Posts Tagged ‘ski resort’
Sunday, October 25th, 2009
 what no lifts & trails? la grave looks like alpine wilderness... because it is On the fringe of conventional ski holidays can be found the odd ski resort with a special reputation - here’s what La Grave.com has to say about skiing la grave:
“By exploring the domain of La Grave-La Meije, you are not in a typical ski resort.
This is a real mountain environment as you head down in an unmarked, and non-patrolled area at your own risk.
You must be aware of all mountain hazards including rocks, avalanches, crevasses, and be ready for the possibility of drastic weather changes.
In 30 minutes, the cable-car (téléphérique) takes you to 3200m, where you can create your own itinerary for the descent. You can choose from vast glacial escapes to steep chutes, a world away from the marked trails, the ropes, and the signs of a ski resort. Let your skill level and your inspirations guide you.
This freedom requires a certain technical level, but more importantly humility, responsibility, and respect for Mother Nature.
For yours and everyone’s well-being and piece of mind, you need to take certain precautions before heading out.”
This is the (no) piste map:
 thats right, there is no piste on the la grave piste map
Unlike pretty much any other ski area in the world, on the la grave piste map the “restaurant” symbol is heavily outnumbered by the “severe danger” symbol.
 perhaps the most dangerous "beautiful place" in the alps
There’s no doubt that La Grave is something special… and perhaps your skiing needs a little magic too, to fully appreciate what it has to offer.
But you don’t need to be Doug Coombs to ski la grave – you can enjoy spectacular off piste heaven in comparative safety if you (1) hire a local guide and (2) are very honest about your skiing or snowboarding ability.
The ski village made for a bond film
 I planned to seduce the beautiful Swiss agent, but the Austrian dwarf got there first
While I’ve yet to find a ski resort I have not enjoyed skiing and apres ski in, there are in truth very few places left in the mountains that maintain the style, charm and authenticity of the Cortina or Saint Moritz of old…
… staying and skiing in la grave is the closest you can get (in 2010) to being in a 60’s Bond movie.
 I dispatched the Austrian dwarf, but the French shepherd had me hemmed in...
La grave is beautiful, unspoiled and, as is given away by the cars parked in its streets, that perfectly vintage-glam mix of old local familes and old-money ski-tourist.
No doubt there’s more than the odd parvenu here, but you can kid yourself that you’re rubbing shoulders with discreet European minor royalty and David Niven types.
 was that Stephanie de Monaco? don't stare, act casual... talk loudly about how many ponies you need to play polo full time
It created for us the perfect foil for La Grave, to visit Alpe d’Huez and Les Deux Alpes before coming here.
The latter two ski resorts provide everything that the modern package ski holiday maker has come to expect from their ski holidays – massive and modern lift infrastructure, huge variety of accommodation, eateries and nightlife, well organised on piste safety.
La Grave is everything that the modern ski resort is not – un-pisted (if not entirely un-patrolled), beautifully aged mountain village, small apres ski scene, higher cost of guided skiing.
 beautiful mountain village is the antithesis of a ski resort
La Grave might not fit most peoples idea of a ski resort, but that’s precisely its charm – the authenticity of a proper, old fashioned mountain village, coupled with proper all-mountain skiing and snowboarding.
Un-pisted, un-tamed… un-safe? possibly.
Un-dimned, un-blunted, un-spoiled? Definitely.
And we love it!
 Jimmy says "get your piste-softened, lift-cossetted, choc-chaud-pampered arse out on a real mountain"
NEXT: The Day the Wheels Fell Off – Murphy’s law takes charge of the Grand Alpine Tour next leg to Bourg Saint Maurice & Les 3 Vallees
Tags: european ski resorts, European skiing holidays, grave, la grave, lagrave, ski holidays, ski resort, ski resorts, skiing, sno, sno man, sno mobi, snoman, snowboard, snowboarding, www.sno.mobi
Posted in European skiing holidays, Grand Alpine Tour, posts on www.sno.mobi | 8 Comments »
Friday, October 9th, 2009
 camping in the alps in September is pretty great actually After a relatively easy, if un-glamorous trip down from Calais to the French alps, we traded in our nights in highway truck stops for balmy days in a gorgeous French campsite at the foot of Alpe d’Huez ski resort.
