Just returned from skiing in Les Arcs (longish)
- From: "@elgy(nati-spam).org.uk" <""john\"@elgy(nati-spam).org.uk">
- Date: Mon, 24 Apr 2006 18:52:41 +0100
Well I have just got back and the trip was very, very good.
We caught the 22:42 channel tunnel crossing and arrived at Calais just after midnight. With little traffic on the French motorways we arrived at Bourg st. Maurice just before 9:00 on Good Friday. After breakfast we moved into our apartment in Arc 1600.
After unpacking, organising lift passes etc we were able to go skiing in Les Arcs well before lunch time and found an amazing depth of good quality snow. Almost every run was open, there were no lift queues and the sun shone.
Two friends arrived on our door step on Saturday morning bearing croissants at 8:00 the next morning having travelled down on the ski train from Ashford overnight. Incidentally this appears an excellent service with meals served at your seat and free wine and champagne for the princely sum of £150 return. One friend lives in Ashford so just gets on the train there then gets off at Bourg the next morning, walks over to the funicular and is ready to ski when the lifts open.
We spent 9 days skiing and the weather was good almost the whole time. One day it rained/snowed for a couple of hours which were spent over a long lunch in Pre St. Esprit. Factor 40 sun cream just about coped with the excessive exposure to the sun.
The snow conditions were fantastic spring snow most of the time. A strong frost overnight made the mogul runs very (ski breaking) hard, but the bashed pistes were excellent, especially the wide smooth red runs in Vallandry. As these were virtually empty we felt no guilt at skiing fast. It was great fun. The snow softened over the day and by the afternoon there would be a couple of cm of soft snow on top of a frozen layer; very flattering and easy skiing. We moved onto the higher and bumpier runs as the day progressed. Runs that were particularly good included the Ours and Combes in 2000 and Deux Tetes and Fond Blanc in 16/1800, which in the past have always been too stony or closed to enjoy fully. There were not the vast pools of slush and standing water often present at this time of the year.
We skied down to Villaroger one day, but the snow at the bottom was thinning dramatically and decided not to bother again. By Saturday 22/4/06 there were bare patches in places at the bottom of Vallandry and the Grizzly lift was closed. On Saturday 24th the resort was almost empty and we had whole chairlifts to ourselves. It was fantastic.
Being the end of the season meant there were some good bargains in the shops. I got myself a pair of Atomic SL11s for 400 euros and one of my friends a new book bag for 10.
On a down side the friends renting an apartment in the Cascade building had their ski locker broken into and a snow board stolen.
We left Arc 1600 at 19:00 on the Saturday night and had another easy drive up to Calais. Even the new road works on the A43 just after Chambery caused no problems. Unfortunately it took over 3 hours to get across the channel.
John
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