On Fri, 01 Jun 2007 02:54:35 -0700, Clive Backham
wrote:

Thanks to everyone for their suggestions.
It's certainly given me some more options to consider.

On 31 May, 18:15, Ace wrote:

I've always preferred the Eastern route, heading off (A39?)
from around Dole and joining the A40 towards Geneva, then leaving that
and dropping down to Annecy via Frangy. Then Annecy-Albertville,
thence Moutiers etc.

I take it that the N508 (Frangy-Albertville) is an OK road, then?

It's not bad, although if you're driving at peak times the road from
Annecy to Albertville will be very slow, with just the last few miles
a dual carriageway. I guess in recent years we've just made sure we're
not doing it during the middle of a Saturday in the French holidays...

And is Moutiers no longer the massive bottle-neck it used to be? (I
vividly recall a terrible 7 hour transfer from Lyon to Tignes a few
years back, but I think that was before the road into Moutiers was
dualled).

Again, it;s a question of choosing your time. Weh we were driving from
the UK we'd developed the pattern of leaving London on a Friday
afternoon and then driving as far into France as we could get before
neither of us could safely drive. Then we'd grab 2-3 hours of kip in
the car at a service station, then carry on and get to our destination
in time for breakfast. I realise that this may not suit, but it's what
my routings and timings were based on.

In the last few years we're only a couple of hours from Geneva, so
such issues are much more easily resolved.

But it's all a bit academic. I'd imagine that Val d'Isere/Tignes, La
Plagne, Courcheval and Meribel will be heaving at half-term,

Yupp.

and I just don't like Val Thorens (which you suggested earlier).

Your choice, I suppose.

Regardless of route, IME Alpe d'Huez would take much more than an hour
more than Flaine, so I'd reckon that VT would be Flaine+1, Alpe d'Huez
Flaine +2.

This easter, we did Watford-Alpe d'Huez in 13 hours door-to-door. The
best we've ever managed for Flaine is 11 hours, usually it's 12. I
think the A40 often causes hold-ups, and the route to Alpe d'Huez
avoids it. Maybe we were just lucky this year to get a clear run.

I think you probably did. My best time was solo, from MK to Tignes le
lac, at about 12 hours door-to-door. This was during the day, a couple
of weeks before xmas, so the traffic wasn't too bad, but the weather
was attrocious, and I reckon I'd have been up to an hour earlier
without the torrential rain, then snow.

--
Ace (brucedotrogers a.t rochedotcom)
Ski Club of Great Britain - http://www.skiclub.co.uk
All opinions expressed are personal and in no way represent those of the Ski Club.