jamesdeluxe
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jul 17, 2020
Even though I've skied several times in the Alps over the past ten years, I'd had such good luck with Austria, I kept going back; however, this season, I decided to make my long-awaited first visit to the French Alps and chose a ski region with a mind-blowing amount of terrain -- 400 miles of marked trails, to say nothing of the offpiste acreage --the Portes du Soleil, whose literal translation is "The Doors (or Gateway) to the Sun."
First, a bit of logistics. Many U.S. skiers go on about how much they'd love to go to the Alps, but never get around to it because the logistics are too daunting; you lose travel days; it's easier to fly out west, etc. Here's some food for thought and praise for the Geneva airport, which is incredibly convenient for many of the largest lift-served ski areas on earth. How convenient?
My nonstop flight spent an extra hour on the ground at Newark waiting to be de-iced during a snowstorm, but even with a 6:45 pm departure, we landed in Geneva at 7:40 the next morning. Our airport shuttle was a half hour late leaving the airport and after a quick 55-minute drive to the resort, a short breakfast, and checking into my hotel, I was still on the lift at 10:30, which is even earlier than if I'd taken the morning flight to Salt Lake City and sprinted to one of the Cottonwoods ski areas.
Long story short, you don't lose a travel day on the outbound trip and can ski at least six hours on your arrival day. Now, some people may prefer to spend the first day taking it easy and recovering from jet lag, but I'll sleep when I'm dead -- I'm there to ski. Due to the six-hour difference, there's no way around spending a travel day on the return trip, but hey, by then, you'll need some recovery time:
I'm headquartering during my first three days in Les Gets (pronounced LAY SHJAY), a cute village with family-oriented atmosphere and terrain (mostly intermediate). The map above makes it look a lot smaller than it is. They picked up a foot Thursday night. With the large crowds from Geneva along with many destination visitors, the cut trails had been scraped down to a hard base in many areas, but the offpiste (even five feet from the trails) was soft as could be with piles of lightly chopped pow. Today was really overcast with flat light, so not tremendously photogenic. Moreover, I was alone: no in-action pix. Here's what I have:
Lifts open at 9:30 and run until 4:30 or 5:00 pm:
Lots of atmospheric restaurants all over the mountain:
Sunday night and it's nuking here at valley level right now so I'll hopefully have better visuals tomorrow.
First, a bit of logistics. Many U.S. skiers go on about how much they'd love to go to the Alps, but never get around to it because the logistics are too daunting; you lose travel days; it's easier to fly out west, etc. Here's some food for thought and praise for the Geneva airport, which is incredibly convenient for many of the largest lift-served ski areas on earth. How convenient?
My nonstop flight spent an extra hour on the ground at Newark waiting to be de-iced during a snowstorm, but even with a 6:45 pm departure, we landed in Geneva at 7:40 the next morning. Our airport shuttle was a half hour late leaving the airport and after a quick 55-minute drive to the resort, a short breakfast, and checking into my hotel, I was still on the lift at 10:30, which is even earlier than if I'd taken the morning flight to Salt Lake City and sprinted to one of the Cottonwoods ski areas.
Long story short, you don't lose a travel day on the outbound trip and can ski at least six hours on your arrival day. Now, some people may prefer to spend the first day taking it easy and recovering from jet lag, but I'll sleep when I'm dead -- I'm there to ski. Due to the six-hour difference, there's no way around spending a travel day on the return trip, but hey, by then, you'll need some recovery time:
I'm headquartering during my first three days in Les Gets (pronounced LAY SHJAY), a cute village with family-oriented atmosphere and terrain (mostly intermediate). The map above makes it look a lot smaller than it is. They picked up a foot Thursday night. With the large crowds from Geneva along with many destination visitors, the cut trails had been scraped down to a hard base in many areas, but the offpiste (even five feet from the trails) was soft as could be with piles of lightly chopped pow. Today was really overcast with flat light, so not tremendously photogenic. Moreover, I was alone: no in-action pix. Here's what I have:
Lifts open at 9:30 and run until 4:30 or 5:00 pm:
Lots of atmospheric restaurants all over the mountain:
Sunday night and it's nuking here at valley level right now so I'll hopefully have better visuals tomorrow.
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