My first trip to La Grave was in 1998, I think. They kinda blend together. I did a TR from one of the trips, and woulda linked it here, but it was photobucketed and now worthless. For most of my trips to La Grave I go with a non-mag ski bud, but this trip I brought the whole fam damily. Some of these pics came out in the TGR sideways version, and I don't know why, and oh well. This will give you folks an idea that it can actually be a place to bring the fam.
New, (to me), song we played a lot on the trip, seems appropriate:
We flew to Munich, picked up a shitbox, and stuffed it. Guy who did the paperwork said he'd never seen one so full.
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Did a little sightseeing along the way, Neuschwanstein Castle, Menaggio, then got to our rooms for the view. Does. Not. Suck. Never. Gets. Old.
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Blizzard started, the Telepherique was closed, so we went to boring little Le Chazelet, for a knee deep powder day. Guy I was skiing with said it was like eating chocolate all day. MiniPlug watches:
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Ski into town for a typical megalunch. Owner's son locally made the cheese for that course:
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Finish the day skiing over the ridge into Les Terrasses for beers and dog petting:
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Next day kinda cleared so we skied Freaux. This, for me, is why I keep coming back to this place. Long consistently steep couloirs. Looking down at the start:
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After maybe about 2000' the couloir opens up, and there's still 2000' or so left of steepish apron:
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Next day my broken MCL was acting up so I changed groups. This way I got to ski with the fam. Great Larch skiing all over the La Grave area. Knee deep for Mrs. Plug:
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Is only boot deep for me:
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Next day was sunny, so off to the classics. Patou for me:
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MiniPlug:
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Mrs. Plug:
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Banane:
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Went for a glacier run, but as often the case here, drag lift was semi broke, so we took in the view and waited:
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After some glacier butt wiggling, we cut over to the Vallons side, under the glacier into the zone interdit and explored an ice cave:
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Buster told me to not ski Trifides, so I headed over for sloppy eighths:
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My knee was barking, so I actually rode down from the top, (which I'd never done before), but I got to ride with dog, my copilot:
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Such a great place to have a post ski beer. (I prefer a panaché.):
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Anyways, this was a really cool trip for me, because my first trip here was right before we got our daughter, and now she got to ski here with me. We stayed at a popular lodge, and she was the only offspring out of 50 clients, but she still had a pretty good time. Not to mention, this was by far the most snow I've seen here in all those trips. Some years it's firm chalk fall-you-die stuff.
At the end of the week, I drove the family and friends back to Lyon, and I took the next week to visit some manufacturers in Italy and Germany, then drove to Munich and returned the now empty car:
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