[Closed] Alpine holiday requirement questions

Something for the family to do.

Sort out passes in advance (pds passes can be loaded online)

Packed lunches?

Consumable spares shop (job lot of superstar pads, tubes, tubeless repair kits, puncture repair kits, inners etc)

Library of piste maps, maps, guide books and route guides. Photocopies for the day?

Public transport timetables

Some top quality independent board games for when the weather is too bad to contemplate.

Does anybody want to go on a biking holiday where you have to commute to where you're going biking every day though? I guess it means you can try out different resorts but two hours in a van each day would be a non starter for me personally.

A guide and some uplifts.

Does anybody want to go on a biking holiday where you have to commute to where you're going biking every day though? I guess it means you can try out different resorts but two hours in a van each day would be a non starter for me personally.

I've never stayed in one resort till this year. Before there's always been an hours drive plus start and end of most days with maybe a couple of days at most in the same resort. Think I'm just used to it from years of paddling trips where you spend longer driving than boating but being in one resort would drive me nuts.

Morzine this year was ok as the pds is a pretty big area but I wouldn't do it anywhere else really. The idea of being driven on that drive and not having to set up camp either end would appeal so I don't think staying out of resort and shuttling is a bad thing, but it needs to be a pretty slick operation with decent vans and some decent guides to do local stuff as well so there needs to be good local biking too I reckon.

dkny - yeh we have that on the list, must have for winter if theirs kids.

Stoner - thats a good list and some good ideas. thanks

Steve - i get that. Im not to keen on being too far from at least 1 resort as part of it is we both love biking & skiing. However we have to balance that with the purchase cost which goes up very steeply the closer you are to the resorts. We thought the idea of the drop off service would appeal as we live in Courmayeur just now and dropping cars off the day before etc is a pain if your biking between the Valleys. It also frees you from the resorts if you don't mind a bit of uphill before the down

Cheers

Niall

You will be quite a way from skiing unless you are in the resorts - so a drive up to Grand Bornand / La Clusaz. When I go on a skiing holiday I am not looking to drive 1hr to each new resort, not least as thats always a sketchy strategy given potential for bad roads.

Ditto MTB (so van uplifts ?) although roadie from the door. Summer multi-resort is easier, I usually go Les Gets, Chamonix, Verbier type trip as its an hour between each but I think many people would find that too much messing about.

I suppose given the localtion the appeal would be a more relaxed multi-sport sort of break in the summer, so to make it relaxed you may have to work hard on transport / logistics otherwise clients are spending a lot of time driving from place to place.

TBH I am struggling a bit to see why people would ski from that location if you are not in a resort / foot of mountain lift system.

I think you need something special eg food ? to encourage people to stay with you and I think you'd have to be pretty agressive on price.

I've been to Austria a few times and have enjoyed the fact that all accommodation is in real villages down low and people check the weather in the morning before deciding which resort to drive to and get the cable car to the top.

we live in Courmayeur just now

So have you tried it on the Italian side and it's not worked out, or are you looking at a new venture?

Can't really comment on the Ski side, but I think that side of the Alps is well provided for already bike wise, so I'd look elsewhere.

And for me personally I don't go to the Alps to pedal ( I don't mind the odd push/pedal to get over a col though) so I need an uplift to the back country where the lifts are either closed or don't exist.

Of course that would be no good for a ski business unless you appealed to the ski mountaineers?

Hth
Marko

I guess if you can put together some good biking day trips which are point-to-point so the shuttle becomes an advantage rather than a chore then you could market it as such. You'd probably need to guide the riding in that case though, rather than say we'll drop you off in Chamonix and pick you up in Samoens at 5pm, here's a map, good luck. I think Trail Addiction do something similar.

We're just in Courmayeur just having fun and doing some biking and hiking. Working on rigs allows us to live anywhere within reasonable reach of the airport. Would be nice to move to the Alps permanently though and quit offshore, so it would be a new venture.

The idea would be to get a location that could provide multi resort selection and as said above it could then also cater for point to point. I do agree location will be a big part of making it a success.

