Les Contamines, France

Another clear day, with the promise of lots of sun... a bit of wind but generally good.

We chose to go to Les Contamines, at the end of the valley, where we had been the other year, but this would be the first for a while for Chris and M-J, who had not been back since the early days with the climbing club trips.

The car park was packed and icy, but by chance we found a slot where someone had just vacated after dropping their children at the ski school, and we got ready in the shadow, and cold. However by the time we got up to the plateau we were in full sun and things warmed up.

From the plateau we worked our way across to the highest point by way of the motorway runs, and I took the opportunity to check out the play park ...  we would visit this next year.

Now suitably warmed up, from the top we cut over to the off-piste from the ridge ... this has a little gap with some fantastic views down into Megeve (but only the foolish drop over here)

After we had our fill of the view and the atmosphere, we prepared for the powder descent down to the bottom of the top lift...

Great fun - steep and powdery on a firm base.... it has never disappointed each time I have been here. and it was not long before we were on top the little hump by the chair lift start

From here we kept straight on down .. this section of off-piste follows just outside the nominal black (un-pisted) run.

Before eventually running out of room and coming back t the black. We could have gone further away, but the slope diminishes and it becomes a traversing exercise.

Using the empty black to release the brakes and charge off we soon got to the bottom drag lift. Now we had a decision to make .. take the lift back up or continue down the track to the bottom.

The factor that swayed it was the auberge part way down and the time was near lunch. so off we went ... with the small section of walking before arriving at the hut.

Lunch on the terrace over looking the outriders to mont blanc basking in the sun is always a good moment.

After lunch we continued following the direction of the track, but cutting corners and generally making the most of the powder.

Unfortunately we went to far at one point and could not get back to the track to cross a river...  we ended up fighting our way through some trees (have I mentioned before my love of the woods!)

However we were not the only ones to do this and there was a trail of footprints to follow.

Eventually we made it out the other side, and back onto the more usual and used tracks ... what a difference it made, as here there were so many tracks.

We finished up dropping down a well worn track to the river and then back to the lift station... That was it for the day... the effort walking in deep snow through the trees carrying the skis had taken it out of the girls, so we called it a day ...

Back at the van the previous icy car park was a lake .. shallow but very wet ...  so we took all the it over to the side to get changed and back into "street" clothes.

From here we dropped down below St Gervais to visit the hypermarket for fuel and "treats" for home before returning to the chalet for a well earned rest. Les Contamines works again.

Trip Track

St Gervais, France

The storm had passed and the sun was threatening to come through the cloud. There was a strong wind, but the outlook was good.

As we only had one chain, it made sense to drop down following yesterday's route.

Yesterday we had the only tracks here, but already several people had been down with the same idea as us.

Catching the cable car to the top, we initially dropped down the Megeve side, but soon found this to be very wind blown and icy, so it took little persuasion to drop over the other side and check out some off piste I had been eyeing up on the lift up.

We dropped down on the St Gervais side in a fantastic bowl with great "train track" run out .. there was plenty of fresh powder left and the run out made navigating easier.

We enjoyed ourselves so much we quickly took the lift back up to near the top and traversed in from the side.

We were the first to drop in form this side and we had choice of routes in the powder. There was some danger under the powder here where the base was a little broken up, but still good fun.


Down at the bottom of the slope we followed the same train track back out.

This had tired us out and it was time to search for some food (chips), so we made our way tot he top station and the "buvette" by way of another excursion to check out the Megeve side and see if it had got any better...  it had not.

After lunch we wanted to stay on the sheltered St Gervais side, so headed down a slope of well used Off piste which still had soft powder on it.

There was one section of this side we had not visited and this seemed like an ideal opportunity to take a look, so we caught the Poma lift from the intermediate station, through the woods, and emerged above a clearing.

this opened out into a large pasture and lots of powder, although the slope was  a little shallow for tight turns we had a period of fast long schusses.

On the way back to the intermediate station we took several excursions into the trees on some well used trails ...  causing much mirth and merriment.

Popping out of the woods at the intermediate station we realised that the day was passing and  temperature was dropping, so time to go home.


We dropped down the descent route, and whilst M-J and the girls went back to the chalet, Chris and I dropped down to the town and picked up supplies for the evening meal.

Followed by the same skin back up ... this time slightly slower as we were by now quite tired ....  A great day.

