2 Alpes Summer Skiing 2012 Review

Day 1 of our short summer season saw a rather chaotic ticket-buying experience thanks to ongoing works in the main ticket office, which have left us with a small temporary sales area for about six cashiers in what used to be the pedestrian and Croisiere Blanche office. This wasn’t too bad on a fairly quiet day early in the season, but if you’re planning on a July or August visit, I’d consider getting passes either online or from one of the smaller outlets, because I can see a long wait at peak times. Tickets of all types – including ski - are available from the sales points at Venosc village, Vallee Blanche and the Diable, where the cashiers will probably be delighted to have a bit of company.

A frankly rather poxy rainy interseason promised good snow cover on the glacier and below, and it didn’t disappoint either. Signal was open to its full width and with no interesting water features, and the off piste cover over the Echines and the bits between Signal and Roche Mantel was nothing to complain about either.

Being disinclined to get out of bed at sparrowsqueak on a Saturday morning, we opted for the half day ticket starting at 09:30, and by the time we got to the top, conditions were nice and soft (if indeed there had actually been a refreeze the night before – hard to tell). We started with a run down the Signal, which was soft all the way down and getting on for sticky at the bottom. Subsequent runs down the various variations on Signal and Roche Mantel started well and again got sticky towards the bottom, but at 10am in the middle of June you can hardly expect anything else.

Forays into the off piste proved more difficult than appearances would suggest, thanks to ongoing melt and attendant glue effect, but it was all perfectly rideable once I got my weight in the right place, something which took a while and a very wet bum after six weeks off the board.

A trip up the funicular to the top was in order at this point, and the snow further up was in excellent condition, particularly on Signal 4, which was nice and firm all the way down. The snowpark off to the right at the top of the glacier was fully open for business and surprisingly sparsely populated given the sunny weather. Come on people, where are you all? Get up here before the place becomes infested with the usual race teams and freestyle camps.

Officially the only things open are the glacier runs and the Signal, but it was obvious on the trip up that things were skiable down to midstation, and since they hadn’t made more than a half hearted attempt to fence off the lower runs we thought it would be seriously rude not to.

And what a ride down it was – smooth granular spring snow with barely a track in it, plenty of cover (allowing for the odd bare patch, but we’re not mean enough to dwell on minor inconveniences) and nobody taking advantage of any of it. Admittedly it comes to an abrupt halt just short of the Jandri lift station and you have to trog through the mud at the end, but more than worth it. So much so, in fact, that we felt obliged to go up and do it again via a alternative route.

These conditions won’t last in the summer sun, and I wouldn’t expect to be able to get that far down beyond the end of this month, so if you’re in a position do do so you should get up here and take advantage with all speed. Ski or board in the morning, munch lunch in the sun and then spend the afternoon in the pool and jacuzzi – beats a Benidorm beach break.