Tag Archive for: French Alps

Jon Weisberg

Dreaming of Skiing the Alps? Follow Warren Miller’s Advice: Don’t Delay.

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Warren Miller has been gone for less than a year, and his wisdom about not postponing your next ski adventure has been on my mind.

There’s one experience in particular that beckons. It is based in the beautiful ancient village of Saint Vincent in the Aosta Valley in the western Alps, close to Mont Blanc, Zermatt, and Monte Rosa.

Organized by Alpskitour, clients stay in their choice of five- and three-star hotels. The village serves as hub, and every day, they join their guide and a few other people to explore trails and slopes on the highest peaks in the Alps, crisscrossing between Italy, France and Switzerland.

The groups are mostly European-based intermediate and advanced skiers, with the occasional American, Canadian, New Zealander, or Australian. The guide and group ski together for five days, always riding different lifts and exploring new terrain.

They stop at quaint mountain refugios for lunch. Forget burgers and fries. This is on-mountain dining in beautiful settings.

The landscape is incredible. Dramatic peaks. Trails snaking through magnificent rock formations. Slopes that descend through scenic hamlets.

The dreamlike experience is what I remember from the Warren Miller films of my youth and from ski trips to the Alps in the 60s and 70s.

Then, wrapped up in family and career, I skied closer to home, exploring Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Wyoming, Idaho, Montana, and British Columbia.

The skiing has been great, but the dream of the Alps was always there.  My wife and I booked with Alpskitour for mid-March, 2019. We’re looking forward to returning to the roots of modern skiing, enjoying its history and culture; its  exceptional beauty, and hospitality.

Alpskitour has been advertising with SeniorsSkiing.com since last season. Their website explains the group’s unique concept and is filled with wonderful images of what to expect. I’ve been emailing with Gerry Walsh, a Brit who has booked with Alpskitour for several family ski holidays. He wrote glowingly about the guides, the hotels, the scenery, and the outstanding hospitality.

I know that the exchange rate isn’t optimal. We could wait until it is. And the flight to Milan will be a few hours longer than if I were traveling in the U.S. And committing this early has some risk regarding snow levels.

But forecasters tell us this will be an El Nino year with higher moisture and warmer temperatures and southerly snowfall.  And wherever you go, lodging and skiing tend to add up.

I’ll ski a few weeks in the West this season. Might even catch some warm corn days in New England. But come March, we’ll be in the Aosta Valley with Alpskitour.

Warren Miller had it right. Don’t put it off. If you love skiing, try something different. This will be my 65th consecutive ski season. We’ll be celebrating in the Alps.

mikemaginn

Follow The Leader At L2A

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Synchronized Cruising In The French Alps Captured By Drone.

That's cruising we like. Thanks to Nite Fly for the video clip.

That’s cruising we like. Thanks to Nite Fly for the video clip.

This reminds us of the coordinated swimming events we see in the Olympic Games, minus the gel in the hair.  Well, kind of. A group of skiers cruises down and around the slopes at Les 2 Alpes (aka L2A), an amazing resort which actually has a short summer season we reported on this August.  Click here to find out what our correspondent Val E. says about this second oldest in France that has some of the longest ski runs in the world.   And seniors over 72 ski free.  Yes!  If you are considering a ski trip—and who wouldn’t with the Euro so low—check out L2A.

seniorsskiing

Resort Review: L2A, France—”Two Alps, Two Seasons”

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Les Deux Alpes, France: Seniors 72+ Ski Free.

The "two Alps" in the name do not refer to the two facing mountain-sides that comprise the resort, but rather to two adjacent areas of the original mountain pasture on the north-south plateau on which the resort was built. These pasture areas (or 'alps') are part of the two villages of Mont-de-Lans and Vénosc that lie in the deep valleys, respectively, to the north and south. Credit: L2A Promotion

The “two Alps” in the name do not refer to the two facing mountain-sides that comprise the resort, but rather to two adjacent areas of the original mountain pasture on the north-south plateau on which the resort was built. These pasture areas (or ‘alps’) are part of the two villages of Mont-de-Lans and Vénosc that lie in the deep valleys, respectively, to the north and south.
Credit: L2A Promotion

Editor’s Note: This Resort Review was written by Val E., a reader who has an interesting background in the ski industry. Val used to work as a ski slalom course supervisor, snowboard technician, ski/snowboard clothing consultant, ski engineer, ski/snowboard writer and photographer in the U.S. and in Europe. He traveled to 25 countries, found snow in 11 of them, and he still searching. Val currently lives in Washington DC Metropolitan Area.

Les Deux Alpes (“le døz-alp”, aka L2A) is a big ski resort located 44 miles east of Grenoble. The name means “two alps”. It is the second oldest French ski resort which has the largest skiable glacier in Europe where people can ski from November to April and from June to August. Les 2 Alpes is one of the few places to offer summer skiing in the Alps. The Les 2 Alpes summer ski season is quite short, so check conditions and lift availability here.

Terrain

The resort has 102 runs, five of which are free. To get to the top of the hill you need to take one gondola, then another, et voila—you are at… the bottom of the glacier. You can go to the highest point (12,000 ft) by a t-bar or an underground railway—the

Here are some summer skiers doing the upper L2A. BTW, seniors 72+ ski free. Credit: L2A Promotion

Here are some summer skiers doing the upper L2A. BTW, seniors 72+ ski free.
Credit: L2A Promotion

latter is convenient if you want to relax between the runs. Some people call L2A “reverse mountain” because the slopes on the top are relatively easy, while the ones in the middle and at the bottom are steeper. With a total 7500 ft vertical drop and 10-km in length, it has one of the longest ski runs in the world. A lack of snow is rare, but the army of 214 snow cannons is ready for action. A six-day pass may cost you 220€ in winter and 197€ in summer. Skiers from 65 to 71 years old can get 10 percent off; anybody older than 72 can ski for free!

