From the Sony Walkman to the Pistenbully 600-E; 30 years of piste-bashing history

I went out for a ski this afternoon - brilliant sunshine after 24 hours of snowfall, and a few hours on the mountain were obligatory for everyone. But although it wasn't too crowded for half-term I could see that a lot of younger and less experienced skiers were struggling  with the mix of loose bumps and scraped hard-packed bits on almost all the pistes, even relatively flat blue runs. What seems to have happened is that the snow had continued to fall even after the pistes have been damées or 'bashed' last night.

Some of the guests were wondering why they hadn't re-done the pistes during the day, and I found myself reminded of the that 1980s wonder the Sony Walkman. For those too young to remember, this was a compact, portable music cassette player with headphones, and was the fore-runner of the Discman, the  Ipod and other digital music players now largely usurped by the Smartphone.  Before this personal music device existed it was common to see, and hear,  powerful dameurs (piste bashers) at work at all times during the skiing day, even on open and crowded pistes. But soon a string of nasty, sometimes fatal accidents caused by skiiers not hearing the approaching engins because of their Sony Walkmans blasting Dire Straights and Kate Bush straight into their ear-holes was to change all this.

I remember one such tragic incident in Meribel in the early 1990s, involving an ESF instructor relaxing with his music after finishing an afternoon of teaching. The dameuse was left in position, surrounded by police tape, for several months until the judicial enquiry was completed. It also became a kind of  monument in the resort to a new and potentially dangerous phenomenon.

No longer seen....

It was therefore only a matter of time before the all the rules changed, and normally piste grooming now only takes place at night and in the early morning, while the pistes are closed to skiers. Here are at Les Arcs the dameurs work in two shifts, from 4 - 12 pm and 12pm - 6am. With the advent of nocturnal grooming, the design of the machines themselves changed and developed. It was also around this time that environmental issues rose to the top of ski resorts' agendas, so the noise, pollution and ground damage became an issue.

Various new technologies have been introduced to make the machines safer and more eco-friendly. About 10 years ago Les Arcs proudly announced that it was from then on only going to use biodegradable fuel and engine oils. GPS navigation systems started to be employed to guide the machines more accurately (they often work in pairs or even trios), so they don't wastefully go over the same bit more than once. With night usage it was important that noise was reduced, and the many powerful spot lights needed could be controlled and focussed away from nearby chalet bedroom windows. The cabs are luxurious, with sprung seats, music and communication systems, computer controlled heating and air-conditioning,  360 degree view windows and TV monitors for the rear view.

PistenBully 600e

The latest incarnation of the modern piste basher is the PistenBully 600-E, the first ever diesel-electric hybrid which, the manufactures claim, uses 20% less fuel, creates 20% less pollution (including noise) and 99% less diesel particulates. It does this by using its 12 litre Mercedes-Benz diesel engine to produce electricity to power its motors rather producing direct motive power. This means the engine can run at optimum speed (no revving up and down!) and on the down-hill sections it actually generates electricity from gravity to power its various attachments and devices. These include the 'tiller', which lays down those nice corduroy stripes on the snow for you to smudge first thing in the morning! Obviously it's an expensive item (about €250,000 euros) but the 600-E is already in use in Courchevel and Alpe d'Huez, and I doubt it will be long before Les Arcs gets it's hands on one (the ADS announced last November it was investing 150 million euros in Les Arcs over the next 10 years, so they should be able to afford a couple at least...

Karen, Jessica, Tommy and Alice getting ready for work

As a family we are fortunate to be friends with Les Arcs only female chauffeuse de dameuse, who kindly allowed my wife and children to sit in on the grooming of the Mont Blanc piste last season. It was the highlight of their year! The pictures were amazing, seeing the Deux Tetes in the setting sun...

However, although things are safer than ever on the pistes de ski, accidents to still happen although rarely. In March 2012 two children collided with a dameuse in Les Gets and were seriously injured (but survived OK). They were tobogganing on a piste after closing time, on the first day of their holiday. The driver was arrested and found to be slightly below the car driving alcohol limit, but sadly it was the parents who were to blame for allowing their children to play out-of-hours on the piste.   I've noticed at Les Arcs more visible warning signs have been erected at the foot of the pistes warning people of this danger, but don't ever allow your children to do that, parents!

