How easy is it to ski from a campervan at camping Huttopia in Bourg St Maurice?

How easy is it to ski from a campervan at camping Huttopia in Bourg St Maurice?

hi where Richard and Jackie from early
retirement wonderlust we’ve been staying
for the last three weeks on a winterized
Campsite in Borg San Maurice in the
French elps and we have had the most fab
time skiing and in this video we just
wanted to answer the question of how
difficult or how easy is it to ski from
a campsite down in the
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valley
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if you’ve seen any of our previous
videos you will know that we’ve been out
in the French Alps for quite some time
our adventures started with a week
skiing with our grown-up kids in Arc
1950 and that’s part of the paradisi ski
region in the French Alps we’ve since
then moved down to a campsite in the
valley and we are living in our little
VW T6 camper van in this video we want
to show you some of the facilities that
the campsite has that help it make a bit
easier for us to stay here we want to
try and answer the big question that
lots of people have of really how easy
it is to stay on a campsite when you are
wanting to ski every day and we thought
we’d go through the advantages and
disadvantages of skiing from the valley
and getting the ficula up to the lizar
ski resort for most people the biggest
question is probably what are the toilet
facilities like for us we have no
onboard facilities so for us it’s a
definite must um it’s got two different
shower blocks they are warm they’re
clean and constant hot water so for us
it’s a win staying in a VW T6 camper van
one of the obvious things that we also
need as well as toilets and showers is a
little bit of space and this campsite is
really well set up it’s got a community
room where you can go throughout the day
it’s got Wi-Fi in there it has got the
most beautiful log fire in there and
it’s got sofas and tables so we often
nip up there after a day of skiing have
a cold beer in front of the fire didn’t
really get much better than that and
actually it’s quite sociable as well um
we came last year and went in there
quite a few times and it was quite quiet
but this year it seems a lot busier and
we’ve met quite a few different people
so yeah it’s been it’s been a bonus this
year to meet people something that’s
pretty essential on a winter I campsite
is having a safe and secure ski locker
room and the one here is pretty fab it
has got a huge rack where you can put
your ski boots it’s warm and you get
your boots in the morning and they’re
nice and toasty and it’s got loads of
racks to keep the skis in you’re not
allowed to use it as a drying room
though they’re quite specific it keeps
saying it’s a five-star establishment
they don’t want Dirty Laundry knocking
about and talking of laundry it has got
a really good laundry room where you can
use the washing machines and the tumble
dryers now we’re out for an extended
period of time and obviously doing a
physical activity like skiing we are
getting through kit like no tomorrow so
we do our regular washing there um it’s
token driven but you can also use the
dryers to dry off towels which when
you’re in a small camper van just will
never ever dry and linked with was in
washing of pots we seem to have an
endless stream of washing up to do cuz
we cook most of our food from the van um
we could wash up in the van but it’s
easy to take it to one of two different
facilities they’ve got for washing up
one of the challenges that all campsites
have in winter is maintaining the
pictures and it is really problematic
out here but the campsite staff do
really well to make sure that no one
gets stuck in the mud so on the site
there is a car park facility that a lot
of the motor homes use and it’s very
much like an air where motor homes are
stacked next to one another and they’re
on that hard surface and there’s no risk
of them getting stuck at all we booked a
normal camping pitch and for the first
few nights we were on grass and that was
fine until the rain arrived and it just
got really muddy but we liased with the
staff they obviously don’t want their
pitches wrecking by people driving
through the mud so we moved our van to a
position where we’re just on the edge of
a pitch so we’ve got two wheels on the
hard standing and two wheels on the
grass and what it means is that when we
coming in and out of the van we’ve got
hard surface so we’re not trailing mud
around this particular campsite is
situated on the edge of Borg San Maurice
which is quite a big town it is really
well located for the local big
supermarkets there’s two of them within
walking distance which is really really
handy there’s also petrol stations
attached to both of those supermarkets
and very handily although we’ve not had
to use it yet um I know that the superu
petrol station also refills with LPG the
campsite is ideally located on the very
edge of the town but that does cause a
few problems if you were wanting local
restaurants or bars because it is a
short walk into town to find a range of
different restaurants and bars to be
honest we haven’t done that because
we’re living on an early retirement
