France is Europe’s number one ski holiday destination with hundreds of different resorts ranging from picture postcard to purpose built and practical, and a whole host of something in between. If you know what kind of resort you want to visit, now it is time to think about how you want to get there?

Everybody likes to maximise their time in resort or on the slopes when they come on a ski holiday to France. Less time spent negotiating traffic and toll booths is often a critical factor in peoples holiday planning, often allowing for a hasty departure from work on a Friday to arrive in resort in good time for a nights sleep and be up for first lifts on a Saturday morning.

Other times its parents of a noisy and excited brood who don’t want the kids to sit on a transfer for hours on end, bored to tears before they’ve even had their first hot chocolate.

We have listed below some French resorts which have transfer times of less than 2 hours from destination airports. If you are thinking of a quick getaway, then look to some of these resorts.

NB – All routes have a price attached, based on 4 people travelling. All prices are per person for a return trip to specified airport although alternatives are available, prices are current and subject to change. * denotes no shared transfers available, these transfers are only private. Travel times are indicative and obviously vary with heavy traffic or adverse weather conditions.

Les Carroz – 1hr (Geneva) – £64.21
Chamonix – 1hr (Geneva) – £58.07
Megeve – 1hr (Geneva)* – £92.12
Samoens – 1hr (Geneva) – £64.21
La Grand Bornand – 1hr (Geneva)* – £69.79
La Clusaz – 1hr.30 (Geneva)* – £69.79

These resorts are within an hour’s drive from Geneva airport, that to me is hardly enough time to take in the mountain views as you are checking out the snowline, assessing resort conditions with your driver, looking for your first lift cables and all of the other associated habits of a ski transfer passenger.

Nice often gets overlooked as a ski airport what with its Cote D’Azur location and glamorous summer reputation but from here you can also get to the lovely Isola 2000 in just 1hr.

Argentiere – 1hr.10 (Geneva) – £58.07
Valmorel – 1hr.10 (Chambery)* – £166.88
Les Gets – 1hr.10 (Geneva) – £56.69
Valmenier – 1hr.15 (Chambery)* – £129.53
Morzine – 1hr.20 (Geneva) – £56.69
Les Menuires  – 1hr.25 (Chambery)* – £165.50
Valloire – 1hr.25 (Chambery)* – £134.56
Flaine – 1hr.30 (Geneva) – £64.21
Chatel – 1hr.30 (Geneva) – £69.79
Courchevel – 1hr.30 (Chambery)* – £160.81
Meribel – 1hr.30 (Chambery)* – £160.81
St Martin De Belleville – 1hr.45 (Grenoble)* – £160.81
Alpe D’Huez – 1hr.45 (Grenoble)* – £125.00
Les Deux Alpes – 1hr.50 (Grenoble)* – £125.00

The above resorts range from 1hr to 2hrs transfer time from the airport, more than reasonable really.  I suppose that , as with most things, its horses for courses and some people might prefer to have a longer transfer time to take in the  stunning scenery en route. Some might have a special favourite resort which is only accessible after a 4 hr trek. I cannot speak for everybody’s tastes, but for those who want to get to town quickly, these are hard to beat.

Now we might have missed a few hidden gems here, I apologise in advance .Please feel free to share any secret spots you might have stumbled across.

I will follow up with a similar piece on other countries resorts soon, but for now, if you are going to France for your ski trip this year you could do much worse than to take a look at these resorts. Here at Ski-Lifts we look forward to helping you get to the slopes as quickly as YOU would like.

For now though let’s just take a moment to forget being back at work and think of the nice little ski trip you’ve got coming up in a few months.

 

I think we’ve all had those moments on the mountain- seeing small children flying past us, helmets larger than their bodies, miniature skis and more guts than you can shake a stick at.
Normally they leave us baffled and wondering how it is possible for such small humans to be safely travelling at the speed of light.

Until recent times you wouldn’t often see the same instance on a snowboard, we all heard tall tales of snowboarding being bad for the bones, knees and a whole load of other rumours that didn’t appear to have a great deal of grounding.

