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 Rocket Ski, is offering Constellation Apartments, a village of self-catering apartments in Risoul, France; a great base rate for the holiday season with a seven night stay starting at just £209 per person.
The offer for the apartments found just minutes from the village and mountain slopes is based on four adults sharing a room and includes flight tickets on February 20th from Luton to Grenoble.
For a little bit more at £289 per person, Rocket Ski is also offering a seven night stay at the Les Deux Alpes, France Hotel Des Neiges. The hotel is located in the centre of the city and is only 100m away from the cable cars making it easy to get on the slopes. The offer is based on two adults per room and includes March 6th flights from Luton to Grenoble.
Those who want to travel a little farther for their ski holiday may also want to check out Rocket Ski’s offer for Bardonecchia’s Hotel Asplenia. The deal is based on a seven night stay for two adults per room and starts at £309 per person including flights from March 6th from Luton to Grenoble.
 Finding a qualified ski instructor can be tough if you are new to skiing because you do not know exactly what to expect out the experience as a whole, let alone from your instructor. To help you out, here are the three qualities that you need to look for to make sure that your choice is right and the money is worth it.
First of all, you should ask to find out if the person is certified and qualified to offer you guidance. Continuous training is a must to make sure that the ski instructor is giving you the best advice possible and not just their personal preferences.
Often new equipment guidelines and safety tips come in to force, which means that you will want a teacher who is ahead of the game and able to offer you the best and up to date instruction.
Second, you should observe how they teach different levels of skiers to see how well they teach all skiers across the board. Keep in mind that just because you are a beginner today eventually you will be an advanced skier. When that time comes, it will be nice to stick with the same instructor as when you were a novice. Additionally, the ability to work with varied levels of skiers shows that they enjoy mentoring, which means they will be a better instructor overall.
Finally, you need to talk to the instructor on your own and decide if you like their personality. You will learn better if your instructor is positive and upbeat, thus these two qualities are a requirement if you want to get the most out of your lessons.
 After purchasing a new set of skis most people dream of gliding down long runs with meticulous and elegant turns. Once you return from the dream and start to pay attention to the trail again you may soon notice a sign pointing left with a blue square and a sign pointing right with a black diamond. At this point you have to decide which way to turn.
Most intermediate skiers will stick to the left fork given it is easier and it is hard to advance onto the level of a black diamond trail, however, if you know the keys to jumping up a skill level next time you come to this impasse you can head off onto the black diamond trail instead.
Although black diamond trails can be intimidating, a large part of taking on the monster run is re-setting over your mind and body. Of course you will need to be physically up for the challenge, but a large part of becoming an advanced skier actually has to do with metal preparation.
In order to make the turn you need to be ready to think quick, adjust your speeds, adjust your balance, and rapidly shift your radiance without losing control. Of course, there are a few things you will still need to do to get your body in shape as well.
When it comes to your body, you need to make sure that your thighs, knees, hips, and abdomen are up for the challenge since this where most of your energy will be exerted. Thus, you may have to prepare by following a ski fitness routine that involves mobility, stretching, and endurance training.
Skyscanner has some advice on the current cheapest flights to French skiing resorts.
Geneva – flights from £30
Close to the French border (the airport even has a French sector) Geneva airport is an ideal landing point for skiers and snowboarders, offering the choice of over 100 ski resorts within two hours’ drive. One of the closest is Lelex, a small resort served by 13 ski lifts, ideal for families and beginners. At the other end of the scale there’s Morzine, part of Les Portes Du Soleil, a huge interlinked ski area offering some 650 different pistes, served by over 200 ski lifts
Nice – flights from £43
Located for good access to the ski resorts of the southern French Alps and Italian Alps, there are 12 ski resorts within three hours’ drive. Isola 2000 is one of the best in range, rising to 2610m and offering about 50 pistes and around 120km of downhill skiing and snowboarding. Alba, about 2.5 hours from Nice, is an ideal choice for beginners; a compact area, it’s also good for cross country skiing, boasting 52km of Nordic trails.
Grenoble – flights from £24
There are over 50 ski resorts within 1.5 hours of the airport, including some of the biggest and best such as Alp d’Huez, Courchevel, La Grave, Meribel and Valmorel. For somewhere a little more secret, try Autrans, a quieter area with 16 lifts and about 18km of downhill slopes as well as 160km of cross country ski trails.
Toulouse – flights from £45
Toulouse airport offers access to Pyrenean ski resorts in France, Andorra and Spain. Pas de la Casa is a firm favourite with the Brits, renowned for its excellent value and lively après ski action, whilst the lesser known Andorran resort of Arcalis was recently named one of the most underrated ski resorts by The Times, due to its strong powder snow record and excellent off piste terrain.