budget and we just can’t afford to go
out all the time but we do know that
lots of other campers on the campsite do
regularly walk into town and um have
found a number of good restaurants and
bars we have had one but restaurant we
found McDonald’s there’s a McDonald’s on
the roundabout just down the road
Richard treated me to a slap up meal
just giving away a little family secret
that whenever we finish a ski holiday or
we come down into the valley that little
McDonald’s is calling and Jackie can’t
cope without the routine of having a
McDonald’s as soon as she’s come down
from the mountains only one
on a Saturday there is a Fab Market down
in the center of Borg San Marice it has
lots of fresh produce they have lots of
the different cheeses that you can try
there’s a Roy Chicken St there are lots
of different saucisson stalls it’s quite
fascinating actually it’s really nice to
go down and just see how a local French
Market works and the whole Community
does genuinely come out and we just had
a pole around the market and immersed
ourselves in that and it was just a
really nice experience and then finally
as you would expect in a ski region
there are a range of different ski hire
shops and also quite large Sports shops
because it’s down in the valley so if
you have forgotten anything or need to
replace something or you need your skis
service then there is somewhere in town
for that to happen on to the big
question then because we are based in
the valley and we feel like we are miles
away from the snow so how easy is it to
actually get to the mountains and to ski
on a daily basis for us we’ve actually
chosen to walk to the finicula which
takes you from the center of Bor amarice
up to the Village of Arc 1600 we have
hired a ski Locker at the top of the
finicula which has made it so easy
because we can just spend 15 minutes
having a nice Wonder through the forest
to the finicula station and then it’s 10
minutes Journey up to Ark 1600 and we’ve
found that actually quite a nice
experience every morning we haven’t had
any Heavy Rain yet we’ve found it quite
relaxing compared to the ski in ski out
experience that we had with our kids
which was just a little bit frenetic and
everything seemed to be hustle and
bustle whereas this is a much slower
process we’ve actually timed ourselves
and we can leave the van and 30 minutes
later we can be fully kitted up and be
on the first lift above the snow a lot
of the other campus on the site have
chosen to use the free minibus that goes
from the campsite reception and drops
you off at the finicula it is really
quick it’s really reliable um it does
come with a caveat that I think in more
busy times it’s a bit of a bunfight to
get a spot on the minivan you have to
put your name down on a list at
reception I think there’s is there maybe
four or five it does four or five
Journeys it does in the morning and in
the afternoon um and it holds about 8 10
people so you do have to get your name
down on it but if you’re organized and
you like a bit of routine you would
probably get your name down much quicker
than me and Richard who forget and then
the final option if you don’t want to
walk like us or you don’t want to take
advantage of the free shuttle bus from
the campsite is to use the free bus
service that runs around Bor s Maurice
buses run regularly from outside the
campsite and they run on a circular
route and partway around that route is
the finicula so even if you can’t get on
the minibus or you’ve missed your minib
buus at the end of the day there is
always a bus option to be able to get
you and your ski kit back to the
campsite we did do a little trial run
last year and we came and stayed on the
campsite for three or four nights just
so that we could get an idea of whether
we thought we could cope with skiing
from the van and we loved it that much
that we came back again this year and
we’ve had nearly 3 weeks now skiing and
living in the camper van on this
campsite so we do feel that we’re a
little bit better equipped now to talk
about some of the advantages and
disadvantages that you have from skiing
from the valley it’s one of the main
advantages of skiing from the valley is
definitely got to be the cost it’s only
€7.50 per night a bargain which includes
your Electric hookup the next Advantage
is the facilities of the campsite it is
a completely winterized campsite and as
we’ve already explained it’s got
everything that you could possibly need
along with your camper van to be able to
survive and also thrive in the valley as
I said previously Electric hookup is
included in the €
27.50 and we have used that to our
advantage and bought a small Peter and
it runs everything that we need a big
development from when we were here this
time last year is the Wi-Fi on the
campsite the Wi-Fi only really works
from the clubhouse but it is really
really quick and there are loads of
young van lifers that are living on the
campsite and working remotely from the
clubhouse so the Wi-Fi is really really
quick and it makes our life putting
YouTube videos up very very easy I think
we’ve been spoiled with this campsite
and it is a rarity that it has a for all
intents and purposes a clubhouse that’s
got the fire in it that we’ve already
talked about it just makes it so much
