 Poster: A snowHead
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Has anyone skied the off-piste route back to Brides Les Bains form Meribel?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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sparkyNI, Yes
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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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How would you rate it patch? Is there usually enough snow to use it?
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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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sparkyNI, It's very rare for there to be enough snow to ski it - I don't remember it being skiable at all last season.
It's a gentle trail, over meadows and through forests, but you need to know where or going, or to be with someone who does
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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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Was hopeing to ski this route but going over in early january so wont get my hopes up
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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sparkyNI, You might be lucky, but you're right not to get your hopes up.
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Our group stays in Brides Les Bains every January and March. The start of the route is often fenced off with a warning of lack of snow. We believe this is because they can't be bothered to patrol it. We have often skied the first leg to La Raffort without problem (in January but not March!). Last January we decided to try to find the next leg to Les Allues by ignoring the sign directing to La Raffort and continuing straight on. We lost our way after a further kilometre due to poor signage and complete lack of any tracks in the fresh snow. We have heard stories of the fabled ski route from Meribel to Brides Les Bain, but does it really exist?
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Mr Marmot, there may be a way down to Brides from les Allues on the side you're talking about, but it would be a big adventure!!
sparkyNI, The normal route to Brides branches off the run down to Meribel Village, passes near to the Plantin restaurant then follows paths & fields down to Brides. Lots of diagonal sideslipping down paths interspersed with pleasant skiing through fields. Doesn't need loads of snow lower down as fields are fairly grassy, but the paths have a few hidden snags which do need a bit of cover... Have skied it in january before, but all depends on recent snowfall heights...
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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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Excellent Offpisteskiing! That explains everything. We were trying the wrong route! And it now makes more sense to start on the other side of the valley. Problem is that our group is hardly likely to get further than a visit to the Lodge Du Village in Meribel Village and we've been meaning to try Le Plantin for years so that could also be an obstacle! However we all ski better after some light refreshment, particularly over the 'rough' stuff in the dark, so skiing all the way to Brides might still happen for us next January!
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I have skied twice from Meribel to Brides Les Bains, both times in an ESF group but several years ago. One route started from somewhere off of the Gelinotte piste and stayed that side of the valley for most (maybe all) of way. The other route started from the bottom of the Altiport and it stayed on that side of the valley. One memorable thing was seeing a pisteur doing some route maintenance - he was using a chainsaw. Another memory is of a lady who skied into a hawthorn bush and whose husband scratched his face in the bush while trying to rescue her.
Watch out for fences if you do these routes. Fields tend to have wire fences around them and it can be very difficult to see a wire that is waiting patiently for a ski boot to trap.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Well I finally did it, just!
After all the recent snow, there was enough of the white stuff to make skiing between Meribel and Brides-Les-Bain possible. I have wanted to attempt this route for the past 10 years, and last Monday I completed it.
For those who want the precise details of how to find the route; Leave the Lapin piste (towards Meribel Village), on the right-hand side, about 300m before the end of the piste. There is a sign (for walkers really) to Brides Les Bain. Continue following the path through the woods, and occasional signs, until you reach the road that runs between Meribel Village and La Tania and somewhere close to the Le Plantain restaurant. Cross the road and rejoin the walker's path located approx. 50m from the Le Plantain restaurant on the road towards La Tania.
The rest of the route is, as 'offpisteskiing' mentioned, an 'adventure'! The path is fairly well sign-posted and mainly on narrow paths through woods with the occasional field/meadow. It is not for the faint-hearted with plently of steep, narrow parts that I could only negotiate (and with difficulty) by side-slipping. You eventually arrive at the Bride Les Bain Olympic lift station after skiing through a tunnel under the Brides Les Bain by-pass road.
It took our group nearly two hours to ski the route but the group included some 'intermediate' rated skiers (myself included). Two of our group (very good skiers with lots of off-piste experience) skied the route themselves on another day in less than 50 minutes, although they admitted they had worked up a good sweat and that their thighs were burning a bit!.
I'm glad I can now say that I have skied the route, but it is not something that I would want to do every day!
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Mr Marmot, well done, met an instructor from Marmalade in a lift early last week saying he was taking some friends down it and described the route you took. Still lots of snow when we passed by Brides in the coach yesterday morning.
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Its a good fun route and worth doing just for the sake of it. More like combat skiing than anything else. Best route is Olympic up to Roc de Fer and then traverse and ski that face down towards Raffort/Les Allues.
Bit like skiing down to Le Chable in Verbier, though that was more fun and way more open.
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You know it makes sense.
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| mr black wrote: |
| Best route is Olympic up to Roc de Fer and then traverse and ski that face down towards Raffort/Les Allues. |
.. or all the way down to Villarlurin 
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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| mr black wrote: |
Its a good fun route and worth doing just for the sake of it. More like combat skiing than anything else. Best route is Olympic up to Roc de Fer and then traverse and ski that face down towards Raffort/Les Allues.
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We do the that side of the valley every year, or at least, we have previously only got to Le Raffort on that side of the valley, due to lack of snow - We generally ski onto the roof of the low barn opposite the spur that leads to the Le Raffort/Les Allues route, then slide off the roof and across the main piste and down the track.
We have only once previously (when we hoped there was enough snow) not turned off to Le Raffort, but tried to continue down to Les Allues, but since no-one else had left any tracks we didn't know exactly which direction to take and gave up after 200m. We then had to hike back until we could join the Le Raffort route again.
Obviously, this year getting to Les Allues was easy with so much snow, and so we did that as well. However, a SnowHead told us on this thread some two years ago, that the Raffort/Les Allues side of the valley provided no route to Brides Les Bain. As you say, the Raffort/Les Allues routes are pretty easy and great fun but the other side of the valley route to Brides was much more difficult and I found it less fun and more hard work. (Expert skiers would have no problem with it)
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