“Skiing La Grave is for strong intermediate to expert skiers. You should be able to ski black and double black ski area runs with control and confidence. Skiers should be able to ski “off-piste” in all types of snow (firm, wet, heavy, and breakable crust). No ski mountaineering experience is required. For those who come with experience, we will continue to build on your prior ski mountaineering knowledge. “
The Skiing
La Grave and the massif of La Meije offer the biggest lift-accessed off-piste skiing in the world! Not only that but it is one of the few massifs which has an incredible 2300m of (7545 ft) vertical drop.
A revolution in attitude, style, and equipment is making the sports of skiing and snowboarding better than ever. When international ski manufacturers launched their new breed of freeride/backcountry skis, La Grave was the chosen spot.
A combination of its long ski runs, its varied terrain and its untouched and unspoiled routes, has given birth to a freedom a freedom to create and shape exciting new styles, attitudes, and equipment. Local riders long ago adopted a Free Rider attitude. This means taking responsibility for one’s actions on the mountain. As the world of skiing and snowboarding pushes the limits of equipment, the industry pops out more modern equipment with a design and understanding of the 21st-century rider. It is now easier than ever to float in the deepest powder, to hold an edge on the steepest terrain and to leave pencil-like tracks of a groomed snow surface.
This off-piste mountain range can provide exhilarating skiing terrain for the advanced skier and tele-marker. The Skiers Lodge is perfectly positioned within only 3 minutes walk to the lift! This lift ascends from the village at 1400m to stations at 1800m, 2400m, 3200m, and finally to Dome de la Lauze, “the Glacier”, at 3550m.
A typical ski descent offers limitless variety from tame to steep terrain commencing on this glacier, proceeding down spectacular open bowls, winding its way through small chutes, crossing glacial moraines into seemingly endless steeps and deeps in the serenity of the forest. Legendary descents from the Girose glacier, with direct lines of 2300m, explain why so many riders come back year after year to enjoy free-riding with one of the most spectacular mountain scenery in the Alps. Check out the legendary Routes.
If conditions are not ideal in La Grave, we use our minibuses to visit any one of the ten neighboring resorts all within 25 minutes to an hour’s drive by your guide.
In close proximity to La Grave, there are many resorts with their own microclimates and our guide team may propose one of the numerous possible day trips all within 25 minutes to an hour’s drive by your guide. We cover more than 10 ski resort in the southern French and Italian Alpes depending on the best weather and snow conditions. You may be guided to secret off-piste spots in La Grave, Alp d’Huez, Vaujany, Serre Chevalier, Mongenevre, Sestriere, Claviere and Pragelato with their steeps, deeps and marvelous trees.
Why not try the phenomenal heliskiing in Alta Val Susa (Italy). Heliskiing among valleys and mountains that reach 3300 meters and 1200 m vertical runs.
La Grave and the surrounding area is an ideal mountain base for ski touring. Our guide service may also propose a day or two ski touring during your ski week with us!
Some of the classic alpine tours can be accessed within a simple one hour hike up into the most spectacular terrain to Multiple 2 to 3-day tours. The tours are too numerous to mention individually, but several are too exceptional not to be mentioned: Day tours – try one of the great classics: Enfetchores, Combeynot, Trois Evêchés, Pic Blanc, Replat-Bérarde Traverse, Dômes du Mônetier Traverse, Grandes Rousses Traverse. Multiple day tours of 2 to 3 days: Tours de la Meije.
