SKI SEASON REVIEW: Les Tops et Les Flops

 It's nearly the end of the season, with April conditions easily an 8 or 9 out of 10 compared with the norm. A few thoughts on what's hot and what's not so hot in Les Arcs this winter.

One of the top viewpoints is from summit of Grizzly chairlift in Peisey-Vallandry

LES TOPS

* Coffee: The snow shack below the Arcabulle (en route to les Chalets de l'Arc) is far less busy than the Bulle Cafe and a great place to stop in the sunshine. Bring cash.

* Lunch: The Vanoise Restaurant in Peisey-Vallandry remains the go-to place for a sit-down meal, with prices in line with what you get at the self-service places in the more mainstream areas of the reports and quality far far higher. Pro tip: try the Tarte au Beaufort with a glass of sparkling Savoie or regular Les Abymes white wine.

* Afternoon drink: The Altiport is quieter and has better views than the Arpette. Staff and punters seem super-happy here! The patron of the Rooftop bit is a wine fan and has a fun Instagram account (rooftop_altiport). I hear good reviews of their lunch dishes as well. 

* Social media: Follow R'Les Arcs and Eric Siri on Facebook if you are a French speaker. Ski Club of Great Britain - Les Arcs on FB is great for latest conditions and opportunities to meet up with people to go skiing. The Les Arcs account on Instagram is quite good, though they seem to have given up on Twitter. Follow @RFJ1966 during the season instead.

LES FLOPS

* Morning buses from Arc 1800 to the Funicular on Saturday (changeover day) simply can't cope with the demand.

* The Blanche Muree: sadly it isn't what it was since the change of ownership. High prices and middling service/food.

* Club Med: it's been there a few years now, looking sullenly up at the beautiful Mont Blanc piste and refusing to fit in with the landscape. The feeble Xmas trees above the jardin des enfants will presumably soften the view in time. The only silver lining is that it seems to have been a catalyst for change as the new administration in Bourg-Saint-Maurice now have a "no new developments" policy.

OTHER THINGS

* The new Arpette restaurant has a great Les Arcs vibe including memorabilia all over the walls, but I wasn't sure they had the menu quite right. There is still a self-service, but it lacks that genuine mountain and everyone-in-it-together of yesteryear.

* The lightshow at the Varet gondola is well worth the time.

* Stand by for NEW Transarc for 2024/25 which will be an 8-seater (like the Vallandry lift) and reduce journey time from Arc 1800 from 20 to 13 minutes.

SUMMER SEASON is ON

Les Arcs will be open from 4th July - 29th August this summer.

On the agenda: regular events like the music festival and all the mountain activities (presented in the form of the rather complicated HERO card).

Plus - in a bid to boost the number of visitors and make up for at least some of the lost winter trade - the funiculaire will be free to all.

The summer website can be found here.

A RIVER RUNS THROUGH IT

This week sees the arrival of the French national canoe & kayak championships in Bourg St Maurice.

The action takes place by the Isere, just outside Bourg.  Apparently the course is uber-technical. The new Les Arcs site provides the novice with a briefing on the sport.

ROCKS AND STONES: The Grande Motte Glacier

Picking up on the post below about the retreat of the glaciers, today's Le Dauphiné  describes the increasingly poor conditions facing summer skiers on the glacier at Tignes. Some 20kms of pistes are open this summer - but rocks and stones have replaced snow and ice in many parts of the Grande Motte area.  The skiing is open until 9 August - unless the warm weather continues....

More at www.ledauphiné.com

Tignes is one of only a handful of French resorts still open for summer skiing.  Chamonix is no longer among them.

Diccon Bewes' excellent Slow Train to Switzerland provides us with a then-and-now account of the retreat of the ice at Montveners in Chamonix.  He quotes John Murray, in his 1861 hand-book for travellers in Switzerland and the Alps of Savoy and Piedmont:

The view of this enormous sea of ice is one of the most 

striking scenes of wonder, but its great extent....is not appreciated at first.

Not any more, says Bewes:

And a quick Google search provides more evidence of how it has retreated since its heyday.

The book retraces the steps
of one of the original Thomas Cook
expeditions - more here

SUMMER IS HERE

The Col du Petit Saint Bernard is now open, albeit after a bit of a delay.

