 Poster: A snowHead
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thought I'd better get this written before I forget it all / it gets covered in snow.
location: UCPA Serre Chevalier
Course: Grandes Traces (essentially 'off piste' with bells on it)
UCPA bit - easily up to expectations. For those that don't know, see 'action outdoors', the UK agent. Essentially, UCPA is the yha for the modern age. yes, the rooms are 'basic', and yes you have to do a bit of cleaning and housework... but when your holiday costs about £700 for a week over christmas which includes - 6 days lift pass, equipment hire, 4 days of guiding, all your food... AND a location to die for, AND a guide who absolutely rocks, (Lionel, a true mountain man, makes a mean jam in the summer - if you're in the area, Thursday is market night at UCPA and his produce is for sale) it's a no brainer. Sure, you might have to ski with 20 year olds who can blow you away.... and out-drink you, and are better at cards/cheese french disco..... but the ucpa bar has Christmas Grimberger for 4.5 euros a pint, and a reasonable wine selection, AND the food was excellent....
logistics - we flew BA to grenoble, and hired a car through a web broker(auto europe) Avis were the agent. rental cost about 320 euros for a week - as there were 3 of us, and the forecast wasnt great, it made sense... Grenoble airport makes London City look big... but only a few minutes wait to pick up my chevy (supposed to be a renault captur -effectively a golf on steroids, and with _really_ big wheels.....). 3 people and kit (no skis) went in easily, car had satnav, rear camera etc.... but my lack of preparedeness meant we still tried to take the mountain road via la Grave, without checking if it was open (it kind of is, to locals, if the snow isn't too bad, but see other articles for more info). we turned back after part way, drove via Gap (scenic, but a bit long), so airport to UCPA took about 7 hours when it should have been < 3).
and on the way back.... it snowed on our last day (sat 2nd), so we picked up snow chains in Briancon... where i discovered that the car has 17x60 wheels.... 150euros for chains. hope I can sell em on ebay afterwards. not sure we really needed them for the route via col montgenevre, the road was cleared and gritted, and not obviously icy..... although I'm just not enough experienced to know when its best to put them on. road was 'black' all the way up to the col, and there are several tunnels on the italian side, so could probably have done without, or actually gone via la grave.
once we hit the last stretch of autoroute before the Frejus tunnel, we hit the traffic. Signs indicate a 4 hour wait, which became 5 hours (i.e. from 17.45 to 22.45) to get through the tunnel. oh, and 40odd euros for a 1 way ticket. apparently Serre holidaymakers can get a discounted rate by getting a letter from their accomodation and applying via the tourist office - but it takes 2 days, and only weekdays.... we missed our supper booking in Grenoble, and flopped into the Ibis or whatever in Grenoble about 00.30. 07.30 start to get to the airport, drop the car...... and then battle thro the hordes to find out that snowchains cant' go in the cabin.... so another 40 euros to BA to put another bag in the hold.... after paying for that, I was _very_ late, but still not the last person onto our plane.
snow - conspicuous by its absence. still did a bit of offpiste, and some grass skiing, and a lot of funky drills... not quite what we'd signed up for, but made the best of it. the ARVA practice was excellent, we observe one group do a multiple burial search, and had our own challenging one to clear - learned a lot. UCPA also put on a video/training presentation one night, open to all residents, definitely worth attending.
pix
example of the careful grooming - redundant now, but they were doing a good job.
our guide Lionel making it very clear that going 'left' was not an option....
although as this was the preferred route, going 'left' may actually have been preferable. it was steeper than it looked, and not a lot of margin for error in the turns
it wasn't all bad though - sunshine most days, and the pleasure of hiking far from the madding crowd is always appreciated...
even if it _did_ look like a procession....
UCPA new years eve dinner
grass skiing with Lionel
nothing better than a little french tart to round off the evening
better than working!
thanks to KenX for the moral support and guidance on day 1
pix - to come
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