Skiing in France?

[Grassi21]

I have an opportunity for a business trip in France. The business portion of this trip will be in Paris and starts on November 20 and wraps up later that same week. Depending on what I hear from the AZ crew and doing my research, I will try to extend the trip for vacation purposes. But before I get worked up, I have a few questions.

First and most importantly, when does the ski season start over there? I'm guessing it will be early in the season but the elevation appears to be comparable if not higher than parts of VT, NH etc.
Has anyone skied in France?
Which mountains?
Where did you stay?

I will be the first one to say that this just aint right. Being an intermediate skier and knowing that this could be one of my first trips of the season, the idea if skiing in France is overwhelming. As with any ski area there is a variety of terrain. It just sucks that I might not be able to experience the high end of skiing in France.

 

[JimG.]

I have an opportunity for a business trip in France. The business portion of this trip will be in Paris and starts on November 20 and wraps up later that same week. Depending on what I hear from the AZ crew and doing my research, I will try to extend the trip for vacation purposes. But before I get worked up, I have a few questions.

First and most importantly, when does the ski season start over there? I'm guessing it will be early in the season but the elevation appears to be comparable if not higher than parts of VT, NH etc.
Has anyone skied in France?
Which mountains?
Where did you stay?

I will be the first one to say that this just aint right. Being an intermediate skier and knowing that this could be one of my first trips of the season, the idea if skiing in France is overwhelming. As with any ski area there is a variety of terrain. It just sucks that I might not be able to experience the high end of skiing in France.

The Almighty Holy Man (AHM) will surely chime in with good feedback. And if you can't experience the high end this trip, just go back.

Don't worry, nothing is that easy for me either.

 

[RISkier]

I have an opportunity for a business trip in France. The business portion of this trip will be in Paris and starts on November 20 and wraps up later that same week. Depending on what I hear from the AZ crew and doing my research, I will try to extend the trip for vacation purposes. But before I get worked up, I have a few questions.

First and most importantly, when does the ski season start over there? I'm guessing it will be early in the season but the elevation appears to be comparable if not higher than parts of VT, NH etc.
Has anyone skied in France?
Which mountains?
Where did you stay?

I will be the first one to say that this just aint right. Being an intermediate skier and knowing that this could be one of my first trips of the season, the idea if skiing in France is overwhelming. As with any ski area there is a variety of terrain. It just sucks that I might not be able to experience the high end of skiing in France.

I'm going to suggest you visit www.snowheads.com and ask some questions there. It's a snow sports forum mostly populated by Brits and mostly discussing European skiing. My suggestion would be to look at places that have glacier skiing since it's pretty early season. Tignes comes to mind as having a glacier. I'm sure the folks on Snowheads can be much more helpful

 

[Grassi21]

I'm going to suggest you visit www.snowheads.com and ask some questions there. It's a snow sports forum mostly populated by Brits and mostly discussing European skiing. My suggestion would be to look at places that have glacier skiing since it's pretty early season. Tignes comes to mind as having a glacier. I'm sure the folks on Snowheads can be much more helpful

Cool. I'll check it out.

 

[ctenidae]

Hop on the overnight train, and you can be any number of places by morning. You could easily got to Italy or Switxerland, as I believe that side of the Alps is better than the French side. End of November's a touch early for anywhere, but still worth a try.

 

[Grassi21]

Hop on the overnight train, and you can be any number of places by morning. You could easily got to Italy or Switxerland, as I believe that side of the Alps is better than the French side. End of November's a touch early for anywhere, but still worth a try.

Hmmmm, Italy. You already know of my love for espresso.

 

[FRITOLAYGUY]

Hey Contact NOCOMP , just registered, he has 30yrs of skiing in the french alps, youll find him in the new member introductions

 

[Grassi21]

Hey Contact NOCOMP , just registered, he has 30yrs of skiing in the french alps, youll find him in the new member introductions

Good call.

 

[FRITOLAYGUY]

If he cant help ya nobody can lol

 

[AHM]

TGV to Grenoble...............