Chambery – flights from £69
Deemed the ‘gateway to the French Alps’ Chambery is a top choice for skiers and snowboarders wanting quick access to the slopes. This small but modern ski airport is located just one hour away from several of France’s top ski resorts including La Tania, Courchevel, Méribel, Megeve and Valmorel.
Click below to start your ski flight search.
 Most Brits love a ski holiday and of course the best nearby location is France. For this reason every year around 200,000 Britons travel down to the French Alps via air, car, or rail to experience the light-hearted fun of sun.
For those who are thinking about a trip down to France this year, it may be helpful to know the top ten resorts as of 2010. They are in no specific order: Chamonix, Val d’Isere, Tignes, Courchevel, Val Thorens, Les Deux Alpes, La Plagne, Alpe d’Heuz, Meribel, and Les Arcs.
Outside of these top ten, there are plenty of ski resorts scattered across France for snowboarders and skiers of all ages and levels. In fact, most ski resort areas are able to accommodate all levels of skiing quite comfortably. Those, the choice may simply become the habitat that you would like your resort to embody from village to traditional to ski-in ski-out resorts.
Of course, in order to get the most out of your ski holiday, while booking your accommodations you may also want to concentrate on the total ski area that you choose, given the fact that there are many interlinked ski domains throughout the country.
Thus, you could head to areas such as Three Valleys that offers easy access to three different resorts in one holiday. Another great choice is the Paradiski Area which links Les Arcs, La Plagne, and Espace San Bernard together offered triple as many trails within one location.
 Those who are thinking about booking a ski holiday in France may want to look into the Eurostar for transportation due to their latest deal that offers travellers a low price package if purchased between December 19th of 2009 and April 17th of 2010.
The deal includes travel from Ashford International or St. Pancras International on the Eurostar to the French ski resorts of Bourg-St. Maurice, Moutiers, or Aime-la-Plagne. The best part is that travel will hardly take anytime at all, given you can slide along the rail at a stunning 186mph.
The new ski option includes both night and day trains, which allows you to choose between staying awake for the scenic and stunning views, or getting well rested on the train during the trip, so that you can jump onto the slopes as soon as you arrive.
For those who are serious skiers, the best option may in fact be to take the night train both ways, so that you can spend eight days on the slopes instead of the traditional six day holiday.
Depending on when you want to travel and your budget, travellers can choose between Standard class or Leisure Select accommodations on the Eurostar, which includes food and drink provisions and wider seating space.
 It will be easier to keep track of last minute ski bargains this winter due to the new Teletext Holidays ski price index that has just been released. The index will be updated every week and is designed to help people who want help planning a budget for their winter holiday.
It can be found online at www.teletextholidays.co.uk/skipriceindex and is the first ski company that is capable of not only tracking the cost of an upcoming ski holiday but also the other items that will need to be added into a budget such as lift passes and boot hire.
In order to keep the index complete, the team at Teletext Holidays will track multiple last minute holiday packages from multiple companies every week.
According to the company Andorra, France and Bulgaria topped the index for the best ski package prices which will matter this year as Alison Steed the editor of mymoneydiva.com stated that the ski market will suffer this year from the recession. Steed added that if a person is not an avid skier the idea of a ski holiday this year may appear to be an unaffordable luxury.
The good news is that Steed added that the prices will decrease the ski season continues forward which makes the middle of the season the best time to get a bargain ski holiday.
 The ski season last year from 2008-2009 has been great for France due to excellent ski conditions combined with cold weather that kept the snow falling.
As a result, France ski resorts saw their visits increase by about 6.6%, which partially may be due to the fact that the season set of record of 58.6m sky days. Overall the total revenue for operators of French increased over 8.9%.
However, not all ski areas saw the benefits of the increase in skiers over the season, since the ski resorts that benefited the most from the great season were locations such as Plancher Les Mines found in Franche Cornte, Metbeif in Jura, and Le Lioran in Massif Central.
Areas such as Massif Central, which only contributes to about two percent of the skiing activity in France, saw an increase of visitors by over 63% over the last season, while areas that usually attract the most skiers from Britain such as the Alps only saw an increase of about 6.6%.
There are three possible explanations for this occurrence, the recession which caused skiers and holiday goers in general to stay closer to home, the second because there was better snow in the less popular ski areas, and the third because many international resorts suffered from the foreign markets contracting.
The SNTF report showed British skiers are of major importance to resorts in France with about 21% of all skiers in visiting the country of British origin beating out all other nationalities
 Every year Brit’s head off the slopes looking for a mixture of skiing and alcoholic lunches but every year as a result a few dozen return to Britain hurt or even dead.