You can have a go at driving a dameuse yourself at La Plagne - €60 euros for half an hour or 10 minutes for €20 euros for children.  Click here for details, but best to leave your Walkman at home....

Skiing and faith

Benediction of the skis

Today, St Agathe's day, sees a remarkable village festival taking place at Montchavin, the northern-most village of the La Plagne ski area. Even the smallest of the Tarentaise villages has a chapel, or oratoire; here in Les Granges we have a tiny baroque chapel dedicated to St Blaise, patron saint of barbers!. The annual patronal festival would be an opportunity for the hard-pressed villagers to let their hair down and enjoy some of the fruits of their arduous labours.

When winter sports started taking over from agriculture in Montchavin in the 1930s  the locals (luckily their saints' day fell in the middle of the winter season!) used the occasion to raise money from the tourists for a hardship fund for sick or injured ski instructors.  This tradition continues, and today there will be ski displays, a torch-lit descent, fireworks and of course the customary giant tartiflette. The celebrations will however be preceded by the moving 'Benediction of the Skis', given by the Abbé Petit,  with prayers for safety, courage, humility and plenty of snow!

Ski benediction at Les Avanchers

Similar Christian rituals of blessing are not  unusual in Savoie. A similar event which began in 1934 in Les Avanchers, the village from which grew the resort of Valmorel, attracted people from all over the valley. Many  priests were quite progressive in embracing the new  skiing industry as an alternative to the dying agricultural economies which their flocks were deserting for les grands villes. The 7 days-a-week nature of the new tourist activities made it difficult for those involved to attend Mass regularly. Priests had to become more flexible with the timetables and location of their services, as few of the new wave of purpose-built resorts had chapels. The Cupole building at Arc 1600 was built partly with this function in mind, and services continue to be held there every week.

A defrocked priest, L'Abbé Borrel was however on of the most bitter opponents of Les Arcs in the 1960s. He formed a vocal opposition group in Bourg St Maurice that did everything it could to undermine Blanc and Godino's plans for the new ski area. The basis of his objection was that there was no way the town could raise the money to build it and it would become and abandoned white elephant! Perhaps his motivation was also to do with his ownership of a small building within what was to become Arc 1600 (bequeathed to him a member of his congregation). It was one of the first to be compulsorily-purchased, and turned later into the base for the Les Arcs ski club (Still is today). A touch of spite perhaps on the part of Roger Godino, perhaps annoyed that Abbé Borrel's supporters tried  blow up his office in Bourg with dynamite!

Chapel of St Esprit under construction, Arc 1800

Robert Blanc himself was a committed catholic and church-goer. In 1979, shortly before his death, he told his daughter Claudie that there was still one more thing to do in Les Arcs, and that was to build a chapel. She and others have been campaigning and fund-raising (including donating the proceed of her book, Reve de Bergers, mentioned in previous blog) for several years to fullfil his wish. La Chapelle du Saint Espirit is being built by the pedestrian path between 1600 and 1800, with stunning contributions from local artists  and artisans.

From the elevated site of the new chapel there are wonderful views of the massif de Beaufortain, the Haute-Tarentaise and north to St. Bernard pass and the Italian border.  St Bernard of Menthon established a monastic order high above the valley in the 11th century to aid pilgrims heading for Rome and other travellers crossing the wild  and dangerous high-mountain plateau. The famous St Bernard dogs were trained by the saint and his monks to deliver tea (not rum or brandy!) to those lost or stranded, and to guide them back to the safety of the monastery. The last eight monks finally left about 10 years ago, and today the building is museum. St Bernard is the patron saint of skiing and snowboarding, for as bishop of Lombardia he would use skis and sledges to visit the isolated mountain communities within is diocese.

The Christian has faith provided great comfort and hope for the mountain communities of the past, under constant threat from natural elements which they could barely comprehend. Science and human progress have largely vitiated the need for simple faith, but these magnificent mountains we inhabit constantly remind me that there's another dimension to our existence which perhaps only a belief in higher things can begin to explain:

I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills,

from whence cometh my help.
My help cometh from the Lord,
who made heaven and earth.
Psalm 121

In memoriam Robert Blanc, the man who imagined Les Arcs

Robert Blanc 1933 - 1980

Exactly 34 years ago (4th February 1980) Robert Blanc was killed in an avalanche. He was an extraordinary man who led an extraordinary life and died in an extraordinary way.

