SPECIAL OFFERS
MOUNTAIN HEAVEN: Catered chalets for £299 per person (was £399) are on offer in resorts including La Plagne, La Rosiere, La Tania, Les Arcs, Courchevel and Morzine, with shared transfer at fixed times from Geneva. Non-skiers pay £399 – and lift passes must be bought through Mountain Heaven.
SNOWBOMBING FESTIVAL: The six-day ‘Glastonbury on Snow’ event kicks off in Mayerhofen, Austria, from April 6 to 11 and includes forest parties, igloo raves, a fancy dress street party and a band and DJ bill including Basement Jaxx, Rudimental and Fatboy Slim.
Inghams has a special offer of seven days half-board at Hotel Neuhaus from £619pp (saving £270), departing 4 April 4 from Gatwick to Innsbruck, including transfers (regional flights extra).
VIP SKI: Two chalets in Zermatt – and maybe take in the Zermatt Unplugged festival from April 14 to 18. Haus Glacier, reached by a private lift from the high street, is one of the chalets which sleeps six, with wraparound balconies for a sunrise coffee and a sundowner – and a five-minute walk from the Gornergrat train or the Sunnegga funicular. From £799pp (saving £210) for seven nights, based on two sharing, with return flights from London Gatwick, coach transfers and chalet board. www.vip-chalets.com.
SKI SOLUTIONS: Seven nights at the 3* Chalet Nadine in the ski-in/ski-out La Legettaz area of Val d’Isere from £629pp, with flights from various UK airports departing April 11 and a shared transfer. Special buy one, get one free lift pass offer. www.skisolutions.com
PIERRE & VACANCES: Easter deals saving 20 per cent on 4* Premium residence Les Crets in Meribel – with snow for doorstep skiing at 1750m. Seven nights for £693 (down from £866) based on apartment for 4/5 arriving April 4. Flights with easyJet to Geneva from London Gatwick are from £95.
SKI INSPIRED: Heavy snowfalls means Baqueira in Spain is staying open for an extra week until 12 April allowing skiers and snowboarders to take advantage of the Easter School holidays.
Celebrating its fiftieth anniversary this year Baqueira has announced this extension for only the fifth time in its history and now the third year in a row.
CODA TRAVEL: Special10-night ski and snowboard holidays to US and Canadian resorts in April are available through Coda Travel to Winter Park, Copper Mountain, Canyons, Aspen, Vail, Whistler, Breckenridge, Telluride, Steamboat Springs and Park City.
THE CHALET COMPANY: Prices for all available chalets in The Three Valleys for the rest of the season, including the Easter holiday weeks, have been cut by 25%.
REACH4THEALPS: Twelve people can stay at Chalet Claire Vallee in the heart of Morzine from 5 April for €7950 (£6,200 – or £512 pp approx). Plus any adult who buys a Portes du Soleil lift pass can get a child’s pass for free.
NEILSON: Take a seven-night, half-board break to the 3* Hotel Le Crêt in les Deux Alpes with flights and transfers, for £529 – saving £103 – leaving from London Gatwick on April 11 and based on two adults sharing.
Holiday news
Generation opens two new schools
THE BRITISH-RUN New Generation Ski & Snowboard School is opening two new outlets this season – one in Morzine, France and another in Villars, Switzerland.
New Generation's award winning kids groups will be running in Morzine for 4 and a quarter hours each morning during holidays with an option to upgrade to two full days of lessons.
New Generation Ski & Snowboard School was established in 1998 and with the addition of the latest outlets operates in 12 resorts across the Swiss and French Alps.
Guests get free guide or instructor at luxury
Zermatt chalet
A NEW personalised up-market chalet operation will be operating in Zermatt during the coming winter season. Matterhorn Chalets has been launched by Ed Mannix who, with many years experience in the ski holiday market, has decided to go against the tide of other chalet companies pulling out of Switzerland due to the changes in employment laws.
His company has taken over Chalet Ulysse and as part of the luxury service guests will get a free mountain guide or instructor.
The chalet is very close to the Matterhorn Express gondola and it is also possible to ski back to within 100m of the chalet for most of the season.
Ulysse accommodates up to 12 guests and can be booked on a single party basis only with prices ranging between £1449 and £2669 per person per week, half board. Rail to chalet transfers, aperitifs, unlimited soft drinks, newspapers, wifi and cable TV, spa facilities and a mountain guide are all included!
Babies and toddlers invited to join BAT club
INFANTS and toddlers can join Esprit Ski’s exclusive new BAT Club in all the resorts covered by the company in the weeks 11, 18, 25 Jan, 1 & 22 Feb – BAT stands for Baby And Toddler weeks.
Parents will also welcome the BAT-Week savings of up to £479 per family, with free infant places and half-price Esprit Child Care during these weeks.
Also new from the company this season is ‘Xtra Chalets’ which offer guests over and above the norm services including a residents only bar extended afternoon tea buffet, and a cheese-course to round off dinner.
This is available in two Austrian chalets, the Pepi Gabl at the base of St Anton’s main Nasserein gondola, and Alpenblume in Obergurgl, which have both undergone extensive upgrades.
This winter Esprit is offeting family holidays to Whistler in Canada, aimed at families whose children can already ski, and have outgrown Esprit’s child care services.
01483 791900 – www.espritski.com
Book early to avoid being disappointed
FRENCH Alps specialist, Peak Retreats is adivising to book early for the 14/15 ski season to avoid disappointment and take advantage of early bird savings.
Xavier Schouller, MD of Peak Retreats,said: "Next year the week 14-21 February (the busiest week of the season in France) will be even more sought after than was the case over the last couple of years.
"Not only will it be the only UK half-term week, but it will also be a week when two-thirds of France, including the Paris area, are on holiday too, along with the Belgians, Danish and Dutch."
Cost of lift passes
in top resorts to rise this season
THE COST of buying lift tickets in several of Europe’s top resorts is set to rise a little next season, although the actual price difference is likely to be down to the strength of sterling more than any resort price rises.
The Zermatt-Cervinia-Valtournenche pass (when purchased in Zermatt – much cheaper when bought on the Italian side) will rise by 11 Swiss Francs or around 2.5% for a six day adult pass during the season from 29 November to 19 April 2015 from 423 to 434 Swiss Francs – currently around £293.
A cheaper Zermatt only pass is available and children aged nine and under ski free of charge.
In France the six day adult Three Valleys pass rises by just over 2% from €277 to €283 in the main season – currently around £233.
There are lower prices for individual sectors and in low season weeks at the start and ends of the season. Families and groups of two or three people buying tickets together also receive discounts.
Children pay around 75% of the adult price (€228 / £188) from age five for a Three Valleys pass and the full adult price from age 13.
