25 November, 2008. Here is the news....

The snow has arrived, and people are wandering round Les 2 Alpes with big smiles on their faces. The season begins this Saturday (29th), and once again there is sufficient snow for top to bottom skiing. Who knows, the pisteurs might actually officially open the home runs on day one, to save you having to duck under the barriers and ski them anyway...

The apartment is free from 29 Nov -18 Dec, and from 23-29 Dec, so its available if you want to take advantage of the great early-season conditions, or want to run away for Christmas. See the Availibility page for further details and prices.

Le Waala has received a whole new roof and Savoyard-style facade and balconies put on this summer, and it's looking very nice indeed. Here is a picture showing progress on 24 September. See the "Some Pictures" page for the full-size version and three pictures from earlier in the works. Good or what?

As you can see from the above pictures, Les 2 Alpes is a self-contained resort on a high mountain plateau (1650m asl), and the Hideout is ideally situated within walking distance of all the ameneties, yet far enough away from the bars to ensure peaceful nights! The apartment is within the Le Waala block, which although you can't really see in the left-hand-most photo, is in the centre of shot, and the apartment faces up the valley (southwards) towards the photographer.

Les 2 Alpes is the second-oldest ski resort in the French Alps (after Chamonix), with the first lift being installed in 1946. Today it offers some of the best skiing found anywhere in the world, with 220km of marked piste, combining a whole valley-length of nursery slopes with some of the most challenging black runs you'll find and the unrivalled off-piste of the La Grave sector. To quote a resident instructor, "I've been here for 15 years and I'm not bored yet!"

L2A sometimes gets a bad rap from British skiers, who say that the lift queues are dreadful and the slopes are crowded. This is unfair, firstly because every resort in the Alps is full in February half-term week, and L2A is no different in this respect. However, on all but the busiest weeks (half-term and Easter), the lift system is so well managed that queues are generally pretty minimal across the domain. Also, if you think even slightly "outside the box" in peak season, you can avoid the bottlenecks and carve up miles of piste without any hassle at all. Take time to read the piste map and use lifts other than the Jandri Express cable car, and you will have a swift journey up the mountain in the morning and ski quiet slopes all day with very little queueing. All the rest of the time, even the busiest slopes are operating at a comfortable level. This is a huge ski area, and the majority of visitors leave without having experienced a fraction of what terrain there is. Your prerogative is to not be a sheep - Enjoy it!!