Skiing for the Weekend

With the Clio all packed up we pulled the kids out of school early and off to the hills we went for a long weekend of skiing.  After our one day outing a few weeks ago I got the itch to get out and take advantage of being so close to the Alps to do some more skiing.  As a relative newcomer to the sport and as much as she enjoys skiing, Nancy wasn’t as eager as the kids and I to spend the weekend on the slopes.  Give her credit though, she didn’t spoil the party and off we went. 

Thankfully Nancy told one of the merchants the day before leaving where we were headed and noted how great it was to be able to be in the Alps within 3 hours.  Apparently the direct route we were going to take which I identified on Google Maps involved going through a road that is closed in the winter and had we taken that route I would have had to suffer the wrath of Nancy and the girls for having to turn back and detour through the mountains after getting halfway there.

This sun is blinding

With our re-vectored route established, we headed west towards Aix en Provence then north towards Gap and finally on to Serre Chavalier a 4 and a half hour drive from Nice.  Serre Chevalier is situated on the edge of the Ecrins National Park in the Hautes-Alps approximately 15 kilometers from the Italian border and is made up of a number of ski villages including, Briancon, Chantemerle, Villeneuve and Monetier.   As one of the largest ski resorts in Europe with 103 lifts and 250 kilometers of runs at altitudes ranging from 1200-2800 meters, the skiing promised to be limitless. 

As we approached Serre Chevalier, Nancy and I wondered aloud how much skiing we might actually do.  Apart from the peaks, there didn’t appear to be a lot of snow.  As it turned out Andy the manager of Residence du Temple, the place we stayed at in Briancon, suggested that we head over to Montegenevre (not part of Serre Chevalier but close enough), about a 20 minute drive through the Montegenvre pass towards Italy (as an aside, a leg of the Tour de France often passes through these parts).  In addition to being located at an altitude of 1850 meters and located in a manner that its slopes seem to be awash in sunshine all day, it received about 6-8 centimeters of snow the day before and generally had excellent ski conditions.   

Being about 90 minutes from Torino, Montgenevre is a popular destination for the Torininese many of which own ski chalets in the village.  The skiing was nothing short of spectacular with beautiful vistas of mountain ranges as far as the eyes can see.  We got lucky with two days of spring like skiing, temperatures in the 6-10C each day.  Our bodies exhausted, we called it quits after two days and decided Sunday morning to drive home through Italy stopping in for lunch in Torino.

Sal