Flaine-any recommendations, stories?
Michael Woolley
Ace
<michael...@shiatsu1.fsnet.co.uk> wrote:
>Going there this Easter. Any one been there?
Yupp. One of my favourite ski areas where I'll be repping (again) end
of this season. Feel free to join me for a day's skiing!
As for recommendations, stories, what sort of thing are you interested
in? Are you looking for protected nursery slopes(got them) long cruisy
runs (plenty of these), mogulled blacks (got them too), off-piste
powder (yep), skiing through the trees (you guessed it!), mountain
guiding (of course) or what?
As a ski area, the Grand Massif has a hell of a lot to offer. It's
large, even by French standards (260km piste), largely north-facing
and holds the snow very well later in the season. It consists of the
main Flaine bowl, linked over to the Lac de Vernant & Molliets areas,
then further across to the resort areas of Les Carroz, Samoens and
Morrillon. There's also a seperate bowl (Gers) which provides some of
the best steep deep off-piste skiing I've ever experienced and can
also link down to the village of Sixt on a sort of 'day-tour' run.
Easy access to all these linked areas has improved over the last two
seasons with two new six-man chairs coming back from the Vernant area
and this season an eight-man replacement for the Grand Vans chair.
Flaine "village", it must be said, lacks somewhat in the Alpine charm
department and isn't exactly the most lively place for night-life,
although it can be found. Some decent restaurants and a few bars give
sufficient variety, and there is one proper nightclub, although I've
never been.
What else do you want to know? Check out the Ski Club website for more
info!
--
Bruce
Ski Club of Great Britain http://www.skiclub.co.uk
All opinions expressed are personal and in no way represent those of the Ski Club.
Ace
> Just out of interest, when is the last time you saw Gers open? I ski at
> Flaine quite often (I live in Geneva) and I haven't been down there for
> years.
I last skied it the first week in April last year. It had been closed
for a couple of days due to too much snow (av. risk of 4) but reopened
about mid-day on the Thursday, IIRC. As it happens I had one very good
skier with me that day and I'd planned the day as "steep&deep", so we
went and made fresh tracks all afternoon :-)))
> Of course, one could take the skins and hike back up....
Or carry on down the Cascades run to Sixt... assuming there's cover.
Of course, when I'm wearing the rep's jacket I'm not allowed to go
down any runs marked as closed :-{ But there's always Saturdays :-)