Val d'Isere has opened its short summer skiing season.  Tignes will follow on June 27th.

Les Arcs is open for the weekends of 20/21 June and 27/28th.

Peisey-Vallandry's Facebook page is this blog's recommended social media site for the summer - lit comes complete with a good selection of local news, as well as various pictures of cows.

More on the coming summer here.

What's more of a concern is the return to our screens this Autumn of something scary:

SUMMERTIME NEWS

There is new snow up high, but it's the wrong type of snow.  In any case, all the resorts bar Tignes and Val Thorens are now closed.

The Montalbert telecabine is officially under construction.

@WeLove2Ski has published a warts and all guide to La Plagne.  "La Plagne's statistics make it feel like the best resort on earth....However it isn't the best resort - even in France."  It points out the slightly unusual terrain - flat around the main bowl and steep both up top and down below: "by turns it's bland and bloody terrifying".

Les Arcs' website now has its summer skin, with the resort open from 4 July - 29 August. This will see the reopening of the outdoor pool to complement the fancy new indoor pool/spa set-up.

There will also be weekend openings of the funiculaire and Cachette lift during the final two weekends of June.

The summer music festival runs from 19th July-2nd August - bringing with it lots of keen music students and free concerts.

The Tour de France continues to cold shoulder the Tarentaise, but at least the Cyclocoeur cyclo-sportive events, now in their 12th year, continue to flourish.  This year's events are on 7-9 August.

Meanwhile, over at Peisey Vallandry, home to some of the best walks in the area, there is a new website, including a summer photo competition...

Wainwright in the Alps: a walk from
Nancroix valley to the Lac de la Plagne

GATEWAY TO THE VANOISE: Peisey-Vallandry

Peisey-Vallandry needs little information - a resort of its own, reached by an extremely tough (for cyclists anyway) climb up from Landry, now reaping the benefits from being right at the centre of the Paradiski area.  The arrival of the Club Med is a sign of its success.

The Nancroix valley which divides Peisey from the La Plagne side is of course now spanned by the Vanoise Express lift.

In winter, it's the site of some of France's best cross-country skiing.

In summer, there is serious walking to be done, for example exploring the gateway to the Vanoise National Park from the head of the valley at Rousel.  The long-distance GR5 passes through, en route from Lake Geneva to the Med.

The classic one-day walk is the round trip to the Lac de La Plagne - a stiff 3 hour climb from the Rousel car park at 1550m.  Leave early, take plenty of water, and aim for lunch at the entre-le-lac refuge 500m higher up:

Looking back at Rousel, about one hour in

The gradient levels out slightly after a couple of hours

The Lac de La Plagne: an Alpine "tarn"

You can stay at the refuge for 38€ a night

IN TRANSITION: Building for the future at Arc 1800

The Les Arcs Paradiski Summer Facebook pages provide a guided tour of what's on during the short summer season.

This includes a series of summer photos, which range from horses grazing outside Notre-Dame-les-Vernettes through to a cluster of diggers at the Vagere lift in Arc 1800 - you can see them here.

The green slopes of Arc 1800 are subject to an onslaught of construction work this summer with a serious amount of money going in both from the town and the lift company to upgrade the "offer".  For more, click here.

Notre-Dame-les-Vernettes: A shortish walk from Plan Peisey
in summer; also accessible from the summit of the Vallandry lift.
Click here for more on summer in Les Arcs

SUMMER SKIING: Alpe d'Huez

Alpe d'Huez in the summer is no longer just about the famous climb from Bourg d'Oisans.

Its summer skiiing is making a comeback.  For the second year running, the Pic Blanc Glacier is open for business.  Four pistes are available including part of the famous Sarenne run.  More background here from France 3 Alpes, which includes a video.

This brings the number of French ski resorts offering summer skiing to four.  Alongside Alpe d'Huez we have Val d'Isere, Tignes and Les 2 Alpes.  More background on the rise and relative fall of ski d'été here.

SUMMER SKIING: North and South

Here's a great overview of summer skiing options, in both Europe and the Southern Hemisphere, via We Love 2 Ski.

