UP AND DOWN: Pierra Menta

The Pierra Menta race is just a month or so away - the FA Cup of ski alpinism, if you like.  If you want to go and watch, the chairlift opens at 5am.  A crowd of 2000 is expected.  Spectating is at your own risk of course.

The whole set-up really is quite something.  Here's the video from last year.

For more on Areches-Beaufort, click here.

SMALL AREA, BIG MOUNTAIN: Areches-Beaufort

If you're looking for a base to explore a number of different ski resorts, Albertville is certainly an option.  But an attractive alternative involves basing yourself 20km in the (to Brits anyway) low profile Beaufortain valley.

From the super little town of Beaufort you can:

• Ski the Espace Diamant from Les Saisies (our visit to Crest-Voland is here)
• Visit Les Contamines from the back door entrance at Hauteluce
• Ski the local slopes above the town at Areches-Beaufort.  Which is what we did

The resort isn't particularly high (slopes to 2300m) but then it's not that low either.  And the ski area is small.  But it does have two (loosely connected) mountains, and so it feels bigger than you might expect.  Here's the official blurb from the tourist office, which includes some videos.

All in all, it's well worth a look - a good mixture of moyenne montagne and haute montagne, with serious views across the valley and towards Mont Blanc.

Park at Le Planay (1200m), and take the lift up.
Looking back into the Beaufortain

The slopes around the Col des Combettes (2100m)
feel higher than they actually are.
Taken from the cosy restaurant half way down

The point about it being a serious mountain is a serious one.  Areches hosts the famous Pierra Menta ski alpinism race every March, and has been making real efforts to build its credentials as a base for ski randonée.  For example, there are a couple of avalanche-secured tracks now in place on the mountain that you can now follow.

It's nothing like the ski in, ski out convenience you get in fancier resorts.  For example, the link from the Le Planay side to the Le Cuvy area at Areches involves a walk through the car park that would get some mollycoddled skiers seriously aerated:

Then again, you are rewarded withthe spectacular Perches red run back to Planay, far from the hum of any ski lifts:

The Perches run from Le Cuvy

It's about 2 hours from Geneva (take the Annecy lake road for a scenic introduction) and for a day trip or a weekend should be a real contender - particularly for the more experienced skier who wants to try something with a more "traditional feel" without wanting to compromise on being in a "proper" ski area.

ALBERTVILLE: Gateway to just about everywhere

It's now 21 years since the Albertville Olympics, and it's not hard to see the legacy (for example the upgraded RN90 through the Tarentaise or indeed the La Plagne bobsleigh track).

Albertville may struggle to make a claim to be a ski resort in its own right, but has options stretching out in all directions - more here.

Its setting, at the confluence of the Isere and Arly, is a beautiful one.  But one would struggle to describe the town as attractive.  With one exception.  The medieval city of Conflans, just above the town, is quite something:

The Wikipedia guide to Conflans is here.

The Auberge de Costaroche sits just below, and is a budget base for visiting some of the following:

• 30 mins: Brides-les-Bains, with direct access to Méribel and the Trois Vallées
• 30 mins: Areches-Beaufort.  Here's an appreciative write-up in today's Sunday Telegraph
• 35 mins: Valmorel - if you want to be a bit different, you can access the skiing via access via Doucy-Combelouviere or (even more daring), Celliers
• 35 mins: Crest-Voland and the Val d'Arly

PS: If you are buying ski equipment, the Decathlon, just off the RN90, is well worth a stop - both for the range (including ski rando and ski de fond) and the prices.

FRENCH SKI RESORTS: The Premiership for 2013/14

The 2012/13 season saw Wigan (Areches-Beaufort), Reading (Valmorel) and QPR (Les Gets) relegated from the Premier League - which means we need to identify the French ski resort partners of the new teams.

Looking at the three promoted clubs, it seems reasonable to say that Hull City are Areches-Beaufort: off the beaten track, quietly doing some good things, strongly patriotic locals.

And Crystal Palace are Valmorel: getting back to where they were in the 1980s, but still not entirely convincing.  Just as Palace market themselves at their south London catchment area, Valmorel targets its marketing at the south too (of France, that is).

Cardiff City is a tricky one.   I don't really see them as Les Gets.  So I've opted for Montgenevre, mainly because there seems to be some serious money going in there, but (until now) nobody really talks about them much.