It's basically going to be glacier skiing that early, so you will want to be up high. For France, this would be Les Tois Vallee(sp). Try maybe Val Thorens, as that is up high and very glaciated. Tignes is also part of the Les Tois Vallee and has year round skiing. Alpe d'Huez and Les Deuxs Alps will probably not have lifts running at this time. Switzerland is also a possibility, Zermatt has glacier skiing all year. France will be much cheaper than Switzerland.

That early it is probably going to be just a basic warm up with only piste terrain open (pseduo groomed and avi maintained). But it will be a great early season leg builder (and burner) and that alone will be worth the effort. Also, the views will be spectacular.

TGV: You'll pick this up at La Gare de Lyon (this is the main train station in Paris). I would go with a second class, non smoking tix, as a first class seat doesnt really get you a whole lot. The info booth will help with the seat pic and train class, and they speak fine english.

Be prep'd for some altitude adjustment as you will be up about 10,000 feet. A whole lot of your acclimitization is going to be on the tram/lifts going up, so take it easy on the first run down and be well hydrated. Also, up that high if it is sunny make sure you have a lot sunscreen as it will be prime fry time.

Lodging: off prime season, so it should be pretty easy and cheaper. Get a basic pension, it will have breakfast and dinner most likely, but they will often reimburse for meals (dinner not eaten in).

Gear: do not bring skis, just bring ski clothing and boots. Rental is cheap and high quality.

 

[Grassi21]

It's basically going to be glacier skiing that early, so you will want to be up high. For France, this would be Les Tois Vallee(sp). Try maybe Val Thorens, as that is up high and very glaciated. Tignes is also part of the Les Tois Vallee and has year round skiing. Alpe d'Huez and Les Deuxs Alps will probably not have lifts running at this time. Switzerland is also a possibility, Zermatt has glacier skiing all year. France will be much cheaper than Switzerland.

That early it is probably going to be just a basic warm up with only piste terrain open (pseduo groomed and avi maintained). But it will be a great early season leg builder (and burner) and that alone will be worth the effort. Also, the views will be spectacular.

TGV: You'll pick this up at La Gare de Lyon (this is the main train station in Paris). I would go with a second class, non smoking tix, as a first class seat doesnt really get you a whole lot. The info booth will help with the seat pic and train class, and they speak fine english.

Be prep'd for some altitude adjustment as you will be up about 10,000 feet. A whole lot of your acclimitization is going to be on the tram/lifts going up, so take it easy on the first run down and be well hydrated. Also, up that high if it is sunny make sure you have a lot sunscreen as it will be prime fry time.

Lodging: off prime season, so it should be pretty easy and cheaper. Get a basic pension, it will have breakfast and dinner most likely, but they will often reimburse for meals (dinner not eaten in).

Gear: do not bring skis, just bring ski clothing and boots. Rental is cheap and high quality.

Good stuff. About how much time should we expect to spend on the train? I thought I read that the ride is between 5 and 6 hours.

 

[AHM]

Paris to Grenoble

3 hour train ride if you get a non-stop or one stop. It hums right a long..............grab a jambon et fromage et une biere and sit back and relax...............

 

[Geoff]

It's basically going to be glacier skiing that early, so you will want to be up high. For France, this would be Les Tois Vallee(sp). Try maybe Val Thorens, as that is up high and very glaciated. Tignes is also part of the Les Tois Vallee and has year round skiing. Alpe d'Huez and Les Deuxs Alps will probably not have lifts running at this time. Switzerland is also a possibility, Zermatt has glacier skiing all year. France will be much cheaper than Switzerland.

That early it is probably going to be just a basic warm up with only piste terrain open (pseduo groomed and avi maintained). But it will be a great early season leg builder (and burner) and that alone will be worth the effort. Also, the views will be spectacular.

TGV: You'll pick this up at La Gare de Lyon (this is the main train station in Paris). I would go with a second class, non smoking tix, as a first class seat doesnt really get you a whole lot. The info booth will help with the seat pic and train class, and they speak fine english.