Trip Track

St Gervais, France

Wednesday and the clear skies had disappeared ...  the cloud was down and snow was falling.

A lazy day was in prospect until the cabin fever hit ...  restless, and with fresh snow all around, the bakeries of town called.

Together with Chris and M-J, I determined to ski down and skin back up. We walked through the little estate to the pasture below, and skied over to the descent route and followed it down to the bottom station.

The snow was fresh and powdery with a good surface below and the only problem was the shortness.

Down at the bottom we put the skis on our packs and walked to the bakery for "supplies" before returning to the piste. Here we put the skins on ... one had a few problems as it seemed to have "shrunk", and there was plenty of banter around how long it had been stuck in the pack!

Then we started back up the descent route, hovering between full body armour with profuse sweat, and lightweight jacket with water penetration.

There were a couple of "shaky" bits where the snow had been blown off the ice below, but in general the climb was good exercise.

Before long we were cutting back across to the pasture below the chalet and so back with the girls for lunch.

Some good exercise, that filled an hour or so with a preview of things to come... tomorrow, but we did not know that yet.





Trip Track

St Gervais, France

Another brilliant day...  still a bit of a strong wind, but bright sun. After yesterdays issues with the chains we were lucky to be back early enough to get a parking space at the top if the hill, so the ice was not a problem.

We drove back down to the cable car station, and took the easy way up the mountain. Arriving at the top we dropped over the Megeve side, just as we had yesterday, this was still a little hard and so we decided to stay over on the St Gervais side, where we repeated the the red run a couple of times.

As the time was approaching lunch, and we could see a buvette with a short queue, we stopped off for a snack, Steph definitely had chips today. Whilst we ate we could see all the routes we did yesterday, including the summit of mont joli.

After lunch we tried out the Megeve side again, which had softened and gave us some good sport.

Riding the chair lift up to the top station I spied a  route on a little hill on the Megeve side.

We dropped back down and headed over there to explore... there was an excellent off-piste direct descent.

The day was passing and we were getting to the end of the day, so one final run down to the bottom as we did yesterday.

The drop down was much as yesterday, with a number of excursions into the trees and over humps

Back at the bottom station, as we walked back to the van we passed this jeep, just made its own parking spot.

Back to the apartment for a rest.

Trip Track

St Gervais, France

Today we woke up to clear skies, and were destined to drop down to the cable car below us and catch the car back up.

Putting all the kit in the car I got in to drive it up the hill, then manoeuvring out of the lay-by, the was something wrong .. the front left chain had jumped off.   No problem I thought .. just put it back on... Wrong ....  the chain had actually pulled out of the grommet ... not simple to fix ...  after trying we could not get it to stay on the chain.

So plan B ...  use the avalanche shovels and ice axes to chip the ice and snow off a trail up the hill, a bit of salt later and we had a one wheel runway, and succeeded to get the van to the top. The initial problem was that there was a manhole cover under the snow and it caught the chain and ripped the grommet off.

Down at the bottom we parked in the car park and went up the cable car ... the first target was the highest point from this side. Mont Joli ... I wanted to see where Dave and I had got many years before.

We did some fast descents and 3 chair lifts, before we got there. Despite the sun and blue skies t here was a vicious wind blowing over the col at the top of the highest lift. We dropped down almost immediately without checking out the tops.

We dropped down to a mountain hut, and managed to get a table for some lunch ... unfortunately for Steph .. no chips, just alpine food.

After eating we went back out on the slopes and shook out the cobwebs on the pistes below the hut..  We had so much fun we repeated it several times ...  each time getting progressively further from the piste.

The off-piste runs were well skied and packed down, with just enough loose snow softened in the sun to make it good fun.

After we had exhausted our energy we headed back down the pistes to the van ...  this was on wide open runs at the top with the occasional outing to the sides of the run, then in the woods the "outings" got more adventurous. At the top of the cable car we had a few anxious moments finding the route down the last section... this was hidden behind a few houses.

Down a the bottom we had a few roads to cross on foot before we had to put the skis on our backs and walk down. Unfortunately we walked right rather than left .. and added a few hundred meters to our walk.

Back at the van we took the ruined chain to a ski shop, in the hope it had a press to squeeze the grommet on, but it was not successful. So a second diversion to the shops in town for food for dinner, and fortunately a new set of chains (supermarkets sell all kinds of things these days!!!)

Here is the trip track