Born into a  family of shepherds, Blanc and his four brothers discovered the joys of skiing in the snowy pastures above their native village of Hauteville-Gondon. During the summers they would live out on the mountains while tending their animals, moving higher as the snow melted until they reached the tiny group of chalets in the Arc valley, nowadays occupied by the Chalets des Arcs restaurant just above Arc 2000.

After military service Robert Blanc became a ski instructor at Courchevel. Seeing the success and excitement of this shiny new post-war resort, Robert began to imagine a vast ski area spread across the valleys, forests and pastures  above his home village, which which he and his brothers new so well. A chance meeting with the social entrepreneur and business guru Roger Godino (Robert taught him to ski) led to a life-long partnership between the two men, the fruit of which was Les Arcs as we know it today.

Vallée de l'Arc before Les Arcs

Robert had an  incredible passion for skiing (he was an Olympian and made many 'first ever' extreme descents all over the world). His charismatic, motivating personality coupled with Godino's astuteness, financial prowess, political contacts and love of things new, led  to their conception of a vast, integrated network of skiing infrastructure and avant-garde building construction.  They brought in a 'dream team' of architects, designers and artisans ranging from Le Corbusier's protégé Charolotte Perriand to local carpenter Bernard Taillefer.

From the start it was planned that Les Arcs would open in stages, with Arc 1600 (then called 'Arc Pierre Blanche') in 1968, followed by Arc1800 in 1974. The complex construction of Arc 2000, which was to the be 'jewel in the crown' of Les Arcs and France's 2nd highest resort opened in 1979. The final piece in the jigsaw was the opening in 1980 of the enormous 'Club Med' at Arc 2000, in the sweeping upward-curved building that imitates the wild contours of the mountains around it.

Arc 2000 today

Robert was extremely active in the new resort, as 'Director of Skiing' as well as training the Les Arcs Ski Club (nurturing the next generation of Arcadien ski instructors) and working as an international consultant in places far from Les Arcs as Chile, Argentina, China and the Soviet Union. He was a very 'hands-on' boss, aware that many of the resort first workers where his school friends, neighbours and of course, his brothers.

So it was no surprise that on the last day of his life, Robert chose to lead a team to search the road between Arc 1600 and 2000 after two Belgian girls booked into the new Club Med had failed to arrive as expected.

The weather had been appalling for weeks, a mixture of heavy snow, rain and wind. Virtually all the lifts were closed because avalanche danger. The previous night the barrier at been lowered across the road near where UCPA is today, indicating that  it was closed. However, on the morning of the fateful day  it was discovered that the barrier had been raised, and there appeared to be traces of tyre-marks in the snow.  Fearing that the Belgians might have become stuck or even avalanched,  Robert's team inched it's way along the road, eventually reaching the safety of the Belliou Fumé restuarant at Pré St Espirit without finding anything. Before heading back, Robert's brother Yvon passed round a bottle of Eau de Vie, saying "Have a drop of this, it might be the last time we drink together!".  "You can save all that for another day", replied Robert, ominously.

Robert died a few minutes later at  Les Chavonnes, a notoriously avalanche-prone spot, ironically just beyond the recently-constructed paravalanche tunnel. He was the only one in the group buried by the 'liquid concrete', and died instantly from a broken neck. Today a plaque marks the spot.  They carried his body back to Arc 1600, where one of the new studio apartments served as a 'chapel of rest'. His funeral in Hauteville-Gondon was attended by over 3000 people. The Belgian girls were found safe and comfortable in the Cachette Hotel, and it was never found out who raised the barrier on the Arc 2000 road, or why.

Blanc's death marked the 'end of the beginning' for Les Arcs, which was soon after to find itself in a dark place: financial and political crises were compounded by the natural catastrophe of  the La Ravoire landslide in 1981, resulting in the virtual bankruptcy of the resort which could have lead to its abandonment. However perhaps it was the inspiration of Robert Blanc, his vision and determination that has continued to drive Les Arcs to new heights. I'm sure he would be proud of today's Paradiski and all that has been achieved here in the last 34 years.

