 Poster: A snowHead
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Dates:
Friday 20th – Saturday 28th December (8 ski days)
Travel:
Easyjet to Geneva straight from work on Friday night, then back the following Saturday night after a day’s skiing. Slight hiccup locating skis as they were sent to oversized baggage at Geneva (with buggies etc) rather than coming out on the ski belt as they have previously. Journey time to La Giettaz was about 1h30 but there was some snow on the road and we went the longer way around.
Accommodation:
Chalet La Giettaz (found through Snowheads) for the first 7 nights, Ibis in Sallanches for the last night. We really liked the idea of having our own apartment but with the benefits of a chalet, and this proved to be even better in practice than in theory. Our apartment was compact but very nicely done and with everything you need. Most importantly, the beds were fantastically comfortable and we were never short of hot water. We were a bit later than planned due to a delay in locating skis at the airport and a bit of phaffing about with the hire car, but Chris was waiting up for us (and was very nice about our late arrival). On arrival we had a little welcome hamper with milk, bread, jam, wine, and reblochon, which was very welcome and soon devoured. The following morning breakfast of croissants, pain au chocolat and baguette were delivered to our door. Chris also came round for a chat to advise us about the best place to ski (more on that later).
The chalet has 10 independent apartments of various sizes. There is also a bar in a separate building (10 seconds walk away), which serves meals chalet style – i.e. on a set menu and shared tables. We ate at the bar on Saturday and Wednesday (Christmas day). We were in the bar for a post-ski drink every night as well. Both meals were lovely – I was particularly impressed with the homemade custard which accompanied my apple crumble. Christmas dinner was goose with all the trimmings – all very well done, and a nice sociable meal chatting with other guests.
I can’t recommend the chalet highly enough. The apartments a lovely, the whole opt-in/out for bar/meals works really well, and Chris and Miranda are lovely. They really went out of their way and above and beyond to make sure we had a good stay. Chris even drove us down to the village and back so we could eat out at one of the restaurants in the village (Le Tavaillon, also highly recommended).
*********************************************** THE SKIING **********************************************************
It snowed the day we arrived (20th December), but prior to that there hadn’t been any significant snowfall since the end of November. This was the same across all the French Alps and much of Austria/Switzerland. The local ski area is Le Plan, which is linked in to Megeve/Combloux and the Portes du Mont Blanc ski area (and the larger Evasion ski area). Unfortunately because of the lack of snow they hadn’t managed to get the pistes open at Le Plan. Chris advised us that the best place in the area to ski would be Les Saisies and we decided to take it one day at a time.
Les Saisies:
We skied here Saturday 21st – Monday 23rd and then again on Wednesday 25th December.
On the Saturday we were very pleasantly surprised by the snow conditions, which were good by any standards, only 30-40 cm but powdery and sat atop base friendly meadow land. On the first day we accessed the domain directly from Les Saisies, and spent a good couple of hours just looping up the Bisanne lift and skiing the runs/between the runs off there. It was incredibly quiet and we had this area almost to ourselves. A couple of the runs even had fresh powder on them, which totally amazed us, given that there was hardly any snow about the day before we left. We stopped for lunch at the Panoramique 2000 restaurant next to the top of the Bisanne lift. The food here was standard French mountain cafeteria fare at standard French mountain cafeteria prices, but the staff we very friendly. On subsequent days we entered the domain from Notre Dame de Bellecombe, as this was a slightly shorter drive for us. On the second day we headed up to the Mont Rond and looped the runs and offpiste bits both sides of the Gueux lift for a few hours. Again, we were thrilled to find powder to play in.
Lovely bit of powder to play in between the pistes in Les Saisies
Eventually we decided to head over towards Les Saises. We found nice little bowl to play in accessed from the top of the Grattary lift. Here we managed to find get fresh tracks heading down into the bowl. On Chris’s advice we headed down the Girolles piste from the top of La Legette and had a nice lunch at the restaurant at the bottom of the piste (again, about €40 for two). After lunch we headed back over to Notre Dame de Bellecome; the pistes had become much busier and were starting to suffer: some were very icy, others were getting a little bare. Up till now the low snow depth hadn’t seem to matter in the meadows of Les Saisies, but the increased traffic definitely had an effect. On the third day we pretty much kept looping the same bowl, and continued to get the odd bits of untracked snow here and there, though we did have to hike a bit for it. After a day in La Clusaz on Christmas Eve we went back to Saisies on Christmas day. By this point the pistes were bare and icy in many places, and they were allowing you to downride the chairlift rather than ski back to Bellecome. The pistes were very very quiet. It started raining/snowing about midday, but we continued looping a bump run off the top of Mont Bisanne for an hour or so. However it was raining for the bottom half of the run/chairlift, so at half oneish we headed down for a bit of lunch and to dry off. We had a nice lunch in a creperie on the main street in Saisies and didn’t ski again this day, preferring to wait for the snow promised on Boxing Day.
