Conrad Sutcliffe talks abouts skiing in December
EVER thought about skiing before Christmas but been too afraid to try it? You tell yourself there won’t be any snow, the lifts won’t be open and the bars and restaurants will all be in mothballs. So why take the risk?
They are all reasonable worries. But in the age of the Internet it is possible to check out resort opening dates – including ones that have been brought forward thanks to early dumps of snow – and get some first tracks in before the hordes arrive for Christmas and the New Year holiday. If you have a bit of nerve, access to the Internet on the move, a hire car and somewhere to stay, you can have a skiing experience that will never fade from the memory.
Certainly our three-man party – myself, photographer David Morgan and fellow journalist Phil Griffin – won’t forget our whistle-stop tour of the Alps, during which we skied in France on Monday, Switzerland on Tuesday and Italy on Wednesday before getting two more days in France before flying home with a week left to do the Christmas shopping!
The mechanics of the trip were relatively simple. We located an apartment in the village of Argentière in the Chamonix Valley, booked three return flights from Bristol to Geneva with Easyjet and picked up a hire car when we landed. An hour and a half later we had dumped our bags in the flat and retired to the nearby Office Bar to plan day one of our tour.
Having checked the Chamonix website in advance (www.chamonix.com) we knew a limited number of runs were open in the Grand Montets area roughly two minutes drive from our base. After a leisurely breakfast, and a quick trip across the road to replace some of last season’s worn out kit, we motored down to the lift pass office and bought a day ticket for the Grand Montets area.
Okay, the skiing was a little limited, but the place wasn’t exactly crowded either. By the end of the day we were on nodding acquaintance with most of the other skiers on the mountain. But there was more than enough snow to keep us occupied for around five hours, including a 2km red run down the mountain back to the main gondola. Just the thigh-burning exercise needed to get the ski legs working again. And with a discounted lift pass costing 24 euros – less than £17 at the rate of exchange – who was complaining. Not us as we weaved down virtually deserted slopes.
From our pre-trip research we already knew that Crans Montana (www.crans-montana.ch) and Verbier (www.4vallees.ch) across the border in Switzerland had been open since the last week of November. Over dinner in the Stone Bar on Monday night we opted for Verbier as it was a shorter drive. Argentière is barely 15 minutes’ drive from the frontier and from there it is a short hop to Martingy, where we picked up the E62 and headed east to Verbier Verbier styles itself as the Four Vallees, although when we visited only one of them was open and that was somewhat restricted. But we were able to get almost 3000 metres up the mountain to the Col des Gentianes and explore the reds and blues that had already been bashed in readiness for the start of the season proper. If we needed any reminder that Verbier was getting ready for the season we got it approaching a coffee stop at La Chaux when a maintenance worker skied past us carrying an extendable ladder over his shoulder!
During five hours slope time we skied everything worth skiing several times – plus one stone-littered run we probably should have avoided after the first sortie – and came off the mountain well satisfied. The worst part of the day was the drive home, particularly the leg down the mountain back to the E62 behind what seemed like every road-mender’s truck in Switzerland, although a provisioning stop at the Co-op just outside Verbier lifted our spirits as the prices were less than across the border in France.
Our dining options in Argentière were a little limited that night as the ‘official’ opening of the resort wasn’t for another four days. We ate well in La Rencarde – which has the benefit of a wireless Internet connection which laptops can be hooked up to for a quick check of the following day’s options. Over tartiflette, a few beers and an entertaining chat with a group of Parisian window cleaners in the village doing some sprucing-up work, we settled on Courmayeur as the destination for day three. If it’s Wednesday, it must be Italy… A quick check on the worldwide web (www.courmayeur.com) confirmed the lifts had been running since November 25 and there was enough snow around for 80 per cent of the pistes to be open. Well worth the trip then. When the weather is right and the right lifts are open you can ski from Courmayeur to Chamonix.