I'm indebted  to Robert's daughter Claudie's book 'Reve de Bergers'. It's wonderful and encyclopedic  portrait of Robert Blanc, his brothers and the history of Les Arcs (in French, but I've started translating it).

RN90 Project - road to nowhere?

Whether you make your way to Les Arcs by road or rail you will probably notice a great deal of heavy construction work going on just after Moutiers, as the RN 90 and the railway beside it begin their tortuous ascent through the narrowing Isère gorges to Aime, Bourg and eventually Val d'Isère at the head of the Haute Tarentaise valley. A reader emailed me to ask me if I knew what was going on there, so here goes:

Image of the new road, note old road on the right

The 46 million euro scheme is called the Deviation de la RN90 á Montgalgan, and involves diverting the road to the other side of the  Isère river, below the site of the now disused Loyettaz Quarry, over a distance of 1.75km. A second viaduct will take it back to its original trace at St Marcel, just before the Tunnel de Siaix. It's a massive project that's going to take 4 years to complete. The end result will be a four-lane dual-carriageway and the widening of the bed of the Isère river to 18m (now 12m) by scrapping part of the 'old' road.  The old quarry, which really is a scar on the landscape, will be 'naturalised' and re-planted with indigenous forest trees that were destroyed in 1898 with the rush for industrialisation in the Tarentaise valley.   Rubbish and pollutants will be removed from the bed of the Isère to encourage it back to its natural state, and by making it wider possible future flooding will be avoided (remember global warming?).

JCB buried by falling rocks in April 2013

All this ecological virtue is fine, but it's hardly the main reason for undertaking such a huge scheme. What's really behind it are increasing problems of rock falls and landslides onto the road from the geologically-unstable Montgalgan cliff, visible in the top right of the picture above. At the start of the project there was a huge eboulement that effectively buried a large JCB excavator, thankfully without any casualties. Anyone who uses the RN90 as regularly as I do will be used to seeing piles of rock at the side of the road, and while stuck in the  frequent Saturday traffic jams find plenty of time to admire the complex spider-web of netting, ropes and fences erected over the years to protect the railway and road.

Viaduct de Centron during construction in 2005

The RN90 carries up to 45,000 vehicles on a typical busy Saturday during the winter school holidays Many of the world's most famous and popular ski resorts are served by this road, and apart from the railway there's no other way into the valley.  In 2005 a similar project was undertaken at Centron, a few kilometres up the valley, with the construction of the imposing viaduct at the end the other end of Siaix Tunnel sweeping the RN90 to the right bank for exactly the same reasons as the Montgalgan project.

The new road is going to give a better view of the rambling 'Metaux Speciaux' works at St Marcel, where chlorine, vandium and various nasty-sounding 'alkaline metals' are made for the nuclear power industry. The plant takes full advantage of the adjacent railway line, dispatching its products in huge rail-tankers during the passenger-free hours of the night. Many of these large industrial complexes were established in the early 20th Century in order to take advantage of the possibilities of hydro-electric power.to produce the huge amount of energy required to turn rocks into gas. Metaux Speciaux managed to produce so much electricity from its own hydro-power plants that for a time the excess was used the power the Lyon city trams!

But is the Deviation de la RN90 á Montgalgan all a huge waste of time and money? Certainly the environmental pressure group Vivre en Tarentaise think so.  From the congested 2-lane giratory system around Moutiers one will be able to speed toward the inevitable traffic jam that will occur when the wonderful new stretch of road funnels into one lane in the Tunnel de Saix, before joining the next embouteillage as the two lanes of the Centron viaduct converge at the tricky corner above the narrow Gorge de Centron. And then it's solid all the way to Bourg St Maurice and beyond....

Vivre en Tarentaise raises the question again of why not spend this money on the railway instead? The official answer is the the hundred-year old railway is already 'saturated' at peak times, with  no more space for any more trains. Most of it is single track and in tunnels.  Deep inside the mountain adjacent the Montgalgan scheme is the extraordinary  railway 'boucle', a long spiral tunnel by which the line rises from 480 à 520 m over a short distance. Like the deviation, it took 4 years to build in 1913.  

