The inaugural La Norma Splitfest' // 13-15 Jan 2023
This January saw the launch of the first La Norma Splitfest’. Pete and Andy from the Backdrop crew went along to check it out - in a part of the French Alps that we weren’t familiar with.
We discovered an intimate, super non-corporate, hugely friendly, quirky french-feel gathering of passionate splitboarders, interested newbies, makers, organisers and (believe it or not) professional assosciation types, helping to make this new festival of splitting a promising start for what we hope is many more editions to come.
There was touring, avi rescue practice, gear testing, loads of chat and laughs, the eating of way too many cheese-based dishes - and there was even snow, it having dumped heavily just days before, after a slow start in the Alps.
Our first time in the in the Maurienne valley, and we got a taster of the special vibe that exists in this quieter and wilder part of the Vanoise National park, a huge area which most - Brits at least - might only know for having the big ol’ resorts like the Three Valleys, Val D’Isere & Tigne around around it’s western, northern and eastern flanks. But there’s way more to it than that - just look to the south…
La Norma - yep, tha't’s it - tiny!
Any fule knows you can get TGVs from Paris to the famous transfer towns of Moutiers and Bourg St-Maurice, and from them access a host of super well-known resorts circling the Vanoise National Park on it’s west, north and east sides, resorts like Courcheval, Val Thorens, Merribel, Les Menuire, Val d’sere, Tignes, Les Arcs. These are fantastic resorts, with amazing terrain and facilities, but they also attract a lot of sliders, and the competition for fresh lines after a snowfall can be intense - you snooze, you lose.
It’s not so well known that you can also get a TGV from Paris to the town of Modane, on the southern flank of the Vanoise, near the Italian border, and from there access the so much quieter resorts of the Haute Maurienne Valley, while not giving up anything in terms of juicy free-ride terrain.
You can fly to the usual sort of Alps-access airports too, or even into Turin in Italy, say, as that’s almost as close as Grenoble, Chambery, Albertville etc. But we took the train all the way from the the UK, as we are trying hard, even though it’s not a wallet-friendly, to cut out flying for at least our european ski trips.
La Norma is one of these Haute Maurienne Valley resorts - just 20 mins up the road from Modane.
The area and how the Splitfest’ came to be
The idea for this splitfest’ was cooked up by Fred Buttard, lead guide of the local outfit Upguides and mad-keen splitboarder, aided and abetted by good friend, Mats Drougge, founder and chief shaper of Stranda Snowboards, both of whom Andy had met in Swedish Lapland in March of 2022, on a Stranda Backcountry hut trip. That’s how we discovered, and got excited about, this fest’ - you can check out the two super-interesting podcasts we did from there here, and here.
Upguides’ home base is the Haute Maurienne Valley, which contains a string of small resorts (by Three Valleys standards) like pearls on a 40km long necklace, stretching from Modane to Bonneval-sur-Arc.
La Norma is one of the smaller ski stations in that chain. Small, but as it turns out, perfectly-formed - the town is tiny, and super compact, sitting at about 1400m. It’s north-facing slopes only have a handful of lifts, but the top one goes up to a very useful 2750m, and the area has a width about it that contains some fantastic slack-country between the lifts. It’s also linked with the ValFréjus resort immediately to the west.
Fred, and his fellow Upguides guides - who much prefer their guiding and riding to be on a snowboard, than skis - wanted the new splitfest’ to showcase this local hill, as well as provide an opportunity for anyone who loves splitboarding as much as they do, to get together and forge a stronger community. Anne, Jerome and Laurent from the local tourist office then made it happen. Et voilà!
The Shapers, makers and movers
Stranda - Mats Drougge was there, as fest’ co-conspirator, showing off his full range of surf- and carving-inspired boards to test. He even gave away one of his new stonkingly light, award-winning, high-alpine touring splits, a Descender Fjäderlätt . Don’t miss out on a chance like this next year…
Plum - Show-cased both their cutting-edge and bomber French splitboard binding tech - for soft- and hard-boots , as well as their own beautiful splitboards, all to try out. Tal, from Plum, also had Key-equipment hardboots to test out.
Phenix - A french artisan maker of beautifully-designed 4-part (you read that right) splitboards. By sticking 2 of the parts in your backpack, you get much skinnier skis for touring, with all the edge-hold luxury and lower leg swing weight you’d want, and a board that when assembled kind of torques itself together when being ridden and flexed so that it rides more like a solid.
Ame - Based in legendary La Grave, Ame offer big mountain and all-moutain free-ride boards suited to that stupendous mountain. We tried out one of their Highsolator 170s and can tell you it’s an epic big-mountain stormer. Ame offer their boards with and without Floorboard Technology - to make your board ride more like a solid. We’ve ridden a Furberg Freeride split 170 with this technology and it does what it says on the tin.
Gara snowboards - This Czech outfit have been making splits since way back in the day. They cater for both lighter and smaller riders, plus the more usual range of sizes. The Upguides crew were really impressed with how these boards rode.
Mountain Cleats- Austria-based Leo Costello was there with his Skeats™ Claws ski crampons- check out our review of these puppies - they rock, and have become part of our standard touring kit - small, light, easy to fit on the move to any ski.
A shout out to Splitboard France too, a new organisation wanting to promote, defend and build a friendly community in France around splitboarding, and add a bit of co-ordination to something that must be a bit like herding cats…
Really, there was too much gear to test in the time we had available - We’ve already suggested that next year the fest’ be a day longer!
Action stations
As well as being able to take the test gear up the hill to try out, the organisers had set up some guided activities as well -
Touring - The Saturday and Sunday mornings both started with a tour - up the 3 main lifts to 2750m, then ski across and into the big bowl on the immediate SW of the resort, and a couple of hours tour up to the Col de la Belle Plinier at 3000m for some panoramic mountain views. It’s an easy to access itinerary with a wide range of descent options, riding straight back into the resort at the end. Great for newbies to try splitting for the first time, and for trying out the kit you’re testing for the day.
Avi rescue training - Both afternoons included a practice transceiver recovery. The guys from Upguides are super knowledgeable and shared some insights that - for me anyway - really helped clear up some aspects of multi-person burial that had had me scratching my head for ages. Tip number 1: Don’t let more than one person get buried! The complexity-level sky-rockets when more than one person is under the snow… Really recommended.
There you have it - we had a ton of fun, met some super interesting folk, and reckon it would be top call to put on your radar for next year. We’re certainly hoping to go back!
Stay tuned for an article soon about ski-touring in general, in the Haute Maurienne Valley.
How do I
Getting there - Loads of options: We took the train from Paris to Modane, but you could come from Italy via Turin.
You can also get into the Haute Maurienne Valley from Val Thorens - by lift! It drops you at Orelle, via the 3 Valleys Express cable car.
Or fly to the usual set of Alps-access airports and get the train to Modane
Once at Modane, you can the S53 bus up to the other resorts - it’s not super regular this year (winter 2022/2023), what with fuel costs and some other politics going on, but is hoping to be back to normal next year.
Lift passes & accomodation - A 1-day adult lift pass is €38.80, or a weekend €62.90 - that covers both La Norma and ValFréjus. La Norma offered accomdation+lift pass packages for the fest’ this year - keep an eye out for the same next year.