{"id":511,"date":"2014-08-12T11:22:14","date_gmt":"2014-08-12T09:22:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mountainpassions.com\/wordpress\/?p=511"},"modified":"2019-10-16T11:30:17","modified_gmt":"2019-10-16T09:30:17","slug":"ski-les-gets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mountainpassions.com\/winter\/ski-resort-reviews\/alps\/ski-les-gets\/","title":{"rendered":"Les Gets"},"content":{"rendered":"
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O<\/span>ur early evening approach to Les Gets gives little idea of the setting or how it might all look in daylight. But there\u2019s no denying that the heart of the village looks a picture twinkling appealingly in the chill darkness, while mounds of snow are piled up at the roadsides. It\u2019s visibly upmarket too, as our check-in at the Hotel Marmotte confirms; when your first visit makes you feel more like an old friend making a welcome return you know you\u2019re in good hands.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\nWhen your first visit makes you feel more like an old friend making a welcome return you know you\u2019re in good hands.\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\n\"Red
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The wide slopes are perfect for carving and there's plenty of time to admire the scenery.<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\n\"The
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The teepee village with obstacles and bumps provides lots of fun for children.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Mont Ch\u00e9ry – a good place to start the day<\/h2>\n
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We sleep soundly and awake to brilliant sunlight. It\u2019s been some time since the most recent snowfalls but a combination of exceptionally low temperatures and skilled piste management (with judicious use of snowmaking) has kept things in good shape for skiers. Nevertheless we make an early start, and climb aboard le petit train \u2013 an interesting alternative to the usual shuttle-bus, which drops us on the opposite side of town at the Mont Ch\u00e9ry gondola lift. It\u2019s a good place to begin, since snow-quality on the mostly south-facing slopes holds up less well than across the valley.<\/p>\n

After the gondola ride a quick transfer to the Pointe chairlift gets us to the 1826m mark to add our tracks to the neatly-groomed corduroy of Marmotte. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The red-graded piste crests a top-of-the-world ridge benignly before spearing off right onto a breathless plunge down through the trees into L\u2019Encrenaz. It\u2019s still cold down below so snow quality is good, rewarding us for our early start. There are a couple of black-graded access runs on this side too but our time is limited, so we ski back to the gondola and down to the village. Next time we\u2019ll make a point of taking the Grande Ourse chairlift or the Super Ch\u00e9ry draglift, which serve a slalom piste, plus further red and black runs down through the trees to the Planeys chairlift. There\u2019s more skiing over here than you\u2019d imagine, and since most skiers are focused elsewhere it can be a good place to head for low-pressure skiing when temperatures are low \u2013 which usually means in the mornings.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\n\"Les
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The lower slopes of the Les Gets ski area run right down to the village.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\n\"Mid-mountain
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Mid-mountain, a secure and sunny beginners area is perfect for making those first turns on skis.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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We take the train…<\/h2>\n
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Meanwhile, back at the base of the gondola, another slightly surreal ride on the shuttle-train gets us back to our starting-point. Having got Mont Ch\u00e9ry out of our system, we now take the Chavannes Express chairlift and during the ride check out the D\u00e9borah Anthionaz boardercross run, one of the longest we\u2019ve seen. Turning left at the top of the lift (at 1620m) offers a red-graded run into Morzine<\/a> (or a Blue, via the Folliets du Golf chair), but we head the other way to ski the blue-graded Violette piste over to the next chairlift, the Ranfoilly Express, which whisks us up to the 1826m summit of Le Ranfoilly. The views from here are fantastic, as is the scenic cruise on the red-graded Tulipe over to the La Rosta 4-seater chairlift serving another great panoramic viewpoint: the 1665m summit of La Rosta, from which there are blue- red- and black-graded descents.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Our choice is the Eglanine red, which falls away to enter the tree-line above the base of the La Rosta sector\u2019s chairlifts.<\/p>\n

This time we take the la Rosta lift\u2019s companion, the Grains d\u2019Or Express up to the Pointe de la Turche (1633m) to take Vorosses, a blue-graded piste which we soon leave to join a red. The aptly-named M\u00e9l\u00e8zes (\u2018larch trees\u2019) fires us down the Perri\u00e8res Express six-seater chairlift.<\/p>\n

From the top it\u2019s just a minute or so\u2019s gentle run down to our lunch-break target. The Restaurant La Pa\u00efka is the classic mountain hideaway and the fine weather finds the terrace filled with appreciative skiers pondering the temptations of the today\u2019s chalkboard menus. Grilled chicken from the barbecue gets our order.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Riding Les Gets\u2019 historic drag-lift<\/h2>\n

Access to the restaurant is via the blue-graded Vorosses piste, so leaving means finishing the run \u2013 the lower section of which turns out to be a quite icy when we tackle it \u2013 all the way down to the welcome sight of the antique Turche draglift.<\/p>\n

This modest but important lift dates from 1945, and is still both privately owned and operated (such is its fame that it even has its own Facebook page). After launching out from the covered departure area we climb steeply through the trees for a 1.2km-long haul, with a vertical ascent of around 330m.<\/p>\n

When we finally wobble off gratefully at the top a gentle blue cruise on Renardi\u00e8re marks the start of our return journey to the village.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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