We have been incredibly lucky to have warm weather and spring snow conditions so have been making the most of this whilst we can. After our long tour to Col Pers, we headed to Tignes the following day, again with Chris and Suzanne. We walked from the main resort of Tignes le Lac, initially up the piste and then on towards the Aiguille Percée before traversing off to drop into Vallon de la Sache. We had some lovely descents, and one a little more exciting than anticipated, as we skied an untouched slope and set off mini-avalanches with every turn – a little like skiing on an unpredictable conveyor belt!
The evening brought disappointing news as Macron announced tighter Covid restrictions across the whole of France. From Saturday evening we will be restricted to a 10km limit from our homes in which to take exercise. This excludes Tignes and Val d’Isere for us, although we will still be able to ski in Les Arcs, Ste Foy and La Rosiere. We headed to Val d’Isere on Friday for just one more trip with Chris and Suzanne. This time we climbed from Laisinant via Plan du Solaise and along Crête de l’Arselle to Col de la Madeleine. It was a glorious sunny day and we descended the Plan l’Arselle in lovely spring snow, although we had to pick our way over some grassy slopes in places. A lovely final day in Val.
Today we stayed closer to home and headed across the valley to Villaroger – at 1200m there was a distinct lack of snow at our departure point, but a short walk brought us into the forest where we donned our trusty skis and headed upwards. We went in search of a restaurant still offering take-aways, but found none in Villaroger. We had a long walk and a four hour skin before success in Arc 1950 – the only place still open and due to close today as there will be no more holiday business. After fantastic pizzas and beer will slid down the mountain in the late afternoon sun.
The new restrictions from tonight will only really affect us in reducing the area in which we can travel to exercise. The 7pm curfew remains in place but we are home and enjoying the sunset well before this, with restaurants and bars still not allowed to open for full service. Hopefully the situation will improve over the next month.