Although the forecast wasn’t very good I wanted to walk over from Tignes into the Vanoise anyway. Leaving Tignes it’s really obvious what an awful mess of the landscape the lift company are making, I pass by a lot of ski stations summer and winter and the amount of damage done by skiing varies a lot. At a minimum there’s a line of lift pylons going up the hill and maybe some gaps cut into the trees but in Tignes it’s on a whole other level. Whole sections of hillside are just bare patches of disturbed ground and mud and they’re digging more huge holes with bulldozers as I pass by. Marmottes might be prepared to put up with this but the larger animals and birds are driven away.
It’s probably overdue that some consideration is given to limiting what these large lift companies in these mega-domains are up to, successive years of bad financial results for some of the companies while others are traded like chips in some environmental poker game makes you wonder what the point of it all is. Trashing the mountain environment so people on ski holidays wait one minute less for a lift or encouraging the sad and dull pursuit of ever more mileage for the “intermediate” skier is really too high a price to pay. It’s pretty obvious skiing can be carried out without destroying the mountain completely and if that means alienating a portion of the mass-market then I can’t see it’s any great loss. Financial considerations mean skiing’s never been particularly inclusive so a few less lifts and a definitive end to heli-skiing would be no bad thing.
Passing into the national park area and I’m into a cleaner mountain environment. There’s still a lot of snow on the ground though and it’s hard work moving through it. In fact, I’m surprised to reach the col de La Leisse in ten minutes less than I’d estimated.
A view up onto the Grande Motte with the summer ski operation all ready to go next weekend. And looking down the valley where the refuge is hidden over behind the lake.
About 1100m before the Refuge de la Leisse the clouds are looking fairly ominous, it’s here at the Plan des Nettes the first photo’ is taken in fact. My first thought is I can reach the hut before it really starts to rain but suddenly it starts to pour down with a mixture of rain and hail so I’m forced to put some more clothes on. By the time I’ve geared up and then walked 600m the rain stops so had I left just a couple of minutes sooner I’d have missed the rain altogether.
I’m the only person staying in the Refuge de la Leisse and I think they’re surprised to see me, even though I’d rung them to book I think they assumed the poor weather would stop me making it. As I’m the only person I eat with the guardian, his wife, 17 month old son and cat, the downside of course is that the dormitory is empty so it’s a pretty cold night on my own.
Next morning I head over the col de Vanoise, it’s a bit lower than the col de La Leisse so there’s not quite the snow on the ground.
I spent the night at the refuge des Barmettes which is actually pretty comfortable. The food was excellent and being close to the ski station of Pralognan they’ve full main services.
Originally I’d planned to go over the Grand Bec and use the winter room at the refuge but the snow is too much and the weather is worse so I head down to Pralognan and look for a way to get to Moutiers. There’s no bus until the following day and they reckon a taxi is 60€ which seems a bit expensive so I decide to walk on the old road down to Bozel and see what the options there are. In Bozel there’s no bus for 6 hours so I decide to get a taxi and ask the tourist office if they’ve a number, after trying a local number but getting no response one of the staff offers to take me to Moutiers in her car, it was lunch time and she lived near the station so it was on her way.
From Moutiers it’s a train to Bourg St Maurice but it turns out the bus to Tignes only runs if you’ve reserved which of course I’ve not and there’s no sign of the bus. Another two passengers though have reserved although but the bus company has no record of it so we persuade them to run the bus and a coach with three of us on it heads up to Tignes via Val d’Isere. I’m pretty pleased with this, I’ve managed to get from Pralognan to Tignes for 15€ in about 5 hours which is pretty good. Picking the car up I drive back down the hill and I see a couple of people at the side of the road hitching a lift, having got a free ride earlier it’s karma that I have to stop and give them a ride. It turns out it’s a local girl needs a lift, she’d been waiting for the bus I’d just got off to return to the valley and it sailed by her without stopping completely empty which was ironic.