The start to the season doesn't seem too be going too well in Australia - at Perisher the snow cannons have been called into action to get the season started: more here, or follow @PerisherResort.

Meanwhile a little bit on the history of summer skiing in France can be found here.  Val Thorens gave up in 2002 and La Plagne did likewise in 2005.  This leaves only Val d'Isere (for the early part of the summer), Tignes and Les 2 Alpes flying the summer skiing flag.

No summer skiing in Les Arcs, but snow is always visible :)
Click here for more on summer activities in the resort

LAKE TO COAST WALK: The GR5

This month's Alpes Magazine devotes almost the entire issue to the GR5 trail, also known as La Traversée des Alpes, an epic 607km walk from Lake Geneva to Nice.  It takes 30 to 45 days, depending on your state of fitness and how quickly you want to go. The official start is at the border village of Saint-Gingolph, which is divided into French and Swiss components.  According to one local: "The English take the London-Geneva-Lausanne leg by train, and then cross Lac Léman by boat, before staying the night in St Gingolph".

Some way down the route (stage 9 to be precise) the path reaches the Tarentaise, rising from the valley floor, under the Vanoise express and into Peisey-Vallandry territory.

This marks the gateway to the Vanoise National Park (website here).

The Tarentaise resorts are always going to struggle to attract summer visitors over and above local day-trippers, proprieteres looking to get their money's worth and cyclists/motorbikers en route for the grands cols.  But the walking, once you get away from the ski lifts, is very good:

Porte de la Vanoise (1)

Porte de la Vanoise (2)

Here's my feeble attempt at a translation of the Alpes Magazine account of the GR5 route through the Tarentaise:

"What a pleasure it is this morning to cross the Isere - still youthful and impetuous - on the descent from the Grande Aiguille Rousse.  After the bridge, the GR5 splits into two for the climb up to Peisey-Nancrois.  Which route to take?  The direct way via Montchavin?   Or the path via Landry?  Consultation of the guide-book and much scratching of heads ensues.  Montchavin is chosen.  The result: two hours of (occasionally steep) walking, until we end up at the Moulin (1264m).  We then enter the Ponturin valley through a mixed forest of oaks, maples and sycamores.  Then follows the refuge de Rosuel, gateway to the national part.  It's ideally situated below the snowcapped slopes of Mont Pourri and the dome de la Sache.  The area around the refuge is a cross-roads for walkers.  You have to say that the possibilities are endless.  There's something for everyone - the Lac de la Plagne, col de l'Entrepote, chapelle des Vernettes, lac de l'Etroit, site of the lead and silver mines.  And there's aso the via ferrata des Bettieres and organised donkey walks and horse riding.  And that's without forgetting the climb to the col du Palet which awaits us the next day.  That night, la gardinenne of the refuge fuels us up for the next day - vegetable soup, reblochon casserole with crozets and lardons.  It's just what we need given what lies ahead."  

For more on summer in Les Arcs click here.

SUMMER SEASON 2014

The Les Arcs site now has its summer skin, and the lifts will start to move again for the "pre-opening" weekend of 21-22 June.

Visitors to Arc 1800 will notice a flurry of building activity in the Chantel area, for example around the construction of the new swimming pool, planned for December 2014. Swimming will be available to the public at the Hotel du Golf, apparently.

Arc 1800 in summer

In July, the sound of music is a feature of Arc 1800, with the annual Music Festival, which runs from 21st-31st.

The annual Cyclocoeur cycling event runs over the weekend of 8-10 August.

For a quick overview on what to do on a summer visit, click here.

TOUR DE FRANCE: Les Arcs 2009

The Tour de France stage to Bourg St Maurice lacked the drama of the 1996 visit to Les Arcs (scene of Indurain's downfall - more here.

What could be better - a start in Switzerland, through Italy, down into Bourg St Maurice, via the Grand and Petit St Bernard passes, before a final climb up to Arc 1800.

Except the decision was taken for the riders to finish down in the valley in Bourg St Maurice - so that the suspense could continue right until the final Saturday and the climb of Mont Ventoux.  Here's the Wikipedia account of the 2009 Tour.

