"A bit of an odd set-up"
"Feels like it needs more thought"
"A-MA-ZING views"
Some comments overheard on a visit last season to the summit of La Plagne's skiing...
Change is on the horizon. There are big plans to further upgrade the lifts across the resort, and the Glacier is at the heart of these plans.
For now, the trip up there is not without its drawbacks. Assuming it's open, of course. It's closed for 35 days each season.
Coming from Les Arcs, the journey up there can certainly take a while - whichever route to Roche de Mio you use. Even in low season, allow some time.
Once you get to Roche de Mio, there is the ancient lift to take to the start of the Glacier skiing. You can't ski to it direct.
The pistes are not really for beginners. The red from the top of the new Glacier lift gets bumpy, and many people take the easier (but narrow) track - which the gets very crowded. Persevere, however; if you are up for the fierce Derochoir piste, you have the chance to make a 2000m descent all the way down to Montchauvin, at 1250m. There are also a couple of blacks up there which have recently been re-instated as pistes.
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| The fiddly "retro" gondola link to the glacier will be condemned to the ski history books from 2016 |
The headache for the resort is that, despite it being (in theory) the jewel in the crown, just 1% of its skiers' time is spent on the Glacier.
From 2016, there will be a new 10-person telecabine, which will take 2,800 skiers an hour. And a new red piste will enable skiers (and piste bullies) to reach the slopes directly. This will be followed by a second gondola in 2017; details here.
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| See www.perso-laplagne.fr for more |
For more on the 10 year plan for La Plagne's pistes, click here.
Looking back, 2015 marks ten years since the glacier was open for summer skiing - more here.
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