So after a fab week skiing from Arc 1950 in the luxury of an apartment, we are now enjoying campervan life skiing in the French Alps from down in the valley at Bourg Saint Maurice at a campsite. We had tested out what it would be like basing ourselves in the valley and skiing from the van for a couple of days last January and decided we would go for it this year and stay for a couple of weeks.
It's been great so far and we have done 8 nights already!
We have certainly had all the weathers. 2 days of heavy rain in the middle of the week tested our resilience a little and the rain was so heavy on Wednesday that we asked if we could move the van on to the tarmac road for a few days. Based on a grass pitch, I had got fed up of traipsing mud into the van.
Basing ourselves in Bourg is definitely not the ski in, ski out that we had in Les Arcs, but we had already got our mindset ready for that. There are several options of getting from the campsite to the funicular that takes you to the piste at Arc 1600. We have chosen to hire a ski locker up at Arc 1600 and leave all our kit up there which leaves us free to do the 15 minutes walk to the funicular which we are actually enjoying. Richard says he is treating it as his warm up and cool down.
The campsite has a free minibus to and from the funicular that runs on a timetable system that you sign up for the day before- it's first come first served and I gather that in busier times it can be a bit of a bun fight to get a spot. That failing there is also a free local bus service that runs regularly from the campsite gate.
Our first night here last Saturday was a bit of a shock to the system as the temperature dropped to about -6 by 6pm and hit a low of -10 in the night. It was hard getting motivated to leave our warm and snug campervan to go to for a shower and to the loo! But with our lpg gas heater and a small electric fan heater that we bought with us, the van was warm and comfortable. We have found a new temperature gauge for how cold it is in the van. If the Olive oil freezes in the cupboard the heater definitely needs to go on!
For me, the highlight of the trip so far was discovering the 2 campsite cats that love curling up in front of the fire in the community lodge room. They are so friendly and love company. I have one curled up next to me as I write this blog! There is also a gorgeous, friendly long haired cat that didn't take much coaxing to come and sit with us in the van!
We have had some absolutely stunning sunrise and sunsets since being here which just light up the snowy peaks that surround the campsite. We have also woken up to some freezing cold conditions and on 2 mornings the metal on the inside of the tail gate has Been frozen up!
The skiing for the last 3 days, since all the rain in the valley (which meant heavy snow in the mountains) has been fantastic. On Friday the snow on the slopes was wonderful and powdery, however the light levels were low so we couldn't see the bumps which was hard on the knees and very tiring.
Being back on our early retirement budget means we are back onto having picnic lunches and hot chocolates on the slopes. We have discovered two fantastic new indoor picnic areas with cheap hot drink vending machines. They are great community spaces and are certainly well used when the weather pulls in. Definite hidden gems!
Saturday was a blue sky day with a temperature high of -11 degrees. We decided to Ski across to Plagne Montalbert which is the furthest village in the ski domain and a lot of lifts were required. Some colder than others. We had to go across on the Vanoise Express cable car which spans hundreds of meters above the valley floor and connects the resorts of Les Arcs and La Plagne. We took the first lift out at 9am and made it back to Arc 1600 by 4pm - A long day skiing but so worth it. We had a really lovely lazy lunch at Le Forperet which was our favourite family restaurant when we skied out of Montalbert for a few years. A temperature gauge of how cold it was - my glass of water froze almost solidly in 45 minutes. Luckily the pichet of wine kept flowing.
We have had the most wonderful day today. We went out skiing with some people that we have met on the campsite and explored loads of new ski runs we didn't even know existed! The sky was blue, the sun was out and the company was lovely. Life feels pretty good.
That's it for another week.
Take care
Jackie and Richard
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