SUMMER SKIING

Val d'Isere, Tignes and Les 2 Alpes are the three main remaining sites for summer skiing in France - details of opening times etc here.  Deux Alpes seems to have the slight edge over Tignes, boasting an 800m vertical drop.

It may be a poor third, but the short summer skiing season in Val d'Isere is already underway - more details on Henry's Avalanche Talk.

After the middle of July, the two remaining choices will be Tignes and Les 2 Alpes. www.summerski.co.uk is a loyal companion.

There used to be a rather greater choice of venues...

La Plagne gave up in 2005.  The Chiaupe glacier used to be a nice, quiet, mellow place to go in summer, according to Frogblog.  It sounds like skiing up here could have continued, but it was simply not economical any more.

Alpe d'Huez used to open regularly, but no more - although it was "exceptionally" open for a week in June 2012.

Apparently there used to be summer skiing on the Grands Montets in Chamonix until the 1980s.

And Val Thorens used to attract serious skiers to the steep Peclet slopes, but global warming made things more and more difficult through the 1990s, before they gave up altogether in 2002.

Back in Les Arcs, the focus in recent years has been more on protecting the Varet glacier from retreating any further, for example in spending €30,000 on a protective sheet to keep the snow away from the sun between May and September.  I haven't researched it extensively, but there seems to be some discussion as to whether there used to be a draglift on the glacier during the 1980s.  It seems that summer skiing was certainly on the summer lift map at that time, but a guide rather than via a ski lift.

Further east, there is more summer skiing to be in Switzerland (Engleberg & Saas Fee, but no longer in Verbier or St Moritz).  Austria has a number of sites: Kaprun, Stubai, Hintertux (where lots of ski teams train) and Solden (one of the few areas for Autumn skiing) - more here.  The excellent www.weathertoski.co.uk site gives the title of "best summer ski area" in Europe to Hintertux.

FLAINE

NEW 21 Dec 2013: More on the proposals for a new mega-lift (the "Funi Flaine) which would take skiers from the valley to resort in 15-20 mins can be found here.

Flaine (and the Grand Massif) is one of France's top ski areas.  No question.

The road to Flaine

The mountain and its various villages boast an impressive list of attributes.  Here are seven of them.

1.  Easy access: You can leave Geneva airport and be at Les Carroz in 45 minutes.

Above Les Carroz

2.  Easy access: Drive to Morillon instead and you have the easiest access to the skiing: a drop-off point for skiers, places to hire skis and a big car park.  And at 700m, you are unlikely to get stuck, have to get the snowchains out, etc.

3.  Choose where you stay.  Samoens has a powerful rustic village + jumbo gondola option; Sixt Fer a Cheval is completely away from it all; Les Carroz has various hotels and feels like a proper place.  And then we have Flaine.  This gives the "traditional" French ski in-ski out experience - the twist being the unique architecture.  The setting is a bit like Val Thorens, although the overall set-up feels much less urban - even if you don't like the architecture.  The wikipedia entry, charting the development of the site since 1959, is well worth a look.  

4.  A big ski area.  At 265km, it's bigger than La Plagne (225km) and Les Arcs (200km). The layout of the mountain gives you a real feeling of travelling around.  Meanwhile, the lift pass, at €43, is slightly cheaper than Les Arcs' €46.

5.  Great snow record.  The summit at 2500m may not sound too high, but the location of the Grand Massif really makes a difference - the area consistently posts some of the highest snow depths in the Alps.

6.  Some epic pistes.  The Cascades run from les Grands Platieres and the Marvel green run above Morillon are both worth making a detour for.  Try lunch at the Lac de Gers:

7.  Summer.  The Giffre valley is beautiful and boasts the feared cycling climb that is the Col de Joux Plane.  More sedate pleasures can be found strolling around the Cirque du Fer a Cheval beyond Sixt.

A few other things to watch out for:

• The Bissac at Flaine is a great spot to meet up, but gets very crowded, and the toilets can't cope with the demand.
• At the big Platieres gondola, you can beat the queue by opting to stand up rather than sit down in the cabins.
• The lift at Morillon 1100 struggles with the crowds during the (March) Paris school holidays - so must be a mare during the main February crush...
• If it's bad weather, the links to Flaine may close.  Even if they don't, they may be very, very cold.

For more on the area...some links:

The Telegraph's guide to Flaine

The We Love 2 Ski review of the area

Where to Ski and Snowboard's review

www.flaine.info - an independent English-language site

The summit, at 2500m

Flaine

LE TOUR DE FRANCE IN THE TARENTAISE

This year's Tour de France sees the peloton visit the Tarentaise briefly en route from Bourg d'Oisans to the practically perfect Le Grand Bornand.

The Tour has spent a good deal of time in the valley in previous years.  Here's a quick resumé:

Les Arcs 1996 - scene of Indurain's downfall

The doctor's car at Arc 1800, July 2009

Bourg St Maurice 2009 - Armstrong and co stayed in Arc 1950; the poorer teams like Euskatel made do with Arc 1800

La Plagne - "it's Stephen Roche!!", visited in 1984, 1995 and 2002

Tignes 2007 - won by the (later disgraced) Rasmussen

Val d'Isere - visited in 1963, 1996 and 2007.  At some point the Tour will make the climb to the top of the Col de l'Iseran.  That's the hope, anyway