Winter on the Cote d'Azur

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Winter on the Côte d'Azur Neil Woodrow After the tourists had departed and the temperatures had dropped from their baking summer levels, the first snowfalls started in Les Alpes Maritimes. We soon realised that high level tramping was now the realm of serious mountaineers rather than our family. owever, the sun still shone almost every day, We spent our last day there wandering around the and autumn lingered on the coast until one week villages, taking photos and tobogganing. In France only lin mid November when some snow fell in the some people take holidays over Christmas/New Year, SO mountains and the fountains in the roundabouts froze it was back to work after our week in Innsbruck. over winter was clearly coming. We had been wait- During the next two months we went skiing at some ing for this, because in the vicinity of Nice, there are 8 of the local skifields almost every other week. The first different ski areas, the closest of which was 40 minutes' French field we tried was Valberg, which is a small field drive from our house. 1%1 hours' from Nice. It had snowed earlier in the week, We really fancied a white Christmas, and as the snow solwas hopeful that there would be enough coverage. was still rather thin near the coast we booked ourselves Driving up there we noticed the big difference in the into a hotel in Goetzens, a small villagej just outside Inns- climatel between the immediate coast and thei inland areas, bruck. We flew from Nice to Munich and drove down to because thel hills behind Nice did not even have snow at thet hotel for the week. There was some snow on the ground 1,000m, yet the valley only 30 km inland had snow down all the way, and Innsbruck was very beautiful when we tol lower than 200m. Everywhere that was shady hadl hoar arrivedj just after dark. frost, and waterfalls beside the road were frozen. As we The next day the weather was not very: good, and freez- did not have chains I was a little apprehensive, but the ing rain and snowt fell most of the day. Wet tooki in some of road was completely clear and dry it seems not many thel local culture by pottering around the Christmas mar- peoplel bother with chains as the snowi is normally dry and kets drinking gluwine and eating bratworsts. It snowed they obviously clear it off the roads as soon as it falls. that evening and the third day there was 150mm of new At the field wel hired skis, bought passes and used the snow in the streets, and the skifields were on hold. We one and only toilet before jumping on the nearest chair. went back into Innsbruck and went ice skating, and Valbergi is a small field with 6 double chairs and 20 pomas. bought the odd last minute Christmas present. The fa- Theya all start from different places along the road, so you cilities there are very good, as they were all built for the have to plan your trails to end upin the correct place at winter Olympics in the 1960s andl have been maintained the end of the day. There is no OSH in France the to host events every year since. chairs are very rickety, there are few safety warnings and At last a perfect day, so we went to Axamer Lizum, the no protection on pylons. Matthew was a master at disaphome of the downhill course. It was quite cold, but the pearing onto "trails" I through the trees without any regard snow was really nice light and dry. I discovered that for what may be under the snow. The best part was the Austrian skifields do not take either myl French Visa or my snow quality, which was cold and very dry. Being France NZ Amex, and wel had to wait until after 10am to reduce there were cafés and restaurants everywhere, but we are the day passes to the amount of cash wel had. found this dedicated skiers and focussed on getting every run we amazing as à don't carry much cash any more and never could. have these problems in NZ or France. The next field we visited was Gréolières les Nieges, the Thei field had a long gondola and about 5 chairlifts SO closest field to town. Itis a very: small field with only three there was plenty of terrain to ski on. It was not crowded, double chairs, plus 4 or 5 pomas. From the top of the with small queues only and we were tired by the end of field, which is quite low compared to the majority of the day, as it was our first day on skis for over a year. fields, you can look straight over the coast between Nice The next day was Christmas Eve and again it was a and Cannes to the Mediterranean so it is well worth a perfect day. That day we went cross-country skiing at visit. It was extremely cold, well below zero with a Seefeld. We opted for the 5-km easy trail, and took our tle breeze, which helped the chill factor. The scope oftne luncht to eat in the forest. It was the first time I had tried field was rather limited so we decided that one day was this and it was amazing fun SO good that we came enough. On the way home we checked out the crossback again on Christmas Day, albeit a later start given country area and vowed to come back another time. the special supper our hosts had provided the night be- Late one evening in early February during a conferfore. It is easy to do, but more strenuous than alpine ence call with a customer in Iceland Iwas laughed at in skiing. Thes skis do not have edges and Glynis, Stephanie disbelief for saying it was snowing in Nice. The next and I struggled with the downhill sections; but as usual morning we awoke to 10cm of snow right down to the Matthew couldn't understand our difficulties. After two coast, which threw the already hazardous traffic into days of cross-country skiing I had discovered muscles I absolute chaos. One of the parents from Sweden at our didn't know I had, but we had all thoroughly enjoyed it. children's school refused to drive that morning; not Tramping and Mountaineering 1999

Cross-country skiing, Seefeld, Austria Neil Woodrow because she didn't know how to drive in snow, but be- been some late snow recently and they were spending a cause she felt the French could not be trusted! long weekend there. Despite the record snowfalls in the northern areas of This field was in Les Alpes de Haute Provence, about 3 France the local fields were all very lightly covered, SO hours' drive away. This meant a 6.00am start. I opted for we decided to visit one of the fields that was further the shorter route for the last section, which was a bit like inland in the hope of more snow. Auron is a large field going over the Crown Range except it was sealed the whole about 1% hours from Nice, with two gondolas, 6 dou- way and a much narrower road it saved 40 km but ble chairs and about 20 pomas. Most of the south facing probably used more petrol because it wound up to great slopes were marginal or closed, and it was only mid to heights before descending into the next valley. This field, late February, so we feared this may be the last of the Val s'Allos, is a veryl large field, which advertised 200 km season. Despite being a major field it still really only of skiable terrain. It was really three fields with interlinking served the local market and thus standards were not lifts. very high, but with good snow it would have been a We spent the day moving across the fields and back, great field. without skiing the same run twice and at the end of the Thel last week in February, some more snow fell in the day had only covered a relatively small portion of the hills, but with the days getting longer it vanished off the field. guess you could ski about a week without having nearby hills quite quickly. We decided to go up to Gréolières to do any significant repeats apart from the odd access again, this time for the cross-country or "Ski de Fond" en chair. The snow was definitely spring snow, and was Français. disappearing fast but it lasted the day we were there The 6-km intermediate trail was perfect with some real and the following day for our hosts. uphill and racing-style downhill sections. Matthew andl How wouldl sum up the skiing experience in France? went round twice, while Glynis and Stephanie made the The actual cost of skiing was close to what we pay in second circuit around the easier 3-km trail. Once again NZ. It is certainly very accessible from the Nice area, we thoroughly enjoyed the cross-country skiing. The trails and we had few problems hiring gear. The good parts are made with a groomer that lays the tracks and apart were the almost total absence of queues, dry snow, clear from some steeper up and down sections you just runi in snow-free sealed roads, cafés everywhere, drive-on acthe tracks. The experts race past at breakneck speed cess, and the lack of wind. The Decathlon sports one person passing three times during our lap but in chainstores beat anything we have in NZ, not just for between you are alone with the snow, trees and sun. skiing but any sport you wish to name. The downside By mid March we had hung the ski clothing up and was the dubious lift facilities, absence of toilets somewere dusting off the shorts ready for some coast walks, what mitigated by an attitude that says to create yellow when one of my staff asked if fwe would like to come up snow on the side of a trail is normal, the maniac local to her holiday home on one of the skifields as there had drivers, and the cost of petrol. Tramping and Mountaineering 1999