Well it wasn’t until Burton begin to offer more child specific gear for the 2/3/4 year olds and lead the pack in terms of large investments in Riglet Parks for introducing kids snowboarding all over the US, that the Mini Shred even became an option for kids this age.

From there it seems the red tape has been well and truly ditched and more and more young children and toddlers have been giving the sport a go.

We love the ‘Mini Shred Movement’ and wanted to know more! So we had a chat with Tammy Esten, founder of Mint Snowboarding, who has been the prominent force in Europe in raising the profile for the Mini Shred and offering a variety of lessons and camps to get younger children sliding around on the mountain.

Tammy is really passionate about teaching kids, she started teaching these age groups around 7 years ago, but in more recent times it has really taken off, check out this movie made last year-

Last season it went viral and certainly opened the eyes of many parents to the possibility of the mini shred, so lets see what Tammy can tell us about it…

So Tammy how did this whole ‘movement’ come about?
Well Mint are an official ‘Learn to ride centre’ with Burton and are also part of the Burton Riglet programme aiming to get kids age 3-6 into snowboarding. So we have an existing relationship with them and we began to introduce lessons and camps for this age group a few years ago. Last year’s local camp was a huge success and it’s really grown from there.

What ages is the Mini Shred aimed at?
It’s aimed at 3-6 year olds, but we’ve also recently had a 2 and a half year old on a board so it depends on the child really! We’ve started to call the youngest ages groups the ‘Micro Shred’

How different is teaching kids this age compared to older age groups?
Teaching at these ages changes massively between each age group and we have to treat every child differently, so we’ll use different games and techniques to teach 3-4 year olds and this will vary for 5-6 year old and so on. With young children, ability is all about strength and what they can physically achieve at their age.

What can the kids expect on their Mini Shred snowboarding lesson?
We are all about making it fun, we’ll make up mini tricks to offer variety, sometimes lifting them up to help them feel the sensation of jumps and being on and off the snow.
All of the children get medals after having their session adding an element of achievement and reward to the lessons, and most importantly they can expect fun – our job is to keep it fun, not to teach. (It’s the same with adults actually!)

Do they just stay in one area on the mountain?
Although kids may start on the learner pistes, we tend to take them all over the mountains so then can explore.

What sort of equipment is needed to get started?
Well most of the gear is available online and can also be rented in most good snowboard shops. Burton now offer 1 strap bindings for ease of use, and soft Velcro boots. You’ll also need a riglet reel, which you attach to the board (most come with this attachment) to pull the board along or for the kids to use like a break. I would recommend them as they really led the way in the technology/gear world for this age group and still are.

Do you recommend renting or buying the gear?
I would highly recommend buying the gear, they may grow out of it but it can be easily resold or passed down. It gives you a chance to let the child get familiar with it, I’d recommend playing in the garden, familiarising the child with what it feels like to be on a board. Burton have even done a collaboration with Marvel, so kids can get a Spiderman board if they want!

What advice or words of wisdom would you offer to parents thinking of starting their kids off young?
Make sure they want to do it, give them the choice, there’s nothing to stop them now! It’s up to the kids to choose what they want to do as far as I’m concerned so if they want to ski or board it should be there choice.
I would also say not to try and teach them yourself, getting a lesson is key, its not as simple for these ages, you have to start off very basic- its best to leave it to the experts I think.

Do parents need to worry about snow conditions or weather?
No not really, we’ve had courses where it’s rained and snowed all week and the kids are still keen! We teach in all conditions so it really doesn’t matter.

What sort of Mini Shred lessons are on offer?
Well we don’t have set lessons as such as it so much depends on the age!
We book these on a case by case basis to ensure every child gets the right lesson, we can do shared private lessons,  group lessons and we also offer a local kids camps that normally run for a week.

Can you get lessons for kids this age in the UK?
Well really no one is quite doing it on the same scale that we are here, even in the UK. Some snowdomes do offer some teaching.  Check out Tammys blog here on what indoor slopes are offering.

Hopefully that’s given you a taste of what is available for these ages groups on the mountains and should you have any further questions Mint are ready to help, drop them a message here – [email protected]