WinterCamping | Vive la France - Part II

After spending the last few days skiing, it's time for a day of swimming. Equipped with speedo swimming trunks (our board shorts are not allowed in French bathhouses), we have a good time at Les Grands Bains du Monêtier: Roman baths and an outdoor pool with sun and mountain views. If you don't come out completely relaxed, it's your own fault.

Freshly polished, we are ready for our gala dinner and let ourselves be pampered in the Auberge Edelweiss. As the landlady comes from Holland and speaks good German, we learn a thing or two about La Grave. Almost 50 nations live in the mountain village of around 500 inhabitants, most of them attracted by the challenging mountains and endless touring opportunities. There is a lively and friendly community, which we can confirm after our subsequent visit to Le Bois des Fées. Two boys animate the guests with keyboard and guitar, the danger of getting stuck here is great. But we want to get back on the boards the next day and are not dissuaded by Sergio, whom we meet on the way home.

Deserted La Grave

La Grave French for "the cemetery", today we want to conquer you. As the gondola lift is not running, the altitude-friendly option is a long loop via Les Deux Alpes. We get on the shuttle in La Grave in the morning and do a few more laps on the Les Deux Alpes piste. At the top station of the Jandri gondola, it's -20° C in the morning at 3,150 m altitude with winds of over 50 km/h. By midday it should be warmer, less windy and simply friendlier. And that's true. When we put on our skis at the top station of the Dôme Express at 3,400 m above sea level, it was already a cozy -15°C, but it had become even windier on the mountain.

We have to climb just under 400 m, which stretches over a relaxed two kilometers. The ascent leads up a ridge alongside the drag lift and the more exposed it gets, the stronger the wind becomes. As I cross the lift track, the wind blows so hard that I almost lose my balance several times. Doubts arise: What are we doing here anyway? Moving away from any kind of infrastructure in these conditions in high alpine terrain suddenly seems pretty stupid. If anything goes wrong, we'll have a real problem, despite all our equipment. Nevertheless, we carry on, step by step.

The first section across the flat glacier basin is unspectacular in terms of skiing, but the view is all the more beautiful. As it is so cold and clear, we have excellent visibility and a wonderful view of the surrounding mountains thanks to the altitude. A short break at Charlet 3200: protected from the wind and in the sun, it feels really warm, although the thermometer on the wall says otherwise. After our snack, we finally get going - the normal route is on our program.

So back to the glacier basin, which is pretty blown away by the strong wind. The first section almost feels like skiing on the piste. After the first 100 m, the snow gets a little deeper and from the crossing of the ridge below the Col du Lac, we are rewarded with powder. It's very rare to see La Grave so little snow when the lifts are working. Euphoria spreads and some of us become impatient. But Benni puts the brakes on the group: "As we are all here for the first time and some of the pools in La Grave end at abseiling points, we should be really sure about our choice of route. We decide to stay to the left and want to switch to the right below the Refuge Évariste Chancel, above a small hill, into the next basin.

Ten minutes of eternity

What follows is a lesson in the importance of group organization. The next time the group deliberately gathers - we had previously been moving quite loosely along the slope - Steffen is suddenly missing. We wait a moment, then call out for him. No response. His cell phone seems to be off or he has no reception. The fact that the crossing of Les Deux Alpes has taken considerably longer, the sun is already low and the hand has already passed 17 does not necessarily help to calm us down. Benni starts to rebuild, and a moment later I follow him to start the search.

Fortunately, Steffen appears on the slope above us. He was the only one who had stuck to the agreed route and had already switched to the next basin above the small hill and waited there. He too had already been worried, weighing up whether to climb up or look down the next slope and fortunately decided to check the slope first. The tension falls away from us. How long not even ten minutes can suddenly feel.

Relieved, we set off on the last 1,000 m descent, now with a properly organized group, of which we can enjoy the next 400 m to the full. The snow is a little heavier at first, but between the first trees it becomes really fluffy again before the warm temperatures of the previous days and the high snow line become noticeable. We traverse through the forest and pass the first large lift mast in La Grave, where the girls and boys are still working hard to get the gondola back in shape as quickly as possible. This 2,300-metre descent is something special and will certainly remain in our memories. Especially because of the many views of La Meije (3,983 m), today also adorned with intense snow flags.

The end of a fulfilling day

"What to do after a day like this? Après-ski beer on the bus, a visit to Ski Extreme, a chat with Bruno, one of the old hands in La Grave - and then a repeat of the gala dinner at Edelweiss with a génépi to finish: how much better can life get? We want to see that and stop off at the K2 Bar, the second party address in town.

The next morning I'm missing my driver's license, ID card and some cash. In a cell phone video, I discover the IDs on the floor of the bar. It was probably not a good idea to put them loose in my pocket. While trying to film my colleagues' limbo animation as quickly as possible, I must have pulled the cards out of my pocket with the cell phone case. Later, the bartender would greet us with a smile and tell us enthusiastically about our Flämmli production, the Swiss combination of espresso, sugar, fire and hazelnut schnapps. I was very relieved to have found my possessions again.

Col du Lautaret

Time flies and unfortunately the last tour of the trip is already on the agenda. We head back to the Col du Lautaret. This time we want to reach the summit of Ouest de Combeynot. But we break off the climb 100 m before the finish. At around 2,700 m, we try to bypass a gully to the right. The following slope is exposed and the last climbers, Steffen, Benni and I, don't like the track chosen by the previous group. Perhaps the slope is safe - after all, the previous climbers felt they had passed every critical part of the terrain. Nevertheless, they didn't dare to tackle the last slope either, the gradient of which increases significantly. So we also rebuild at a safe spot and look forward to the final descent.

The lot for next year

Unfortunately, we have to say goodbye to each other again the next morning. But first we have to say goodbye to our new friends in La Grave. A DJ passing through has spontaneously stopped by Ski Extreme and plays some music. Sergio also drops by. We have drinks, bring chips and pizza and exchange gifts: PowderGuide shirts and ski strips, Ski Extreme mugs and stickers.

Then it's time for us to head home. At the Bouillon Savoyard restaurant in Chambéry, we enjoy authentic French cuisine once again. The bouillons used to be the canteens of the working class, good and inexpensive. The chef welcomes us personally. He wants us to feel at home and his aim is for us to be happy. That sounds like the perfect fairy godmother for our next destination. And for the first time, my ticket wins! Next year, our trip will take us to Tajikistan.

Now it's time to say goodbye, because unfortunately it's that time again. A fantastic week with changeable weather and lots of great tours lies behind us. When the excitement wears off, we can already look forward to our next destination. "Vive la Tajikistan" (Зинда бод Тоҷикистон), whatever that may mean.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank our partner Sunlight, who made this trip possible by providing the two campers. The trip took place in February 2025.