Grand Bornand, FR 02/01/16

Over the past 13 years, my luck with snow and weather conditions during trips to the Alps has been borderline uncanny. I always plan them for the last week of January/first week of February because there'll be no concerns about thin bases and/or rain, plus that's just before the big European school holidays, which are a must-avoid unless you enjoy peak-season crowds.

The law of averages caught up with me on this visit. As mentioned in the Châtel report, in addition to a week of way-above-average temps and overnight freezes that created a scratchy base, a brutal half-day rain event -- similar to what we get in the northeast -- punished the entire northern Alps on Sunday. It had been forecast for more than a week in advance and arrived exactly as predicted. Only the highest ski areas (Zermatt, Val d'Isère/Tignes, etc.) were spared, so Sunday was basically a lost day saved only by a great afternoon of conversation and beers with the team from Chatelweb.

Early morning Monday, I had to head back to Geneva airport to pick up my wife and thanks to hideous rush-hour traffic, what would normally be a 45-minute drive turned into a two-hour death march. At the airport, she was excited to see that they'd named a nightclub after our son (she wasn't aware of Montreux's Claude Nobs):



We quickly zipped out of town and headed an hour south toward the Massif des Aravis, home to renowned La Clusaz and neighboring Grand Bornand. It's part of the larger Savoie Mont Blanc region, which is where we'll be for the next six days. But after exiting the Autoroute and turning into the mountains, we were met by rain and thick fog. You can imagine the ambiance in the car as I had to struggle not to go into drama-queen mode about how much of this visit was going to be compromised by poor weather.

Luckily, by the time we pulled into the cute, traditional village of Grand Bornand ("Grand Bo" to locals) late morning, the low clouds lifted and an hour later the sun came out. We later learned that the clientele for both Grand Bornand and La Clusaz continues to be predominately French in contrast to many resorts that have been partially colonized by other countries.



At the base area, we met Geoffrey, another instructor from the École du Ski Français (French Ski School), and boarded the gondola. Like a fair number of French people we've met on this trip, he has an English first name. He laughed when we mentioned that our son has a French first name.



Grand Bornand got pounded by Sunday's non-crystalline precipitation just like the other low-elevation ski areas, but when we got a quarter up the mountain, things looked more than presentable. The snow had been transformed into beautiful velvety sugar; there was zero ice; it was soft as could be: early April two months early. Most of the trails are intermediate/upper-intermediate, so it's well known as a great teaching mountain, but there were all sorts of steep shots with a bit of hiking/bootpacking:



We opened with some sweet ungroomed runs from the top:







Then hit a few groomers that were luscious -- by this point, my wife and I were laughing about how depressed we'd been a few hours earlier and now, we were in ski heaven:



Throughout, Geoffrey pointed out the sights:





We rode a few old-school Poma "teleski" platters:





Went down the backside and skied by a chapel:



And my wife made friends with the pooch at the mountain-top restaurant:



We wrapped up with a dinner at this fantastic restaurant in La Clusaz called La Scierie (The Sawmill), which had a beautiful rustic ambiance and fantastic cuisine:





Vichyssoise soup: spectacular



Main course:



Dessert: a Dame Blanche sundae and a Café Liégeois



In short: a perfect payback for Sunday's weather mess.

Looks like a home run!!!

Superbe!

Looks splendid!!  

Is Grand Bornand connected to La Clusaz?

bumps wrote

Is Grand Bornand connected to La Clusaz?

Not lift connected at this point -- it's a five-minute drive/bus ride. It's been under discussion for years and may happen in the near or mid-term future.

You never know until you go. Or almost sometimes never.  The snow does looks surprising considering your weather report.

And the whole damn thing makes me hungry every time I look.

Jamesdeluxe wrote

What's the deal with the chapel? Does the ski are go across private property or is the church old and kind of a public landmark now or...?

This looks like a perfect trip for you and The Alchelmist together, snow and culture wise.

Love to hear from her!

Harv

In Europe the ski area's trails are on many different farmers property on in this cases potentially churches property.  Sometimes even the lifts are owned by different families and companies particularly in the Dolomites in Italy.

As far as the law of averages goes I have found that in Europe you are more likely to have some down days either becuase it's snows and you can't see or freeze thaws due to the lower altitude.  On those days go have a long lunch at a Refugio or little hut or visit the village to soak up some culture.  It's part of the total experience.

I look forward to getting back over there but it will have to be without my favorite ski partner my son with his busy schedule.

Both of Coach's points above are correct.

Today in Megève, we're finally getting the first powder of this visit -- should be a great one tomorrow.

Our ski day at GB was fantastic. The mountains, village and cuisine have been stunning.