There’s nothing like scrambling along a jagged granite ridge resplendent in reddish-brown and lime-green lichen, when it should be covered in snow, to remind you that the climate crisis is in full swing. My guide, Maxant Danilo, and I are at an altitude of more than 2,500 meters in the Hautes-Alpes, but even though it is late January, conditions on southern slopes like this one are more like late spring. Our snowboards are strapped to our backpacks instead of our feet.
Danilo, who works for a guiding collective in nearby La Grave, tells me the resort has had one of the strongest starts to the winter season in recent years, with lots of snow and low temperatures from November to mid-January. The problem is that the consistent mild weather has since melted much of the snow cover.
Still, he isn’t too worried. “You can always find snow when you tour La Grave, no matter how unpredictable the conditions are,” he says. And to be honest, other than that rocky crosscut on the ridge, we did just that. Using splitboards – snowboards that are split in two and act as touring skis so you can hike uphill – we climbed about 750 meters this morning, mostly on soft snow, with a patch of ice here and there, for which we strapped crampons to our shoes had to be tied. split boards.
The route, called the Col de Côte Plaine, is relatively uncrowded, making it a great introduction to touring for skilled skiers or snowboarders. Danilo says he often brings starters here. From the undulating valley we ascend to our picnic spot at the top, where we sit with views of the Écrins massif and the dramatic La Meije mountain. The views are extraordinary, with nothing but nature visible to the eye apart from the odd solar-powered weather station.
The only people we encounter are a group of enthusiastic ski instructors planning to ride down a steep couloir on their day off. After a relaxing lunch in the sun, snowboarding is great fun. We continue as long as possible, dodging patches of grass until the thawed terrain takes over and we have to walk the last part to the road, where Danilo hitchhikes back to pick up his car where we left it in the morning.
If we had had binoculars at our lunch spot, to the right of La Meije, we might have caught a glimpse of the La Grave cable car, a Pantone swatch in sunny orange, yellow and red, which Danilo and I boarded the next morning to go. I’m nervous, even though I’ve been snowboarding for 20 years, because La Grave has a formidable reputation as a hardcore ski resort. Except it’s not really a ski resort because it has no slopes, maintained trails or safety markings, aside from a raggedy orange flag meant to warn that there are cliffs below.
But Danilo assures me that La Grave – which at 3,550 meters offers some of the highest terrain in the Alps, with a north-facing exposure that means the snow lasts longer – doesn’t have to be dangerous if you hire a guide on your trek . first visit so you can see the safe routes down. However, he recognizes that you need to be comfortable on black runs in a variety of conditions and have some off-piste experience.
The atmosphere in La Grave feels rebellious and old-fashioned and reflects an atmosphere that I recognize from the ski areas of twenty years ago
About twenty minutes into our ride up from the village, the old elevator comes to an abrupt stop. Danilo looks serenely out the window and tells me that it is one of the many charms of the resort, which offers skiers and snowboarders the chance to enjoy up close the sight of La Meije mountain, whose dark gray rocks contrast with the snow-capped glaciers surrounding it.
In a typical modern ski area, super-fast lifts whiz thousands of skiers over an extensive network of slopes. A trip to La Grave is about reframing the mountain experience and embracing a slower approach – taking the time to appreciate these majestic yet fragile landscapes. We will do a total of three runs throughout the day, albeit long and epic ones, with Danilo finding lovely soft snow for us to ride. We don’t see more than a handful of people. On busy days there might be 700 people on the mountain – a fraction of the number that visit most ski resorts – but because everyone disperses quickly, even those busy days feel calm.
La Grave has a low ecological footprint, thanks to the lack of groomed slopes and snow cannons. However, the future of the upper part of the resort, much of which is occupied by the Girose Glacier, is more controversial. An energy-intensive pan lift is supposed to take skiers and snowboarders to the top, but because the glacier is retreating, it can only travel part of the way. Instead, visitors must use a tow rope pulled by a piste basher for the first part and then, after the pancake lift, hike to the top.
Lift company Aeon, which also owns the nearby Alpe d’Huez and Les Deux Alpes, wants to replace the pancake lift with a cable car, allowing more people to visit the glacier and enjoy the panoramic views stretching as far as Mont Blanc . But many locals are against the plan and want the glacier returned to its natural state, with access to the summit limited to those willing to hike uphill for at least 40 minutes.
On the terrace of La Grave’s Hotel Castillan, opposite La Meije and a popular après-ski spot for guides, I meet Erin Smart. Originally from Seattle, she has been coming to La Grave since 2004, having fallen in love with the ‘wild rawness’ of the place, and has been working here as a guide since 2016.
Many fear that the elevator company would target a higher-end customer base if the cable car were built
Smart is against the idea of the cable car and believes the area should be reserved for low-impact ski touring. “I don’t think they’re looking at the bigger picture of the climate crisis,” she says, pointing to the loss of ice depth and volume on the glaciers above us, a process she says has accelerated exponentially in recent years and will continue to accelerate . keep doing this. “New lift infrastructure would affect people’s enjoyment of that upper glacier, a unique environment that we must protect at all costs,” she says. She adds that if the summit were limited to touring, the powder there would last longer – powder is the fresh snow that skiers and snowboarders come to La Grave specifically for.
But when I talk to a hotelier who has lived in La Grave for 46 years, since his hotel and lift first opened to skiers, he tells me he supports the new plan. “If you run a company, you cannot be against these developments,” he says. The issue has divided the village and surrounding hamlets, some of which date back to the 12th century.
There are no luxury hotels, no Folie Douce (the après-ski party chain with branches in eight Alpine resorts) and few shops besides equipment rental companies, a bakery and a fromagerie. Plus, the prices are incredibly reasonable. Many fear that this would change if the cable car were built, and that the lift company would target a higher-end clientele. They believe this would threaten not only La Grave’s identity, but also its affordability for locals and visitors.
At Gite le Rocher hostel (dormitory beds from €60 half board; breakfast and dinner were hearty and excellent), the walls are decorated with vintage snowboards, ’80s music posters, giant Lego Pokémon builds and stickers encouraging guests to bid to boycott the Winter Olympics in the region.
The atmosphere there and across La Grave feels rebellious and old-fashioned, reflecting an atmosphere I recognize from ski resorts of twenty years ago, but have rarely seen since. And as snow in the Alps becomes less reliable and skiing becomes more exclusive, this rootsy enclave, focused on back-to-nature skiing, snowboarding and touring, led by a passionate local guiding community, feels more important than ever.
This trip was planned from La Grave Tourisme met train journeys from Brighton to Grenoble via Trainline. One day with a guide in La Grave costs from €106or €141 including ski pass. Gite Le Rocher offers half board from €58.90pp. Sam Haddad is the author of online newsletter Climate and board sports