OFF THE RADAR
Le Grand-Bornand – now I’m not saying you’ve never heard of it (although have you?) but as a ski area this pretty French resort and its neighbour Le Clusaz ain’t exactly up there with the likes of Val d’Isere, Meribel and Les Arcs in terms of world fame.
They should be though…
For a start these two year-round mountain towns are far more attractive than their purpose-built counterparts, and when it comes to the actual skiing they offer – well, they punch well above their weight, with a longer season than many better-known ski areas in France and some 220km of pistes between them, alongside some truly epic off-piste terrain – you can check out a bit of both being ripped apart by local lad Candide Thovex here – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKP7jQknGjs
Indeed, last winter all top three skiers on the Junior Freeride World Tour hailed from the area, and athletes from Le Grand-Bornand Ski Club won more medals at the Sochi Olympics than those of any other town or resort in France.
I asked tourist director Yannick Buriard what was the secret of this success. “Success breeds success, as they say – and we have a long season, one of the best snowpacks in France, very varied terrain and it rarely gets too busy on the slopes”, he tells me as we take the chairlift to the summit of 2100-metre Mont Lachat.
This really makes me wonder why the area has managed to slip off the radar as far as British skiers are concerned, especially given that it’s less than an hour from Geneva International Airport. The delights of modern air travel are quickly consigned to the dustbin of my mind however as Yannick and I stop for a few minutes on top of Mont Lachat to enjoy the superb view – the Chaine de Aravis stretches out immediately in front of us, a wall of spectacular limestone peaks that remind me of the Dolomites, whilst beyond them rises the Mont Blanc Massif.
Yannick points out the various ski touring options on the snow-draped slopes of the Aravis range before we eventually set of on out first run of the day – and once again the peculiarly high standard of skiing that characterises the area is on display as Yannick casually rides switch or gets air at every opportunity. It makes me feel very, very old…
Reinvigoration is provided (for me) after a few runs with a late lunch in Les Terres Rouge restaurant, where the 360-degree mountain panorama makes for a fine accompaniment to – yes, of course, tartiflette and a cold beer.
After lunch Yannick takes me to the outlying slopes of Le Grand-Bornand, beneath 1869-metre Têtes des Annes. This enables us to follow the warm spring sunshine around the mountains as well as getting away from – well, I was going to say ‘the crowds’ but the main slopes are far from busy, and over here we’re virtually on our own as we scud around an enticing mix of easy groomed slopes and more challenging off-piste.
There’s even a great array of tree skiing too – “You can find your own lines here all day after a fresh dump” says Yannick.
As with cricket, bad light eventually stops play so I head off to my accommodation, the delightfully friendly and charmingly rustic Hotel Ferme de Pierre et Anna, on the back side of Mont Lachet. This is the kind of place you bring your partner for a romantic weekend in the snow – unfortunately I’m meeting up with my mate Hugh. Thank the snow gods we’re not sharing a room…
The following day starts with a huge breakfast since we’re going to be spending more time going up than coming down on skis today. As I’m shovelling down the last of my muesli ski guide Jean-Marc Thomet arrives at the hotel to take us both on a wee ski touring adventure on the slopes above and below the Col de La Colombière, just to the north of Le Grand-Bornand.
We’re arranging our packs with spare clothing, chocolate bars, energy bars, drinks, pies, muffins, sausage rolls, bananas, pizza slices etc. when Jean-Marc comes up with a handy nugget of advice: “We’ll only be out for a few hours and we can grab a late lunch afterwards”. I sheepishly remove the pizza slices from my pack – the rest can stay there, just in case…
I’d like to say I was later able to be smug about carrying enough food to feed the five thousand after an endless slog to the heights of the Aravis region, but bad weather cuts our day short and after 430-metres of climbing up through the ancient hamlet of Chalets Cuillery, alongside the River Chinaillon (where wolves have been known to roam) and to a mist shrouded, wind-blasted high point somewhere up above the Col de La Colombière I haven’t even had the chance to eat a single chocolate bar. Maybe I should dump it all for the wolves…
Despite the mist and general Welshness of the weather it’s still easy to see that ski touring amongst these magnificent limestone crags would be an absolute delight in the right conditions – hell, it’s still good fun today, particularly as we ski back down to civilisation in the form of a magnificent omelette Savoyarde at the Chalet Venay.
It just happens that the chalet owner’s sons are Olympic medallists, so I question Jean-Marc as to why the locals are so good on skis. “I think it’s partly because our slopes are generally shorter than the bigger French resorts, so technique becomes a big focus for local skiers and boarders,” he suggests.
And ‘short’ is, of course, relative, as we discover the following day when we hook up with Yannick again to ski La Clusaz. It has a slightly bigger area of skiable terrain than its sister resort Le Grand-Bornand and is just a ten-minute drive away.
Nothing feels ‘short’ about the fantastic, open freeride descents from the top of 2447-metre Col de Balme; and the presence of lowering crags beside our chosen descent off the side of the red Blanchot run adds a touch of drama.
If you carry on all the way down into La Clusaz, as you can, you’ll not only enjoy everything from high alpine terrain to forests, meadows and rustic chalets on the way, you’ll also descend almost 1400 metres and who knows how many kilometres from your start point, which certainly isn’t my idea of ‘short’.
That said we choose to stay at altitude where the warm spring conditions we’d experienced earlier on our trip are replaced by those of winter, which means there’s some nice dry snow to be found, allowing us a taste of what you might expect to find here at colder, more snowy times of year – in fact I’m determined to revisit the area in January when the snow is deep and fresh and the slopes are deserted, as Yannick assures us is usually the case.
When you combine this very fine terrain with the spectacular Aravis mountains that tower around us and the attractive, bustling alpine towns that are La Clusaz and Le Grand-Bornand, both Hugh and myself are dumbfounded as to why these two resorts are so relatively unknown to British skiers.
But I ain’t complaining, for whilst the masses head to the gigantic Three Valleys this winter I’ll be heading back to the two small towns of the Aravis for some of the most delightful skiing in France.
TRAVEL INFO
The ski area in which Le Grand-Bornand and La Clusaz are found is known collectively as the ‘Lake Annecy Ski Resorts’ on account of the lovely town of Annecy and its equally lovely lake being only 30kms away; if you have a down day it’s well worth a visit.
Getting there – fly to Geneva, from where it’s around 50-minutes drive/transfer.
Staying there – Hotel Ferme de Pierre et Anna (www.fermes-pierre-anna.com/en/) is a beautifully restored 300-year-old three-star farmhouse chalet set in alpine meadows 5km outside Le Grand- Bornand.
Ski touring – Jean-Marc Thormet (www.compagnie-guides-aravis.com) is a knowledgeable, entertaining and annoyingly fit local mountain guide who knows the area like the back of his begloved hand.
Dining – on the mountain try Restaurant les Terres Rouge (www.restaurant-terres-rouges.fr) for great views and good value lunches; in the evening the very traditional Ferme de Lormay restaurant (www.lafermedelormay.com) near Le Grand-Bornand specialises in locally produced, traditional cuisine in an equally traditional alpine farm.
More info www.ski-legrandbornand.com; www.laclusaz.com; www.lakeannecy-skiresorts.com
