Areches, France

Last day , and once more the sun was with us... but freezing and low cloud.

Just off the second chair the snow was in the air .. like standing under the snow makers

Not really a time for hanging around ..

the usual off-piste run, followed by a trip down the boarder cross park. and then off to the top .. I had persuaded Chris to go again at another skinning deviation ..

We set off to do a little bump besides the col de la forclaz.. but we rapidly got to the col and above the cloud the sun we hot, and the wind negligable..  so rapid change of thought and we headed off to the col below the grand Mont.

We ran our time to the limit and got the col, unfortunately an other 45 mins we would have got to the top but we had a turn around time.

the powder was fantastic, the crust not so good and then a very fast run down to the meeting point by the top of the first chair, and some chips!.

The day was ended by a freezing run down to Le Planay, and back along the river side to the van.

Areches, France

More Sun,   today back to Areches...  colder yet again ..  sun late in warming things up .. even had to put on the BIG gloves for the first time.

Riding the chair lift was un pleasant, but the first run through the trees was bitter

back up to repeat the off piste from the first day, and then for a play in the snow park ...

At this time I had a call to make so left for a very speedy descent back to the car to make the afternoon call.

Le Planay, France

So Day 4 and still no let up .. the sky is blue and the sun will appear over the mountains soon....  no rest day

Today we were going to Le Planay ...  the other half of the local hill ... connected by bus and piste but far enough apart to be separate hills.

No Steph to-day, but Dom was back with us

It is actually a little cooler than the other days and a portent if things to come...

like its sister hill this is really one ridge with lifts up the middle and runs each side..    to the top and then the red/black/red/black/blue to the bottom. the blacks were really just unpisted short cuts given a name. the first through the woods was good fun, the second was just steep bumps .. got a little tedious after while.
Back to the lifts and up top again .. this time riding well packed down in-between piste areas
. As the sun faded behind the cloud and the chill came back. I persuaded Chris to get the skins out and scout a little prompontary near the top of the Poma  .. would have good views. 100m climb , and some powder to come down ..  safe and should be fun.

Bump in the middle of the picture seen from the next day

The start was an obvious path used by people to get to the other side of the ridge for a useful off-piste descent back to the village. then we struck off up the ridge..

Soon on the top in a bitter wind - quickly changed and back to the piste.. red run all the way down and meet up with the others at the van.

Les Contamines, France

Another sunny Day ...  we decided to try the next resort along the valley .. from yesterday ...  the South side of Les Contamines ... we had been the other side a number of times but not from this side. The actual access and things was really good and we were soon up the ridge

The elements for today would be to stretch it a little Dominique was not with us, so a little more sustained was called for.

heading for the high point and to check out how compacted the off piste really was..  down the off/near piste down to the bottom of the lowest poma then back up for some time in the snow park the see saw was my undoing the first time but not the second.

then we cruised to the return side and lunch...  some more fast and furious and then home time.

Les Saisies, France

Day 2 ... another gorgeous day ...  time to expand th horizons a little.

Having been warned about parking charges we stopped at Hautleuce parking on the side of the road..  this little village has a connection chair into the Les Saisies area .. also known as Espace Diamant

Two chairs up took us to the hub top for here ...  you go left or right ...  we chose to go right towards Douce... very gentle stuff took us down and up a couple of times and we reached Douce.  my eye was taken by a sign showing a black route and 36 ... so a long one .. just what we needed.. checking the map showed it went all the way down and used a bus to get to Hautleuce.  checking the conveniently placed bus timetable we had good time and could be down for lunch.

So down the Les Pres route ....  un pisted, and starting off with a very gentle roll to the edge.  then basically straight down a number of bowls and through the farms at the bottom ...  very pleasant.

We had to wait for the bus, then I made a basic error and got off the wrong side of the town .. lang walk back ... and only one auberge in sight ... so we went back up for lunch at a "standard" piste hostelry.

to finish a buzz down the red to the bottom and back home

Areches, France

Totally new area for us ... Beafortain

The host (owner of the apartment) gave us some tips the night before and we chose to go to the "local" ski area - Areches

a very short drive up the valley from the apartment.
First stop some ski boots for Dominique, as we pulled into the town looking for the parking ... not a lot, and even what there was for the lift was limited. Anyway after getting the boots (whilst I drove around) we found a dubious spot in the school play ground ... time to try out the winter tyres.

A short walk to the lifts and we were heading up....  beautiful blueskies.

The area is laid out along a ridge line, so the two initial chairs just take you to the main point.  First run gave us some excellent opportunities under the lift ... light powder from the week before and warm sun soon got the legs working.

Next excursion went to the top of the area ...  two more Poma lifts required. the first very violent (Sue had a couple of issues, but recovered). the top one was an elastic one so much more refined.  from the top there was an unpisted red to the left through some ravines I had seen leading back to the middle of the pomas.  so much fun we repeated it.

Sue went back from here as we tried out a trip up the remaining Poma and some between piste bowls, before a final blast down the first run of the day.

Sue went down on the chair, as I raced down on the piste .. both Steph (just) and I made the bottom before the chair.   but the legs were tired!! and this was only a half day!

2013 Ski Trip, France

MJ together with Dominique, picked up Chris on the way down from Bedford and came down to ours. Sue, Steph and I, we waiting and ready   We then loaded up the van with all the kit, and with six of us spread around the van, the skis down the middle, and the kit loaded in all the crevasses.

Down to Dover and the ferry, fighting the queues on the M20, all trying to do the same as us. Once we got to the ferry port things got a little easier, and once we were soon on the boat and heading to France I relaxed.

We had booked a couple of F1 rooms just the East of Reims, the aim was to get there, and have a few hours sleep, before continuing, hoping to keep ahead of the bow wave of people from the UK and Holland who had half term at the same time.

The plan worked out well, until we started to pick up heavy traffic as we passed Bourg en Bresse and stuck with it to Geneva. By the time the darkness was falling we were passed through Ugine, Following the "idiot box" rather than the map we found ourselves on the "short cut" over the La Forclaz pass, instead of going around the bottom.

We found our way to Beaufort and soon worked out how to get to the apartment ...

Trip Time Line

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	|	Arrive Beaufort
Areches	|
	|	Les Saises
Les Contamines	|
	|	Le Planay
Areches	|
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