In the event, the Ventoux stage proved to be a bit of a let-down, and the stage to Bourg is little remembered.  Or at least remembered for the wrong things.  The winner of the stage, Miguel Astarloza, later tested positive for drugs, and the stage was awarded to Sandy Casar.

Here are the riders on the descent to Bourg St Maurice.

The finish line was in the road leading from the SNCF roundabout to the Funiculaire:

The following day the riders left from Bourg St Maurice.  Here they are on the very lower slopes of the Cormet du Roseland.

Lance Armstrong and co stayed - of course - in Arc 1950.  The Euskatel Euskadi team, on the other hand, stayed in the more modest environs of Arc 1800.  As did The Tour Doctor:

More on cycling in Les Arcs this summer here.  If you think the 1st category climb from Bourg St Maurice is too easy, go down to Landry, take the (much harder) climb to Peisey and up to Arc 1800 on the summer road, and then continue to Arc 2000.  The final climb from the Comborciere lift at 1800m to Arc 2000 (actually at 2100m) is a tough one....

THE LES ARCS A-Z: A Guide for 2012

Here's an attempt at a guide to Les Arcs and the surrounding area....

Architecture - 3 sites in Les Arcs have been awarded the label of "Architecture of the 20th Century": the sites of Arc 1600/1800, the town hall and cinema in Bourg St Maurice and the Aiguille Rouge cable car station - overview here

Bourg St Maurice - "la montagne dans la ville", gateway to Les Arcs

Cycling - Les Arcs was the scene of Indurain's downfall; La Plagne of historic performances by Roche, Fignon and Boogerd

Domaine Skiable - here is the 2010/11 plan des pistes; the Les Arcs website has been a bit slack and hasn't put up the new 2011/12 one up yet - and there are a few changes, for example in the Mont Blanc area above Arc 1600

Edenarc - you can buy your new flat here and look back at what might have been, with Charlotte Perriand's original design here

Funiculaire - "unique in France", with a new makeover.  Timetable here

Golf des Arcs - a beautiful site, 32 holes, open from June until les premieres neiges

Arc 1800 runs to resort, on the golf course

Hauteville Gondon - home village of Robert Blanc, founder of Les Arcs

Infos practiques - on the Les Arcs website

Jeux Olympiques - the speed skiing was at Les Arcs, and saw a tragedy on the morning of the event

Killy - as in Espace Killy - about 40 mins up the road from Bourg

League Tables - Alpe d'Huez beats all the Tarentaise resorts, and is a brilliant all-rounder, summer as well as winter - see rankings here

Manchester United - cf Val d'Isere.  France's best ski resorts are matched with their Premiership equivalents here

News - @ledauphine gives comprehensive coverage and will improve your French

Off-piste - there is a Bureau des Guides at 1800, and Arc Aventures also have specialists.  Here's a book for the armchair expert, in French but with some English summaries.  It's available in resort

Aiguille Rouge summit: 3220m

Plagne - as in La Plagne - Les Arcs' local rivals...

Quecha - the low-cost Decathlon range.  The shop in Albertville (just off the RN90) is very good and sells ski de fond, ski rando equipment etc, which can be hard to find in the resorts



Rosiere - as in La Rosiere - distinctly under-rated - my favourite (apart from Les Arcs, of course).  Great views in both directions towards both La Plagne and Tignes, as well as the link with La Thuile to explore

La Rosiere: looking up the valley towards Tignes

Society and Politics - against an uncertain economic background, the area is not short of heated debates about which direction/s it should take in future - overview here

Tignes - just up the road.  Park at Les Brevieres

U - as in Super-U on the Route des Arcs at the edge of Bourg St Maurice

Valmorel - a resort on the up, with a new Club Med, new lifts, and handier for the airport than the Haute Tarentaise - quick review here

Websites - official Les Arcs site is more style than substance, but others compensate

X-ray - main cabinet medical is close to the Cachette lift in Arc 1600.  Will cost you several hundred pounds to be taken down the mountain by a hunky pisteur

Y - La Grotte du Yeti appears to be a chain of bars - with branches in Arc 1800, Les 2 alpes, St Francois Longchamp etc

Z - As in Zinedine Zidane - the France football team often train at Tignes, for example before their ill-fated trip to South Africa....