The aim would be to provide it all for one price so the sports massage, transport, workshop access, etc was all included in the price. The aim would be to provide a minibus with trailer so anywhere with decent road access would be fair game.

We're just kicking the idea round just now so thought it might be good to check with potential customers so to say. Aim to make it a hassle free, easy time.

Me guiding some routes. Great idea for sure. Might have to get an Electric bike to keep up with some of you though ha ha

Niall

I would do some research about who offers such holidays, ie multi centre. It seems to me that the "norm" is very much single centre so seen to be experts on that resort / area.

Also mtb guiding these days is getting as controversial in Framce as skiing, arguments over qualifications. Articles on here about that.

Again personally I would not book a skiing holiday which involved driving 30-60 mins to get to lifts unless it was really cheap. A big part of the majic for me is being in the mountains and in the resort.

EDIT: Bike Alp just relocated away from Samoens, you might get in toich with them to pick their brains. A husband / wife combination is quite a common way to start a holiday business. Around Annecy is lovely for certain.

I'd not be taking either skiing or MTB holidays that far from where I'm doing anything. I tend to do both on the basis that I get out early and do until I'm knackered and then want to eat and chill not travel. Your approach relies on everyone wanting to go to the same place or you dictating where they go, that's fine if you're a small group of similar abilities but will limit your market.

It also causes issues if there are problems during the day as you won't be able to get people back or you'll have to curtail people's riding.

You can air bnb a nice apartment 250m from the funicular in bourg for about 350 odd with 4 beds. Ride from the door. You can drive to other resorts in an hour or so. What advantage is there?

Go and book a week with the guys at the whiteroom 🙂

But things I've heard etc. You probably don't need to buy the chalet to start with. Just take on one for the season as a rental.
More than an hour each way every day for riding? Forget about it unless every ride is epic. I'd also want to be guided to get the best of my day especially if it's not signed or laid out well. Guiding around les arcs just avoids this unfortunate climbs out etc. And makes a big difference.
Guiding qualifications... Well if it was tricky before brexit then it will be crap going forward. Are you also up to that?
Things like beer and wine in the chalet (in the price or cheap) as you don't always want to be out at French bar prices every night?
For a chalet I'd probably also want it catered if not I would just go self catering and stay in the resort. Especially if the only food options are eating out every night! Your week rate is going to have to be cheap to make that look appealing.
Id take a look at the les arcs and surrounding areas guys. (trail addiction, white room and one more) see what they offer for the cash and work out how much you would pay for what your offering.
It might sound negative but it's honest, I'm just not getting your selling point.

Following on from Mike's comments, a guided week with white room barely touches the edges of the available riding in Les arcs let alone the other nearby areas. One day on each seems a bit light or if you go back again your benefit disappears. It also reduces the ability to save money by buying a week pass.

Have a look at the MTB chalet for an idea of pricing but consider that they have riding from/to the door.

I think a location near Annecy with a drive to the resorts might work for a family or group who want to do a mixture of activities, or have a longer holiday than our 5-day MTB trips to the Alps. For a "pure MTB" holiday, I prefer to be able to simply have breakfast, get dressed, and bike from the door rather than have a drive at the start and finish of every day. Mr Pea and I have been going to Courchevel in a group of friends for the past 3 years and we like to pack in as much riding as possible in that short time, with the flexibility of finishing the day earlier or later depending on the weather and tiredness. Sometimes 1 or 2 might have had enough on one day, and just want to get back to the chalet earlier and chill out.

Packed lunches are a good idea.

For skiing, what people want (if not skiing to the door) is easy access to the lifts on foot or by resort bus in the morning, and at the end of their day (which is likely to be different for different people) a beer at the bottom before a bus or walk home. Minibus would be good, but More than a 10 minute drive home would be crap. Being near is important, eSpecially if they're into their beers one night and want to stagger home at 11pm.

A pool and hot tub please. Annecy is lush but we go there for a couple of days chilling out before our week of awesome alps riding with bike village about 1.5 hours from annecy in les arcs area.