Many moons ago after being in Chamonix, Argentiere and doing the Vallee Blanche from the Courmayeur side I looked at other potentially ‘interesting’ places to ski. La Grave was on the radar at the time, but time and other things have meant it has never happened.

What is it like?

Thanks.
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Only peeked over the top of it from Les 2 Alpes – top of the glacier there links to La Grave. A good option if you want some “normal” skiing too.

It looked interesting, but you’ll want a proper guide and avi gear.

Certainly worth a visit – sounds like it may change a lot in coming seasons.

Wild, a bit dodgy, one of the few places I have seen genuinely ‘extreme’ riding from punters on the hill. The Vallee Blanche is tame in comparison (obviously depends what routes you compare).

Some tough traverses on a board.

It was on my bucket list years ago but I never got good enough before my knees packed in. I’m sure it’s brilliant if you are (very) competent off piste.

Not personally sadly, was due to in 2013 but bust my knee 🙁

Its been on my must do list for 20 years, have many friends who’ve been including my Uni flatmate who went in ‘83 ! . The exposure and stuff like rapelling down to get into couloirs always bothered me but its a unique place really. FWIW I have done quite a bit of guided and non-guided off-piste in resorts like Chamonix, Val d’Isere, Verbier and St-Anton. The Valley Blanc is a tourist route in comparison to La Grave and tbh isn’t a serious off piste route in Chamonix either.

@Graham you are not allowed up the lift without a guide

OP why not book an off-piste holiday / package in somehwere like Val d’Isere or even White Room Chalet’s back country weeks (I was due to do that in 2013 and if it we t well Inwas going to do La Graves). That way you can see how you are with such a holiday. Also Piste to Powder in St Anton are good.

@Graham you are not allowed up the lift without a guide

That’s good. You can drop in from the top of Les 2 Alpes though.
Didn’t appear to be anyone checking/controlling that from what I could see.

A stunning place for strong experienced skiers, full avvy gear and knowledge of how to use it essential as are big balls and fat skis. You don’t need a guide to go up the hill but would strongly advise one as you could get into serious/fatal bother very easily. Now run by SATA who control the lifts on my local mountain Alpe d’Huez and changes are inevitable to ensure it pays it way so go soon while it’s still a completely unique place to ski and board. Skiers Lodge a good starting point for research, expect to be hooked after your first morning 🙂

Go. Its awesome. A proper hill. But if on a board bring your traversing legs. The further you spread out to get the good stuff the longer the traverse back. Some are loooong and very exposed at times. It’s all good fun though.

I have a colleague who lives in Andorra and is a very accomplished skier.

Obviously lots of options on his door step but he goes on holiday to La Grave for some proper skiing.

Go it’s great. We drove over for the day when I was staying with friends in Serre Che.
Over 20 years ago now. It is a great spot.
Our “guide” was a Swedish dude who had been a few times before. First run, tryffide. One of the boarders in the group caught an edge on the hard pack and slid most of it head first on his front 😯
The rest of the day passed without too much alarm. Hiked up above the top lift and cought a good line and some fresh. My dad was alarmed to hear we had jumped over the Bergshund(sp?) Ignorance is bliss in youth.
Would go back at any opportunity.
Check the access from your airport of choice as there have been road issues.

My only concern with it in recent years is that with global warming the chances of getting a good weeks worth of snow are more limited.

Don’t get fat skis, if your a good enough skier you don’t need them + as above conditions are not always that great so you might want a half decent ski to get across the wind slab/ice to get to any decent snow.

Have you thought about La Plagne ? There’s 1 big untracked mountain there with loads of potential. I was amazed at the possibilities there. And because it’s not the centre of the universe it’s doesn’t get tracked out.

Also to get the best out of La Grave you need to be on your game. I used to ski loads but now it’s once a year if that. I wouldn’t throw myself in to that level of skiing on day one.

I think the road is fixed, IIRC the tour went through.

It’s fun. The lift is almost unique and a bit dodgy but after doing a few runs you’ll be glad of the wait and the pauses.

If you’ve not been there before, as above, go with a proper mountain guide. And have all the usual avvy gear.

The Vallee Blanche really just a red run tourist mountain experience.

This is rather different and you should be pretty confident off piste. The traverses out to P1 get funky and it all can be shut 50% of the time in which case serre che is a good backup. And the Edelweiss is a rather special hotel, or was when I was there…

Amazing place. Go. Snowlegend, or Band of boarders and ride a big ass swallowtail like 50% of the snowboarders there! Or if you’re there last minute, bureau de guides and ask if there’s a group you can join.

It is possible to ride there without a guide if you’ve done your homework on routes, got map, GPS, harness ropes if necessary, all the stuff you’d need going off in the moutains away from a resort anywhere. But if you treat it like a normal resort and go up and foollow your nose, it’s very easy to end up on top of a 300ft cliff, or to follow tracks for a couple of miles down lovely mellow pow and then find yourself in a narrowing chute ending at an abseil point.

Yeah it’s great. You can do it with either a ski school or a proper mountain guide. I did it with the former so had to avoid the glacier which was a bit of a shame but by no means a deal breaker, plus I didn’t need harness etc.

I went from 2alps and from the top lift station there was a piste basher towing a load of t-bars on a rope to get the group across a fairly long traverse /slight uphill. Quite an experience and a definite test of your T-bar skills (I was last up the hill so had no choice but to ride switch as well!).

The actual riding (I snowboard) wasn’t too taxing. You have to be able to ride tight twisty lines through trees on the final traverse otherwise there’s a long walk out but I’ve ridden more technical stuff in other places to be honest. Of course it largely depends where the guide takes you. I think there are a few set itineraries you can take.

I loved it. They allow only limited numbers in per day and the one lift is slow. So you very rarely see anyone else on the trails. You spend all day smashing off piste in peace and quiet. Because it’s not busy, there’s still some powder even days after the last snowfall as it doesn’t get instantly tracked out like in resorts. There are plenty of little gulleys and drops etc if you want to muck around. It would be great to do with friends.

Unless it’s snowed very recently, I wouldn’t bother with a powder board. In fact the final traverse would be more difficult with one.

Recommended.

I think the road is fixed, IIRC the tour went through.

Road is shut again until 15th December, they reopened it for the summer and are now fixing the tunnel properly. There is an alternative route the other side of the lake, no idea what it’s like.

We wanted to ski there at NY last year, but there wasn’t enough snow, so just skied the bits of L2A which were open.

Just been watching vids and found this one which really shows off the long, “bit of everything” routes you get in La Grave.

Some of it’s a piece of piss, some of it’s tricky, particularly the route-finding, some abseil, some hitch-hiking/ lift back if you’re lucky. The hardest bit’s aren’t easy, but this guy’s 11 and he’s doing alright.

It would be a whole lot harder/deadlier if you didn’t know where you were going, or if something unexpected happened on the way down, which is what you’re paying the guide for.

That vid is cracking Ned, not sure I’m good enough to ski there but by gosh I want to. La Grave on bluebird day is a bit of a dream for me.