by When organizing ski trips, finding the “happy medium” level is difficult. Friends will say things like, “It’s fine, I’ll ski the blues”, then lead you down a steep red, leaving you broken and crying before eleven.
I will push myself down tough slopes sometimes, but I am so happy cruising serpentine blues and greens and admiring the scenery, watching birds and making snow angels from time to time.
The resort of Flaine, in the Haute-Savoie department of France, was a good place to improve my technique last year. A relatively easy journey by train and bus, it has steeper slopes, but its 69 beginners and 49 intermediate runs are also worn out or less confident skiers. I hadn’t skied for almost ten years and taught two mornings with the CSE ski school.
“Teresa: spring! Use your feet to spring! Up down, up down. Feel the rhythm. Skis closer together. Look down the hill at the trees – not at your feet.” My tutor, Virgine, had a job on.
Not many ski resorts can boast an installation by Picasso and a sculpture by the Belgian Pol Bury
Along with generous sprinklings of nobler runs, I loved Flaine’s environmentally conscious credentials and architectural heritage. Not many ski resorts can boast a Picasso installation, a sculpture by Belgium’s Pol Bury and design elements that have tackled sustainability as far back as the 1960s.
Our group traveled from London by train to Cluses, via Paris, and then took the shuttle bus to our ski-out apartment at Les Terrasses d’Eos, on a slope above the pedestrian center of Flaine. Surrounded by spruce trees, the contemporary wood-and-stone apartments are Green Key certified and ideal for skiers who like the freedom of self-catering but also enjoy the benefits of an on-site bar, restaurant and spa. The roomy apartments sleep from four (one bedroom) to 10 and have wooden furnishings, balconies, dining areas, fireplaces and well-equipped kitchens, while the L’Eterlou restaurant serves fine Savoyard products.
Our visit last winter was a trip of two halves. We reached several closed lifts, and large bare patches where there should have been snow; We left four days later in a dingy white boat that required a taxi tow from our minibus transfer.
Snowfall has been good so far this season, although the reality is that ski seasons are becoming more predictable – something the wider Grand Massif ski region is trying to alleviate. Flaine himself is involved in reforestation and wetland restoration projects, has switched snow groomers to HVO100 synthetic fuel and has some lifts running on it too (although the use of biofuels remains controversial). Free digital piste maps have largely replaced the printed versions (the money from those still sold goes towards tree planting).
In 2007 Flaine was the first ski resort in Europe to start surveying and monitoring the surrounding landscape, geology, water sources, flora and fauna. The survey area now covers the neighboring villages and ski resorts of Les Carroz, Morillon, Samoëns and Sixt. Ibex, grouse, chamois, bearded vultures and the endemic rock ptarmigan are located in these mountains. Observations have led to the creation of winter migration reserves for black grouse and ptarmigan, “mirror species” whose protection also helps preserve the habitats of other animals.
“Biodiversity monitoring helps us preserve and restore sensitive areas,” said Malvina Sculo, Flaine’s sustainable development manager, at the slopeside restaurant La Joyeuse Flainoise. “We can leave them for birds and other wildlife because we know where the sensitive spots are.” These areas are identified by bird flags, and signs on the red piste called Combe de Vernant, which enters the Vernant Valley, as well as on the piste map. Visitors can join a guide for a three-hour wildlife observation tour for free (Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Friday at 10.30am or 1pm from the Désert Blanc chairlift).
Away from the slopes, Flaine’s brutal gray concrete architecture can be hard to love on a dark winter’s day, but in the 1960s it was part of a blueprint for a modern, functional resort, a rich geophysical vision, Eric Boissonnas, and his. , wife, Sylvie. Patrons of the arts and passionate skiers, the two enlisted Marcel Breuer – the Bauhaus master from Pécs in Hungary, who gave his name to the Wassily chair and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York – to create something fresh and modern . Breuer’s first thought upon seeing the site from a helicopter was how to destroy it. He found his mark in the green-marled cliffs of Flaine, which were the perfect foil for his utilitarian upbringing.
The story is told at the Flaine visitor center and on a guided heritage tour (Tuesday, 2pm, in front of the Arts Centre) which includes the ecumenical chapel built in 1973, which contains Marcel Breuer’s candle holders, and the Auditorium, where Pol . Burial foundation. You can guide yourself around the striking art that the pedestrian mall promises, including sculptures by Vasarely and Dubuffet and a large version of Picasso’s Tete de Femme (Woman’s Head) and it’s well worth a visit the Le Flaine Hotel built in 1968, where the lounge is located. it extends to a large “hanging” sun terrace, and Totem hotel, to see a concrete fireplace designed by Breuer (there is another one in the loft room) and an original Wassily chair.
After a day exploring skiing at home or out, it was lovely to cool off in the outdoor heated hammam pool at Les Terrasses d’Eos. If we chose not to eat, a cheap shuttle took us back to town for calorific fondue and stone-hot veggies and meat at Le Michet, or a tartiflette served bubbling in the pan at the informal and relaxed Sabaudia. Flaine is not known for its wild apres-ski, but Le Social bar was lively (if it’s not happening here – tequila shots, whiskey chasers, 80s metal, 70s disco and sometimes stripped-to-the-waist British dance on the.bar – probably not happening anywhere else).
Although the weather limited my time on the slopes, it was enough to refresh muscle memory. Thanks to Virginie and Raphael, who ironed out cracks in my technique, I progressed to pole planting and mostly parallel skiing, in just two days. My fellow scalers enjoyed black runs, but I soon felt confident enough to ski alone on the forest trails, eyes peeled for marmots, grouse and golden eagles.
Related: A Swiss ski resort that doesn’t cost the world? Welcome to Interlaken
If I was there longer, I would have taken a guided snowshoeing hike or joined a tasting at the top of the Grands Vans chairlift. The label of quality and origin, Origine Grand Massif (Made in Grand Massif), local producers, creatives and artisans and weekly tastings are a great way to try local honey, cheeses, chocolates and pies – and a great reward for the (literary ). ) footwork I did on this trip.
The trip was provided by Pierre & Vacances. A seven-night stay at Les Terrasses d’Eos costs from £265pp based on four people sharing one bedroom apartment by Pierre & Vacances. Return train tickets from London St Pancras to Cluses, including Eurostar, cost from £207pp, with two changes. The hourly shuttle bus from Cluses to Flaine costs €19 to return A one-day ski pass for the Flaine area costs €53 (child €42.40). A six-day pass for the Grand Massif ski area costs €345 (child €276). Pierre & Vacances offers a 15% discount when booking accommodation. People under 8 and over 75 years of age free to ski
