Espace Diamant, FR 02/06/16

We're now at the final stop of the Savoie Mont Blanc road trip, the Espace Diamant (roughly translated as "the Diamond Region" or "Diamond Area" -- it sounds better in French than in English). We left our hotel in Megève, where five inches had fallen overnight in the village, double that higher up. Here's our Peugeot halfway through the snow removal process:



As the crow flies, it's a very short distance to the Espace Diamant, but in a car you go up and over gorges, valleys, villages, etc., so maybe a 30-minute drive. According to reports, in the next five years they're possibly going to connect Espace Diamant with Megève and eventually neighboring Les Contamines, which would surpass the 3 Vallees in trail kilometers and result in the largest interconnected ski region in the world. We pulled into our base for the next two days, the cute village of Crest-Voland, built around, what else, an old church:



While parking our car, we saw something that we hadn't run into in other villages: lots of children. The very first ski class that a small child takes anywhere in France is called "Piou-Piou" (pronounced PYOO PYOO), which means "baby chicken." Crest-Voland, along with at least a third of the Espace Diamant, is proudly family-oriented: everything from restaurants to ski terrain to activities is planned to make it easy for them:





We stopped for a quick coffee next to the lift:



Booted up and headed to mid-mountain for lunch:



... where I had roasted trout on a bed of leeks and reblochon cheese along with a cheesecake-y dessert topped by Belgian graham crackers:





Finally, it was time to ski:



They'd received the same 6-8 inch top-off that Megève did. Since I was with the wife, extensive forays into the off-piste weren't in the cards, so I bombed through the soft chop alongside the trails:



... while she enjoyed the rolling groomers:







We met up with a local ski instructor, the delightful Françoise, who showed us some of her favorite shots:



Here's is one of the kids' areas in the woods, which are great for giving them glade experience -- they can dart in and out of the trees and through the signs:



The classic tourist shot: the two of us in front of Mont Blanc (disappointing that the photo doesn't capture how impressive it is in person):



Even though all of our accommodations for the past week were pleasant, our favorite was here in Crest-Voland, the Hôtel Mont Charvin, which is ski-in/ski-out, has beautiful rustic décor throughout the rooms, restaurant, and bar, fantastic cuisine, and is run by a really friendly couple who go out of their way to welcome families, including their two American guests. There's something great about being in a full-service hotel where you also get to interact with the owners extensively.

Après-ski drinks at the bar:
 


Atmospheric dining room:



Escargot appetizer:



Main course: perch, frites, and green salad with a spectacular vinaigrette



As always, my wife makes friends with the hotel pooch:

this report makes me hungry and jealous

James you ALWAYS. Deliver !!!

Thanks Warp Daddy, always glad to provide Euro stoke.

Saturday was our final outing and since we only managed to check out the skier's-right third of the Espace Diamant on Friday, to see as much as possible of the other two-thirds it was important to get an early start. The place is huge and on your first time there, you need to have decent navigating skills to move around efficiently. There are signs all over the place reminding you not to get stuck in a far-flung part of the region (to avoid paying a costly taxi ride to get back to your home base). Here's a slightly closer shot of the map:




Like the other ski regions on this trip, they're not high-elevation for the Alps, but you'll find lots of above-treeline areas and loads of hidden nooks and crannies.


9 am at the Cernix lift right behind the hotel


Gliding Down the Chard du Beurre Traverse


Tracked-Up Off the Douce Lift


Heading Over to Notre Dame de Bellecombe




My wife taking advantage of low-angle powder in a vast meadow:



Heading down the Boulangère trail for lunch:



One of the cool things at the Espace Diamant is how many old drag lifts are still in use to access the many aforementioned nooks and crannies:


... and how these lifts zig-zag up the mountain -- here's a nice 40-degree turn:



And of course, there are always lounge chairs to sit down in the sun and take it easy:

James

My wife is also not big on off piste.  If you ever want to plan a trip for a bigger group let me know.  You and I could could ski some powder while the wives ski the pistes.  I've been lucky enough to have skied over there about 6 different trips and your report has me Jonesing to go back.

Coach Z wrote

My wife is also not big on off piste.  If you ever want to plan a trip for a bigger group let me know.

Yeah, it's kinda frustrating to see all this untouched powder only a short distance away and not to be able to go after it. I still tracked through plenty of fresh snow, but not quite the ski magazine stuff.

Adding to the issue was that our Verizon phones were constantly losing network access for no particular reason. On the plane home, a number of Americans said their phones had worked perfectly the entire time (we gave VZN an earful upon our return yesterday). As you're aware, these ski areas are so massive that if you get separated and texts/phone calls don't go through, you may not see each other again for the rest of the day.

I hope VZ doesn't spank you with huge roaming fees for txt and calls that did go through.

I never turned my phone on unless we had wifi..
It's gonna be hard to ski the local hills after that trip..

JasonWx wrote

I hope VZ doesn't spank you with huge roaming fees for txt and calls that did go through.

No, we signed up for a $40 program that covered the roaming and phone call charges. As mentioned, it worked part of the week, but cut out at inopportune times when we really needed it and I ended up spending a lot of time talking with tech support. I always got along fine without a smartphone in previous trips -- who needs this aggravation?

Did you use iMaps on this trip?  How did it work?

Im debating if I can trust using that for our Portugal trip

I drove all over spain /france using google map/imap last year..no problems

Another truly wonderful trip report. You have really delivered the essence of skiing the Alps and it really makes me want to go back for a visit.
Well Done!

Coach Z wrote

Did you use iMaps on this trip?  How did it work?

I used the GPS that came with the car. There are so many traffic circles/roundabouts, literally hundreds on this trip alone, and sometimes the navigation ballsed up which of the three turns you're supposed to take, but for the most part, it was fine.