Well this is a trip that shouldn’t have happened, but it has. In hindsight I would have done many things
differently and this year’s vacation has been full of planning flaws, unlike my
previous trips, if I do say so myself.
The idea of this trip was to complete the remaining Olympic resorts in
the Alps. Mike, bailed at -14 days
because of a back injury aggravated on a red-eye flight. The result: the trip reduced by a week
(Turin will have to wait for another year) lots of last minute changes to
bookings etc with some special guest contributors making some cameos.
Well I almost didn’t make it to the flight from AMS to LYS due to snow affecting my work and the trains to Schiphol. I arrived tired at 2230, I then made it
to the rental company only to discover that my rebooking was for a manual car
and they had no automatics except a BMW X5 at double the price of my original
car! I had no choice but to take
it. The drive into the city centre
of Lyon was, as is typically in Europe, confusing, but I made it to Chris’
place. I parked the X5 in a
municipal garage but immediately got paranoid, as I often do, about its well-being. I don’t know what people who actually
have enough money to own one of these, I would be inclined not to let it out of
my sight. Mercury Sables do the
job for me. So 12 hours later Chris and I were at the bottom of the slopes in Chamrousse.
 |
| Chamrousse 1750 Base Area |
Chamrousse is a resort that hosted all the alpine events in the 1968
Olympics. Unlike other venues it
is quite small and has an unvarnished feel. Except for some new lifts, it doesn’t look like much has changed
since then. The buildings
look straight from the 1968 and many of the apartments look like they have been
vacant for a while. You can get
your very own flat for €38k. I think
the Poma lift from the bottom of the men’s Olympic Downhill course is a
still-operating artifact from the 1968 games. Can you imagine Olympic athletes going back uphill on a Poma
Lift at Whistler in 2010? Grenoble had a temporary opening and closing
ceremony and 7 separate Olympic villages spread around the region. The cauldron is prominently displayed
near the city centre and the Olympic Arena is still functioning.
 |
| Chamrousse 1650 Base 1968 |
Chamrousse, is mainly a local hill and is crowded with Grenbolites on
the weekend on weekdays it is quiet with a lot more English being heard with
Brits on ski holidays. We
experienced temperamental weather with sun in the morning, high winds then
clouds, low vis and snow. I
wasn’t the only one who had to contend with fog, the legendary Jean-Claude
Killey wowed hometown fans by winning gold in each discipline, downhill, GS and
Slalom. The slalom was won in low
vis conditions and with plenty of controversy. “French hero Jean-Claude Killy swept the men’s Alpine
events, but only after great controversy. Killy’s Austrian rival, Karl Schranz,
claimed that a race official crossed his path during the slalom race, causing
him to skid to a halt. Given a restart, Schranz beat Killy’s time. However, a
Jury of Appeal disqualified Schranz and gave the victory to Killy.” (IOC
www.olympic.org)
 |
| Chris and Grenoble in the background |
Chamrousse only has 60km of trails but, unlike Cortina/Dolimiti
Superski pass, there is a lot of variety, challenging black runs, reds and blue
cruisers and a good terrain park.
However after 3 days of skiing I found it no longer held my attention,
and it doesn’t have the vertical of most other Olympic resorts.
The signature run a Black
run off the back side of the mountain near Lac Roberts is one of my favourite
runs anywhere. It goes down a
slide beside two cliff faces levels off for a short distance then narrows with
a couple of steep sections through a pine forest.
 |
| Chamrousse 1650 base looking to the summit |
On Sunday night there was
a big dumping of snow but most of the pistes didn’t appear to be groomed
overnight and were quite lumpy. My
quads quickly get tired in the powdery conditions. I tried out my
new go pro –yes I am one of those guys
with the camera on my helmet to show off to people who care to look. In reality I use it to have better
quality footage of the Olympic Downhill runs over my shaky handheld.
I decided to have a hotel in Grenoble Centre, with the aim to repeat
the experience of Innsbruck.
Grenoble is a lot larger than Innsbruck and is a more functional city
that generally lacks the charm the Innsbruck had. There are plenty of restaurants to choose from and Chris and
I went for a traditional alpine food at the aptly named restaurant La
Fondue. It has a rustic feel and
was appropriately adorned with antique skis on its wall. Chris made an unsuccessful attempt to
introduce me to the local liqueur apparently made of 130 plants, Chartreuse; I
thought it was pretty uh strong.
 |
| Tram shot for Mike |
I thought the 32km drive from Grenoble Centre to Chamrousse could be
completed with ease, but unlike Innsbruck it took an hour each way to get
there! Firstly I had to
maneuver the X5 to an insanely tight “car box” actually it was a lift for cars
but for cars much smaller than the X5. There were numerous red lights in Grenoble and winding
mountain roads outside of it. In hindsight I should have stayed at the hill. There were other skiers staying at
the hotel too, so I wasn’t the only one doing this.
 |
| Even the French like Ontario |
On these trips I like to get a feel for the namesake host city and the
resort the alpine where the events took place. This was a toss-up where to stay. At the hill there are lots of restaurants but I think the
après ski there is quite subdued. There is nothing that spectacular in Grenoble to visit,
it has an old, but not ancient city centre with cafes and has a small mountain
near the centre of it accessed by cable cars that look like Christmas tree
ornaments. Grenoble, being a
major university town, has a vibrant night life but not of the après ski variety.
 |
| Grenoble Gondolas |
Chamrousse is unpretentious, French skiing. Complete with restaurants
at the base that serve moderately priced but good tasting (or at least
smelling) French cuisine. But
Chamrousse is small potatoes compared to the other French Resort on this tour.
I don’t think it warrants a special trip but is fine for a weekend of
skiing. I do really love
France, but Grenoble didn’t really endear me. However, as always I had some
great pastries for breakfast so I can’t complain.
 |
| Start of the "signature run" |
Marc says, “I like
the modest feel of Chamrousse at
32 EUR for a lift ticket, the price is right. This is a good resort for families but nothing jaw dropping
for hard core skiers. Chris is lucky to have this just an hour and a half away.
Staying at a predominantly business hotel is probably not the best idea I have
had”
Chris says,
“I like skiing it makes
me feel alive. We should have stayed at the hill, somewhere with a more alpine
feel. “
Mike says, “Ow, my
back. I am going on this trip vicariously through your blog and videos.”
No comments:
Post a Comment