 Poster: A snowHead
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La Grave is on my bucket list- can anyone help with advice/ useful info on staying/skiing there? (accommodation, guides, getting there, level of difficulty, etc etc)
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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For accommodation, I just went into the tourist office place near the lift and asked about apartments. We got one fairly cheap, but that approach may not always pan out.
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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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You can drive down in one hit from the UK, and if you can ski every red run you come across with the odd black thrown in and have some off piste ability you should manage the main easy descents ok.
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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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As difficult or easy as you want to make it. If you're a first timer without your own posse you could do worse than a package with someone like Skier's Lodge.
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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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Not much point in staying at La Grave unless you want to do more than the two or three much skied easy descents (which are off piste but quickly get skied into ungroomed pistes). Really you need to be into tough off piste (especially couloirs of which there are a huge amount) almost all of it needing a guide (if you want to stay alive) and sometimes a rope. A large number of the routes (including almost all those going right down to the road below La Grave) you wouldn't know existed unless someone showed you, and there are lots of (unmarked) cliffs. Really it can be as difficult as anyone (including extreme experts) want - if that is what you want.
It should be noted that it is sometimes, when skied out, and when the steeps are hard (and thus dangerous if you fall, since you can't stop) a good idea to take a day or more in other resorts (such as Serre Chevallier) and this is what guides will also be useful for since they will take you there. Usually on one day you will go off the back down a long valley to St Christophe (no, not the Austrian one) and back via bus and Les Deux Alpes.
Skiers Lodge is popular and good and organise groups with guides, or if you want a proper hotel (but this means finding your own guide - see the local guides office or recommendations from snowheads) the Edelweiss is very nice and not particularly expensive.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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i turned up at the guides office and asked to join one of their collectives, which is 75e i think, before you pay the pass, which works out a bit cheaper than taking a guide amongst 3. we just did the two main itinerarys which i think if i went back would probably not take a guide for. with that approach is the risk that unknown people in your group could be a bit crap. (or you might be the weak link!)
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Gite le Rocher is both good and cheap if there is a group of you and you do not mind being in a bunkhouse. It is a fun and friendly place, although the decor is a little odd. There was a gold dildo on a shelf in the dining room last time I was there. I presume it doesn't see much use. I digress.
If you require guiding and do not have your own group then Skierslodge is probably the best option. They will find the best available skiing out of La Grave, Alpe d'Huez, Serre Chevalier and the closer Milky Way resorts. Groups vary from good itinerary run standard skiers up to genuine experts. By expert I mean jump turns in high consequence terrain or genuine freeriders. Last time I skied with them they had some of the K2 women's team there, which gives an idea of the standard at the top end.
Otherwise there is stuff for all standards of skier. In order to get the most out of it you have to enjoy large vertical drops with the odd piece of basic alpinism thrown in and the sense of a journey through the mountains more than skiing pristine powder. La Grave on a powder day is fun but it doesn't really last and there are better options (AdH/Claviere/Montgenevre) for easy powder turns a long time after the last snowfall.
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PS I was there for the climbing at that time, not the skiing. We used to grab a lazy breakfast on the balcony, see which easy ice falls had people on and then go grab they empty ones. Le Chazelet is a nice little ski area just behind La Grave if you want some piste skiing between guided excursions.
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Thanks everybody- plenty to go on there, I think I'll start with Skiers Lodge.
Really appreciate all your advice 
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As gorilla, LG isn't so much about the pow - I've been a number of times and skied fresh powder very rarely. It's more about the terrain. Many of the couloirs are very accessible from the lift and you need to know what you're doing (or take a guide) as plenty are pretty benign in good snow but lethal when it's hard. The longer, more committing couloirs such as Les Freux, Chirouze and La Vaute have sections of you-fall-you're-in-deep-poo sections regardless of the conditions. The view from the top of the abseil into La Vaute. The 3 dots are Snowheads: they're not small, they're just a long way down 
It's a superb place if you have an adventurous streak and the local guides are excellent.
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FAQ