 Jimmy helps daddy to fetch water to the Airstream We get excellent WiFi so I can crack on with a few days of work online which need to be completed before we can start to visit the alpine ski resorts to review their ski holiday facilities. Jimmy settles in immediately and, along with mummy, befriends a charming Dutch couple who are regulars at the campsite (been coming here for 17 years, and I can see why).
A lot of roadies stay in this campsite for just a night or two, as they’re here to take on the mighty Alpe d’Huez, one of the most famous climbs in the Tour de France – there are also a lot of Dutch caravanners & motorhomers here, among the many French old-timers who have made this their summer/autumn residence in retirement.
I’m struck by the marked difference in the Dutch and French approach to us – bonhommie aught rather to be a Dutch word I think, as one or a couple of Dutch campers come to say hello most days, ask if they can look around the Airstream and enquire enthusiastically about our Grand Alpine Tour - the French only speak or even smile at us after several days of effort with huge smiles all round and “bonjour! ca va?” attempts to engage.
It’s here, and while thinking about this difference between the French and Dutch, that I started to realise just how similar the English and the French really are.
The Dutch are certainly extraordinarily socially capable, when roaming abroad – I think a lot of their confidence comes from the impressive Dutch multi-lingual abilities, of which I am frequently envious, but there is something more to it too. Maybe its that straightforward matter-of-factness… whatever the reasons, they are one of the most generous and enjoyable of nationalities to meet when travelling.
 Ben and Jimmy were immediate friends But back to the English and French – yes, we are incredibly similar. If you look at demographics, a caravanner is most likely to be working class and/or retired so I asked myself, if a French person turned up in a (let’s be honest) fairly flash caravan, in a working class caravan site in the UK, how many of the locals would rush over to say hello… speaking in French? Not too many is my guess! But, if that French person made lots of effort to be friendly and engage, no doubt most Brits would be generous and welcoming… and so it went on our first week in the French alps.
 turn right, behind the bins to find the waterfall - is everywhere stunning in the French alps? yes, probably By the end of the week Jimmy was saying “au revoir” or rather “ov-war” to everyone and even “bonjour” if the camper had a “doggie” with them. With French ladies, Jimmy is our secret weapon! (he is a terrible little flirt – gets it from his ma  )
 Jimmy checks out the cafe culture in Bourg d'Oisans, below Alpe d'Huez
Next: driving up (and struggling down) Alpe d’Huez with a 2.5 ton vintage caravan
(if you’ve a business or accommodation in Alpe d’Huez, Get Listed Now on SNO.mobi and I’ll name-check you in the Alpe d’Huez blog post)
Tags: Airstream, alps, cheap deal ski, european ski resorts, European skiing holidays, french alps, mobi, Overlander, road trip, ski, ski holidays, ski resort, ski resorts, skiing, sno, sno man, sno mobi, snoman, sno_man, vintage, vintage airstream, www.sno.mobi
Posted in Airstream, European skiing holidays, Grand Alpine Tour, posts on www.sno.mobi | 4 Comments »
Tuesday, August 4th, 2009
In the immortal words of George Peppard,
“I love it when a plan comes together!”
A few short months ago I dreamed a dream one wine soaked night…
… that we would take sno.mobi to the very people in the mountains for whom it was created… Not for our ski website to email and call the entire ski holiday world, but rather to actually go there and meet everyone, one resort at a time!
It all made such sense and I began to drift off to sleep… smiling at the perfect plan… likely never to think of it again.
But fortune favours the self-aware…
…and these days I’m firmly in the habit of texting myself when I have a cunning plan in the wee small hours…
… the better to profit from somnambulent insight… or at least expose a flimsy wheeze to the cold judgement of morning.
Oddly, when I read it back the next day, it still seemed a great idea!
The best way to get sno.mobi out there to all the ski resort businesses and accommodation.
With a 4 month window for this Grand Alpine Tour, we can visit and meet people in about 30 alpine ski resorts but… we’d need to do it in style and some comfort… and on the cheap.
