La Grave

Off-piste skiers and snowboarders will go drooling! This trip goes to the finest freeriding spots of the southern Alps. Couloirs, super-long slopes and dream forests are the main themes. And the program is adapted every day according to the snow conditions and the level of the participants.

In the shade of Le Rateau and La Meije north faces lies the small village of La Grave. It’s located on the northern side of the Ecrins national park, halfway between Grenoble and Briançon. There is only one gondola and skilift there: a very unique cable car, specifically designed by a local engineer in the seventies, who still runs it today. This is the place where one can find the widest snowboards and skis ridden on earth.

In the eighties, this place was only known by mountaineers, and the best french off-piste skiers came to ride. Later on, thanks to the Derby de la Meije – one of the very first freeride competitions, since 1989 – the place became more popular. Today, the wild aspect of the ski area has been kept unspoiled, as there is only one piste on the glacier between 3600m and 3200m; all the rest is off-piste.

The ski area is made of two main valleys: the Vallon de la Meije and the Vallon de Chancel, which never get steeper than 30 degrees. But from these valleys, and if you know the place well enough, you can access some short, sometimes very steep couloirs where a rope might be useful.
In this five-day trip you can assume that, thanks to the experience of your local Powder Guide, the best snow will be found. We all live in the area! We will spent all six nights in the nice hotel Edelweiss in La Grave, where one can enjoy a warm jacuzzi and a good beer at the cozy bar. Edelweiss is known for their excellent cuisine. We will use ski lifts, and get the best out of it, in order to ride as much as possible. We will improve your technique together, and build confidence in steep couloirs. Sometimes a little abseil can be necessary to access the legendary runs of La Grave. We will walk up a little with skins on one or two days (2 x 30 minutes) to reach some more remote itineraries.

From the hotel in La Grave, we will spend at least two days in the ​​La Grave-la Meije ski area. Depending on the snow conditions in La Grave, we might go to Le Monêtier-les-Bains/Serre-Chevallier and Montgenèvre area, with the two amazing Cime de la Plane and Janus peaks that seem to be designed for freeriding and is definitely the way to go.

Our SkiPrestige program has been existing for over 15 years now, and is one of our most successful programs. Some of our guests do not come only once, but like to do it again every year!

for dynamics and safety, the group size is limited to 4 participants