The skiing on the Villaroger opens up a third valley to Les Arcs' slopes. Immediately, the mountain is steeper, less crowded and more rustic. There are some interesting variations to explore on the long descent to La Ferme restaurant and the foot of the lifts. Slow things down further and Le Solliet makes a worthy stop for a drink or lunch half way down. You're looking down on the Haute Tarentaise from here, with good views across to Ste-Foy.
But the lifts date from 1981 and snow conditions can be pretty variable, to say the least.
However, all of this is about to change, as this Guardian article explains. Snow cannons are in place for the new season, with more planned. New lifts are on the horizon as are an extra 750 beds as part of an expansion blueprint which claims to involve Villaroger keeping its credentials as a"green ski village".
Summer provides the opportunity to revisit the famous run from Aiguille Rouge down to Villaroger.
This time, it's from the bottom up. A 2,000m ascent from the foot of the pistes right the way up to the Varet Glacier. For an armchair view of the experience, follow this link.
The 2nd round of the French presidential elections saw Savoie vote for Macron over Le Pen by a 65% to 35% margin. A result which almost exactly followed the national picture.
Locally, the valley tends to vote for the candidates of the right, but not of the far right.
Val d'Isere is the most notable example of this pattern - with 52% voting for Fillon in the 1st round - not far off the 58% recorded by Sarkozy in 2012. Yet just 12% supported Le Pen, and she trailed in 4th place - just behind Melenchon (12%) and Macron (11%). Come the second round, the village voted strongly for Macron, by 72% to 28%.
Tignes followed a similar pathway, albeit without quite such thumping first-round victory for Fillon.
Bourg-St-Maurice is more of a mixed bag politically, with Fillon emerging out in front after the first round, but only just. Again, Marine Le Pen came in fourth:
Set against all this, the most politically interesting village in the valley is Landry, which put Melenchon first, with all the main candidates putting in a decent showing.
Séez is notable for having Le Pen narrowly ahead in round 1, albeit defeated by 62-38 in the run-off. The FN candidate did relatively well in Villaroger too.
Meanwhile, neighbouring Montvalezan (below La Rosiere) saw one of the heaviest victories for Macron last Sunday, by 76% to 24%.
The famous descent from the Aiguille Rouge down to Villaroger features in this week's welove2ski.com snapshot of the world's longest ski runs.
Click here for a little more on the run. If weather and (your stamina) permits, it's good to do it two days in a row. On day one, take it all in one go and crash out at La Ferme in Villaroger for a well deserved lunch. The next day, allow time for pottering around the various reds on the Villaroger side, coffee at the Solliet, etc.
Finally, don't forget La Plagne's 2000m descent from the Glacier all the way down to Montchauvin. This never appears in the guide books because there is a 2km flat bit below Les Bauches. But it's worth persevering - more here.
En route to La Plagne's Glacier.
This "characterful" gondola will
be replaced soon
Apparently, there is a history of folding chairs in Northern Europe which dates back to the Bronze Age. Wikipedia reports that the first deckchairs were patented in the 1850s, and that it is not entirely clear as to whether they are a US or British "invention".
They are of course an excellent way to sit and reflect. Here, for no particularly good reason, are some spotted in and around the Tarentaise:
Aux Enfants Terribles, Peisey-Vallandry
Hotel de la Vanoise, Plan Peisey
La Cordée restaurant, just above Plan Peisey
Le Solliet restaurant, above Villaroger
The last deckchairs in France: La Rosiere, next to the new "Fort" lift
NOW: Arc 1800 (Charmetogger): The site of the former
Aiguille Grive restaurant, now being developed
as a hotel, 2011-12
1979: Arc 2000 1980: Death of Robert Blanc 1982: Link to VIllaroger opens 1996:Tour de France arrives at Arc 1800 2003: Arc 1950 2009: Les Arcs Film Festival 2011: Opening of stage 1 of Edenarc at Arc 1800
For more, see the Les Arcs Wikipedia entry, which includes the installation dates for every single lift....
Not long now until the first round of the French Presidential Election. Here's how France voted in round two back in 2007:
Sarko v Sego
Savoie is traditionally more to the right and voted in favour of Sarkozy by 57:43
Indeed, the only town I can find which voted for Royal is the capital itself, Chambéry, which went against Sarko by a 49:51 margin. The full results, broken down by departement and commune, can be found here.