easier for us and wow was I excited when
I arrived on the first day and it has
two campsite cats that love sitting in
front of the log fire on the sofa and if
I’m really lucky they’ll also come and
sit on my knee while I’m doing some
typing as a proud yorkman I absolutely
love a bargain and one of the advantages
of staying down in the valley is that
you are paying Valley prices as opposed
to m Mountain prices for all of your
shopping and there is a significant
difference when you are buying food
lower down the valley as Jackie said
already we’ve got a couple of great
supermarkets just across the road so it
makes day-to-day living that much
cheaper when you are staying lower there
are a couple of higher airs that we
could have chosen to stay at but a big
advantage of staying in the valley is it
is actually much warmer she says with
baited breath because it was- 18 one
night but in general it is much warmer
down in the valley than trying to camp
and stay up in the mountains yeah I
don’t think we’re really brave enough
for that we’ve been on a ski lift that
goes over the top of one of the airs and
it just looked absolutely Frozen and I
just don’t think we’d cope with that
would we not in our little VW I think
the bigger motor homes that have got
better heating systems probably are okay
as a driver staying down in the valley
is so much easier because you do not
have to worry about any of the high
mountain driving rarely does Bor s mace
get snow in you still obviously need
snow tires and snow chains just in case
but the driving into the valley and into
Borg s mace is very very easy it’s only
when you then want to progress up to the
High Ski stations does the driving get a
little bit more challenging and I really
don’t like the drives up to the higher
stations because it involves all those
hairpin bends with icy roads and I just
can’t look the last advantage that we
think is really important and we’ve
noticed very much so this year is the
sense of community on the campsite there
are an awful lot of people that are out
here for the winter and there is an
inbuilt community so the opportunity to
go to the club room and meet people they
are just so friendly we’ve really
enjoyed hooking up with different people
and actually going out skiing with them
for the day which has been really good
fun and we are just getting our heads
round meeting a few of our lovely
subscribers as well which is a little
bit odd um but we’re just about getting
our head around it yeah there are
obviously some disadvantages to staying
in a campsite in the winter in the
French Alps but we like to think that
we’re really positive people so we may
well present our disadvantages but I can
guarantee there will always be a but
associated with it yeah staying in the
valley it’s not ski and ski out and it
really isn’t something that everybody
would like particularly going from a
camper van or a motor home it’s quite
tough at times whichever way you choose
to get to the finicula it is a 30 minute
travel to get to Art 1600 so it’s
definitely not straight onto the slopes
but we like to walk and it’s a way of
waking me up ready for skiing and it’s a
nice cool down after we’ve been on the
slopes for an afternoon staying in the
valley certainly for the last couple of
weeks there’s no doubt that it can be
very wet because obviously it’s lower
down but the advantage of it being wet
in the valley means that it’s absolutely
dumping down with snow up at the ski
resorts which makes for a fantastic day
it can be really cold in the camper van
it got down to-4 the other night but
it’s really quick and easy to get it
nice and cozy with the heater on and we
haven’t really been that bothered by it
the only caveat to that is obviously
we’ve got no onboard facilities so when
it was minus 14 and I was desperate for
a week it was cold getting to those
toilets living out of a tiny VW T6
camper van can be and is in the middle
of winter really cramped and we have got
stuff everywhere in the van and it does
at times feel really really cramped
however when we do want a bit of space
we can go up to the clubhouse we can
stretch our legs we can sit in front of
the nice log fire and we can have beer
just to chill out from the cramped
conditions so we hope you found some of
the information that we’ve used in this
video of use particularly if you’re
thinking of camping and skiing from a
van in the winter there does come with a
bit of a health warning though we did
come last year and we did try it out for
2 or three days just to make sure we
thought we would be able to cope with it
and we do Winter Camp a lot in England
so we are used to being the confined
spaces and we used to living in a small
van in the cold so in our next video on
Sunday we are hoping to take you through
a day in the life of our early
retirement skiing from the Campsite in
Borg San marce and let you see just
exactly once and all what our daily ski
is like and whether it would fit for
some that you would want to do that’s
everything for now so we’ll see you soon
see you later
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bye

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 http://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…