Getting There

If you want fewer stops on your flight to Europe, fly to Geneva, Switzerland, then drive south 140 miles. Some people prefer to travel through French cities: Paris (400 mi), Lyon (100 mi) or Grenoble (75 mi). To minimize driving from Paris you can take a high speed train to Grenoble— three hours, and then take a bus—one hour. Traveling through Italy is another option—the drive from Milan is 210 miles.

Lodging

L2A village is relatively compact and walk-friendly. You can rent an apartment or chalet or stay at a hotel from budget to four-star. Those who want to save money and are ready to commute by a chairlift may prefer to stay at one of two villages: Venosc or Mont-de-Lans. Larger hotels provide transportation to the slopes, but otherwise you can take a free bus circulating around the village. Lodging is located below 5500 ft, so sleeping should not be a problem, while skiing above 10,000 ft may require some adaptation. Because of that, staying there for at least five-seven days could be a good idea.

Food and Culture

French people are passionate about food, and you will notice that in L2A. Six restaurants rated by Michelin in 2016 are proof of that. There are plenty of places to eat and drink on the slopes and in the village. Responsible skiers may try hot red wine right on the slopes. To avoid lines at the restaurants and enjoy less crowded slopes, don’t plan your lunch between 12 pm and 1:30 pm. As in many European places do not expect free water at the restaurants, free soda refills, or many free public restrooms, especially on the hill. The English language should be enough to communicate, though the locals would be pleased to hear simple phrases like “Bon Jour” and “Merci”.

TIP: Check the Ice Cave on the glacier, buy wine and cheese in the grocery stores, and visit Grenoble—a charming historic city.

Bottom Line

If you have free time, some money, and a desire to enjoy skiing and French culture, go to L2A in winter, spring or even summer.

Here’s a short animated video showing the “nouvelle piste” blue route down from the top.  It’s 10-km long!  

L2A is the highest resort in the Alps. The summer ski season attracts camps, racers, and snow-starved skiers. Credit: L2A Promotion

L2A is the highest resort in the Alps. The summer ski season attracts camps, racers, and snow-starved skiers.
Credit: L2A Promotion

mikemaginn

Force Majeure: Skiing Is Back In The Cinema

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SeniorsSkiing’s First Movie Review A “Runaway” Hit From The Alps

We remember the New Wave of French cinema in the late-50s to mid-70s when going to a “Foreign Film” was an intellectual exercise. That’s when you and your date went to those black and white, sub-titled classics, The Four Hundred Blows, Shoot the Piano Player, Breathless or Jules and Jim, and afterward settled into a discussion about what it all meant. To jog your memory, check out this scene from Annie Hall, where Woody Allen squelches an academic babbler by dragging none other than media theorist Marshall McCluhan into the scene to settle an argument. We were all into interpretation, the more philosophically zealous the better.

Which brings to mind the 2014 movie Force Majeure, from the Swedish director Ruben Ostland. We were attracted to it because it takes place in a French ski resort in the Alps. Since the last film we remember that had skiing as a central element of the plot was Downhill Racer (1969), we thought we’d take it in. It certainly brought back the old-days of trying to “figure out” the message.

A vacationing Swedish family of four enjoys lunch on the deck of a mid-mountain lodge when an avalanche envelops the scene. It’s actually an

An avalanche triggers a family crisis. Credit: Ruben Ostland

An avalanche triggers a family crisis.
Credit: Ruben Ostland

astonishing sight as the assembled lunch crowd first marvels, then gasps, and finally panics at the approaching cloud of snow. What happens then propels the plot: The father of the family runs away, leaving his wife and two children behind to fend for themselves. The avalanche evaporates into a mist, the father returns, but the wife and mother is left with doubt. That uncertainty grows in several uncomfortable scenes including long, slow takes without dialogue, semi-humorous encounters with other couples at the resort and a foggy ski run that ultimately leads to the climax of the movie and its equally foggy denouement.

While the plot may drive some reflective conversations with your date, we loved our new insights into European-style skiing, the silent actor that we feel stole the show. The movie was filmed at Les Arcs in Savoie, France, which is a cluster of different resorts near Mont Blanc.

Open-piste skiing is a featured character in Force Majeure Credit: LesArcsNet

Open-piste skiing is a featured character in Force Majeure
Credit: LesArcsNet/SMA

We got a sense of what it is like to spend a week in the alps, open-piste skiing between different resort areas, taking tele-cabine gondolas from place to place and living in a tres chic, modern hotel with luxury dining and service. Les Arcs has a series of large, apartment-block-like hotels located at different altitudes, all connected by a web of lifts. When two characters in the movie head off-piste for some adventure skiing, the solitude and the scenery are exquisite.

Aside from a few thrilling mountain chases in James Bond films, we’ve not noticed ski resorts, skiing or ski racing in any recent movies. So, thanks to Force Majeure and director/writer Ruben Ostland, perhaps another auteur de cinema can realize the dramatic opportunities in alpine vistas.  Force Majeure is currently available on Netflix.

https://youtu.be/3nTJIc_e6Ns