les deux Alpes

I am going to les deux Alpes on 22nd Jan for a week with a group of friends
(mostly skiers !) and was wondering if anybody could give me the low down on
the slopes and night life ?

Mark

"mark" wrote in message
I am going to les deux Alpes on 22nd Jan for a week with a group of
friends (mostly skiers !) and was wondering if anybody could give me the
low down on the slopes and night life ?

If you're all very good then get a guide as La Grave is next door. Never
been myself, and if I do then I'd be on skis as my boarding isn't nearly as
good.
Sorry to be absolutely no help what so ever but La Grave is infamous, get a
guide if you are going to attempt it and want to come back in one piece.

--
kitemap
http://ugcc.co.uk

"David Brown )" wrote in message
...
"mark" wrote in message
I am going to les deux Alpes on 22nd Jan for a week with a group of
friends (mostly skiers !) and was wondering if anybody could give me the
low down on the slopes and night life ?

If you're all very good then get a guide as La Grave is next door. Never
been myself, and if I do then I'd be on skis as my boarding isn't nearly
as
good.
Sorry to be absolutely no help what so ever but La Grave is infamous, get
a
guide if you are going to attempt it and want to come back in one piece.

--
kitemap
http://ugcc.co.uk


I'm only replying to this because of the "La Grave" bit of "advice"
(yawn) - first off - you do need a guide, that will cost, plus you'll either
need to have travel arrangments back from LG to Deux Alpes, as it's about
45mins by road, or if you have time and are able to do another descent you
go back up by lift and have to buy a LG lift pass to get you back up, then
back up again to get back to Deux Alpes which is a bit of a hike.

If you are boarding, it's not so much the descent if you are an average
intermediate, but the VERY tough narrow traverses at the bottom back to the
P1 station, or if you are very lucky with the snow then you can go all the
way to the bottom - but if you are with skiers and the guide is on skis then
you'll be left behind as the traverses are not nearly as difficult on skis -
trust me on this one, I've been to LG on and off for about 5 - 6 years - and
the traverses are still a pain in the arse.

There are basically two main routes down, Vallons and Chancalle - so
depending on whether you are goofy or regular, one you will be ok on the
traverse the other will have your calf mucscles screaming.

Anyway, you probably will find the top links shut when you go and will not
be able to get over as they still need a lot of snow on the top glacier
before they open that section up - have a look at
http://www.la-grave.com/english/web-cams.php and you'll see there are still
quite a few wide open crevasses - the link back is over the Dome De La Luze.

As for Deux Alpes itself it's another "big" resort and has ample ski area -
you'll find out for yourself - and as a big Town, there are loads of bars
etc - in fact my French niece runs one of the more popular ones, must get
the name......

Going back to off piste routes, if you want a special day, then, again with
a guide, and good snow cover the run down to Saint Christophe is a a
classic. But again if you're with skiers that could be a problem - I do tour
with skiers who understand the limitations of being on a board and will give
me their poles when on the flat sections and the occassional tow - just hope
you get loads of decent soft powder and you'll be ahead of them - so enjoy
the trip!!

Plus see http://www.skierslodge.com/2Frameindex.html for routes in Deux
Alpes and http://www.skierslodge.com/2Frameindex.html for La Grave - have a
look at LOrciere de Droites and the other routes - in one day we did three
and managed to get 12,000+ vertical in one day!

Regards
WC

mark wrote:
I am going to les deux Alpes on 22nd Jan for a week with a group of
friends (mostly skiers !) and was wondering if anybody could give me
the low down on the slopes and night life ?

Mark

I did 2Alpes in 2003. Spent most of the time in the park - at that time it
was twisted excellent - 'beginners' kickers and a nice pipe, but you had to
board in front of the big booters to get to the rails - French
organisation?!?!? Scarey steeps with easy long run outs that were v good
fun. Nitelife was pretty much to be expected - lager lout skiier places, but
a loads of chill bars.

Tell us how you go, I wanna go back sometime. Of course, if you've gone down
that WeatherCam route don't bother replying
and..................oh..............I ........fell.......a....s..lee......p

DB

mark wrote:

I am going to les deux Alpes on 22nd Jan for a week with a group of friends
(mostly skiers !) and was wondering if anybody could give me the low down on
the slopes and night life ?



