Refuge Plan du Lac, Haute Maurienne
“Mushrooms are not mountain food!” Fred, our guide for the trip, shakes his head when he sees we’ve bought mushrooms. “There’s no energy in them, they’re nothing, just weight and space!” Funny how he didn’t say the same about the heavy box of wine in our trolly.
I voted for garlic and Crème fraîche, but I’m vetoed and the Backdrop splitboard workshop attendees buy a big lump of Boursin to add to the KG’s of pasta we plan to have for dinner. A decision that still haunts me as I’m obviously a food snob.
There’s something exciting about shopping for an overnight in the high alpine. It’s so much more fun than a normal shop, as everyone knows food tastes so much better when you’ve carried it up a mountain and you’re tired after a long day in the skin track.
The van skidded on ice, and before I know it we’re sliding backwards before the weight of the engine spins us 90 degrees to the left and my new four season tyres finally grip the tarmac and bring us to a safe stop.
“I guess we’re parking here then.” As the forest road ahead was covered in ice and snow. It meant for a longer hike in but at least the vans little skid hadn’t caused any damage, well, other than to my pride and my faith in the new tyres.
Loading the boards onto our back, we set off uphill, quickly joining a summer hiking trail that zigzags its way through the forest. Thankfully we soon reach a wide, snow-covered summer road and put on our boards, it’s a great relief as our bags are heavy with food, overnight gear and all the normal splitboarding paraphernalia.
We were three days into the Backdrop Journal Splitboard Workshop, run by Fred from UpGuides, and the workshop crew were now all comfortable with splitboarding techniques and each others company, so, in relaxed mood the conversation quickly started to flow and the sky even cleared after a gloomy start.
We chilled at the road side with a wonderful view down to Val Cenis and along the Maurienne Valley before the skin track started to steepen, but we notice a large fish eye shaped hole in the snow, a telltale sign of the start of a glide avalanche. Fred explained its cause and shared the helpful phrase, ‘Low probability, high consequence!’ so we stayed well clear and picked a much more conservative route, with some valuable knowledge stored by all.
In late afternoon sunshine we reach the Plan du Lac hut, with the stunning view towards the backside of the Grande Motte ridge line.
There was a chill in the hut soon dispelled by the fire we started, on which we melted snow for drinking water, and with nothing left to do but cook dinner and drink a glass of wine or two, that Harvey, the youngest member of the crew, had diligently carried up to the hut with no complaints from Fred, we persuaded the one Italian in the group to cook the pasta on two large gas rings, he obviously did a great job. We all refueled on carbs, and a few mushrooms, and had a great evening discussing past and future snowboard trips and what we’d learnt from the day.
Mid Station
In the morning we set off, after porridge with honey and some very strong coffee, for Pointe de Lanserlia, a high alpine peak with some very rideable slopes. A couple of the workshop crew lead the way, not quite as good at route finding as Fred, but if we don’t take our turn leading we’ll never learn.
Reaching the summit without incident, other than a broken pole, we transition our boards back into ride mode and are soon slashing some spring snow turns, which are almost as much fun as powder, almost.
We stop for some avalanche transceiver training once the terrain shallows out before zipping down the snow covered road back to the van and, a short drive later, we were kicking back at a pizza restaurant after a quick shower.
How do I?
For more information on our 2025 Splitboard Workshop
Price
The 2025 Splitboard Workshop costs €1350, for a weeks accommodation and five days of guiding/evening briefs, with a free day on Wednesday to ride resort.
Please email the Crew for more information.
Lift Pass
A week long lift pass in the Haute Maurienne region is €222, this normally includes unlimited 6 days of rising in the resort you buy it in, with one day within each of other resorts with the validity of the pass.
Accommodation
We hope to use "Chez Marie" le cheesecake which is charming, as is the the Au Coeur des Alpes
For more information on the Haute Maurienne
Refuge Plan du Lac