Three Days in Grenoble

A friend was deperate to get away to ski this year as he hadn't been for a couple of years. I was planning on saving hard for the next few months to pay for a half-season in South America this summer but we had free accomodation offered to us in Grenoble so I agreed to a quick few days in the Alps. I was a bit unsure as to what the snow conditions would be like but was pleasantly surprised!


I went to work on Wednesday morning and then headed home to pick up Matt and my boarding gear and then headed to Stansted for a flight to Lyon. We then got a bus to Grenoble where Matt's sister met us and drove us to her apartment.


Sleeping quarters were a bit cramped with the three of us on mattresses on the floor.

We grabbed an early night and then set out in the morning to pick up some hire gear for Matt and then up to a nearby resort. The weather looked nicer over towards Vercors so we headed in that direction and ended up at Villard-de-Lans. This is one of the smaller resorts in the Alps but has amazing terrain and the off-piste snow was in great condition.

Even straight off the lift there were great lines to be had and the snow was nice dry, light powder.

Matt in one of the great stashes we found.

 

Me steezing it up!

Oh yeah!

 
















After a great days riding we headed back to Grenoble and out for dinner and a few beers. The next day we headed for the larger resort of Les Sept Laux which I was massively impressed with.

After spotting someone riding down from the right hand side of this photo I did some exploring. At the top of the lift on the other side of this peak there was a boot trail which I duly followed. I found a drop in point and ended up riding the chute just to the left of centre. The top was STEEP but soon mellowed out and was full of nice soft powder!

I managed to convince Matt to give hiking a try and I think I have another convert! Here he is on the steep top section.
 

I rode this line three times as it was such a short hike for great turns. This is me on the lower section, I am in there somewhere!
 

It started getting really warm in the afternoon and the snow lower down got heavy and made for hard work. Time for some messing around!
 

It was back out on the town that night for some great mountain food! Matt's sister was meeting some of her friends so we joined them for a few beers. Had an awesome night and ended up bailing sometime before 2am as we were planning an early start the next morning.

Well, that early start didn't really happen and we eventually made it to Les Deux Alpes around 11am. It was probably for the best as I was starting to feel the effects of two days of hard riding. I didn't get many shots from LDA but here's one of some great lines we got.

A well earnt 'pint' at the bottom of the hill!

As always, the end of the trip came far too soon! We left the apartment at about 11:30am and walked to Grenoble bus and train station. From there we got a bus to the airport, flew to Luton and then got a coach to Stansted where the car was parked. I made it back to Brum in record time and hit the sack ready for work in the morning!