How easy is it to ski from a campervan at camping Huttopia in Bourg St Maurice?
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- čas přidán 23. 05. 2024
- We are currently on a month long ski trip to the French Alps in our tiny VW T6 Campervan Nelson. We want to share with you first hand our experiences of staying in the Camping Huttopia site in Bourg St Maurice and look at how easy (or not) it is to ski from our little camper.
In this video we will share with you the facilities of the campsite, look at how easy it is to ski from Bourg St Maurice and look at the advantages and disadvantages of skiing from a campervan.
We are Richard and Jackie and we live in the UK. We retired from teaching at the age of 51 in the summer of 2022. Our plans for early requirement include relocating to the Yorkshire Dales, developing our forever home and travelling the UK, Europe and eventually the world in our VW campervan Nelson.
Please subscribe and like our videos if you like what you see.
Check out our blog earlyretirementwanderlust.com
Many thanks,
Richard & Jackie
Timeline:
00:00 Skiing from a campervan at Camping Huttopia in Bourg St Maurice.
01:35 The Huttopia Campsite at Bourg St Maurice
06:50 Can you ski from a campsite?
09:03 The advantages of skiing from a campervan on a campsite
12:57The disadvantages of skiing from a campervan on a campsite
14:44 Coming up next on earlyretirementwanderlust...
![Ski Snowboard with an Airstream caravan in the French Alps [CC]](/img/n.gif)
Brilliant....thank you so much for this, have aspirations of doing this next year.
It was an amazing experience - we loved it that much we are actually back at the campsite for 2 weeks to make the most of the season ski pass we bought!
I enjoy all your videos tremendously, thank you. I guess your followers will want to meet as you are so warm and authentic on the camera, its like listening to one's friends. You are having a wonderful retirement and its a pleasure that you are sharing. I look forward to your next videos, they are addictive :+)
Thank you for your lovely kind words, we really enjoy meeting new people and making the videos. We are loving the time our early retirement has given us x
A great review of Bourg and Huttopia we stayed there for a couple of nights in 2018 but sadly didn't meet the campsite cats!
Oh the cats are one of the main reasons we are returning - they were gorgeous and so friendly 😻
Great info! Thanks 👍
Cheers 😊
Brilliant, thanks for sharing, the club house looks brilliant, love the cats. Looking forward to your next video on Sunday. How amazing to meet subscribers whilst camping in France 😄🍾🚐❤️
We have just spent an hour snuggled up with the cat on the sofa - he just about tolerated me 😻 it has been really nice chatting to people who have watched some of our videos 😊
Great video, we stayed at The Huttopia Campsite last summer, yes it's a great site with super markets across the road and the lovely walks along the river. I am well envious of you both. 😄
We are thinking about coming back one summer as the hiking up in the mountains on the forest trails looks fab and the cycling in the valley (not up the Cols) 🚲
You guys are living our dream. Just waiting for a few ducks to line up in life and we'll be parked right next to you. Looking forward to your Sunday video.
Thank you. We definitely know we are very fortunate to have the time now x
We have also stayed at the same site in our transporter but we left our skis and boots at the storage facility at the top of the funicular for our time there, saved a lot of carting around, worked really well, have fun on you travels
Yes we have a locker at arc 1600 which is so much easier and we enjoy the walk 🚶 ⛷️🚐
Great information guys and looks like a fantastic site. A beer in the clubhouse by the fire reminds me of Glencoe. Is your heater a fan type one? We have a halogen one and maybe a fan might be better thanks Dave
It’s just a small fan heater - heats the van up in a few minutes and saves us using the lpg so we don’t have to move the van 🚐
Really helpful vlog guys. Thanks for taking the time ❤
Cheers ⛷️
Great video, really enjoyed it and so looking forward to the one on Sunday, thanks for sharing
Thank you. We videod a day skiing across to la plagne Montalbert which was a long day but a great experience ⛷️
Great content, thanks for sharing. I will definitely be doing a month or so out there at the end of this year, early next year. I e been in my van full time since 6th Dec and your advice about the electric fan in previous video was a lightbulb moment for me. Makes winter camping so much easier. Keep up the good work 👍👏🤩😎
The little electric fan heater has been a god send. We only need to have it on for 10 minutes or so as a blast every hour in the evening and we haven’t used our lpg heater at all so still have a full tank which is a win. How have you found being full time in the van? The weather has definitely been out to test you!!
@@earlyretirementwanderlust I’ve taken to it like a duck to water. Spent 3 weeks in Cumbria, stuck in my van on campsites, with a broken collar bone, but what a great place to be ‘stuck’. I’m looking forward to exploring more on van life this year. I’ve also bought a boat so lots to explore. This getting older malarkey is fantastic. 🤣 happy skiing. ⛷️
@VictoriaJeffsMindset wow happy travels on both land and water!
Great vid loads of good info my wife and I are having the same idea of staying on that site next year cheers guys
It’s been a great experience that we will definitely do again ⛷️
Newly subscribed! How often and when do you use the pop top or do you cope without it?
