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la Plagne - 2018
Tour Outline
We went skiing to the Paradiski domain in the Tarentaise valley and the mountains above the French, alpine towns of Moutiers and Bourg-Saint-Maurice.
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Paradiski links the two ski resorts of les Arc and la Plagne which, although on either side of the valley, are linked by the awesome Vanoise Express cable car, claimed to be one of the longest and highest in the world.
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The resort of la Plagne is a collection of inter-connected villages, and we stayed in an apartment residence in Belle Plagne, the highest and most westerly of the villages. We could ski directly from the front door of the residence to the bottom section of the Arpette piste, leading down to the bowl at Plagne Bellecotte where most of the ski lifts started.​
We crossed to France on the DFDS overnight ferry sailing from Newhaven to Dieppe which, although arriving at an ungodly hour, allowed all day to get to La Plagne.
We chose a route through France which skirted Paris on the A86 autoroute, which is the city's 'M25'. It seemed less busy than its UK counterpart and was an interesting drive across bridges, viaducts and through an innovative, 'double-decked' tunnel section. Once done, we navigated a complex exit on to the A6 Autoroute du Soleil, branching off near Lyon onto the A43 towards Chambery, Moutiers and La Plagne.
Although we shared the driving, after 800+km we were both pretty tired on arrival just before dark, but we were just in time to check in to the apartment and get some essentials from the local supermarket.
La Plagne
La Plagne is a huge resort of several interlinked, purpose-built ski villages. Plagne-Centre is the focus and the liveliest, but also the busiest. Our choice of Belle Plagne was based on it being the highest of the villages which we thought was a good choice as our trip was late in the season, in April, although there was plenty of snow and even in the afternoon sunshine everywhat remained very skiable. As it turned out, there were plenty of ideal pistes for us 'intermediates' on that side of the resort, although the Paradiski domain of over 425km of pistes in 264 named runs provides terrific skiing for all levels.
Our skiing highlights
The best part of the complete trip was Hass going 'off piste'. He didn't mean to.​ Flying down one of our favourite blue runs, we ran in to a bunch of snow-ploughers, bless. A quick decision had to be made about how to avoid them. Hass made the wrong one and went flying, literally.​ He landed on his face. Captured in the 'Off Piste' video clip, watch carefully or you'll miss it!​​
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We had the best skiing fun over and over again down the slalom course when it wasn't running an event. This wide, relatively steep piste ran alongside one of our favourite blues, but rarely did we see many other skiers give it a go. It was a brilliant run for getting the skis on their edges to practice carving. Good practice!​​
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One final highlight of the trip, inadvertent as it was, was a tearing rush through the French countryside on the way home to get to Dieppe to meet the check-in time for our ferry. We'd been delayed by traffic in Paris and had to push pretty hard to cover the 200km to Dieppe, but it was a great, cross-country drive. Another time, we'd avoid Paris both ways and choose a longer but less congested route to the Alps.
Video clips
The Colosses; Music: 'Great Lake Canoe' - Gino Canelli
Off The Piste; Music: 'The Brightest Star' - Nicolay
Arpettes; Music: 'Come With Me' - Black Coffee
Thursday; Music: 'Moondance' - Grady Tate
Parapente; Music: 'Green Onions' - Booker T and the MGs
