Les Deux Alpes - Jan 2012

Black was the night but brave was the heart as I left home at 1.00am to drive to Gatwick for my 7.00am flight to Grenoble and a week with Mark Warner (tour operator not mate!) in the Berangere in Les Deux Alpes.

Bit of a crazy few hours as I had only booked to go on the Saturday morning, but all I forgot was my sunglasses and the nice people at the airport helped with a rather delightful pair of Oakleys :mrgreen:

Totally pain free travel and transfer, in resort before noon. Was going to ski but didn't bother and had a sleep instead. But did get a beautiful pair of hired BBR 8.9 @176 – absolutely brand spanking new and never been on snow before and at 86 euros for the week who can complain . Pretty excited about that! I've talked about these elsewhere @ http://www.j2ski.com/ski-chat-forum/posts/list/32/11260.page

I've never been with Mark Warner before but that was the holiday on offer at a good price. Overall really impressed, nothing I could quibble about with the hotel, food, care or staff. The Hotel was advertised as ski in/ski out and I suppose I could argue this point. One had to walk more than 8yds to put skis on and I only managed to get back to the ski room door mat once during the week :oops:

I was really lucky as there were 4 solo travellers in the hotel, all long term experienced skiers and we joined up on the first night and skied together all week. Pretty much similar speeds and it worked well. I skied with the MW host and it was a real joy. Fun, laughter, snow, coffee stops, lunch stops and I didn't look at a piste map all week. :thumbup:

I've been to L2A once before – in 1993 or thereabouts and it was not a great success but this week was different. We all know what the snow was like, just amazing. It held up at all levels as the weather was cold, cold, cold with only a few bare/icy patches appearing. No powder left for us as all the accessible stuff had been skied out and the high winds before arrival had seriously limited what was available. Plus the ski hosts aren't allowed to go off piste at all. So if you are with Mark Warner and are expecting guiding off-piste you will be disappointed.
L2A is an intermediates paradise. I think they have crammed an enormous amount of skiing mileage into a relatively small area, all well linked and signposted. I particularly like the sector idea they use which makes getting lost nigh on impossible. I didn't see any places where the only way down was a difficult black or red, there was always a blue alternative. Not a lot for anyone wanting hard runs except for the low level face back down to the town which is a series of blacks and one nightmare of a green road, narrow and busy and apparently icy most of the time.
Rumour has it that the off-piste is quite good but from what I could see it is either well hidden or quickly skied out – not a patch on 3V or Espace Killy for non guided stuff. Of course La Grave is just over the glacier but I don't think this was open last week at all.

The beginners area down at resort level is really fantastic, a whole series of drag lifts, must have been a dozen of them that means the slightly more adventurous beginner can criss cross backwards and forwards along the length of the resort. Up the hill is another excellent beginners area of wide gentle slopes that are not really on the route for anyone and seemed to be fairly free of bombers getting from A to B.

On the opposite side of the valley is a small, separate ski area called Vallee Blanche which got the sun first thing in the morning and was great fun. The link from resort and back and up to the main area was easy and quick so you could start for an hour in the sun and then hop back to the higher skiing later without wasting time.

Popped up onto the glacier a couple of times but it was cold and pretty windy up there.

Enough for now – I'll make a few comments about restaurants etc a bit later.

In conclusion – L2A was way off my radar as somewhere to go after my last experience and while I don't think it will ever be a resort of choice for me I would go back if that was what was on offer with a smile on my face.

What a very good unbiased review !

Thanks

I thought I'd comment on four bars/restaurants up the hill.

Firstly the Panoramic or "Pano" as it is known which is at the top of the telepherique and mid way of the Jandri Express bubble.
Went once, food was rubbish, cold, self service, surly staff (bordering on downright rude) and more expensive than other restaurants.

Rumour has it that this is the kids, drinkers, ravers, strippers venue of choice for afternoon drinks before falling off the hill paralytic. The music was certainly loud in the afternoon. Caveat Emptor !

A completely different place is the Patache and Patachon on the nursery slopes up the hill - Cretes is the area. I reckon everyone who skis will pass it if not go in. I ate here and had a number of drink stops as it is very convenient. Friendly, clean, decent food and lovely and sunny (clean loos too - but you have to ask for a token from one of the staff, be warned) - I didn't try the deckchairs as I thought I wouldn't be able to get up from one in my ski boots :oops:

Moving down the hill and on the link from the main ski area to Vallee Blanche side known as Liaison Secteur Vallee Blanche or Petite Aiguillette 1 - a green road - is a really fun place for a drink/snack. No idea what it is called but on the right hand side half way along the road. There is a sign outside saying crazy hour 4 to 5pm.

