Les Deux Alpes
22 December 1991


Weather

Tail end of a storm, turning to wet sleet at village level.

Conditions

Fresh snow, lots of it, everywhere. Rather heavy.

Overall


Leaving the hotel in Grenoble in a blizzard


Snowball fight while I put the snow chains on the car.


The dreaded tyre chains

Public transport in the resort

The second Lambert family ski holiday, over Christmas this time. We intended to ski on Saturday 21st, but the weather was pretty bad and we were lucky even to make it up the mountain to Les Deux Alpes. Chains were absolutely essential, but broke before we could actually make it up to our apartment, so we had to walk the last couple of hundred yards. By the time we got to Les Deux Alpes, the snow depth was being measured in feet rather than inches. 24 hours earlier there had been no snow in the village.


John in the snow

Chris in the snow

Jenny in the snow

John in the snow

We had a typical French apartment, which maximised the space available with bunk beds in the entrance hall.

We all signed up for 6 morning lessons which left us with the afternoon free to ski.


The view from our balcony


Another view from our balcony

First day. The weather was appalling. This was the tail end of a 36 hour snowfall which left up four feet of snow. The snow turned wet and to sleet, so by the end of the morning when it cleared we were all drenched and for the only time during the week, we went indoors for lunch.

Every cloud has a silver lining and this storm opened the slopes at village level for the first time.


I was in the same group as Cathy for lessons. We took the gondola up to the first plateau level - "Les Cretes" where we learned about the French system for queuing .. just push.

The slope was not well groomed (because of the storm), so there was quite deep wet snow on a firm base, which churned up into soft bumps very quickly. Cathy was not comfortable at all.

After the lesson, I fell on a short black run at the village level and hurt my nose. I didn't think anything of it, but the X-ray later during the week showed a small crack.


Everyone taking the same zig-zag run

Tracks through the deep snow

Village level

The zig-zag

After lunch, we want back to "Les Cretes" and then returned to the village level for the last hour or so. One run near our apartment was not groomed and for most of us, the skiing was restricted to a narrow zig-zag track through deep powder. Another run was shorter but in better shape.


Deep snow opposite out apartment

Deep snow opposite our apartment

Back at the apartment we could see how much snow there had been the previous day .. about four feet. Later on, venturing out to get food as an adventure as the road surfaces froze.


Below our apartment

Bellow our apartment

The only night skiing in Les Deux Alpes



Last updated: 03/01/97