Winter Camping and Sports in Le Grand Bornand
The Meek Family
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Our next stop was the Alps or to be precise le Grand Bornand in the Haute-Savoie region. Unbeknownst to us it is a popular French family ski resort and caters extremely well for families. We booked to stay here with full intentions of spending our time on the slopes. French friends were suitably impressed when we told them where we were going which left us reassured that we'd chosen a great spot to clamp on the skiis and snowboards for a little more than a week of winter sporting fun.
In the build up to our visit, we had checked the weather regularly to see the levels of snowfall and, prior to arriving, the area had had a few days of heavy snow. This did worry Tim from a driving perspective (read his blogpost: Life's a Pitch) but added to the excitement. As we left the main roads and climbed higher into the mountains the trees became increasingly covered in snow. Mountains came into view and the excitement levels rose.
Now we've been on skiing / snowboarding holidays before but have always opted for package options that include flights and hotels; we've never driven to a resort, particularly in a motorhome and camped. We've had quite a few people react shocked at the thought of living in a motorhome during winter but the reactions were even more extreme when we said we were heading into the snow-capped mountains. It almost felt like we were embarking on a new adventure that no-one had ever done before yet we knew that this was an option open to many, just that it wasn't the most obvious or most popular. We were pleasantly surprised to find that we weren't the only ones by far. It was the French school holidays and the site was full of caravans and motorhomes.
The site during our stay in le Grand Bornand was L'Escale. We arrived after there had been a few days of heavy snow so Le Grand Bornand village and l'Escale site looked impressively covered. The site was ideally located: a short walk from the centre with a bus stop outside that had regular free shuttles taking you between the site and the cable cars up to the slopes. Almost all of the visitors staying when we arrived were French but some English started to trickle in during the British half term week. The site was well equipped for winter conditions with larger tractors that shifted snow out of the way. Since many of the people staying on the site were there to ski or snowboard they had three large rooms for storing equipment: one for skis and boards, one for boots and one drying clothes (the latter two were warmed at night). The skiis and boards are stored on racks, as opposed to in lockers therefore it is a good idea to bring along a small padlock, we discovered. You can then lock your equipment up and ensure you have a rack to put it on again at the end of the day. Padlocks can be bought from the local shops.
The site did also cater for those not partaking in winter sports. There is small indoor, heated swimming pool on site and a typically French games room that provides a small selection of arcade games and table football. Each morning the games room became a make-shift boulangerie offering baguettes and a range of pastries that you didn't need to order. This was open from 7.30am - 9.30am. We ventured in the centre for a meal one night but there was a small restaurant near the entrance of the site. It was typical of the area and had a similar menu of pizzas, fondues and raclettes.
Our main reason for coming here was the slopes and we were not disappointed. Le Grand Bornand is a family resort and therefore has a large selection of green and blue runs, as well as some more challenging reds and blacks. MORE Keen to get started, we headed to Gerard Sport, almost as soon as we'd set up. The shop was recommended to us by the site reception and they offered a 20% to anyone staying at l'Escale. The two men working in Gerard Sports were extremely helpful and spoke English. We were soon kitted out with skiis (for the girls) and snowboards (for Tim and me). The ski passes were the next purchase - these are expensive but the daily cost decreases depending on your length of stay. We bought ours from the Tourist Office in the main square. Getting passes for 8 days meant that we were given a coupon to try Cross Country Skiing (ski nordique).
On the last day of our ski pass we opted to swap the equipment over to cross-country skiis. The girls were very pleased that they were lighter and easier to carry and that the shoes were more comfortable! We wandered over to the ski nordique area, a short walk from the site, and fixed ourselves onto the skiis, looking and acting like complete novices. We then spent the new few hours sliding through the tracks along a generally flat course. The difficult arose when there was any downhill patches; we all tumbled over in our pathetic attempts to snowplough - even Amy and Ella, who had spent the 7 previous days on skiis, struggled! There were lots of laughs though as we created our own style, opting to sledge downhill, sitting down on the back of skiis! It certainly was a tiring and rewarding day and reminded me of a comment a French man said on our first night; when I asked him if he had tried cross-country skiing during the his trip he chuckled, telling me he thought it was too much hard work!
In the last two days of our stay in le Grand Bornand, we tried out a few of the other activities that were on offer. Amy, who is a keen roller-blader, was very enthusiastic about going to the ice rink (patinoire). The girls hired skates on both days (quite cheaply) and spent a few hours improving their technique. The rink was a popular venue in the resort and had a mixture of ages and abilities. The girls (and us!) also enjoyed sledging. Where there's a snowy hill.....someone would be sledging. But they do have a couple of designated areas for it. On a few occasions we headed to these areas to have mini sledging races.
Another option was snow-shoeing. These could be hired from the local sports shops and there was a wide selection of routes around the mountains. We saw many marker posts while we up on the pistes and quite a few people were out walking. In order to access the routes higher up (where more snow is) you need to buy a pedestrian lift pass. We didn't choose to hire snow shoes this time but might at our next site...also in the Alps!
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Comments
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We have stayed at L'Escale a couple of times but only in the summer. Not sure my hips and kness are designed for snow!!! Having said that it does look lovely in the snow.
David
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Absolutely gorgeous in the snow. I would love to return and see all the green hillsides in the summer though.
Kerry
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Like this?
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I have never skied but Sharon always fancied a ski mobile ride, alas we have never done it. I really enjoyed reading this story because it was something completely unfamiliar to me and sounded a fantastic time. I am sure our adult son would have loved
it. We have camped near many ski slopes in Austria & Slovenia but they were very much like David’s photo. Regards, Roy0