Late january is a good time to go. The slopes are empty. However if
you're unlucky the weather can be very bad, and the snow lacking
(especially if you consider going to La Grave).

I like les deux alpes because of the snowpark which is one of the best
in France (Altough, yoy can be a bit disappointed if you come from the
US). There's always snow (it's very high) but the highest slopes are not
really steep. Some people think that it's not a really challenging
resort, esp. when the lower slopes are closed (which is often the case).

You might consider spending one day at "L'alpes d'huez", a very close
resort, same size as "les deux alpes" (less than one hour bus). I think
(but not 100% sure) that you can ask for this when you buy your
one week ski pass.

" Tell us how you go, I wanna go back sometime. Of course, if you've gone
down
that WeatherCam route don't bother replying
and..................oh..............I
.........fell.......a....s..lee......p

DB


Hey DB, each to their own........all I can say, is been there, seen it, done
it and acted like you, probably when I was your age - as you mature you'll
start to appreciate other aspects of boarding / mountains - as for me I'm
off out on my other board - this is view from my house and the conditions
http://www.seaspritesports.com/weatherframe.htm and the good news is that
the current UK weather will dump in the Alps at the weekend - mind you, can
you hande powder?

Regards

On Tue, 21 Dec 2004 10:19:54 GMT, "mark"
wrote:

I am going to les deux Alpes on 22nd Jan for a week with a group of friends
(mostly skiers !) and was wondering if anybody could give me the low down on
the slopes and night life ?

I spent a week there quite some time ago (96?), but the mountain won't
have changed shape much :-) I didn't really like it too much - it's
very high, so way above the tree line, which, while making it
snowsure, also means it's a bit of a lunar landscape, without much
character. Also, the mountain is sort of 'upside down', in that the
easy green/beginner slopes are right at the top, and the hardest
slopes are near the bottom, on the run back to the town.
Consequently, a large number of people use the lift to get down the
mountain.

I also didn't find much in the way of off-piste, but I was pretty
ignorant of such things back then.

The best bar when I was there was "The Brazilian", but no idea if it's
still going.
--
Champ

"Champ" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 21 Dec 2004 10:19:54 GMT, "mark"
wrote:

I also didn't find much in the way of off-piste, but I was pretty
ignorant of such things back then.
--
Champ

Champ - did you suss out to get the offpiste routes working in "flash" in
the links I posted....where it's dashed that's where you have to rapel down.

Regards

WC

WeatherCam wrote:
" Tell us how you go, I wanna go back sometime. Of course, if you've
gone down
that WeatherCam route don't bother replying
and..................oh..............I
........fell.......a....s..lee......p

DB


Hey DB, each to their own........all I can say, is been there, seen
it, done it and acted like you, probably when I was your age - as you
mature you'll start to appreciate other aspects of boarding /
mountains - as for me I'm off out on my other board - this is view
from my house and the conditions
http://www.seaspritesports.com/weatherframe.htm and the good news is
that the current UK weather will dump in the Alps at the weekend -
mind you, can you hande powder?

Regards

"Hey DB, each to their own"
Yup, like answering the posted post.........

"all I can say, is been there, seen it, done it and acted like you"
Nice one. I got bored with cord/pow too and tried out what the kids were
doing - I can just about hold my own in the pipe and love grinding, although
I'm ****. Excellent that you've gone down the same progressive, move-on
route - no point in being staid/dull/old-dear-esque.

"when I was your age "
I've pretty much enjoyed my 20's(skiing) and 30's(boarding), looking forward
to the 40's, which ain't that far off. I guess you're knocking onto
retirement now, any advice for late 30's boarders?

"as you mature you'll start to appreciate other aspects of boarding"
Good point. Coming from a ski background. When I started boarding, I quickly
grew bored of the cord/pow, blah blah bah
dull-as-fast-as-you-can-go-but-might-as-well-be-on-skis boarding. I totally
agree with you that development is the key i.e. don't get stuck in a dullard
rutt.

WC, you are a good guy and obviously see that moving on is the key. Who
wants to be stuck in a imagination-less hole? You've inspired me.

DB