Be prep'd for some altitude adjustment as you will be up about 10,000 feet. A whole lot of your acclimitization is going to be on the tram/lifts going up, so take it easy on the first run down and be well hydrated. Also, up that high if it is sunny make sure you have a lot sunscreen as it will be prime fry time.

Lodging: off prime season, so it should be pretty easy and cheaper. Get a basic pension, it will have breakfast and dinner most likely, but they will often reimburse for meals (dinner not eaten in).

Gear: do not bring skis, just bring ski clothing and boots. Rental is cheap and high quality.

This is not 100% correct. Tignes & Val d'Isere are not part of Les 3 Vallees. They're a separate resort complex marketed as L'Espace Killy. I've been there a couple o' times but not for summer skiing.

Tignes always used to operate 365 days but they now close for the completely dead periods. They've been closed for the month of September and open again this weekend with limited skiing up on La Grand Motte. The funicular up to what's left of the glacier is in the Val Claret part of the resort so that's where you want to stay. Ugly 70's architecture poured concrete structures. Don't expect a pristine alpine village. They put snowmaking up on the glacier so you'll be on very stale manmade unless you get very lucky.

Les 2 Alps is closed now and will open for an event in late-October.

Val Thorens at Les Trois Vallees stopped summer skiing as did Alpe d'Huez and La Plagne. Global warming sucks.

In the winter, you can take a 4 1/2 hour TGV from Paris to Bourg St Maurice and then hop a 25 minute bus to Tignes. At this time of year, I'm not sure what you do after the 2 hour TGV ride to Lyon. Check the SCNF train timetables.

There is glacier skiing in Switzerland, Austria, and Italy but access will be more difficult and expensive from Paris.

 

[snowkiter]

Hop on the overnight train, and you can be any number of places by morning. You could easily got to Italy or Switxerland, as I believe that side of the Alps is better than the French side. End of November's a touch early for anywhere, but still worth a try.

Why do you believe that? France actually receives the best powder as it is higher than most of all the other parts of the Alps. I travelled through Lyon on the TGV four years ago in early Nov and saw snow in the Mtns. I also saw snow in the Pyrannees a few weeks later, but I'm sure they already had enough snow in the French Alps to ski in early Nov. How's your French? It certainly helps to be able to speak it. However, it isn't as bad as it is in Italy where they just don't speak English unless you are in a major city. For your first trip, try Chamonix and stay in L'Argentieres. Alpine skiing is vast, and all the areas have every kind of terrain imaginable. Austria is lower, snow can be iffy, and Italy receives more sunshine.

 

[AHM]

I might consider this..........

Ultimately, the skiing may be somewhat of a hassle and not all that high quality, so I would somewhat play by ear and have a back up plan in case the snow quality just isn't there. Depending on your flavor either go to Chamonix or La Grave and go hiking into the ski terrain. This will be great exercise, scenic, and hassle free. If going to La Grave, stay at either La Castione or Hotel des Alps. Both will be about 50 euro with breakfast, maybe 65 with breakfast and dinner. Hang out night one and have dinner at Aux Vieux Guides. It's old world french and the food is great. The Michelan (sp) guide considers the view of La Meije from La Grave worth the drive. On the hiking morning, either drive or taxi to the town of St Christophes. This will take about 50 min. From the town, walk up in the valley that will lead up to your left. This valley ultimately can lead you to the top of La Meije. Additionally, the guides burrough in town (should be open) can give you some other ideas as well as the ski and climbing shops in town like Twinner.

An alpin hiking trip is pretty easy to put together, does not involve hauling a bunch of ski gear, just a day pack (you'll probably have one), a camel back or some evian bottles and a few layers and your boots. So consider the hiking option and a bit of ski area recon and you may find that puts a relaxing finish on the business, provides a hype for the coming season, and gives you a boat load of info about a future trip to the French Alps.

http://la-grave.com/english/the-village.php