With one or two exceptions, the communes serving ski resorts backed Sarkozy by a greater margin than the Savoie average. Here is a selection, ranked by % voting for Sarko:
Landry 51
Moutiers 55
Albertville 55
Bozel (Courchevel) 56
Aigueblanche (Valmorel) 57
Beaufort 60
Aime (La Plagne) 61
Bourg St Maurice-Les Arcs 60
Seez (La Rosiere) 61
Champagny 62
Peisey-Nancroix 65
Tignes 66
Macot-la-Plagne 68
Villaroger 70
St Martin-de-Belleville 73
Brides-les-Bains (Meribel) 74
Crest Voland 79
Val d'Isere 80
Les Arcs' finest run is the Aiguille Rouge descent, which takes you from 3200m all the way down to 1200m. In days of old it was a black, then it was (more appropriately) graded red. Now it's back to black again - presumably to make the skiers making the trip feel good about themselves. There are various by-passes and alternative black/blue options as you get lower down. One of the hardest pistes is a short black section (marked red on the piste map...) in the Planay area.
The Villaroger area was opened in 1982. It all feels very old fashioned and rustic, certainly compared with Arc 2000. The lifts are slow, the mountain steeper, and the snow tricker. As the Espace Arcadien site points out, the lifts really ageing now, but there's little need for an upgrade given the small numbers who make it over here. Allow 20 minutes to get yourself back to the foot of the Drosets lift.
You start by getting the James-Bond style cable car above Arc 2000. Note the architecture of the cable car station - it is has been awarded a special architecture of the 20th century award. For more on Les Arcs' architecture click here.
Most of the shots here were taken during April, which means you start off in winter in the haute montagne and finish in a green-white spring setting down in Villaroger. A beer in La Ferme is the target.
Ski-trainspotters can revel in being able to see the slopes of La Plagne, La Rosiere, Ste-Foy and Tignes during the descent. Here's the Grande Motte from the Aiguille Rouge summit.
The Bellecote summit of La Plagne reaches similar heights. But the Aiguille Rouge summit feels higher somehow. There is no restaurant - just a first aid post. And, of course, a 360 degree view - these folk are looking over towards the Beaufortain
and Moutiers.
At the foot of the glacier you take a right towards Villaroger, rather than taking the direct route down to Arc 2000:
If you are having a leisurely descent, stop at the Solliet restaurant below the Droset chair. You used to often see the husky dogs here. They had a kennel down by the Comborciere lift, and took their guests over to the Solliet for a chocolat chaud. This season, chief musher Hervé has moved the dogs over to Arc 1800, so he can be closer to the bulk of his clients.
The Solliet changed hands a few years ago, and has recently been extended. It's a fine place to stop, with views towards Le Monal, Le Miroir and Ste-Foy.
The piste below the Solliet gets very heavy during late season
afternoons, and doesn't keep its snow particularly well.
On to the home run, just above Villaroger. By now you are likely to be all alone.
Just above Le Pré (Villaroger), the piste/winter ends, and the footpath/spring begins.
The view across to the Villaroger chair lift. Anyone coming from Tignes or Val d'Isere for the day should park here rather than trek round to Bourg St-Maurice.
As you can see, every effort is made to keep the run open until April, and there is now artificial snow-making on the lower slopes. Here's a more wintery view, from January 2013:
Given its relative fame, there are of course various videos to be found on YouTube.
The February holidays see Les Arcs, like most of the other big resorts, getting very, very full. To have a lift system in place which eradicated queues completely would of course be utterly uneconomic. So, February visitors, tied by school holiday dates, have to be ready for busy slopes.
That said, when there's snow in the lower resorts (which of course there most certainly is this year...), this does tend to reduce pressure on Les Arcs et al. And indeed, with the full area open (in contrast to 2011), there is more scope for everyone to spread out a bit.
February also sees various events in the resort. People on British half term will miss the "LA session", which is fun and attracts a good crowd - see below. For a full list of events click here.
But if you are around in February, you will still need to plan your days carefully to avoid spending too much time here:
Here are some ways to avoid the crowds:
1. Have an early lunch - be at your chosen restaurant at 12 and you should be fine both to get a table and to get back on the pistes while everyone else is eating.
2. Take the slow lifts. You can avoid the biggest queues by relaxing slightly and taking some of the remaining 1980s lifts: Renard will take you to 2000; Comborciere will link you back into the area above Arc 1600 (including the fab Malgovert red run), and Grand Col is rarely too busy, taking you to more than 2800m in the process.
3. Ski anywhere in Villaroger. Or potter around the Les Granges area below 1600.
4. Take a day trip to La Rosiere. Park your car at Les Ecudets car park just above Séez, get yourself a full area pass, and ski over to the sparsely populated pistes of La Thuile.
