La Rosiere, France

Jimbo from UNITED KINGDOM writes:

La Rosiere (La Ros) is a fairly small resort and not normally one I'd consider going to owing to the limited runs (but it was a cheap deal and I was broke !).

The limited skiing problem is alleviated by the links with La Thuile in Italy (no ? you don?t need to ski with your passport!) making the overall resort a reasonable ski area. It is still much, much smaller than the Three Valleys, La Plagne / Les Arcs

Ski area : If you ski hard (e.g. first lift in the morning, last run down at night) you can ski the entire resort (including Italy) in three days. This means that you then spend the rest of your time skiing the same runs - or going off-piste. Italy has some great black runs which are well worth the on drag over from la Rosiere

Lift System : Have you ever seen those really fast, six man lifts in Les Arc ? Well you won't see any in La Ros! The lift system in is very old and slow (I half expected to find Oompa Loompas operating the pulleys to make the chairs move!).

La Ros also has a higher than average reliance on drag lifts. Again ? these are very old and it?s beginning to show. Most drag lifts will get you on your way with a bit of a jerk and reasonable acceleration but nothing to worry about. Some of the drags in La Ros result in a start that aircraft carrier pilots would be proud of. Quite a few times we actually managed to ?get air ? as the drag suddenly caught the wire and literally whips you off your feet. It?s bloody uncomfortable and painful ! As with the lifts - they?re old and need servicing or replacing (or simply employ more Oompa Loompas to operate them more smoothly)

On the plus side the lift pass is reasonable (?100 for both France and Italy) and the electronic system works well.

Eating : There are few mountain restaurants in la Ros / la Thuile - but the ones that are there are reasonable quality. They sell beer and omelettes - what more do you need ? The cost however is marked. In France a pasta dish and a beer will cost you about ?15. in Italy ? About ?7 !!! It is significantly cheaper to eat in Italy. In fact you might be better off staying in la Thuile and then skiing across the la Ross if you want to. You then get the best of both worlds - an affordable resort with a reasonable ski area.

Mountain Info : La Ros is just across the valley from Les Arcs - you can see Arc 2000 from la Ros at night. La Ros does suffer from high winds closing lifts (and especially the link with Italy). It is quite possible for La Ros to have the top lifts closed whilst les Arcs has no wind at all ! If this is the case you can always get a bus down to Bourg St Maurice and get the funicular up to Arc 1600 (total journey time - LR to Larc - 1 hour).

Night life : La Ros is fairly quiet - but there are enough bars to keep most people happy. After all - if you're up all night drinking beer and then sleeping off a hangover in the morning - what are you doing in a ski resort ? Go to Ibiza instead !

Kids - Don?t have any?.but I expect that parents and kids would quite like La Ros as it?s self contained, quite friendly and has skiing for kids to learn.

Snow record - actually very good. Sometimes better than the other side of the valley (Les Arcs, La Plagne) but bear in mind the situation re: wind. No point in having lost of snow if you have to ski in a blizzard !

Overall - Would I go again ? No - not unless they upgrade the lifts, replace the awful drag lifts and develop some more runs. It?s simply too small and not challenging enough. The resort is also far too dependant on the weather - a few days of high winds can really ruin your holiday in La Ros whereas you?d have been OK in Les Arc / anywhere else.

If you have kids learning to ski ? or you like to ski half days (the point of a half ski day being ?????) you?ll probably like it !

2004-04-30