 Poster: A snowHead
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Trip Report Morillon Grand Massif Feb Half Term 2014-02-26
Having skied at Christmas we were fortunate to get use of a friend’s apartment this half term for a very small fee and therefore able to have a second ski trip which as it turns out was fantastic. Being able to ski just six weeks apart as opposed to the usual twelve months was excellent for my wife and kids and their skiing improved drastically towards the end of this second week.
We departed from Devon on Friday 14th earlier than planned due to the storms and arrived at Folkestone with plenty of time spare so visited the nearby Tesco just off the motorway junction immediately after the Tunnel and refuelled and refreshed. We departed at 10.50pm and all went to plan crossing and on the auto-route away from Calais by 00.30 local time. I was surprised at how many families were heading south through the night but traffic soon thinned out. Mrs Jirac and junior jiracs soon entered deep sleep under their duvets and I churned out the miles armed with a flask of strong coffee and four tins of Red Bull. We made good time at a steady 80mph and the kids woke up to mountain views as we exited at Cluses and headed into Morillon. Landed at the apartment at 08.30 easy peasy.
We sorted all our kit out at leisurely pace and collected ski passes pre-ordered on-line from the Gondola station in the village. I had booked skis through Alpinresorts again and we collected them from Pascal Sports in the village. Now, tiredness I think got the better of me here as the skis we got were a bit shabby. I didn’t really think too much of it at the time but after a morning skiing them it was clear I needed to go back to the shop and change mine and eldest daughters. I had a pair of Apache K2’s and just couldn’t get on with them at all. I felt all at sea on them and they were an old model not particularly well maintained.
In fairness to the shop when I went back in and asked for a change they were tip top. They had little left in store as the masses had arrived Saturday afternoon and collected too. So the manager disappeared for ten minutes and came back with a brand new pair of Head Rev 80’s 170cm which I had specifically requested. Daughter changed hers too as the waist on her initial skis was way too fat, I forgot what they were exactly but were definitely too hard for her to get a decent turn out of.
Moral of the story is that you make sure you get what you want and what you have paid for in the first place, tired or not, I cocked up a bit initially. Anyways the Heads were superb all week on hard pack and the two days of good powder we had they were fantastic for me and I felt like I had amazing control. I would definitely buy a pair if I had the money spare!
There is currently no snow in the village at all as rain has washed it all away in recent weeks but the Gondola up to Esserts at 1100m was easy and pretty quick where there's now aplenty. The longest we queued at the Gondola all week was 10 minutes and most days were five mins or less. From the Gondola exit at mid station there are two options, the long Sairon chair to the top of Morillon or take two chairs, initially Esserts and then Bergin. We used a mix of the two all week depending on which had the smallest queue. The Bergin lift gets you up but a bit lower than Sairon but you can then do a really nice blue down to the Biolleires two man which goes up to the top of Morillon next to the Sairon exit. Okay its three chairs to get to the same place but it keeps you on the move and is actually just as quick as virtually no queues. The reds of Crete, Stade and Bergin were all good fun. Through the days we avoided going back down to Morillon Esserts 1100 to avoid the queues and always did Marvel at the end of the day as the ski schools had cleared by then. It is a lovely way to end the ski day too. What a great run it is, tree lined decent gradient in places for a green. I did shout at a few idiots using it as a race track though. If you go please consider why its green and who is predominantly using it, if you want to race there is plenty of red and black for that!!
A couple of days were bad viz with quite thick cloud and near on white out. This is when Les Carroz came into its own. I loved this sector as it is so friendly to intermediate skiers and characterful, superb tree lined runs, some good relatively easy off piste too. We covered every single blue and some red in the Morillon, Les Carroz and Les Molliets sectors and spent two days just circling around them and jumping on the chair lift at Les Carroz rather than the Gondola is definitely the way to go. The Gonodla was heaving and chair empty...no brainer just keep moving. The ski school meeting points at Les Carroz were mental busy so be slow and careful coming off Coombe down into that area.
We spent a day over at Samoens which was superb too. The snow was in fantastic shape and the blues and reds well groomed. Stuning views from Tete des Saix. If you are picnicking there are tables and benches up top and on a fine day well worth stopping there for a snack or lunch.
The only area we didn’t fully explore was Flaine. We did Tourmeline down into Flaine and some runs that side but didn’t get over to the far side of the bowl as ran out of time and the one day we set aside for it the queues were horrendous so just avoided it and came back over to Samoens and Les Carroz. There was some great off piste to be had around L’Airon and Vernant but it became well tracked out quite quickly. Our last day (21/22nd Feb) it snowed heavily (mid and up high, rain down low) for 24 hours so there was tonnes of powder for those this week.
We lunched each day at different restaurants taking lunch either a bit early or late to avoid the crowds. Our favourite restaurants were a small auberge at the bottom of the Vernant lift, very quiet, good food and great service and also the restaurant at the top of Sairon was good too (Huge portions and not too expensive all things considered).
Travel back home was dead easy. We left Morillon at 0730, didn’t queue once on the autoroute, got to Calais at 1500 and were back home in Devon by 2100.
To sum up we had a great week and would go back to the GM at the drop of a hat. It’s easy to get to, easy to navigate around a large ski area, plenty of variety for all levels of ability and considering it was half term not overly busy and those areas which were busy can be managed by good use of the piste map and timings.
Apologies if a bit long for a trip report. I have missed loads out! Any questions for those travelling in near future please fire away and I’ll hopefully be able to help.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Really enjoyed reading your report as I am considering Morillon Les Esserts for half-term 2015. We drove for the first time in years this half-term (to Chinaillon, Le Grand Bornand) and was surprised by how straightforward it was. However I really dislike windy mountain roads with scary drops (too many horrible coach journeys in the 3 Vallees!) and wanted to ask specifically whether it's an easy drive, especially up the last bit to Les Esserts, if you did it or saw the road. We're after ski-in ski-out accommodation which is why we're thinking Les Esserts would be better.
Also, was it too much of a schlep to ski over to Flaine, or just not necessary with all the more local runs?
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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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bettys, the drive to Morillon itself is very easy with hardly any windy roads. The road up to Les Esserts is quite windy but not very long, as long as you are not arriving while it is snowing it is usually pretty clear.
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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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Thank you! I'd looked at it on Google maps but it was hard to tell how steep or scary it was, always better to hear it from someone who's been.
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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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bettys, the drive up from cluses to Morillon is very easy. Whilst the road up to Les Esserts is winding it has no steep drops off either side and even in heavy snow would be no issue with winter tyres or chains. It is about as easy and not scary as driving the Alps gets!! Esserts is a great spot to be for ski in out especially if you have little ones. The teaching area looked first class. To get over to Flaine is easy too and you can incorporate some great runs. There are a couple of choke points but they can be minimised by good timing in my opinion.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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That's great to know, thanks again, I'm definitely putting it high on the list for next year.
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Great review and even better reading this after booking Xmas in morillon for my family this year, can't wait and it all sounds positive. Thanks for the info
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