We really enjoyed skiing Les Saisies. We hadn’t really thought of going there before but we found it to be a delightful ski area. The ski domain is a lot bigger than we realised, both in terms of km of piste (Espace Diament has 185km) and actual area – it felt quite spread out compared to the more developed French resorts. For us (strong skiers who like to get off piste whenever possible) it was a paradise. I had the idea it was good for families (which it would be) but hadn’t expected the easily accessible offpiste. The 30-40cm of snow depth was plenty to have fun with so we can only imagine what it would be like in excellent conditions. Compared to the big French resorts, it was much quieter, even in a peak week where many were travelling in to take advantage of the best snow, and also friendlier. We didn’t stay there but on mountain prices for lunch and coffee were similar to the big resorts, though quality for the money was better.
La Clusaz
On Christmas Eve we headed over here for a change. Lift passes were reduced by 40% in recognition of how little of the resort was open. Conditions were exceedingly marginal – pistes were very icy, with many bare patches, rocks showing through, and often with a sort of slate-like shrapnel embedded in the snow. A couple of pistes higher up were in better condition but the lifts that served them had very long queues. We were on our own skis so thought it best to download the gondola back to the village as the resort level runs had signs warning of ice, rocks, and bare patches .
Megeve(Jaillet)/Le Plan
On Christmas Day the snow came and we awoke to a gorgeous winter wonderland on Boxing Day. We headed to the Jaillet side of Megeve and had a fantastic time playing in the powder on the runs here. Again we got a 40% reduction on our lift pass due to lack of open runs. It continued to snow all day so visibility wasn’t perfect but they continued to open more and more runs through the day giving us more and more new fluffy stuff to play in. Our cheapest lunch of the week was actually at Coeur d’Or at the top of the Beauregarde lift in Megeve.
Lots of fluffy stuff on piste in Combloux on Thursday 27th!
Friday was forecast to be a blue sky powder day and we discovered that the local lifts would finally open, for the first time this season. So it was with much excitement that we headed down to Le Plan for first lifts on Friday morning. In the event we were on the second chair to leave Le Plan this season. We headed straight for the Chamois run which was ungroomed and spent a very enjoyable hour looping this with very few others, before moving off the piste in the same area. The neighbouring off piste and tree runs kept us happily entertained for the remainder of the day, though it got a lot busier as the day went on. We still didn’t encounter any significant queues. We really liked the area around Le Plan and the Jaillet side of Megeve. The area has 100km runs but feels bigger, it feels plenty big enough for a week. However, those wanting more could get the extended Evasion Mont Blanc pass.
Coming down Chamois early on Friday morning
Argentiere
On Friday night we headed down to Sallanches for our final night. We had a guide booked for the Saturday in Chamonix and arranged to meet her at Grand Montets. Whilst we have been skiing offpiste for a while we have done little in the way of big mountain guided descents, so this was new for us. We had a fantastic day with our guide – after assessing our skiing she pushed us hard and fast, on a couple of descents off the side of the top of the cable car and down and out along the Argentiere glacier. We had a nice powder descent down the glacier, then down some couloir and onto a narrow track/shelf next to the crevasses before heading back out to the mid-station. Then some between the pistes bump skiing/rock dodging before doing another, trickier, lap off from the top of the cable car. The couloirs and next-to-crevasse skiing were new experiences for me and definitely redefined the comfort zone . It was great to be challenged in that way and to see what I can really ski if I put my mind to it and was really good for my confidence.
Scski coming down from the top of Grand Montets
And me looking back up from where we’ve come
And finally those beautiful yet terrifying crevasses
All in all it was a fantastic trip. Although getting off straight from work on Friday was a little chaotic/stressful, it was definitely worth it to be able to ski the first Saturday. It was a bit stressful at Geneva turning up in our ski gear and repacking at the airport, but similarly totally worth it to have the other day at the end - a full 8 days skiing made the trip a really nice length.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Gämsbock, thank you very much for including those kind words about your stay with us in your trip report - it was a lovely surprise to log on and see this post and I couldn't let it pass without saying thanks. Really glad you had a good holiday and that your last day was a great success too!
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Gämsbock, great report - lots of useful detail - you obviously made the absolute most of your time in this area, and the conditions, which weren't the best. Those crevasses are awe-inspiring. Perhaps with better snow cover they'd be hidden - and even more dangerous, potentially!
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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miranda, all your local knowledge was fantastic in helping us make the best of the conditions. We definitely plan to visit again in the future.
pam w, definitely guided territory!
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Nice report Gämsbock, thanks
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Great report - enough to convince this die hard ski in-out junkie to go check miranda's website and weekend flights from london city 
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I would just like to echo Gämsbock's write up of Chalet La Giettaz - I've just booked my 4th visit in June (first non-skiing visit). Chris and Miranda really do go beyond the call of duty in making sure their visitors have a good stay - which even included Miranda lending me her own boots when we lost the car key on the piste leaving my only non-ski-boot footwear in the boot of the car. (Other than the complimentary slippers, that is.) I'm a big fan of the skiing area too and was already a repeat visitor before finding Chalet La Giettaz. It will be nice to experience it in the early summer too. 
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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marmotte16, it was lovely to meet you and your family too. Hopefully see you again at CLG sometime 
a.j., it would work really well for a weekend. I'd do it hiring skis rather than bringing and that way you can leave them at the hire shop next to the lift as well. If you are close enough to an airport and pick your flights right you can do a weekend leaving after work on Friday (no time off) and skiing till end of day on Sunday. Although we only did it on one day the shuttle is quick and easy - nothing like a ski bus.
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FAQ
