french alps les deux alpes trip

  les deux alpes in the french alps, vegas of the alps, been a few times now, this place is a top place for a trip if you like snowboarding and drinking .its a snowsure high altitude resort with a top lift of 3600m, large glacier at the top that links with la grave.  some awesome off piste dont forget the guide dudes.

the white stuff is here all year round and loads of summer camps are based here.Excellent views from the top of the glacier mint, which is reached by underground funicular and numerous peaks can be picked out across the french alps.The year we went was 2005 the cold cold coldest for fifty years the locals were saying ,with -50 and more temperatures being a regular occurence at altitude made your clothes evaporate ,with warning signs all over the base station lifts to make sure you were wearing adequate clothing for the extreme cold .

As we approached les deux alpes in the isere valley we knew it was going to be a cold one with masses of frozen ice trailing down the cliffs at the side of the road.

We stayed at the la muzelle apartments which were typical french apartments small but warm with a fridge for beer loads better than the village where we had stayed before a couple of years ago

arriving in les deux alpes, we needed food and beer ,after our early start ,so we legged it into the yeti, which is the only place i have  seen a barbecue bloke flipping burgers with an inch of snow on the side of the barbeque.inside the barman promptly tried to rip us off with a holiday drink scheme to drink in there all week,needless to say we werent born yesterday.

on the other mountain ,the riding on the pied moutet side of town is a lot quieter, because it is the lower altitude of the two mountains but you can virtually ride wherever you want on and off piste, whatever you want to do.

The riding on the main mountain is a lot more hardcore, with parks for the freestylers and serious off piste for the experts . i reckon it takes about 50 minutes to get to the top of the funicular ,and longer if you go beyond that and do the last drag up to the la grave link, it must be a good 10km -12km from the top right back into the resort.

the ride up is by the two stages of the jandri express and then the dome funicular which goes under the main glacier mint.

at the mid mountain stage there are a couple of restaurants that are always rammed at lunchtimes, so be prepared to queue for beer and food.also there are a couple more snow parks and boardercross with ramps around the mid mountain . coming back into town, if you are useless you would be better to take the lift for the last run, as it is a black run and is always moguled up and quite difficult for the learners out there. you need to make sure no injuries occur as you have a night on the session ahead.

check other pics and info at http://www.freewebs.com/lesdeuxalpes

holiday overall 8 out of 10 had a great time check out the polar bear bar for cosy beers