Skiing, yes, but this time something a bit different. Time for another week of Cross-country skiing. Skinny skis and lots of exercise. It’s like skiing downhill, but a lot more hard work (yes, even more hard work than Telemarking, and that’s saying something). We’ve been cross-country skiing before, in fact, I’ll tell you a little about that some other time, but for this trip we booked with Tracks and Trails who offer cross-country ski coaching and guiding in the winter as well as walking and running holidays in the summer across the Alps. We flew out from Inverness to Geneva via Heathrow and then took the Aravis Shuttle which is a standard bus journey at a reasonable price of €40 per person each way. It drops you at the bus station in Le Grand Bornand and we then walked to our hotel from there, the Hotel L’Ecureil, which took about 10 minutes. 

We arrived at the hotel to find the rest of our group already there and eating dinner in the restaurant. It didn’t take us long to deposit our bags in our room and join them and introduce ourselves. Our group consisted of us, sisters Katie and Peggy from the USA, friends Paul and Ian, Helen plus our instructor Tania. Tracks and Trails cross-country ski holidays attract a certain demographic: we were all retired or nearly retired and enjoying keeping active. We fitted right in. 

On Day 1, we took the local bus to the Site Nordique des Confins. It is very easy getting around by local bus. On most occasions we had to change buses in La Clusaz, but the routes are well signed and easy to find. The Nordic area Les Confins is not that big but quite interesting. There are some nice blue routes with some undulations. Tania had us all doing some drills to assess and improve our skills. There was one hill that seemed incredibly steep the first time we did it, but with a bit of coaching, we all became more confident and proficient at keeping the skis running in the tracks. 

Day 2, we headed to Site Nordique Beauregard. Another beautiful spot. Once again, we took local buses to get there and back, so all very easy. This ski area is accessed via a long climb. We took it steady and more or less walked up the track this first visit. From there we did a series of loops on green and blue tracks before heading onto a more challenging section where Tania took a look at our climbing technique and offered tips for improvement. Getting into a rhythm that you can sustain seems to be the key to it all, and before long we were all jogging along quite happily uphill, singing along to ‘We’re all going on a summer holiday’ which has just the right rhythm for uphill skiing apparently. Of course, what goes up must come down, so we next had to work on our downhill technique. There’s quite an art to keeping the outside ski in the track while taking the inside ski out to press into a gentle snowplough to slow you down. I could have done with some of this technique on a couple of our previous trips. One infamous descent in Norway springs to mind where Nick apparently heard a lot of swear words as I hurtled downhill totally out of control with my outside ski flapping around trying to get purchase with a half snow-plough. 

Day 3 was another area. This time we had to get a private taxi up to the Plateau des Glieres around a 45 minute journey up a winding, mountain road. Not for the faint hearted, particularly in zero visibility and turn after turn of hairpin bends. Once up there we were greeted by a bank of freezing fog so it was layers on, mitts on, bobble hats on before we set off on our first loop. This area has some beautiful tracks winding round the plateau and there’s a majestic monument to the French Resistance in the middle. As it is up on the plateau the tracks themselves are not too hilly which was a pleasant relief after the previous day. 

Day 4 was a welcome change from travelling to pistes elsewhere as we skied the Grand Bornand area. From the village you follow the tracks up the valley, so it is a gentle climb all the way along, mostly in the shade so the tracks were in good condition. After a good while we arrived at Les Plans where there was an option to stop for a rest and a coffee or carry on to Lormay. The group split about half and half. You guessed right if you thought that we were the ones who opted for coffee! Once the others joined us after their extra exertions, we put our skis back on for a gentle glide back down to Le Grand Bornand. The afternoon session was exciting as we had a go at biathlon, skating loops and then target shooting. I thought the most difficult part would be getting down in to the prone position with our skis on, but that was surprisingly easy. No, the most difficult part was feeding the pellets into the gun with cold hands. Targets fall when hit, carry on.

Day 5 we didn’t have far to travel as we started again from Le Grand Bornand. We set off up the valley as we had the day before, but instead of continuing towards Les Plans, we took the steep black slope that climbs up to Le Danay. We all optimistically started off on our skis jogging along in the track as we’d been shown. By the first corner, I think we had all jumped out of the track and were zig-zagging up the slope. Some of us lasted longer than others but we were all soon doing the herring bone climb. Before long, most of us had given up and had taken our skis off and were walking up, using the skis and poles as crutches. Eventually, I gave in and just put my skis on my back-pack. By the end, our instructor Tania was the only one who still had her skis attached to her feet. It was a long, steady climb and far steeper than I thought we could have tackled only a few days earlier. As it was, it was a pretty good climb for a hike. We did, in the end, make it over Le Danay and could see the tracks of Les Confins stretching out in front of us. We were all much more confident on the downhill now after the benefit of a few days of coaching and we spent a glorious afternoon in the sunshine enjoying the speed of the descents on this side of the mountain. 

Day 6. Our last day. We had a choice of where to go and voted for a return to the Beauregard area. The hills seemed much more manageable and we were also getting more confident on the downhills. A little bit over-confident at times as there were a few crashes which were probably as much to do with tired legs after the exertions of the day before. 

So, that was the end of our week of Nordic skiing. Interspersed with the skiing, the Hotel L’Ecureil served delicious 4-course evening meals and a good, hearty breakfast. There are several bars and restaurants in Le Grand Bornand and a favourite of the group this week was Le Flying Pig for apres-ski beers and Aperol spritz. 

Overall, I really enjoyed the week. Tracks and Trails are not the cheapest, but the week is well structured, the choice of hotel was very comfortable, our guide Tania curated a great mix of different locations and different activities or techniques each day. It was really good fun meeting and skiing with other like-minded folk. We’d definitely take another trip like this.

Travel details were as follows:

Flights Inverness to Geneva £363.98 (for two)

Transfers to Le Grand Bornand £144.62 (two adults, return)

Tracks and Trails package for 2 adults £3,790

Ski Hire £127.01 (2 sets of classic cross-country skis and poles)

Ski pass £86.85 (2 adults)

Travelled January 2023

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