Hi we didn’t use the pop top in the first week as it was too cold but have had it up for the last 3 nights and the rest of this trip as it is not due to go much below freezing. We travelled assuming we would not use it at all so the extra space has been a bonus 🚐
A great, informative video, thanks very much. Do you have winter tyres fitted as well as carrying your snow chains? We have driven many times when our kids were younger to the ski resorts and loved doing it. The only thing we absolutely didn’t love was the putting on of the snow chains!! We now have a Renault Trafic campervan and we’d love to do what you have done. The only thing that’s putting us off is the thought of putting on snow chains on the Van!
We had all weather tyres fitted with the 3 peaks winter logo on which were great in the drive up to Les Arcs 1950 where we stayed in the apartment - it was very slushy near the top. It doesn’t snow as much in bourg and they clear it pretty quickly so the chances of needing chains while staying at the campsite is very slim. But you do need to have them legally in this region - just incase 🚐🛞❄️
Very informative, delighted that you are making the most of your early retirement all very inspiring. I took early retirement a few months ago and enjoying some nice trips in our T6.1, but wondering if at 60 I have left it too late to learn to ski, any thoughts?
A lot might depend on your level of fitness but the ESF ski schools are fab - I learnt in my mid 30’s and enjoyed the week long lesson packages as it gave me confidence and being part of the group was fun. We also got to explore parts of the resort I probably wouldn’t have done on my own.
Hi Guys, is there electric hook up for winter skiing campervaning and motor homes. Cheers Peter
At the bourg saint maurice Huttopia campsite - yes and if you ring up when you book they do have a hard standing carpark up area that the bigger motorhomers choose to go on but we felt it was more cramped like a European aire and prefer to be on the grass pitches with more space
Hi Richard and Jackie. We are new subscribers and have just finished binge watching your journey from the start, all great stuff. Quick question regards the skiing… do you have your own ski equipment or hire? Curious as to how you store the gear if you have your own. Regards, Sean & Gilly.
Thank-you for subscribing 😊 it has been a pretty epic trip and we have loved every minute - even the waking up in -18! We decided to buy our own skis this year when we arrived in bourg as we want to do extended ski trips every year from now on so we haven’t had to travel with them yet. We have hired a heated locker in Arc 1600 or there is the heated boot room on camp. No idea where we will put them at night on the drive home- under the bed I think.
Thanks for the reply. Similarly, we are consider buying ski equipment, but the logistics of transporting them has us head-scratching right now. We like to do our full 90 day stint and the ski stuff would take up a lot of room for the 10 weeks we weren’t skiing! Still looking for possible solutions. We have a Ducato based panel van conversion, but it has a rear lounge, therefore no dedicated garage space. Under the beds would be our first thought too unless we could get the skis on the roof for the non-ski period 🤔
@tilni ah I see - with space such a premium in our van I think I would keep renting! It’s a fine balance isn’t it! We are only skiing so will put up with them in the way for a couple of days 🎿
Thanks for this very interesting. Question for you, how do you cope with condensation in the van? Cheers.
Thank you ☺️ condensation is the eternal problem especially when we cook and when it is below freezing. After loads of recommendations we bought a karcher window vac which is fab. We have noticed the plastic door cards in the front get condensed in the extreme cold so have to keep wiping them. We keep a window cracked when cooking or the door open. A problem we have noticed as we have been here a few weeks is our tailgate condensation must drip down on the carpet which is wet and no air gets to it. We will need a good few days with a dehumidifier when we get back!!! But still worth it ⛷️
@earlyretirementwanderlust Thank you. So impressed your managing full time in a T6. Three weeks in our VW s about our limit and that's in the summer. Subscribed. Enjoying you back catalogue 😀
@DolbyDogAdventures we love escaping in the van- winter is a little more testing of our resilience but this trip has been ok because of the space in the community room and warm shower block. We lived in the van for 14 weeks when we sold our house so we could break the chain. That was an interesting time in November 🚐🥶
Your skiing must improve immensely after that length of time there, you can never get enough in with the usual week less travel time.....how is the condensation situation in the van and is your Karcher present dealing with it? Or is that another video😂
I think it could be a whole new video 🤣 the karcher vac is great and in the main body of the van it is not bad at all. The cab has had condensation on the plastic of the door cards when it was below -10 which we need to keep wiping and the tailgate must drip down the back as the carpet lining is abit wet. Will need a good dehumidifying when we get home 🚐 still worth it though 😊 skiing wise I am so much more confident now. Some of that due to the slopes being quieter than in the school holidays we had to ski in ⛷️
Well, I guess that answered my question 😁 One thing you didn't cover is the cost of the funicular. Is that incluced in the ski pass or do you have to buy a ticket seperately?
The funicular is included in your Les arcs lift pass which is fab.
We've been following your videos and found them very useful. We are heading out in a couple of weeks to the same campsite with the kids to have our first skiing holiday. ⛷️ thankyou for all the info from a fellow yorkshireman. 😀
Have a great time we have really enjoyed our stay here ⛷️