08 Spring Ski Trip Report Explore the French Alps and Ski Val d’Isere, Les Arcs, La Plagne
Sightseeing the cities of Copenhagen and Lyon
March 3 - 25, 2008

This trip was difficult to plan because of the change of days SAS flew. This change allowed us to have almost 48 hours in Copenhagen. We were there in the middle of the week, so museums were open. The weather was good so the group enjoyed sightseeing and walking all over Copenhagen with camera clicking. The group went to St. Gertrude’s Cloisters for an elegant dinner except for Len Boscarine who we lost walking to the restaurant.

           The Crown Jewels

                St. Gertrude

             The Little Mermaid

We then flew to Lyon, the 2nd largest city in France where we had a guided tour of the old city and of a silk factory. Everyone investigated the numerous restaurants to find a special one in this city famous for its eateries.

With a quick visit to Saturday market before boarding the bus, we left for Val d’Isere. On the way we stopped at Moutiers to see the historical town and have lunch. We arrived on a sunny day in Val d’Isere our last for several days.

The whole trip was as if it was held in January and we counted the hours of sun not the days of sun. It was on a stormy day that Linda Boscarine crushed the knob on her tibia. Chriss Cancro an orthopedic physician who was skiing with our group made a tentative diagnosis before the ski patrol arrived. His diagnosis was confirmed by x-ray back in town. Luckily they had purchased the group air tickets offered by SAS so Len had no expense to fly home with Linda several days later.

This is something that leaders may want to consider informing travel companions in your groups.

           The Expert Skiers

                a typical day

    After typical day

On the transfer day a backcountry ski trip was offered There a very mixed ability group, which was too small for the guides to divide into two groups and have any degree of safety. The trip took 2 hours longer than planned even without any lunch stops and not having to waits for taxi or bus shuttles of more than 10 minutes. The trip down the north face of Belle Corte was slow and tedious, as the clouds had come over the sun making the light flat and leaving very little definition to the avalanche debris on the slope. By that time several of the group were very tired and skiing slowly and cautiously.

By contrast, maybe no contrast those who elected to bus between the two resorts also had multiple delays. Because of Saturday traffic the hour which was planned to sight see the artist village of Seez was spent on the bus just driving through town, a length of 6 blocks! That group stopped at Bourg St. Maurice for lunch, to traffic watch and visit the Saturday market which was totally off the tourist area. Three of the group had been to the next resort the previous year on the scouting trip but could not convince the bus driver they knew the way to the hotel. So off the group went to the end of the valley where the ski group was ending their ski trip. The ski group missed the bus group by not more than 5 minutes! So the ski group had to wait for the public bus for 30 minutes.

           Alone with Nature

                Our Guides

             Just Tracks...

The first two days at the Hotel La Vanoise in Plan Peisey (Les Arcs) were sunny until about 2 PM when the clouds came in and the light became flat. From then on it snowed. Luckily the hotel was situated on the side of the mountain where most of the lifts had trees.

The group was joined by the whole Otten family from Germany. The Ottens are friends with many of the group from years back. Their children are now teenages who could ski with the group.

The first day we were at Plan Peisey, a small group rented a taxi to go to La Plagne to check it out since the cross-over lift was not working. I then hired a bus the next day for the whole group with each person paying cash for this transfer.

This hotel was well liked by the group as they served family style so you could take as much or as little as you wanted. The hotel was ski-in, ski-out and had a great happy hour room in the basement.

The return was going to be tentative as it snowed off and on all the way to Geneva.


The group minus Len and Linda Boscarine.