Travelling with Easyjet out of Glasgow went without incident, and they even managed to get us to Geneva early. However, the airport decided to put us back to schedule with a delay whilst they got all the skis through to baggage reclaim. A bit of a pain, but appeared that several incoming flights were affected and at least we got the skis - unlike on the way home.
We booked our transfers using the special discounted rates for StayInChamonix.com customers with Ski-Lifts. They passed the 'Ronseal' test with flying colours and did exactly what it said on the tin in both directions. Faultless service with plenty of communication thrown in.
And so to the action... Plenty of recent snow ensured that Argentière village was well covered. And yet another snow fall on our first day out at Le Tour just added to it. With some challenging visibility 5 year old Jodie faired particularly well, but in reality the skiing was secondary to the excitement of being in the midst of a real snowfall. The skies cleared on the following day making for a fantastic blue sky powder day, which we spent at La Flégère, just a short bus journey down the valley from Argentière. Despite the congested access on the telepherique, the easy blue and green runs, plus the great snow conditions, the huge mountain back drop and the big sun in the sky make it a great place for Jodie and Sam (just 3!) to ski.
During the rest of the week we skied again at Le Tour, at the head of the valley, and had a couple of days at Les Grand Montets. We found a couple of great places at Le Tour to get Sam practicing some 'pizza and chips' with his skis. Next time out he'll be chasing Jodie down the red runs, and within a couple of years I fear will be shouting catch up at me. The Grand Montets also really provided a few good easier runs for cruising with the kids and came with the added bonus of being so close to the apartment. I actually sneaked out on the odd morning at 8.30am to go and grab a few (very quiet) runs down the mountain on the snowboard before heading back to the apartment to swap for skis and collect the kids for an afternoon at a slightly slower pace.
Using the valley bus was quite painless, despite travelling with 2 young children and 4 sets of skis. In fact, it comes with high novelty for the kids as we don't really have great public transport links in the Highlands of Scotland. We were also obliged to pop down to Chamonix on the train, not so much for the need to go to Chamonix, as for the train ride there and back again! Any excuse for a latte and an ice cream!
And then there was the sledging, the snowman building, the snowball fights, the icicle smashing and everything else that little (and big) kids love to on their hols!
A great week. Can't wait till we're back in Argentière again... soon.
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