Hmc Arc 1950 - Bourg-Saint-Maurice, France 

I went to Arc 1950 with a few friends for a well-needed break from work in March this year. It was our first time to the resort and we were all very impressed. One of our party had never skied before and so was in lessons all week. She got on really well with her instructor who was very helpful and patient and she had improved considerably by the end of the holiday. The rest of us are quite experienced skiers and were a bit sceptical at the beggining that there wouldn't be enough challenging skiing. However, we were pleasantly surprised and enjoyed a week of good snow for off-piste skiing and plenty of challenging slopes for us to get stuck into (literally on some occassions!). The village itself had everything we needed for a weeks holiday. The one thing it didn't have was a substantial supermarket for food, but i suppose thats a bit much to ask for at that height in the alps! We ate out a few times in the week and had a good range of food for a reasonable price. We had planned to be out partying a few nights during the week, but we were generally too tired after a full days skiing and a big Alpine dinner - must be getting older! The one night we did manage to go out we found the bars very friendly and managed to party unti the early hours with lots of like minded people (needless to say the skiing the next day was not our strongest performance). All in all it was a thouroughly enjoyable week, I would certainly recommend it and we will definitely be going back next year!