Christmas Stay
Submitted: December 30, 2011
Stayed: December 2011
Just come back from a stay at La Corbette; it is a very beautiful chalet with fantastic views. Very bright and sunny, beautiful log burner with a plentiful supply of logs. The space is good for large families or for groups wanting to share, plenty of bathrooms, a massive bedroom that could have slept four! The Sauna/Steam room is a nice touch. Wifi was useful too.
We had a few issues with the TV and dishwasher that were addressed by maintenance.
On the negative side, we would say it is less suitable for families with young children or if you don't have use of a car; the hill up to the property is extremely steep, very difficult to get up if fresh snow has arrived or overnight ice and if you don't have snow chains/tyres. Our snow chains broke and we had to abandon the car in the garden of another chalet as we couldn't make it up the hill. I certainly would not like to have to walk up with ski equipment!
Our only other issue is that the kitchen could have been better equipped with appliances i.e liquidizer etc and more utensils, saucepans, especially when you're trying to cook a Christmas dinner for a big group. For a chalet of such calibre we would have expected a little more. An ipod docking station would have been appreciated too.
Advise on the ski lift pass; if you are beginners like we were then don't listen to the very poor advice of paying for a full 6 day pass - you won't need it! We wasted a lot of money on this as our lessons were at Le Tour (La Vormaine area which is the best for beginners) they have a free drag lift for beginners and even if you progress to be able to use the green and blue runs of La Vormaine the cost is less than 70 Euro's for an adult for 6 days compared to over 200 euro's for the le cham pass! You can however pay for 4 hour passes! To be honest when you are learning or have young kids, 4 hours is more than enough. La Vormaine is much quieter than the other beginner slopes and the pass office never had a que. We also went to le Savoy which is convenient for the town, less of a journey than Le Tour but so much busier and not half as pretty.
Overall, we would go back to Chamonix again as it's a great place with lot's to do, good babysitting facilities, pool complex and fab restaurants. If we could move the chalet from up that hill then we would book again, but then I guess you wouldn't get the fantastic views.
Mountain Base are a good company to book through as are Hurycana Sports for ski hire.
Owner's Response: Hi Denise
Thanks for your review and I'm glad you enjoyed your stay. Always very helpful to get feedback, but I thought it best to respond to a couple of points to help other enquirers.
Firstly, the slope... I guess that's the very nature in part of the Chamonix Valley and that's why the chalet has such spectacular views, as with most of the sought-after Moussoux area of Chamonix. There is a more gradual approach to the chalet when there's fresh snow, but clients really need a proper winter set-up if they want to tackle a steep hill in those conditions. Having said that, we've had record breaking amounts of snow this year, it's been madness!
For the kitchen equipment, that's noted and we will get more in there. We have to be a little bit choosey on how much equipment there is, as it's very difficult to cater for everybodys' particular needs. Liquidisers we tend to avoid as they are problematical and often abused by guests, but certainly more saucepans is a good idea.
Lastly, for the ski passes, our team always act in good faith to recommend the right pass and I believe you benefitted from the early-bird discounts. Particularly over Christmas with young kids, the passes give you access to the Montenvers railway, the Aiguille du Midi, etc, which gives plenty of scope if they're not skiing all day. The ski schools do tend to move around the ski areas during the week, hence it was the sensible choice, particularly as the second child+ is free on the family pass. However, with the benefit of hindsight knowing that you stuck to the beginner slopes, it perhaps wasn't the right choice.
Anyway, I hope that's useful!
Andy (Mountain Base)
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