 Poster: A snowHead
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A friend and I are heading to France in February and will be spending 4 days skiing in La Grave. I'm trying to decide which set of skis to bring and was wondering if it is worth it to bring touring skis to La Grave or would a downhill setup suffice? Is there much touring to be had beyond the lift and rope tow or could we occupy 4 days pretty easily with the downhills? I feel much more confident skiing hard on difficult terrain with my downhill setup. If you've skied at La Grave or have any advice please let me know, thanks!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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There is plenty to do which does not require touring. That said, I have been many times and I always take skis which can be toured on and skins because it adds a bit of additional flexibility. Eg if the rope tow isn’t running you can walk up to access the same runs but with less competition for the new snow (if there is any)
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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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As what @Arno, said..... Plus should conditions not be good on La Meije or it's even closed due to storms you can go touring elsewhere.
It's actually how I got into touring, first trip trip was back in 97 snowboarding, then a trip every year after that, gradually migrating into touring with snow boarding then seeing the light and returning to skis.
Some of my best days have been touring on la Meije, notably when the lift was closed!
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Perhaps it's only me, but it sounds like your touring rig is more on the lightweight aka soft side of things, as you "feel much more confident with your downhill setup"? If that's the case, I would bring the downhill stuff. You can still hire touring gear - and perhaps more meaty one -, if that's what the actual conditions suggest.
On the mountain itself, there is not much room to go up any more. So if you don't get lost... The entrance to Pan de Rideau and the Couloir Nord-Est (The Y) is a bit of a hike, but absolutely doable walking in alpine boots. Other than that, both routes impose non-negligible objective risks, and looking back, I'm not so sure about their compellingness any more.
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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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There is plenty to do in La Grave for 4 days without needing touring skis, I think. Though as @Arno and @Weathercam have pointed out, they will give you more flexibility.
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TBH a rope and a harness would probably be as much use.
So much depends on whether you’re skiing with a guide and/or how competent you are with mountaineering techniques and navigation. I’m not very competent in these things so we always take a guide
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| Pocnnell wrote: |
| A friend and I are heading to France in February and will be spending 4 days skiing in La Grave. I'm trying to decide which set of skis to bring and was wondering if it is worth it to bring touring skis to La Grave or would a downhill setup suffice? Is there much touring to be had beyond the lift and rope tow or could we occupy 4 days pretty easily with the downhills? I feel much more confident skiing hard on difficult terrain with my downhill setup. If you've skied at La Grave or have any advice please let me know, thanks! |
What are your 2 setups?
As above, in good conditions there’s plenty of lift served but in my 3 visits to La Grave the lift didn’t open above P2 twice (too much snow). In this situation touring gear would give you some other options
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| Tristero wrote: |
| ......On the mountain itself, there is not much room to go up any more. So if you don't get lost...Other than that, both routes impose non-negligible objective risks, and looking back, I'm not so sure about their compellingness any more.... |
A lot of the time the drag on the glacier above p3 is not working, so you do not want to go walking anywhere on there, keeping your skis on at all times!
Yonks ago there was a drag up along the ridge, called the Tele ski des trifide, you took that got off then skied down to the Girose T-Bar.
A common option is then to ski along where the piste basher drag takes you and then skin up in various directions on the Glacier, and or skinning up where the old teleski was to give you more options.
I've skied there in the Spring after heavy rain in the valley to around 2,300 so the route back to P1 along the traverse was nigh on closed, if you had to go to p1 then the Vallons side was the best option, though most skied vallons to p2.
Others skied chancel then opting to go over the breche back into vallons, though was not that busy, we skied all the way down to Chancel Refuge, had a very pleasant lunch and then skinned back up to the breche and that was a plan I'm still quite chuffed with conjuring up, others have not been as successful 
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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All this advice (mine included) presupposes that @Pocnnell know where s/he is going. @Pocnnell, you've probably read the scary stories about people getting lost and getting stuck (or worse) - these may get a bit sensationalised but LG is complex and you can get in a lot of trouble quickly so do make sure you know where you're going and the demands of the route. Many of the classic runs to the road require abseils and very good route finding skills, even if they don't require skins and touring bindings 
Sorry for the sermon - have fun and stay safe
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