I’ve written a few posts on the classic backcountry descents that start from Les Deux Alpes heading towards St. Christoph or La Grave. Up to now though, I have neglected to mention those routes closer to home, which both start and finish within the Deux Alpes lift system. The Clot de Chalance is one of…
Few ski tours are safe enough to do when the avalanche risk is a high four out of five. Mont de l’Arpille is one of those that can be a possibility.* The mountain rises to a height of 2085 metres, which is quite modest in the region. It is just to the north of the…
For my first day off since Christmas I was itching to get out and do some ski touring. It still hadn’t snowed for a while, meaning that the snow was safe but not the most pleasant to ski on, and you needed to head above 2000m to get continuous coverage. The weather was beautiful though,…
Low level snow is a bit lacking at the moment in the Oisans, but from 2000m upwards there is decent coverage. Consequently ski touring and snowshoeing are still possible from the road at the Col du Lauteret, while most other popular spots in the region would require a walk to reach the snow. I had…
The Vallons de la Meije and Vallons de Chancel might not be everybody’s idea of easy skiing, but ease is relative. In La Grave these long off-piste runs provide the standard routes down for those who want to avoid extreme terrain, couloirs, crevasse zones or ropework. Like the Valley Blanche in Chamonix, they are skiable…
The European Ski School’s Off-Piste:Freeride Course is a new product this winter, taking advantage of the wonderful terrain Les Deux Alpes has to offer. We will cover the techniques, skills and safety aspects of off-piste skiing over five full days, whilst exploring the mountain world beyond the marker posts. This course is running in conjunction…
Click here to watch the video edit of this course on YouTube. Every autumn, Les Deux Alpes opens for skiing for a week or more over October half-term. In conjunction with Tip-Top ski coaching I offer an under-16s Freeride course this week, running concurrently with TipTop’s adult piste performance course. The camp consists of five…
Chazelet has to be one of my favourite resorts for a day trip. A small, alpine village that retains a timeless charm – this is one place that truly deserves to be called ‘unspoilt’. The resort statistics are underwhelming on paper – there are 5 lifts serving a staggering 6 kilometres of pistes, but the…
People I ski with in Deux Alpes often ask where my favourite ski resort is. They sometimes seem surprised when I tell them “here”. The fact is, I have chosen to live here, work here, ski here, and buy an apartment here. If some other resort was my favourite I would be doing all those…
My final ski tour of last winter was one that I had been wanting to do for some time. The Col du Replat connects the Selle and Etancons valleys which lead to St. Christoph and La Berarde respectively. The previous summer Jon and I had done most of the route in reverse, climbing the Tete…