In March I had done a month of travelling to meet the great and the good in Chamonix, Courmayeur, Meribel, Courchevel, Val Thorens, Verbier, La Tania and Orelle ski resorts. It was great to get enthusiasm from the Toursim Offices and local business and see people helping by linking back to http://www.sno.mobi from their own ski websites but in truth, it was no good at all for family life.
I missed snogirl and the boy terribly and working all hours you’re awake gets tiring – I needed to go home after work and ‘have a life’ like other working snomen… and I think that’s how the idea of us all being in the mountains began to take shape.
OK – easy to organise a relocation except… we need to be in 2 resorts per week… and that means we can’t just move to Chamonix for example. So here’s the conundrum:
How can you live in a reasonably civilised manner, despite moving every 4 days?
Clearly living out of a suitcase is not civilised (unless your suitcase is a victorian campaign chest) and the cost of accommodation over 4 months is prohibitive.
A caravan was the obvious answer but they are known to by deeply uncool… then the penny dropped… I now had the perfect legitmate reason to buy a fabulous artefact that I have lusted after for as long as I have been a lover of “retro-cool” (and that’s even before I was a snoman)
a vintage Airstream caravan!
It all suddently made sense, we could caravan and be proud in one of those fantastic silver bullet travel trailers from the 50’s and 60’s…
… and so the hunt began.
Next… the snoman meets Arizona Bill and El Paso Mark… on the hunt for a vintage Airstream in the good ‘ol U.S of A
Tags: apres ski, bars, chamonix, chamonix chalets, chamonix mont blanc, chamonix ski holidays, restaurants, ski, ski chalets, ski chamonix, ski holidays, ski resort, snow forecast, snow report, snowboard
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Saturday, July 4th, 2009
I’m just back from an amazing week in Chamonix!
6 days and nights of talking to local business owners and managers and they were really enthusiastic – everyone thought www.sno.mobi was a great idea and loads of business have joined – our Chamonix pages are already buzzing with bars, restaurants, taxi, ski instructors, lots of accommodation, chamonix ski holidays, property for sale and a lot more…
… but it gets even better…
… we have partnered with the Compagnie du Mont Blanc (the lift company that runs the whole valley) and they are now using us as their mobile channel. The guys there are very switched on – they’re really aware of how mobile web has exploded, how expensive it still is (to build to work on all devices) and are keen to use our system to communicate all their info to visitors in-resort. They have put our stickers in all the gondolas, kiosks and lift stations in the valley and they now run our Piste & Lift info and Lift Pass pages as their own – a terrific partnership for us both!
We’re also talking to the Office du Tourism – we could be very useful for them in the same way (providing a mobile communications channel for free, when it would be very expensive for them to build their own). We’re offering them the use the Events Listings for free (normally you would buy an Event Listing, like when a bar wants to List their Happy Hour). The Tourism Office can then List all the major Events in Chamonix… and everyone can see them because everyone has a mobile phone! I met an incredibly swtiched on young guy who is heading up their PR and marketing - he knew all about how mobile web is exploding and he was super enthusiastic… talked about working together as if it were a done deal…
… although my next conversation with the head of the walk-in tourist office was less emthusiastic… because I seemed to be offering a service which would add to her work-load (ie inputing the events at the start of the each new season).
In fact I think I ballsed-up this meeting, because I went into it fresh from the PR guy, thinking the meeting was to show this lady how to input Chamonix events… infact she is at least as senior as the marketing chap who prematurely said “oui!” to to me and this meeting should really have been to explain and convince her that Chamonix Tourism Office actually wanted a mobile web channel.
I spent the first 5 minutes wondering why the conversation was getting stuck, before the penney dropped and I realised I must start MUCH further back to explain:
- what mobile web IS, and
- why its technically so hard to work on ALL phones, and
- how we’re the ONLY ski site in the world who CAN, and
- how we can put Chamonix events into literally EVERYONE’s pocket, and
- how it works towards their eco-plans because they’ll need to print less maps and brochures and flyers etc, and
- how it will mean less people need to come into the Tourism Office (busy place) because the info is in their pocket
… and… and…
But I’ve been in enough BBC management meetings to know when you have someone on-side… and when you don’t…
… I fear the new chap may be out-ranked by the long serving person in charge of the walk-in tourism office… we shall see…
… its all part of the VERY steep initial learning curve!