Run by some friendly and attentive young Dutch people it is cheap and chearful with music, a warm bar and sunny tables outside from about 11.00am to 3.00pm (January). I "scored" here big time :mrgreen: tongues were involved! A very sweet brown haired lady of a certain age ..... she put her head on my lap and had her ears tickled before licking my nose. Mind you, very fickle, the next day she had found another sucker to tickle her and ignored me completely :cry:

Moving over to the Vallee Blanche and what was for me the real restaurant highlight of L2A. Just below the top of the Cote chair is the Kanata - but don't look for the name as it blew away. Looks like a cow shed with chairs and tables outside and a big sign offering moule frites and a demi pression for 16 euros!
Wonderful!!!
You gotta go :thumbup:

I haven't been in a place like this for quite some time - for me a very traditional alpine eatery. Classic mountain cuisine at great prices. Huge portions and the staff are very happy with shares (2 sharing 1 plate). Very friendly, well worth a visit.
The loo is an experience!

I am used to the prices in Courchevel and Tignes and L2A is significantly cheaper in most places. Except for the Kanata the food was nothing to write home about, but hey ho, the week was about skiing.

No idea about night life - not my bag, but rumour has it you can get a Kebab at 2.00am, or so our ski host said!

Which one was you OldAndy? I was there with the family last week too. They were super keen and we skied for 2 1/2 hrs on arrival day using the FREE! lifts at the bottom of the resort.

I would echo the Mark Warner arrangements, fantastic, I used them first last year without family (Tignes) and didn't hesitate to book L2A. (Also booked for 3V later this season). Food in hotel was excellent. Skied to door of boot room everyday.

More generally I was disappointed with the 'blue' runs especially over at Valley Blanche. OH is a returning skier (of 10 yr absence) and the kids were first timers on the mountain. Although we did cover every single blue during the week they all seemed really tough for kids transferring from greens to blues.

On the positive, it was fantastic being able to ski from Glacier to Hotel door, non-stop (no lifts required). About 20-25 minutes fast, free running (without kids) or 120 very leisurely minutes (with kids!)

And for the first time ever, did not queue at one single lift, not even once all week. Straight through ticket gate, no one at chair or button so straight on - lovely.

Good to read your review of L2A Andy, nice that you managed to hook up with other solo travellers and had a great week.
I've been offered a couple of L2A holidays before, but turned them down every time. Something about what I've read, and kind of what you've confirmed, makes me think that may have been a good decision, but glad you had a cracking weeks skiing. Conditions certainly made it for you.

Thanks Andy and Smartski.

Great info for us as we're off to L2A in Feb and none of us have been before :-)

OldAndy wrote:Mark Warner (tour operator not mate!) in the Berangere in Les Deux Alpes.

We had an excellent week there a couple of years ago - got a good last-minute deal too and would certainly go back.

OldAndy wrote:Rumour has it that the off-piste is quite good but from what I could see it is either well hidden

It is both (good and well-hidden). We had the benefit of someone with us who knows it very well and there are numerous not-at-all-obvious pitches accessible by short diversions off the pistes.

Some of the best of it is "hidden in plain sight" but definitely worth getting a guide for a day if you go back; we were still finding powder in the shadows after a week of blue skies. :wink:

One aspect of Les Deux Alpes that is often commented on is the upside down nature of the resort with the easier skiing high up and harder lower down.

The mountain face directly above the resort on the main skiing side is steep with a number of black pistes and off-piste runs (moguls while I was there) and one green road at one end called Demoiselles. This run in my opinion should be avoided by anyone with half a brain and any sense of self-preservation and was one of the reasons I excluded L2A from my list of places to go after visiting 20yrs ago.

Last week it was quite fun unless at the end of the day as the snow was excellent but I can see that when it gets icy it will be a death trap to anyone expectng a simple green run. It is remarkably narrow in places, maybe 3-4m wide in many parts.

But ......
You can simply come down one of the lifts, either the chairs which are geared for descent all the time or one of the three bubbles depending on where in the resort you want to end up.

The easiest black down off the hill is Valentin which is pretty wide and smooth, probably gets a bit icy sometimes but the sun will have softened it by the end of most days for the return.



So a well mannered, even gentlemanly black as you can see from the photo.

Not too tricky at all, but has a lovely twist in that the top is convex and looks like it disapears into oblivion from the road at the top. Just pop over, slip down the shoulder, where it does get the snow scraped off and woo hoo away you go.