Today my old mistress returned my love – for the 7th year in the row I have come to La Grave as the missionary, praying for fresh powder. This year she was kind and considerate – a total whiteout and snowstorms on Friday followed by 1m of fresh snow today from top to bottom.
La Grave is a hidden gem and it has all the right characteristics stay never to be discovered:
- It has only one ski-lift – an archaic pulsating gondola system, which takes about 25 minutes to the 3200m. When the glacier is open (from late Jan) there is a drag-lift to the top of the glacier to 3550m at good days.
- Not a single snowcat-track. There are literately no “routes” as you are used to in other resorts. You are dropped off at 3200 and then you either take the left or the right valley and follow your imagination.
- There are 4-5 small hotels in the village, one superb hidden restaurant Au Vieux Guide with signature raclette and 2-3 other eateries. Not your apres-ski and party destination.
- Most visitors are 30-40 year olds, tanned mountaineers, coming from far as US and Canada. You cannot find the latest Burton boards or jackets on the mountain. However everyone is wearing a rucksack packed with the latest technology of avalanche airbags, icepicks, receivers, shovels, etc. People are here to explore and stay alive, certainly not to show off
In most other resorts I look like a geek with my swallowtail board. Today I think it was almost 50/60 as about half of the snowboards used on the mountain were either full swallowtails or reduced fishtails. But hey, in these conditions you really see the difference – the split tail drops into the fresh powder, the wide nose surfs up while you ride the white wave.