As this was our first time skiing and snowboarding we booked with Crystal, skiing and snowboarding experts based at the Chill Factore in Manchester. Our 8yr old loves snowboarding there so we decided he should experience the real thing. Andy at Crystal was truly great. We told him we wanted a quiet resort with a couple of restaurants, bars maybe, and we wanted a SC option to be as flexible as possible. He suggested Chamrousse and we trusted him. We were not disappointed. Our accfomodation in Domain L;Arselle was a small one bedroon appartment, exactly as it was depicted on line. There is very little storage, 10 hangers(2 were broken and 1 fell apart when I picked it up) in one open wardrobe with 1 shelf. There is an additional shelf in the living area where the pull out sofa lies. The kitchen area is adequate, with a dishwasher being a huge advantage. The heaters were more than adequate keeping the apartment lovely and warm. However, the beds are not so comfortable and after two nights of no sleep at all we were able to arrange an additional mattress for the pull out sofa, this made all the difference.
The location was brilliant, about 30 metres from the nearest lift.
We booked skiing and snowboarding tuition before we left. Upon arrival we spoke with the very efficient reps, Jess and Amy who then assessed which group we should be in for lessons. I have to admit, the instructors were fabulous! Our instructor, Tierrry was a wealth of knowledge regarding the Alps and the history of skiing. We even conquered two Olympic runs while we were there!
Our son had a fab instructor also, Silva, one of the snowboarding instructors and he improved immensely. The snowboarding park was great.
The only negatives really were the lack of restaurants in the immediate area. There are two restaurants there, La Bachat, not fussed about that one by the outdoor swimming pool, but the other, Chez Igon Doudou, otherwise known as the Club Sandwich was good, great pizzas and the plat de jour was good on occassion. The hot vin chaud was lovely and the happy hour 5-7 meant it was only 1 Euro instead of the usual 3.
The bar K-Dox is rather small but they have live bands and various music theme nights. Be aware, a pint of lager is 5/5.50Euro and other drinks are more than we pay at home. The wine there isn't very nice! BUT, on the single evening I went there, the atmosphere was very friendly and I was famous for a a while as the boarders were talking about the" little green kid", my son wearing a green coat who blew them away with his snowboarding skills!

The shop isn't that well stocked so you may want to take the bus to 1650 area, although they don't have the cheese/meats choices they have at Domain L'Areselle.
The reps Jess and Amy, I have to say were marvellous. We were very impressed by them and I enjoyed a couple of hours chilling out with Jess in particular. As we were a family of three we could not leave our son alone so it was nice to have Jess keep me company for a couple of hours one evening whilst I had a couple of shandies!
Amy knows the skiing area very well and I would recommed her escorted ski service. She took us on runs we would not have known about.
All in all it was a fabulous first experience.
Ok, the negative part. The CLEANING OF THE APARTMENT!!! Having spent years lounging in the sun in some very luxurious places, this came as quite a shock, having to clean our apartment upon departure. You will have to buy your products unless you book a beginner kit before you leave. We found it rather mean that cleaning products were not supplied.

So that was our only real negative really. We would return to Chamrousse and we would also book with Crystal as we received superb service from start to finish. Thankyou to Andy at the Chill Factore Manchester, and a huge thankyou to Jess and Amy at Chamrousse. The Edmondson family had an absolutely fabulous holiday!!!