La Plagne Snow Forecast

Seankata from United Kingdom writes:

In La Plagne at the moment. The snow is still good although some slopes are a little icy. Contrary to reports on many sites the temperature is still low but not the minus 1's and 2's generally reported and we've seen a marked thaw since our arrival last Saturday. We're staying at Laux Apartments in Plagne 1800 and although the nightlife is almost non existent it is the prettiest of the Plagne resorts and we have our own heated pool which is fun and I would recommend these apartments for self catering although they are a bit on the snug side for 4 people (there are 3 of us).

Generally, the centres themselves are eyesores unless you have a thing for 70's concrete but the skiing area is both high and vast with plenty of virtually empty runs. The quality of the pistes are almost always excellent with the majority of blues and reds regularly bashed. Lifts have to be amongst the most comfortable and reliable I have come across and the majority have no queues at all. Signage is good and making your way around the whole resort is relatively straightforward without the need to fall back on a map. Incidentally, we have found the piste map occaisionally misleading but it must be hard to get such a big ski area all on one page.

La Plagne is obviosly a well run and popular resort for families with little in the way of apres-ski and what places there are seem uniformally family friendly. We travelled here via Crystal Ski and have been pleased with our holiday as we have a 5 year old and she can, with minimal effort, get around just about the whole area via the wide and gentle blue run network. The ski school has been faultless and the daycare excellent.

What La Plagne is not is a good resort for anyone more advanced with their skiing than an average to competent beginner. What few reds there are are either short, icy or unpisted and the few blacks do not seem to be graded as black on anything other than the fact they are horribly lumpy rather than steep. With the one exception of the Kamikazee run (and its offshoots) at the top of the Grande Rochette there really isn't a red run worth the name and we have found the blues just a little bit boring often just standing up or shooshing from one hill to the next. For families looking to learn to ski or improve their technique on easy runs La Plagne cannot be beaten but anyone looking for a greater challenge probably needs to look elsewhere.