Boris enjoying the London cable car

Perhaps engineers and politicians today should try and emulate the ingenuity and determination of those earlier road and rail builders - if expanding the road or railway isn't going provide a solution to the problem of access why not look for a more radical solution? 60 years ago a massive telepherique was built to ferry concrete from railway trucks arriving at Bourg St Maurice station 23km up the valley to site of the Tignes hydro-electric dam at the Lac de Chevril (you can still see the footing of one of the pylons by the allotments in the park next to the funicular). Cable transport is taking off round the world as a cheap, safe way of moving people - there's even now a cable car across the Thames in London. So why not a huge cable car system with stops at all the main resorts/towns from Moutiers to Val D'Isere to transport people and their luggage silently up the valley. Just think of the view and how much CO2 could be saved.... something to dream about while stuck in those inevitable traffic jams of the future.

More information (in french): www.rn90montgalgan.fr

Smoking boars, hunting lodges and graffiti - new places to eat on the mountain

With things finally settling down snow-wise both on the mountain (a good few centimetres last night and more on the way) and in the chalets (staff problems resolved, I hope!)  I hope I can get back to some regular blog writing again.

Les Arcs has been criticised in the past for its lack of mountain restaurants. It is certainly true that in comparison to La Plagne they are rather few and far between, with only a handful actually located 'on the piste' rather than awkwardly placed within the resorts. So it's good news that two new establishments have spring up this season, plus the long awaited opening of the new Aguille Grive restaurant and hotel at Arc 1800 (it never managed to open last season because of problems with the EDF over the electricity supply, apparently).

Chalet Grillette interior

The Chalet Grillette  is also above 1800, beside the Grand Melezes piste and right under the Transarc lift.  It's a reasonably attractive stone-and-wood chalet-style building, but it's a  shame however it doesn't reflect the Arcadien  architectural radicalism that is gleefully demonstrated in the new Aguille Grive constructions.  The inside is more interesting, with graffiti-style murals by the local artist Pierre Grellon, who describes himself as a 'self-taught tagger'. Grellon's art-deco style alpine depictions have also been used  for Paradiski publicity and he also did the mural inside the tunnel leading to the Snow Park. More on the food when I've found a guest to take me there for lunch!

Le sanglier qui fume

Local skills and metiers are also much in evidence at Le Sanglier qui Fume (The Smoking Boar) at Arc 1600, just below the Chalet Beguin and under the Mont Blanc lift (access from Cachette or Mont Blanc piste). The restaurant has been built by a local firm, Charpentier Bute, using traditional techniques and materials. The menu looks really interesting, featuring of course boar sausages as well as home-made foie gras and a 'smoking boar burger'. Again, I can't wait to try it once I've saved up (cheapest thing on the menu is about €15 euros). The whole place has a bit of an unfinished look about it (there's not even a proper sign yet), but the huge south facing balcony ought to become a popular place to watch the sun descend below Le Cheval Blanc.

The Hotel Beguin in about 1965, with the old Biollet drag lift

The newest restaurant at Arc 1600 is located a few metres down hill from the oldest, the Chalet Beguin, one of the few facilities pre-dating Les Arcs that is still going. It was once a small hunting-lodge, owned by the Montrigon-based Beguin family for generations. When the first lifts were constructed  to form the 'Courbaton 1750' ski area in 1961 (see previous blogs about this) Louis Beguin constructed a small drag lift himself, called Le Biollet, and refurbished the hunting lodge to provide 'shelter and nourishment' for skiers.  As one of only three eating place within the Courbaton 1750 area it quickly became successful, and in 1965 Beguin further enlarged the establishment to create a  30 bed hotel, bar and restaurant.

The Les Arcs revolution was then beginning, but Beguin was a skeptic, believing, along with others, that the development of Courbaton 1750 would be a better plan than Blanc and Godino's radical scheme for Les Arcs. Perhaps because he was an influential municipal councillor  he managed to avoid compulsory purchase (almost every existing building within the new Arcs domain was bought out, sometimes forcibly, in line with the Godino's 'total ski' management concept). With the success of the ski area and his hotel-restaurant Beguin was able to quit his hated job as an engineer and became a full-time hotelier. The Chalet Beguin still has the feel of a hunting lodge, and the 1960s about it: it's also a nice place to step back in time, sit and watch the sunset.