We weren’t that lucky and had to drive through the Monte Blanc tunnel, which was no great hardship as the entrance on the French side was within 15 minutes of our apartment. The 38 euro return toll was a bit of a shock, but less than half an hour after setting off we were getting lost in and around Courmayeur trying to find either the main lift station or one that was open. Another shock was the cost of a day ticket at nearly 37 euros, but we were told the mountain was almost fully open so why quibble? The pain of parting with our cash was quickly eased by the lift-station attendant holding the gondola for us to lumber through the turnstiles and round to the door. Bet he doesn’t do that during February half-term week.
The Courmayeur website was spot on. Having got up to Plan Chercrouit, and stowed our gear in lockers at the Noleggio ski shop and headed for the top of the hill. Two lifts later we emerged at Cresta Youla with two stunning views to drink in. On the left was the awesome sight of Mont Blanc. Immediately ahead of us was a wide-open red run and not another skier in sight. It was deserted. At times like that you really appreciate the magic of the mountains. We gorged ourselves all day at Courmayeur until there was nothing left to ski. Before lunch we skied the Chercrouit side of the piste map. After an excellent – and surprisingly inexpensive lunch at the mini-resort of Plan Chercrouit halfway up the mountain, we followed local advice and switched to the Val Venny side.
By the time we dragged ourselves reluctantly off the mountain and back to our hire car, it was starting to get dark. Could it get any better? We didn’t think so. But by Friday we had to admit we were wrong. Day four took us down the Chamonix Valley and on to Megève where we had an unexpected bonus of free lift passes. True there were only a handful of lifts to take advantage of as the resort wasn’t fully up and running yet. But it was a nice gesture by the lift company and went some way towards getting over the 26 euro bill for two cups of coffee each and one cake between the three of us during a walk around town.
The Rothschild banking dynasty had a lot do with the emergence of Megève as a winter resort around 80 years ago. Judging from the coffee shop prices in the town and the restaurant menus on the mountain, it pays to be a well-heeled banker to go there. With only half-a-dozen runs open, we had our fill of Megève not long after lunch and wound our way back down through St Gervais to Argentière and an early night in the bar planning our fifth and final excursion. A casual conversation the previous night in the Rusticana bar with a couple from Scotland had tipped us off that there was great skiing to be had at Les Houches (www.leshouches.com) where almost all the marked pistes were open.
The chance to have a crack at the Kandahar – the black run used for Men’s World Cup round in February – made our minds up for us. It snowed all night and was still coming down the following day when we loaded up our trusty VW Golf estate and pointed it towards Les Houches and the Bellevue lift station. There was fresh powder to be had and we couldn’t wait to get our ski tips in it. Courmayeur was good. But Les Houches was better. Round and round we went on semi-deserted pistes with the powder coming up to the top of our boots. With tree-lined pistes and charming mountain huts to stop at – one reminded me of an old-fashioned British transport café with its smoke-filled interior and reasonable prices – it was a day to remember for all the right reasons.
After a late lunch at La Cousna restaurant next to the Bellevue gondola, and a delightful chat with a father and daughter from Marseilles, there was just time to squeeze in two more runs – the last one down the Kandahar to finish on the highest of highs.
Back in the summer when we started planning our pre-Christmas excursion, fellow skiers of our acquaintance were quick to tell us we were mad heading for the Alps in the second week of December. We proved them wrong with a bit of careful planning. My advice to anyone thinking of following in our ski tracks is to do the same. Head for Geneva on a cheap flight then pick up a car at the airport. We covered almost 500km during our six-day stay and it was worth its weight in gold to us. Use the Internet before you go, to see where the snow is and find accommodation, and have some way of logging on when you get there. We had laptops with mobile phone connections, but it probably would have been much cheaper to use computers in bars and restaurants. And don’t be put off by people who say it is a ‘crackpot’ idea. Those same people were the most jealous ones when they listened to our stories when we got back. As for the cost, we paid about £75 each for flights, around £300 split three ways for our hire car and £250 for our apartment. Lift passes were generally discounted and – even with Courmayeur included – it cost us less than £75 for the week. Wining and dining accounted for around £100 each. Total cost per head was around £425 and it was worth every penny.
Conrad, David and Phil flew with Easyjet from Bristol to Geneva (www.easyjet.com), hired their car from Europcar (www.europecar.ch) and stayed in accommodation found via (www.mediaski.com).