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has decided to launch a new campaign that aims to target holiday makers with the message ‘don’t drink and ski’ to reduce the amount of people killed out of the country on the slopes of Italy, Switzerland and particularly France,
As part of the campaign new posters will be hung at popular ski resorts, airports, and stations that warn Britons of the dire effects of alcohol at high altitudes and that slower reaction times on the slopes can lead to incidents that will destroy a holiday.
The problem was brought to light by a new study by the government that showed about 33% of all skiers under the age of 25 were involved in accidents that were caused by drinking while on ski holidays.
The Lyons France, British consulate stated that every year there are about 30 Britons under the age of 25 who die in the French Alps.
Head of Albertville hospital orthopaedic surgery in the Alps, Nedjib Benammar, stated the majority of skiing accidents happen after lunch time with fatigue or alcohol consumption playing the largest role. He proposed that a limit be placed on skiers in the same way that drink driving is illegal.
Currently in France the only law that exists is that if a skier causes an accident while drunk they can be prosecuted.
Eurostar, the high speed passenger train linking UK with the Continent, is again running its popular direct ski services from St Pancras International and Ashford International to the French Alps. Return fares start this year from £149, down from £179 return last year – in response to the extremely competitive market place for ski holidays in the coming season. Bookings can be made online on www.eurostar.com or by calling 08705 186 186.
Eurostar provides two weekly direct services to Moûtiers, Aime-La-Plagne and Bourg St Maurice. The overnight service, leaving St Pancras International in the evening, allows travellers an extra two days on the slopes. It is the ideal solution for travellers from towns and cities beyond London, who can buy connecting fares from their home stations directly to the heart of the French Alps. Passengers will be able to use domestic trains to reach London and connect on Eurostar services, allowing them to be in the office until Friday lunchtime and on the slopes first thing on Saturday morning. As for the day train, it provides a scenic option passing through Burgundy until the magnificent panoramic Alps unfolds.
Eurostar’s ski direct services offer easy access to a variety of top ski destinations in the French Alps such as Courchevel, La Plagne, Tignes, Meribel, Les Arcs and allow skiers to select a resort tailors to their needs. Eurostar stations are located a short bus ride from the resorts, avoiding the lengthy transfers time to and from the airports. For added convenience, an extra item of luggage on top of the normal luggage allowance – such as a pair of skis or a snowboard- can be taken onboard at no extra cost: there is no need to wait for baggage reclaim.
Taking Eurostar to the French Alps is the natural option for skiers willing to preserve the environment. Not only is the train a more comfortable and relaxing journey, it is also a less environmentally damaging option as all Eurostar journeys are now carbon neutral. A research commissioned by Eurostar has shown that a Eurostar journey to Bourg St Maurice generates 14kg of CO2 per passenger. By comparison, a typical return flight from London to Geneva[1] emits 147,8kg of CO2 per passenger.
He added: “Eurostar is the natural option for skiers, which allows them to greatly reduce their environmental impact – on average, a Eurostar journey emits just one tenth of the CO2 emissions of an equivalent flight- and to reach their resorts refreshed and ready for the slopes.”
The timetables for the 2009-2010 season will be as follows:
| Direct Overnight Service |
| Weekly Friday/Saturday service |
Weekly Saturday/Sunday service |
| Train 9096 (1) |
Train 9099 (2)* |
| London St Pancras International |
20:31 |
Bourg St Maurice |
22:15 |
| Ashford International |
21:15 |
Aime La Plagne |
- |
| Moutiers |
05:37 |
Moutiers |
23:09 |
| Aime La Plagne |
06:05 |
Ashford International |
06:34 |
| Bourg St Maurice |
06:27 |
London St Pancras International |
07:16 |
| Direct daytime service |
| Weekly Saturday service |
Weekly Saturday service |
| Train 9092 (3) |
Train 9095 (4)* |
| London St Pancras International |
10:00 |
Bourg St Maurice |
10:04 |
| Ashford International |
10:47 |
Aime La Plagne |
- |
| Moutiers |
17:30 |
Moutiers |
10:45 |
| Aime La Plagne |
18:02 |
Ashford International |
15:36 |
| Bourg St Maurice |
18:20 |
London St Pancras International |
16:11 |
(1) Runs from Friday 1 January 2010 to Friday 2 April 2010
(2) Runs from Saturday 19 December 2009 to Saturday 10 April 2010
(3) Runs from Saturday 2 January 2010 to Saturday 17 April 2010
(4) Runs from Saturday 26 December 2009 to Saturday 10 April 2010
* There is no stop at Aime La Plagne on the inbound service.
Return fares start from £149 standard class. Travellers can indulge themselves on their way to and from the slopes by travelling Leisure Select class, enjoying roomier accommodation and meals and drinks served at their seat from just £229 return.
Tickets are available from www.eurostar.com or by calling 08705 186 186.
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