jamesdeluxe
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jul 17, 2020
For my second and last day in Queyras, I went to the largest ski area in the region, which compared to some of the mega resorts in France isn't very big, but still plenty for a day or two. Situated between two small villages, Molines and St. Véran, the latter is an attraction in itself because it’s very old and picturesque, and at 2042 metres is billed as the highest commune in Europe, ergo their tourist slogan "où le coq picore les étoiles" (where the rooster pecks at the stars).
The ski map doesn’t look like much; however, the terrain is more than two miles across and goes from 1750 to 2800 metres, thus covering 2,500 verts and virtually all of it is skiable:
Facing south/southwest, which can be helpful or counter productive depending when you're there, on the far looker’s left is a sector with fun, rolling red (double blue) pistes cutting through skiable larch trees. Thus, good for storm days with limited visibility.
Similar to the previous day at Ceillac and Arvieux, St. Véran has chairs at either end to take skiers to mid-mountain, after which parallel Poma platters eventually separate to take you to two different points on the ridgeline.
The looker’s right is a wide open, Grand Targhee-esque playground with up to 2,500 continuous verts. By about noon, the sun had softened up the skier-packed offpiste into a nice surface halfway between chalk and sugar, so I had at it. Hike-to terrain at the top and the looker's right offered some steep shots, but anything lift-served was a pleasant double-blue pitch, which I love.
Over the course of the day, I counted maybe a couple hundred people there; however, there's so much elbow room, especially offpiste, that it delivered what we all love: the private-ski-area effect.
There's a fourth Queyras ski area about 20 minutes away that I'd hoped to ski that afternoon with the all-region day ticket; however, I was having such a good time at Saint Véran that I stayed the entire day.
I stopped at 3 pm for a coffee break. Although it was early February, more or less the middle of the season, with this much sunshine and comfortable temps my entire visit felt closer to spring skiing.
