Another year and here we are getting ready for a week in the French alps. This time there was just Bryon and Jenny together with Steph and myself, there were several reasons for others not being able to make it. However this did mean we could all fit in one car - that being Bryon's Ford.
I had booked an apartment in Areches right at the start of the village ( I do like this
area) there were several options, but this gave us three bedrooms and a large main room. I was in a building called Chalet du Grand Mont and was on the third floor up a series of circulating stairs.
Steph could not get Friday off work so was coming after her shift ended, and so we had to settle for an overnight drive down through France. We also travelled on the Channel Tunnel route as this also saved time, however due to the restricted crossing times we could only get on the 1:45am crossing. Arriving in France near 4am and then heading off along the usual series of Motorways down to Annecy, and hence on to Beaufort & Areches. Our apartment was a private hire and so the keys were handed over by the owner (she even waved us into our alloted parking space.
The itinerary for the week would depend on the weather and how everyone was
feeling, in addition Jenny was still a beginner on skis and Bryon would be guiding her, so that left Steph and I for touring
The Return would be similar, but a little more relaxed as we were booked on the 9pm crossing home.
The trip started with cloud cover and sunny periods, with snow cover down to the village, however as the week went on the snow turned to rain and we had rain/snow most nights and the rain got heavier as the days progressed through the week. By the end the snow had disappeared from all around the chalet and even closing the valley runs. We were out each day of the trip with differing adventures - detailed in the reports linked below.
This all changed on the last day when the snow returned and recovered the fields with a slight dusting and enough to re-open some of the closed runs. The picture was all green only 24 hours earlier!
