Going where the lifts don't go / Photo by Simon Hutton

There’s been a lot of talk here of this being one of the best seasons the Alps has seen in recent memory. Without wanting to gloat too much, we have had multiple powder days since the start of the season and it’s even snowing as I type.

This week I skied with a seven times seasonaire from Verbier – a guy that seriously knows his skiing. He couldn’t believe the amount of powder that remains untouched at Val Cenis, even late into the day. Often in the big resorts of the Alps any trace of fresh snow is thrashed by hoards of skiers long before the lifts close – another reason I love Val Cenis.  Working a ski season is a bit like university – everyone involved seems to have a good time and a huge amount of pride in the place they’ve chosen to attend.

Avalanche training

This week we went out avalanche training. We split into pairs and buried transceivers for each other to locate and recover. Experts tell us that if an avalanche victim survives the initial slide, their chances of survival plummet after ten minutes. So we set ourselves a ten minute target and all managed to locate and recover the buried transceivers within this window. Having said this, we all learnt a huge amount from mistakes that we made on first attempts and were able to save invaluable minutes on our second efforts.

Ski safely

It’s all too easy to buy the appropriate safety equipment, be kitted out with all the latest gadgets and think that you’re safe, but there is no substitute for familiarisation and practice using your gear. Skiing powder is the zenith of many peoples’ skiing experience, including mine, and I would never discourage anyone from doing it, but it can be highly dangerous.  There’s been a massive increase in inbound avalanches over the last few years.

• Be sensible
• Inform yourself of the risks
• Carry the essential triumvirate: Transceiver, Shovel, Probe and know how to use it.

Further reading:

• A Small, Alternative, Very French Ski Resort

The perfect snowfield / Photo by Simon Hutton

Before I start, let me set my stall out; I’m working for what is essentially a package holiday operator that offer ski holidays in the French Alps. Probably not the typical choice for the make travel fair reader. Having said that, there are a few fundamental differences between your typical ski company, and the organisation that I’m working for. We operate solely from one resort and have been established here for around 20 years. Over time, the company has established incredible links with the local community and a truly symbiotic relationship has been forged. The local economy benefits from the constant stream of tourists, who in turn get to experience a unique tranche of French culture, rather than moving their own traditional pub culture into the Alps. Unusually for a ski resort, the vast majority of the local community in Val Cenis are here for the entire year. It is a year round working village, not a purpose built resort.

Leaving Home For A Season In The Alps

We were due to be collected in Lyon and driven to the resort, but the biggest dump of snow in Val Cenis since the seventies meant that leaving the village to collect us was not going to be possible for a good few hours. It was the first opportunity of the season for the locals to help us out as they emerged en masse to assist with digging the hidden cars out from under nearly 2 metres of snow.  After a bus, a train across France (unrecognisable as a train compared to what I was used to after my gladly left behind commuting days), and a short drive, we arrived in the picture postcard scenery of a ski resort setting up for the season.

“Val Cenis is located in the Haute-Maurienne region of the French Alps, close to the Italian border.  It is composed of two villages; Lanslebourg and Lanslevillard. The villages sit at 1400m and 1500m, respectively, and lifts climb to a maximum altitude of 2800m. The resort is fairly unheard of in the UK, and attracts a mainly French contingent each winter. It is a lot quieter than larger ski resorts in the French Alps and does not normally suffer from long lift queues.”

Val Cenis – Wikipedia

Christmas In A Ski Resort

The festive season in ski resorts is strange, especially as a ‘seasonaire’. I’d forgotten that Christmas was approaching as skiing itself was far more on my mind. The staff all had the day off and we spent a lazy morning skiing between mountain bars, wishing Christmas greetings to friends.  New Year, or ‘St. Silvestre’ is a much bigger holiday for the locals than Christmas.

Getting to Val Cenis from the UK

By road

• Snowcoach is one option that services Val Cenis. The Dover-Calais ferry crossing with P&O takes just 75 minutes and then it’s an overnight ride to your resort. They offer Royal Class and Club Class coaches with ‘seat only‘ prices starting at £94 return.

Journey times from airports

• Chambéry Airport: 1hr 30mins
• Grenoble Airport : 2 hrs
• Lyon St-Exupéry Airport : 2½ hrs
• Turin Airport : 2 hrs – via Fréjus Tunnel
• Geneva Airport : 3 hrs