Ski break continued..........

Excursion to Avoriaz and Morzine

Avoriaz

One of the pistes leading down to Avoriaz. Celine is there somewhere.


The kids would prefer to stay somewhere like this, so they can go out on the town at night. It's a no car village. Parking is in a huge car park at the beginning of the village. Then it's horse pulled sleighs, ski's or feet.










This is Avoriaz, taken from one of the chair lifts.


At the bottom of Avoriaz heading towards the piste to Morzine.


This restaurant is the middle of nowhere - somewhere near Super Morzine. If you're not on ski's it would be about a 10 minute walk from the top of the Super Morzine cable car. Inexpensive, cosy atmosphere, friendly and fast service. The steak and frites were delicious. All restaurants in France are now non-smoking, as opposed to CH, where smoking is still allowed.

Inside Les Cretes



Veronique and Nathalie waiting outside Les Cretes.

Skiing in Champery - Portes du Soleil

Ski break in Chalet Coquoz, in Planachaux above Champery (CH), Portes du Soleil.

Chalet Coquoz

What a fantastic spot! We spent our winter vacation in wonderful chalet next to Restaurant Coquoz.

Restaurant Coquoz

To get to the chalet you have to ski, (2 minutes), or walk, (10 minutes), from the Planachaux cable car.

Piste above the Chalet

Chalet Coquoz

Restaurant Coquoz from our terrace

The Porte du Soleil ski area offers over 650km of pistes, and is served by 212 lifts. These are split into 153 Blue runs, 107 Red runs and 28 Black. The "Wall" is one of the well known black runs, that shouldn't be missed. It's worth going to look at even if you're an intermediate skier. You have the option of going back down on the chair lift, if you decide you'd rather not attempt it.

Here's a link to an article written by a friend, about a dream day skiing in Portes du Soleil. Fun to read and full of information about the area.

The kids in front of the chalet, ready to ski.






Just a few metres to the piste in front of the chalet.



A short run down to the chairlift, a ride up to Planachaux, then a 5 minute run gets you down to Les Crosets.

The chair lift up to Planachaux

Les Crosets

Point de Mossette

A blue run through the forrest to Morgins


Wonderful sunset.



Champery offers night skiing on Wednesday and Saturday evenings. We could see people going up on the chair lift from our windows. The skiers on the piste looked like they were having fun, so after a few persuasive words to the kids we all threw on ski jackets over PJ's, and raced out the door. I'll try to put in a video.

There was a weird storm that was impressive.
















After 45 minutes the sun appeared again!


Waiting for a table at Restaurant Coquoz.





Success.



Food at Coquoz is a notch above the usual restaurants on the piste. The kids had the menu of the day, (on that day it was Osso Buco), which was pronounced as "fabulous". I had a wonderful selection of foie gras appetizers and Philippe chose a house salad, which came loaded with pieces of grilled duck breast. Their homemade bread selection was excellent. Reserve a table or expect to wait. The house pies, apricot and apple, sell out very quickly. They're happy to put a piece aside for you for afternoon tea, if you let them know in the morning.