Good quality skiing (Chatel)

Member Name: SaveMeTheMoney

Product:	Chatel
Date:	18/02/09 (53 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: snow

Disadvantages: bad lasagne!

I have to say that I thought that the Chatel ski area was pretty good! It certainly had a lot to offer, both in terms of skiing and the apres ski. let me deal with these separately.

Skiing:
Chatel is part of the massive Portes du Soleil ski area that covers 650km of resorts. At the time that I was there, the resort was good for my level, as it is predominently an intermediate level resort, with just a few black runs. There are 49 snow runs in total, with a total of 85 km covered by the runs. There are a total of 41 lifts servicing the area. There is also a recent addition of a snow park and a half pipe for the more adventurous and accomplished skier and boarder!

The area is so large that you really feel as if you do not quite scratch the surface of what is available. We skied over the border into Switzerland one afternoon which was pretty cool. The snow was excellent up until the last day when we took the free bus to Pre la joux, where the snow was pretty bare at the lower parts of the runs. However this was the only blip, as the snow was excellent and plentiful everywhere else. Queueing is rare, and the slopes are fairly uncluttered.

The slopes are a nice mix of greens, blues, reds and blacks. The flat narrow blues are even more difficult than the reds.

Only bad point (and which stops it getting 5 stars) was the long walk up the hill carrying skis to get the gondola up to the base of the mountain. Maybe it was just that my hotel was far away, but then again, maybe not!

Apres-Ski:
There area a total of 21 bars in Chatel, 2 night clubs and 24 restaurants, so pretty much everyone's taste will be covered, although maybe I was just a bit unlucky with some of the food I had in the restaurants. I had a lasagne that was not very nice!!

The resort itself was one of the highlights, as it was extremely picturesque. Some of the brochures and websites said that as it is at a low altitude there might not be snow in the town, but it was completely covered while I was there and it also snowed.

I had a great time in Chatel, both skiing and the apres ski and would definitely recommend it to the beginner and intermiediate skiier.

Summary: Great village, good skiing