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Published: January 3rd 2009
It had been dumping snow in the alps for the last 3 weeks and Avoriaz was boasting 2m of snow on the upper slopes and the resort hadnt even opened which was looking like we had got lucky with a pre Christmas ski trip of epic proportions!
Myself ( only Skier ) Boss, Ray and Marty booked a cheapy from Bristol to Geneva Hired a car and found a cheap one roomed studio apartment to have 4 days of skiing / boarding and not to mention a few drinks along the way.
everything about getting there is so easy, after landing in Geneva it is only an hour and 20 mins till you get to the resort. literally head for France from Switzerland which puts you on the A40 and take junction 18 and follow signs for Avoriaz.
Avoriaz is built on top of a huge cliff face and overlooks Morziine. Generally at night it is above the clouds and has some incredible snow. It is also Part of the Ports Du Soleil Ski area which gives you a vast amount of ski area to play with. It is a car free zone and has a huge car
park as you reach the resort where you can park throughout your stay. i would say its pretty secire too as we accidently left the window open on the hire car for the whole time and it was still there when we left. Good job it didnt snow though!
We didnt have a great deal of time there but certainly made the most of it. The pistes in Avoriaz are as wide as Motorways so it provides good skiing for all levels of ability. There is also a super Pipe, Jump Park with Large and small Kickers, Plenty of Rails etc and then you have the Stash aswell which is a Bio Park with all the rails and boxes etc made from the wood from the surrounding trees. It has something for everyone.
The highlight for me this trip was getting to ski La Chavanette or Swiss wall. It can be found on the border of France and switzerland reach from the Avoriaz side and It is probably one of the steepest ski Runs in Europe.
The French / Swiss Difficulty Rating is Orange which means it is too steep to fit in to the standard difficulty
ratings ( I.e Green, Blue, Red and Black ) Its length is 1 Kilometer and with a vertical drop of 331m starting with a 55 Degree Level of steepness at the top with Moguls all the way down. ( These have been known to get as large as a small car at times)
6 of us skied it and 6 of us happily sat at the bottom of the wall and drank a few stubbies with huge grins on our faces after we made it down. Rod and Hayley had joined us too which the others didnt know about as we had kept it a surprise from them.
Another first for me this year was doing a hike ( About 30-40 Mins) and skiing through the Satellite Run which is a huge powder field. which then cuts back through some tress and back to the main ski area. It was so nice to be stood at the top of a huge run which had hardly any track marks on it and certainly no other people in sight.
The nightlife in Avoriaz was quality. We ate at the Wild Horse Saloon Bar most nights and a huge thank
you to Cheryl and Borat for making us so welcome. Other good places to have a beer and a good night were shooters, La Place ( Again Thanks Jamie for looking after us / Putting up with us ) Yak Bar which is a club and extremely expensive for a drink!
we made some awesome friends on the trip, Chris , Cherly & Jamie , Nial, Marco, Sam Apples and we cant wait to come back.
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Robski
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I fondly looked thru the pics, brings back memories of helicopter rides and morphine......thankfully that was just one of maybe ten trips to Morzine/Avoriaz. the wall.....seen it scared it...yeah right.....every time I ski it the entry seems narrower steeper and more full of muppets waiting too long to drop in and so bottle out and take the lift down....now that aint an option in many places. now living in Hong Kong and miss my skiing so bad, especially when my best buddy just keeps on going back and for weeks at a time! the whole P D S region is fantastic skiing, nightlife, accomodation and food, anyone thinking dont hesitate for all levels get there!!