The Slack of Les 7 Laux
My foot leaves the snow and I’m sure my brain is telling me to lift it, but I can’t feel my leg at all, it’s not heavy but is as light as air, almost detached. One side of my brain tells me I’m in control, while the other side screams what I’m really thinking, which is what the bloody hell are you doing here?
On both sides is a long steep drop of many hundred meters. To get here had been fine, we’d marched up a short icy slope, roped together like a chain-gang, off for a little road maintenance. We’d then scrambled up a couple of short pitches, pulling gently on rocks frozen into the snow. My ice axe had been great up to this point, digging deep into the steep slope, even finding some great little cracks to nestle its teeth into, but now, standing upright on the corniced ridge I needed to traverse, its shaft was too short to give me any support. I simply had to stand tall and put one cramponed foot in front of the other, without any aid from my arms. At least, that’s what I knew I had to do, but try telling that to my jelly legs. Half of me wanted to crawl along the ridge, but my better half won the day and I remained upright and step after step ate up the ridge, until we reached a wide summit.
Les 7 Laux hadn’t really crossed my radar before, and when you look at a piste map it’s understandable, but dig a little deeper into its location, with the Isère region of France, and it’s near endless adjacent backcountry, not to mention a very large helping of slackcountry, and I’m not sure why no one had brought it to my attention sooner.
It’s only 38km from Grenoble (which the Isère river runs through) - France’s silicon valley and a very cool university town to boot - which means Les 7 Laux does get hit by that city’s population at the weekend, but mid-week off-season and the 120 km of pistes, which offer up some family friendly rolling terrain plus a serious black run called Noisset, and a vast acreage of super easy to access slackcountry riding, are all yours. The village itself is a single strip of 70’s purpose-built ski resort, with some cool bars and restaurants, plus numerous hire shops, while the town may not win a beauty contest I kinda dig the 70’s architectural flow.
So Les 7 Laux in many a ways, sounds like any number of small ish French ski resorts, but what sets it apart is it’s proximity to wildness. For example, as we drove in on a Tuesday evening in January, we had to stop the car for five wild boar that where snuffling along the roadside, the farmers just below the resort have recently had calves taken by wolves and to the south of the resort, and not far from the afore mentioned ridge I hiked, is valley after valley of the true alpine wilderness that is the Belledonne range.
The Belledonne is as wild as Western European mountains get, an 80 km long and 15 km wide range that isn’t crossed by a single tarmac road. It boasts 90 peaks over 2,500 m and enough lakes to keep wild swimmers happy for a lifetime.
There are many refuges in the valleys, but most are shut during the winter and even in Summer many are still just unmanned shelters for hikers. One hut which is open year-round is the Refuge du Habert d’Aiguebelle, which has around 30 beds, and cost €45 a night half board. It’s situated on a southern face at 1740M, below the Dent du Pra (2625m) and Pic de la Belle (2718m) and is just off GR 738 – a long distance trails that runs across the Belledonne range, aka the Shepherds Trail, or more recently the Haute traversée de Belledonne.
After the late afternoon scare-yourself-shitless ridge walk described earlier, accessed from the top of the Gypaete chairlift - other much more chilled ascents by skins are on offer too – we found ourselves standing atop the Cime de la Jasse, with a setting sun, we took in the fantastic view across to Monte Blanc to our north east and down the valley to Grenoble to our west. Before riding down to the Refuge du Habert d’Aiguebelle for dinner, on a sun-crusted yet fun bowl of both steep and rolling terrain. At the huts door, we were greeted by a smiling guardian with the offer of cold beers and a fondue that was so rich it probably took a few years off our lives, but tasted just great. The refuge would be a great staging point, for a few days touring, but we rode back towards Les 7 Laux, using head torches and a lot of faith, as I had a train to catch back to London in the morning.
Les 7 Laux has very easy public transport linkups with the rest of France. I took a direct train from Paris to Gernoble, taking 3 hrs. There are buses from downtown to resort, even if not as frequent as you may like, but a taxi is an affordable option too.
And while the ride down the refuge is probably a step too far for my family, or the uninitiated splitboarder, the resort does offer a very large ungroomed black route, called Vallons du Pra, with lift access, that has avalanche mitigation carried out, and is a great spot for both a young family to gain more off-piste knowledge, and a perfect spot for splitboarders to gain much need and invaluable experience.
The same valley does offer touring routes, but these are outside of the resorts’ monitored slopes, as is the descent to the Harbert Refuge.
Les 7 Laux is firmly on my radar now, I’m already planning a family Summer traverse of the Belledonne range, and will for sure be travelling to Grenoble by train next winter, with the kids in tow.
How Do I?
General Info
For more information about Isère Tourism visit www.alpes-isere.com
For more information about Les 7 Laux visit www.les7laux.com
Travel
TGV Trains from Paris around €60
Flights to Lyon or Grenoble are available, and while carbon off-setting has it’s pitfalls, one solid option to consider is becoming a member at Mossy Earth as recommended by Protect Our Winter UK. Return direct flights from London Heathrow Airport to Lyon cost from £86 with British Airways
Taxi from Grenoble to Les 7 Laux is €300 for four people. Allo Taxi Les 7 Laux +33 0674941061
Accommodation
A seven-night, self-catered stay at Les Granges des 7 Laux arriving 11 March 2023, is priced from €1,130 / £994 total for a one bed apartment sleeping up to four people. Price includes return Eurotunnel crossing for a standard car with Peak Retreats
A seven-night, self-catered stay at Les Granges des 7 Laux arriving 18 March 2023, is priced from £859 total for a one bed apartment sleeping up to four people.
Lift Pass
A one-day adult lift pass for Les 7 Laux is priced from €32.50/ £29 A full price list for lift passes can be found here.
Hire
Intersport have over 700 ski hire shops across the alps, renting award-winning skis and snowboards. Why rent in resort? Because you can save money on the airline baggage fee, have less to carry to resort, have up-to-date equipment that’s serviced every rental by qualified professionals. Swap and change your equipment as conditions demand, and get your feet accurately measured with the Boot Doctor scanning machine - guaranteed comfy, new boots. Book via www.intersportrent.com