WEBSITES OF THE TARENTAISE

All of the resorts have their own sites of course (my favourite is www.pralognan.com). The Les Arcs official site looks quite smart, but loses marks for not being kept up-to-date.  For example (on 27/12/11) the link to the piste map is for 2010/11 rather than the new 2011/12 version.  Here are some links to some other places on the web:

For Les Arcs: www.espace-arcadien.fr.  The content is a tad out-of-date, but has good links to local webcams.

Also for Les Arcs: www.lesarcs.net will sell you chalet/apartment accommodation, but has lots more.

Finally, a bit more of a collector's piece: the Les Arcs film festival.  Oh yes.  There's still a bit of a debate about whether the investment has been worth the while (the idea was to extend the season, as part of a more "diverse" offer of activities....)

For La Plagne: www.perso-laplagne.fr.  This is a great site - lots about new developments, history of the resort, etc etc.  La Plagne fans who don't speak French will still enjoy the pictures.

For the weather: Meteo France.  This is the local forecast, with "previsions" for the next few days.

For getting excited/depressed about local snow conditions: www.snoweye.com.
This has just about every resort in Europe, with various cameras in the big reports...

For cycling: www.grenoblecycling.com.  This is based further down the Isere valley, but includes descriptions of most of the main cols in the area.  Recent posts include video, which makes it doubly exciting.

To improve your French: www.bourgstmaurice.tv was set up this year by an enterprising local.  And the regional newspaper www.ledauphine.com is worth a browse/a follow on Twitter.

SUMMER IN LES ARCS: THE TOP 10

1. Cycling - it's where Miguel Indurain cracked in the 1996 Tour de France. Never the same again... 

2. Spot the development opportunity #1.  Capitalism in action: Gilles and Annick had to move out of the much loved Aiguille Grive.  It is now demolished and "the future site of a 4 star hotel".  Hmm  :(

3. Spot the development opportunity #2.  Probably the most scenic tennis court I've seen.  It will now have a wider market, as the site of the new "EdenArc" development...

4. It is always warmer inside this pool than out

5. At the top of the Transarc (2550m)

6. Remembering the ski season: Top of Cachette lift, Les Coches in the background (2100m)

7. L'urbanisme (1800m) et Le Mont Blanc (4810m)

8. Looking at Marmottes (2400m; below Transarc)

9. Le Golf: Les Arcs' nursery slopes

10. The Architecture.  Arc 1600 (opened in 1968)

NEIGE....On The Road

It's the 1st of June, and the snow is falling, as witnessed in this Maurienne village...
http://maurienne.tv/index.php?post/2011/06/01/Neige-en-Maurienne-en-Juin-2011

Meanwhile it doesn't look too seasonal back in Les Arcs....
http://twitpic.com/55e70t

Here Comes The Summer

Most resorts - including Les Arcs - are now firmly closed.  Above 1800, the builders are in to make more progress on the new Chantel development.  Over at 1600 a new Mont Blanc lift is planned for 2011/12.

Further north, Les Gets opened a couple of lifts for mountain bikes last weekend, and is planning to open Thursday-Sunday this coming weekend (2-5 June).

Back on snow, Val d'Isere opens its summer skiing at the Col d'Iseran on 11 June - with Tignes and Les 2 Alpes following a week later.

In the meantime, some websites:

www.grenoblecycling.com is full of ideas for cycling right across the Alps - including the Haute Tarentaise.  It doesn't get updated too often, but the latest are now accompanied by videos and satnav reports - recommended!

www.snoweye.com is as comprehensive a guide to webcams as you will find.   Some are turned off for summer (apparently they can be damaged by storms....), but there are still lots there.  Good for seeing how your favourite resort looks like without the snow...

www.lesarcs.com has been upgraded although lacks depth, and could do with a little more TLC right across the site

www.lesarcs.net is an unofficial site which rents apartments etc - though they have good updates on what's happening in and around the resort

www.perso-laplagne.fr OK, so La Plagne may or may not be Les Arcs' local rivals - but this is the best site I've seen from the area: entirely unofficial, with both current gossip, and some history thrown in.  The latest piece covers the redevelopment of Plagne Centre. In French, but there is a Union Jack button which allows for easy translation