Bending bananas

Coming back to Les Arcs/Bourg St Maurice each year for the winter season always provokes a few emotions: this year it's a mixture of the normal excitement for another winter on this magic mountain (especially now the snow's coming down in serious amounts), and  bit of deja vu touched with a hint of disappointment.

With both chalets filling up this weekend I will have to get ready to answer all those questions the beloved guests always pose: 'How long have you been doing this?', 'What did you do before?' etc. and of course 'What do you do in the Summer?'. Not that I mind answering any of these questions: they can lead to a good conversation and be a way to find out a bit about the guests doing the asking. But it can get a bit tiring sometimes, and some rather cheeky ski instructors of my acquaintance always reply to that last one ' we bend ze bananas'. The guests, not wanting to appear rude suspend disbelief.... 'we bend zem for the European Community so zey have the right amount of bend'. Well I suppose someone has to do it!

The fabulous Cinema Festival  Festival de Cinéma Européen des Arcs film festival is in full swing, featuring many interesting looking films from the countries formerly making up Yugoslavia. It good to see Bourg included as a venue for some of the screenings, at Le Savoy Cinema and the enterprising Super U Culture media shop. Travel between these two venues and you will pass the sad, unfinished multi-screen cinema project at the new  Coeur d'Or complex. Arguments between the lesees Cine-Alpes and the town council have been raging all year, and finally they've agreed to part company.  So back to square one for another of the towns flagship projects, null points to Mde Poletti (the mayor).

The new cinema, still dark

In fact Mde Poletti exudes more than hint of depression in the Petit Borain town magazine: describing last spring as sad and morose in the wake of the cancellation of the CNSHN project and the consequent collapse the Quartier Bulle redevelopment project (the town's two big projects for the future), she fears for Bourg but promises everyday her 'devotion to duty and to work without ceasing for the benefit of the town'. Hollow words, I fear.

To make up for all this doom and gloom the she and the town council have managed to bring off one highly unpopular developments: introducing charging for the Funicular car-park ( at least €3 a day, and no overnight parking).

How it might look once the locals have had their way!

Some readers might remember this happened also happened about 5 years ago, when local distaste for such a stupid idea lead the the various barriers and gates being damaged, removed or destroyed within a few days. They council gave up, but this time they are back with a vengeance!  There's a even a hut for an employee to sit in, presumably to deter night-time expressions of civil distaste.

It may make a few thousand euros for the town, but only in retrospect does anyone seem to be thinking of the disruption that will be caused by parking sauvage (wild parking). Here at Les Granges I expect the small carpark to be regularly overcrowded and gridlocked by those understandably wanting to avoid paying out. How much more noise, green-house gas emissions and visual pollution is justified by this mercenary pettiness?

Craning in the twin towers

I was also hoping to see a nice  new, bright buildings and the footbridge at the foot of the Funiculaire, but instead there's a small building site and not much else. Apparently the long-awaited refurbishment of the first thing most people see when they arrive here in the way to Les Arcs will not be completed until the end of January. A large crane has been lifting two steel towers into place to provide new lift access to the footbridge, but that's about all that has visibly changed.   One wonders why they waited until the middle of winter to do a job which surely would have been easier in good weather, as well as being ready for the start of the season. Perhaps they've been too busy bending those bananas all summer!

Bonne Saison to all my readers!

New website, new chalet

The new Ski Adventures website is up and running at www.skiadventures.co.uk. It replaces my home-made effort, which has served us very well for the last 10 years.

David Eighteen who designed it and got it organised has really got across what it's like to 'be there', and to 'eat, sleep and ski' at our chalets in Les Arcs. Perhaps because David has stayed with us a couple of times he really understands our product, and as a marketing professional he knew how to convey the right feeling.... and many thanks also to Jenny and Angus (my staff last season) for the many excellent photos, and Dave's industrious technical colleague Colin Monday.

When you look at the website you'll see that we have another chalet for next season, L'Aguille Grive at Courbaton, ski in/out location between Arc 1600 and Les Granges. Have a look on the new website to find about it.

Meanwhile here's  a great video, it'll make you look forward to winter in Les Arcs even more!