Fernie: Cornerstone Lodge Review
Posted by on Wednesday, November 19, 2008
During the 2007/2008 season, we stayed in the Cornerstone Lodge, in Fernie, Canada (BC). The Cornerstone Lodge is in the actual resort, rather than Fernie Town, which is a bus ride down the road. I don't know the exact price that we paid for the 6 person appartment as we booked as part of a package holiday; based on what we looked at around the time, I think the Cornerstone is middle of the road for the in-resort accommodation. Prices are available on their site.
First off, and probably most important, I thought the location was excellent. Perfect in fact. The Cornerstone is situated right between the two main lifts that take you up (Elk and Timber Bowl Express), and right next to the beginner chair (the Deer). When you step out the door, you can literally be at any of the three lifts in under one minute. Awesome. and depending on what side of the building you're on, you can look out from your balcony to see if there's a queue on a powder day, which chances are, there won't be!
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What's more, you have both the Griz Bar (after-shred-beers-and-nachos) and the ticket office immediately outsite the lodge. There's also a restaurant and coffee shop on the ground floor of the building. Tight.
If you want on-the-hill, true ski-in, ski-out, the Cornestone is the best, it's right bang smack in the middle.
If you want to be in Fernie town however, it's obviously no good. Personally I'd rather have the mountain right on hand; first on the lifts on a powder day. Sure there isn't much happening in the resort - but I prefer to spend bus-time on the evening and not when there's good shredding to be had!
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The quality of the accommodation was good - especially in the rooms themselves. We had 5 people in a 6 person appartment, which had the typical 2 bedrooms plus double sofa bed. I don't often like this configuration becuase who wants to sleep in the living room? That said, there was plenty of space.
The bedrooms were nice, spacious and comfortable; good storage space and nice bathrooms. The hot tub was ok - just what you need, soothing and relaxing - but nothing like what's on offer at the Lizard Creek Lodge. Think indoor health club hot-tub, rather than outdoor luxury, steaming tub, while looking up at the stars. But then again, I think the Lizard is way more expensive...
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The only slightly weird thing is where you check in. There isn't actually a reception in the Cornerstone - you use the reception at the nearby Griz Inn. It's no biggy - as long as you know what you need to do. If you don't, you can end up walking around in the cold. It also helps if you're in a group so that some can stay with the luggage so you're not hauling it around!
To summarise - if I was going back to Fernie I would stay in the same place. To me, the location was perfect, it was reasonably priced and good quality. What more do you need?
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Labels: accommodation, fernie trip, review
The Penthouse, Morzine: Accommodation Review
Posted by on Wednesday, August 29, 2007
The Penthouse is a luxury chalet situated in Morzine, France. It's not cheap and there are one or two inconveniences inside; but the location is central, the chalet itself is excellent and the service from the owners ranks highly too.
A group of us stayed in The Penthouse, Morzine, earlier this year in January. It was a good holiday despite snow conditions and the accomodation really added to it. Here's the review.
I'm gonna start by getting the minor annoyances out of the way. To begin with, there was only one standing shower. The other three bathrooms all had the hand-held style where the water kinda goes everywhere. Secondly, there wasn't a great deal of storage in the bedrooms: only one of them had a set of wardrobes. Finally, there were only two keys for the chalet, which spread between 6 to 8 people can be a bit of a stretch...
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Inside the chalet. And now the positive things. The comment about the showers should be balanced against the number of bathrooms: 4. That's right, there was one bathroom per bedroom, which is a luxury in my book. Likewise, with regards to space/storage it should be noted that the ski locker was big and there was also plenty of general space around the chalet, which is usually where you need it when in a group.
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The living space was comfortable and well finished, with fire, tv and dvd player. The dining table was great, with plenty of room for all and the kitchen was fully loaded to match. The living space was all open-plan, which was good for the social atmosphere and generally pretty sweet.
Location. The chalet is situated in old Morzine, at the bottom of the hill near the church. It's a really nice area: great views from the chalet's balcony, good shops right on hand, an Internet cafe and two good bars just across the road - Robinson's (I think) and Dixie Bar, both are good hangouts.
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The supermarket was within comfortable distance and, if it's your type of thing the chalet sits above a pretty good delicatessen, great for cheese and such like. There's also a bus stop right outside so if you want to head to the base of Avoriaz it's super easy - excellent! All in all the chalet has a lot of great amenities right on hand.
The only downside is that it's a ten minute walk up into the newer part of Morzine. It's here that the base ski-lifts are found: on one side of town there is the Morzine area (and Les Gets) and on the the other there's the Super Morzine lift, which takes you up towards Avoriaz. There's probably a bus that takes you up the hill, but I never used it. In this instance I don't think a walk up the hill is such a bad thing; kinda like a warmup :) That said I've got snowboard boots on - not ski boots!
As I mentioned above, if you are heading to Avoriaz there's a second option: take the free bus to the Avoriaz base area, Les Prodains. It's a quick option for getting up there and the bus stop is literally right outside the chalet.
On the evenings though, we found the main restaurant selection to be in Morzine centre, which meant a brief walk. It didn't bother us, but it's something to think about...
Price. 6 of us paid £1500 at the end of January, for one week. I think that's fairly expensive, but it should be balanced against the quality of the accommodation, which was high. What's more, if you were to look for a similar style apartment/chalet that's central in the majority of French resorts, you'd struggle to find something in this price range. If more luxurious accommodation is one of the things on your list, The Penthouse ticks a lot of boxes!
Service. The owners provided good friendly service, taking time to answer all questions before hand and the transfer from Geneva that we opted for was very smooth, with friendly local knowledge given on the way. Add in a bottle of wine as a welcome drink and it all stacks up pretty nicely.
Overall. It's not easy to find this type of accommodation in central town locations. To me, given the quality of The Penthouse, this justifies a higher price. Personally, I was most looking forward to riding in Avoriaz, but I wanted the type of accommodation on offer in Morzine. In this respect, the chalet is excellent. Given the pros and cons mentioned above I still feel the location is spot on.
For sure I don't want to spend this amount of money on all of my snowboarding trips, but for those times that you do want to spend a little more - The Penthouse is a great option.
Labels: accommodation, review
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