos as you can eat for 10euros but the only filling is chicken! Then we heard about the crazy seasonnaire antics going on at the altiport. We headed up for a look. The idea is to come down the hill pretty fast in a straight line with enough

Ann Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13641163433440613967noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4885419204548897423.post-82873748958559067372009-03-16T20:56:00.003+01:002009-03-24T15:43:01.823+01:00

Here in Courchevel we get lots of distinguished guests coming to stay with us but this week we've got someone extra inspiring - Mark Beaumont, the world record holder for cycling around the world! (you might have seen him in the Orange adverts - I am who I am etc) I'm hoping to have dinner in Chalet Delage on Friday night and can't wait to hear some of his stories. Sarah the chalet host is posing

Ann Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13641163433440613967noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4885419204548897423.post-69772103314546298242009-03-13T20:17:00.000+01:002009-03-16T08:29:23.416+01:00

Today was another stunning day and I managed to get pretty sunburned, oops, not clever! I just thought I'd put up some photos to show how fabulous the skiing was today! The first one is Jo, Jess and Claire, then a view over to Meribel, and looking back at Jo on the Dou de Lanches chair. We beat the queue you can see by going in the single file line but sadly nobody else wanted to sit with Jo so

Ann Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13641163433440613967noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4885419204548897423.post-53478627804875353122009-03-11T20:28:00.002+01:002009-03-13T08:40:53.818+01:00

Today I went out with Graham, David, Alicia and Sarah and they shared some of the amazing off piste in 1650 with me! The gulley in this photo was practically deserted and so much fun. It is located inbetween the Roc Mugnier and Prameruel chair lifts. Obviously I didn't look as good as Graham does in these photos so it is just as well no-one got any photos of me!This was just one of the stunning

Ann Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13641163433440613967noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4885419204548897423.post-2026372266206649932009-03-10T21:59:00.002+01:002009-03-24T15:39:54.134+01:00

Today we headed out before the Tovets chair was even open and got the Grangettes bubble up to 1850. It was such a gorgeous morning that none of us really expected the snow that Philippe told us was coming. We zoomed around a bit, heading over to Meribel through the trees then on to St Martin de Belleville and played a bit in the deep snow beside the runs. We stopped for a bite to eat and the

Ann Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13641163433440613967noreply@blogger.com0