UCPA Argentière - Chamonix — Hotel in Bonneville

People love this place and come back year after year for a reason, overall it's a great experience and an incredible value for money. My main tip - expect it to be like any other hostel you've been to and you're likely going to be pleasantly surprised. The centre is modern and clean, there's everything you'd need - plenty of drying rooms, a bar and a sauna. The ski shop has plenty of good off piste and touring skis, though no twintips. There's a strong community vibe, everyone's friendly and always looking to help out. The food is generally quite good - again, don't expect something extravagant. The dinners are usually the best with something new every day whereas the breakfast is usually sandwiches and bland omelette. Most of the days apart from the last one a picnic area is provided for making sandwiches to take with you on the mountain but the same sandwich two times a day can get boring quickly. On the plus side, it saves you loads of money! You can also opt for hot lunch, the only time we had it it was leftovers from dinner. The sauna works between 4:30-7pm Mo-Fr and is quite hot so you won't be disappointed, though don't expect anything from the pool in the winter as it's outside. Every evening after dinner they organise different activities which is great if you want to meet new people and socialise. Doesn't matter if you come alone or as a group, you'll definitely have good fun. The main groups of people are French, British and Swedish. The instruction courses provide simply unparalleled value, especially if you want to explore the more remote parts of the mountain. The instructors are all experts of their trade and speak a varying level of English. I got very lucky with Jasper who speaks fluent English and is really patient, knowledgeable and helpful. As previously mentioned, the staff are overall very nice but there were a couple of them that were extremely inhospitable on a couple occasions which is the only reason I'm not giving five stars. Of course, rules in a place like this are important but there's no need to act as if people are criminals when they are simply unaware of them and are understanding and cooperative. For example, one employee was looking at the sauna through CCTV and when some people brought a couple of beers immediately came and started threatening to shut the sauna down (another thing uncharacteristic of a hostel are the beer prices in the bar and they expect people not to bring any booze of their own). Furthermore, on the last day when no sandwich making facilities were provided at the end of the lunch when everyone had eaten I wanted to take something for the road. One kitchen worker immediately came, angrily started complaining about the baguette with some salad and meat on my plate as if I was taking them from a starving child and instead of telling me what I should do with the food took a photo of me and dashed away. He then invited someone from management and spent the following 15 minutes looking for me in the canteen as if he was hunting down an actual thief. I'm not sure what would've happened if he hadn't failed to recognise me but that definitely didn't leave the best taste at the end of my stay.

The resort itself is really solid. I imagine it'd be heavenly after some fresh snowfall but every square inch of the mountain gets tracked over after a while. There are dedicated picnic rooms in each of the skiing areas which I haven't seen anywhere else. If you manage to avoid the French school holidays the pistes are almost empty, well looked after and seem quite fresh even towards the end of the day. The snowpark in Le Tour is not quite suited for those wanting to progress but you can still have some fun if you're...

For anyone who hasn't heard of the UCPA, you've been missing out big time!!!|I stumbled upon the UCPA serendipitously while looking for accommodation in or around Chamonix for my summer of preparation for the Matterhorn summit. Here is what I've discovered. |Firstly, the UCPA isn't just some backpacker hostel chain. It is a not for profit organisation run by the French government, which is focussed on sport, adventure and active leisure. There is a huge number of UCPA hostels in France and abroad and don't expect to only get accommodation. |At Argentiere, the UCPA is focussed on entry level alpinism, mountaineering, mountain biking, hiking, rafting, skiing/boarding and Salsa. Yes, you can learn to Salsa here! |The hostel is beautiful and clean with views of Mont Blanc. It has a swimming pool, sauna, small climbing gym, volleyball court and great bar with a pool table and dance floor. All you can eat buffet breakfast and dinner is provided daily and is included in the price of your activity which is usually 1 week long. There is an equipment hire room which has all you need for Alpinism. Equipment hire is also included in the price of your activity. |For all of you non-francophones, here is the secret: The English version of the UCPA website is poor and does not include about 80-90% of the activities that the French version does. Therefore use the French website and let your browser translate it to English and it'll unlock tonnes of weeklong activities otherwise not available on the English version! That is how I booked my activities. |This is my fourth week here at Argentiere. At first I was worried that I'll be the only non-French guy here and although this was not far from the truth (typically the mix is 85% French, 10% Swedish, 5% other) everyone has been just awesome and have made me feel really welcome. Even the few that speak hardly any English have made an effort to chat with me and I've been doing the same thing with my extremely broken French. All the guides can speak English and are very good at what they do. |Every evening there are some activities at the bar. Tuesday is crepe day, Thursday is BBQ evening and on Friday there's a big dance party to conclude a fantastic week. |I absolutely love UCPA Argentiere and highly recommend it and any other UCPA for a holiday. It is more relaxed and has a bigger party feel than the UCPA just down the road at Chamonix which is more focussed on hard core Alpinism and summits (see my separate review). If you're young, love the mountains and want to test your limits while making fantastic new friends, take your next holiday with the UCPA. I promise you that you'll want to come back...

I did a week's boarding in Morzine at the start of January with friends. The snow wasn't great and the off-piste course I took was more dirt than snow. I decided I wanted another week away but none of my friend's had the money, that's when I found UCPA. ||If you just want to do some hardcore snowboarding or skiing then this is the place. As everyone else has said rooms and food are basic but perfectly adequate. They even provide you with food for you to take with you for lunch. You could probably go on a UCPA holiday and not spend a penny!||I shared a room with 3 other English guys (by the sound of it they try to room solo travellers with people of their own nationality) but the majority of people their spoke English. It's mainly English, French and Swedish. I was a little hesitant as had never gone on this type of holiday, and have done hardly any hostelling or backpacking, (I think I stayed in a hostel for 1 night in NYC prior to this) but everyone is there for the same thing though, the snow, so you all have something in common.||I was told the Argentiere is more for the people who just want to board/ski, (although the bar was still packed most nights), and the Chamonix venue tended to be a younger crowd who liked visitng the bars and clubs of Chamonix (from Argentiere you can get the bus and night bus to/from Chamonix, and people did!). Don't get me wrong, I like to do that too but I was exhausted after every day. I'm a fit guy, I'm a triathlete and had a week of boarding under my belt already this year but the course was hard work. The snow wasn't perfect so that made it a bit more challenging but I was surprised how tired I was and was glad it wasn't frowned upon to be in bed by 9pm!||All in all this was a great holiday. If, like me, you're concerned about sharing with strangers, especially if you're a light sleeper too, don't. Bring some ear plugs and an eye mask and you'll be fine. The people on the course, including your guide (Boris was great!) will become friends, there's plenty to eat and all kinds of varieties and you'll sleep soundly through the night through exhaustion or alcohol induced slumber. Most importantly, you'll be a lot more confident and competent on or...