I have to be really pleased because it’s a terrific start with the Compagnie du Mont Blanc, but for me, the best thing of all is how all the business owners and managers really agree with our goals for ethical business – we can promise to keep it really cheap (so every business can afford to be found) as long as they all add a link to us and put our sticker in their window – it costs them nothing and saves them a lot of money (we’re cheapest because we don’t need to spend their money on our advertising and search rank).
All very exciting – more to follow soon…
(re-post from March - moved from Blogger to www.SNO.travel/Blog )
Tags: apres ski, bars, chamonix, chamonix chalets, chamonix mont blanc, chamonix ski holidays, restaurants, ski, ski chalets, ski chamonix, ski holidays, ski resort, snow forecast, snow report, snowboard
Posted in European skiing holidays, Grand Alpine Tour, mobile web and WAP, posts on www.sno.mobi | 2 Comments »
Wednesday, June 24th, 2009
…actually, it will never be “finished” (too many amazing ideas & features to add) but it’s up & running & looking rather slick…
… And now it’s time to explain to the world (one snoLover at a time) why it’s the cleverest, most brilliantly useful thing since sliced bread!
But what if they don’t “get it” or worse, don’t care?
I truth, I’ve been working on www.sno.mobi for nearly 2 years… full time for the last 6 months… and invested quite a lot in it financially and emotionally.
I think it’s a brilliant idea – it’s certainly a world’s first – but I really must find a good way of telling people about it that gets them as excited as me!
If you’re reading this blog, would you please read my explanation below and tell me if it excites you… sounds cool… makes sense… would make you try out sno.mobi… etc…
I really need all the advice and feedback I can get…
My explanation goes something like this:
It’s the world’s first ski-resort guide on your mobile phone – it works on all phones and it’s free.
 We don’t take our computer on holiday & rarely go to a net-cafe,
but everyone carries their phone in their pocket, everywhere, all the time.
There’s the usual snow forecast & piste conditions…
… but sno.mobi also has bars & restaurants, events & babysitters, apartments 4 rent & property 4 sale…
… ski & snowboard instructors… taxi & buses… even snoJobs & all attractions & facilities… for Hundreds of the world’s top resorts!
Every listing has a map & you can even save your chalet address and get free navigation.
You even get free email if you join and that works on all phones too!
Yes, maps & navigation & email but you don’t need a fancy mobile – it works on ALL phones
and we don’t charge a penney!
In fact, we’ve designed the whole service for the small screen so page size is tiny, to avoid big data bills.
WHY?
We found that, like us, most skiers & boarders would prefer to support local business in-resort, to help keep ski comunities the vibrant & buzzing places we love to visit – SNO.mobi is designed to make that easy!
Also, it makes the world of difference to find out what areas are open/closed or have the best conditions or longest lift queues before you leave your apartment.
Also… there are a lot of other “also” ’s
ETHICAL BUSINESS
We also believe in ethical business - instead of maximising what we charge a business to Get-Listed, we minimise it, so that everyone can afford to be found on mobile – from the awesome Ecole du Ski Francais to the chalet girl who needs to earn a bit extra by babysitting.
Most quality ski resort guides charge one to two hundred euros per year for a “Business Listing” – we’ll charge just €29
It’s because they need to spend all that extra money on their Google rank – but we don’t – in return for keeping it so cheap, we ask each business to add a link to us on their own website and/or put our sticker in their window – it’s a virtuous circle where the small business benefits instead of the Google billionaires.
There’s sooo much more I can say about the amazing service we’ve built and the strong socially responsible principles of our business…
… please please tell me how this all sounds…
… good? … useful? … ethical? … confusing? … like a scam? … the cleverest thing in the history of cleverness?
I’m off to Chamonix on Sunday to spend a week explaining to everyone why sno.mobi is so brilliant…
… I hope they “get it”
Tags: apres ski, bars, chamonix, chamonix chalets, chamonix mont blanc, chamonix ski holidays, restaurants, ski, ski chalets, ski chamonix, ski holidays, ski resort, sno, sno mobi, snoman, snow forecast, snow report, snowboard, www.sno.mobi
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