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Julie and Dave Sansum from Camberley
14 - 16 January 2011An excellent, excellent weekend skiing. I hesitate to write how absolutely fantastic the weekend was just in case there are a flood of guests and we are unable to book next year. It was well worth getting the early flight on Fri, we were on the slopes by 2 - slopes which were empty, expertly groomed and bathed in glorious sunshine. Dave and Jane are superb hosts ? nothing is too much trouble. The chalet is lovely, a great place to sit back and relax while Dave and Jane prepare a delicious evening meal. We were on the slopes by 0830 latest each morning and sadly finished skiing on the Sun at 2 ? a quick change in the mini bus ready for Dave to drive us back to the airport ? how cool is that! I will remember this short break with great affection and lots of laughter, a very rare weekend with none of the usual worries, total indulgence and total escapism at a very affordable price. My partner and I are seasoned weekend skiers and would rate this weekend as one of the best. We genuinely and whole heartedly recommend a holiday with Dave and Jane to anyone reading this.
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Paula Emery from Witley, Surrey, UK
10 Dec - 17 Dec 2010One word sums up my ski holiday - FABULOUS! Picked up from directly outside Geneva Airport by David as soon as we had our cases came through, driven straight to our lovely accommodation, then donned our ski wear and we were off to the slopes! David & Jane organised our ski hire etc (discounted too!) with very friendly staff. We loved the resort. Amazing variety of pistes. All of which were virtually empty! NO queues - unheard of in past experiences. Also not a button lift in sight - all chair lifts - bliss! Jane was given the job of helping us with our skiing. We are two ladies of a certain age (I have perfected some very bad techniques after a few holidays without lessons! - sound familiar?). Anyway Jane rose to the challenge and soon red runs didn't feel life threatening any more - Thanks Jane. Each day we skied until we were worn out (with a few stops for coffee/hot chocolate in the mountain cafes - yum. They even had fruit teas for me!) and then David drove us back for afternoon tea (homemade cakes & bread). Time for a little r&r and then a superb home cooked meal (even catering for my special diet - thank you J & D). Aosta is a beautiful town and only a few minutes away by car. We had our uncatered meals here. Masses of choice and not expensive either. Wonderful shopping opportunities too ladies! I come away with only one question - when can I come again?! Thank you David & Jane for a wonderful holiday.
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Mark Gosling from Camberley UK
15th December 2011What a great place for a short ski break. We flew out early Monday (recommend Swissair ex Heathrow) got picked up by Dave at Geneva and were on the slopes by 1pm. Plenty of beautifully groomed piste (some of the best preparation I've seen) great value restaurants and zero queuing in the week.
Dave and Jane guided us around the slopes, the local town and even took us shopping.
Great accommadation, food and service. Heartily recommend. -
Eddie Hpper from Woking, Surrey
March 2010Aoste-Pila ? Ski-trip with a ?Difference.?
My daughter and I spent a weeks ski-ing in Aoste Pila - March of this year, which will always be remembered as a ?Ski-trip with a Difference.?
The resort offers ski-ing for all levels, with good nursery slopes for beginners.
We were first taken back by the hospitality that Dave & Jane showed, making us feel very much at home.
We enjoyed being waited on and the cooking was superb, which we preferred to eating out.
The rooms were very spacious, well furnished, nicely decorated and clean.
We both being very spoilt, being driven to and from the Ski-Lifts and escorted around the resort.
But the difference for me was that I was used to being dragged around mountains, playing catch up with a bunch of guys who wanted to ski the resort as fast as possible, then go out on the Piste till the early hours of the morning ? Thinking I could ski ?
It was not until the end of the first day, when I mentioned that my toes were crunched up inside my boots and that I had a lot of discomfort in my thighs.
Dave took me to one side and went through the basics of ski-ing ? and pointed out the bad habits I had got into.
Both Dave & Jane are Level-2 Instructors and should anyone take the opportunity of asking for their advice as I did, then they are more than willing to help ? My daughter is a Boarder.
This made the holiday for me, as I always had it in mind to go ski-ing on my own and practice on slopes I felt comfortable on.
However this would have been a waste of time as I would not have known what I was doing wrong.
This would inevitably have lead to having lessons and for me ski lessons had always been disappointing, due to language problems and time spent, as 3-Chair lifts and the lesson is all over.
Having one to one makes all the difference - although I was conscious of the fact that you say you understand, but really, you don?t.
It took 2 to 3-Days for it to sink in, until one afternoon I felt the ski?s carve and felt more relaxed, letting the ski?s do the work and taking the pressure off my thighs.
So for me this was ?My Ski-trip with a Difference?, and one, which will always stay with me.
So a special thank you to Dave & Jane.
From Eddie the : Sh-ad-ow.
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Rachel and Peter Jones from Milford, Surrey
26 March - 1 April 2010What more can we say that hasn't already been written? We concur with all the other reviewers' comments as Jane and David are Italian skiing's hidden gems.
We had a wondereful week and certainly intend to return. Our 2 boys (14 and 10) went from being complete novices to descending black runs and going off-piste within the week. This was due to the excellent tuition and patience shown by David and Jane. And not to mention some very useful tips on improving our own techniques!
Having Jane and David's knowledge and experience of the mountains provided a great headstart to the week's skiing. They definitely took all the headaches and stress away from our first family skiing holiday, and we had endless laughter and fun.
To quote our children, when I asked them what more could they want from the holiday, they replied "to stay another week". Says it all! -
Seb , Joanna, Richard & Andrew from Northampton, UK
13-17 March 2010We've just come back from staying with Jane and David and I feel compelled to promote their hospitality which was genuinely warm and inviting. Our accommodation was very clean and comfortable. Jane and David guided and assisted us through the hiring of equipment and passes and dedicated their day time to providing us with ski tuition. I (Joanna) left for this short ski break resigned that for me the skiing would be a waste of time, but more importantly that my boys should enjoy it ? they did! However, I came back to the UK having achieved the impossible - with a beaming smile and wishing I was still in Pila, all thanks to Jane & David's perseverance and encouragement. I am longing to go back to Pila and ski on those slopes again. Thanks to Jane & David, my boys gained more knowledge and progressed in their skiing ability. Having skied in Germany and France, we found that Pila's slopes provide a great place to ski. There is a wide variety of runs which are suitable for all standards and are set in a picturesque Alpine setting with some more challenging off piste sections and mogels for the more advanced skiers as well. The magic carpet is a dream for beginners (no horrible drag lifts). We went to Italy with preconceived ideas and found them to be incorrect. We found the Italian people to be helpful and pleasant, with none of the aggressive pushing onto the lifts, found in other countries. The infrastructure was excellent and so was the beautiful weather. David and Jane were incredibly flexible in accommodating our needs with going into town in the evening etc, which was very much appreciated. I write this testimonial with a heavy heart, as advertising a ?gem? means sharing it with others, but we feel that Jane and David need our support in order to continue and we would love to be their guests again the future. Good luck to Jane and David, may you long continue to provide the service you have established. Thank you.
