The accommodation could only have taken 4 but due to all the GINjuries and other commitments only Mervyn and Mark were able to make this outing. The venue was Tignes, a 3 hour drive away, and very empty at weekends, so we set off at 9 on Saturday morning and were skiing by 1. First off was up the Grande Motte and, since there were no queues, up the Telepherique to the glacier at 3458m. From there we skied over to Val d’Isère gaining no points for style as we negotiated the moguls of épaule which were scraped bare of soft snow. On our return to Tignes we both decided that the main problem was the lack of edges on our skis and nothing to do with our ability so we duly rectified that, but that took away our excuse!
Sunday was the end to end day. We were at the Aiguille Percée by 10 and at les Brévières, 1550m, lowest point of the whole resort, by 10:30. Then over to Val d’Isère and over the Leissières up and over lift to Col de l’Iseran. We missed out on the furthest extreme, mainly as a result of having eaten a good lunch too early.
Monday we had to correct the omission so we booked a late (14:00) lunch at the Eidelweiss restaurant, a favourite, and explored the remainder of Val d’Isère, including the Montets lift to the furthest point from Brévières. After a wonderful lunch we were even worried about connecting with the last lift back into Tignes.
Tuesday was planned as half a day so we revisited the Aiguille Percée then up the Grande Motte for a run down Leisse, coffee at the Panoramique (no lunch since we needed to drive) and a long descent down Génépi.
We were home by 17:00 for tea and cakes at Mervyn’s.
Summary
- Highest point – la Grande Motte (3458m)
- Lowest point – les Brevières (1550m)
- Furthest North – les Brevières
- Other extreme – Montets
- Plenty of snow but a little bit hard packed in places.
- Clear blue skies every day, no sign of any clouds.
- Fabulous 3 days, great snow, no crowds, good food and drink.
