Ski Les Deux Alpes!

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The Resort

Les 2 Alpes is a unique alpine playground in that it is one of the very few mountain resorts to offer a summer season every bit as exciting as a winter one. It is also a "real" town in that it has a resident population and community spirit, with all the facilities you'd expect to find in a small town. There are a wide choice of restaurants for all tastes and pockets, two supermarkets, a cinema (which shows English films twice a week. Quite why you'd go to France and want to watch English films while you're there is beyond me, but there it is. You can get a proper greasy breakfast too, but not at the cinema), swimming baths, and all sorts of shops. Snow is guaranteed throughout the winter season, and considering the majority of the terrain is between 2200m and 3600m, you can go in April confident of having good snow cover and quiet slopes! Below is a map of the pistes, which extend for miles up to and across the glacier, although the map doesn't give you much impression of the sheer size of the domain:

Winter skiing/snowboarding

Beginners

Les 2 Alpes has so much skiing/boarding to offer, for all abilities. Complete beginners learn on the extensive nursery slopes along the foot of the mountain, where plenty of bars are waiting to serve you hot chocolate/coffee/vin chaud etc. As the week progresses, you may wish to explore more of the mountain, and the glacier at 3600m provides the unusual opportunity for beginners to get out of the town and right up to the very top of the mountain.

Intermediates

If you can already ski a bit, there are 220km of piste to explore - from wide, gentle blue runs on the glacier, the Vallee Blanche and La Fee runs to narrow gullies, mogul fields and the superb Bons and Anemone reds. There are also various "snow-parks" dotted around the domain, with chicanes and jumps to help you make a picture of yourself.

Off-Piste

Skiers come from all over the world to conquer the limitless off-piste terrain and the awe-inspiring La Grave sector which offers 2200m of vertical drop, with no piste markers, patrol, directions etc. For the less outward-bound, there are numerous little powder stashes dotted around the mountain within easy reach of the patrolled areas and lifts - they can stay untouched for days after a snowfall because people don't bother to look for them!

Snowboarding

Les 2 Alpes quickly established itself as a boarder's paradise, and this is reflected in the number of people you see on one plank instead of two. The resort caters exceptionally well for boarders, with the provision of the "snow-parks", rails, jumps etc. Crucially the majority of the lift system is either cable car or chairlift, reducing the need to look inept on draglifts!

Summer Time

From mid-June to the end of August Les 2 Alpes becomes an outdoor enthusiast's dream. With the town much quieter than in winter, but with all the ameneties and restaurants open, it's a great time to visit. The activities on offer include:

• Superb and endless mountain walking routes (many of the main ski lifts work in summer, quickly depositing you high into the hills away from the town. Paths are marked, and maps are available from the tourist office.
• Mountain biking is now an important part of the resorts summer programme, with the "Mondial du VTT" event in late June and the "Mountain of Hell" downhill race in late July. Bike rental is available in the resort. The chairlifts are able to accommodate bikes, and like walking, the only limitation is how long the day is. Most years, the Tour de France passes through, either the resort itself or nearby Alpe d'Huez, and this is a major event locally, with demand for accommodation at it's peak.
• The Lac du Chambon below Mont de Lans is popular for sailing, canoeing and pedaloes, while "canyoning" and white-water rafting are available on the Veneon river.
• There are two full-size open-air swimming pools
• Tennis courts, indoor squash/badminton, outdoor ice-rink, beach volleyball, a nine-hole golf course, archery and a summer toboggan run are also open.

Should you get bored with all this, the jewel in Les 2 Alpes summer crown is undoubtedly the glacial summer skiing. It proudly boasts that it has the largest skiable area in the Alps in summer. The national ski teams from all over Europe come here to race train for the coming winter, but I personally enjoy gloating to my friends in July that I'm going skiing for a few days. The experience of skiing in shirtsleeves under azure, cloudless skies with a panorama that stretches across the High Alps as far as Mont Blanc is quite unique. Since the temperature during the day is well above freezing (although due to the unbroken sun and reflective capacity of the snow it often feels downright hot), the glacier opens early (7am) and the lifts close at around 2pm, although the snow park lift stays open longer, as apparently the stunt-contrivers don't mind landing in icy puddles. At night the snow refreezes, and consequently can be very fast and icy early in the morning. The most forgiving time to ski is generally after 10am, once the sun has started to soften the piste. Obviously, the ski rental shops are open throughout the summer.

The Weather

www.les2alpes.com is the official resort homepage, containing everything you need to know about L2A. Webcams, snow reports and 4-day weather forecasts from Meteo France will keep you informed.

www.snow-forecast.com gives free 3-day forecasts, or for a small subscribtion, 6-days. I have found that the actual weather generally falls somewhere between the L2A forecast and snow-forecast's predictions, which can often be quite far apart!

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