Easter skiing in Vars

For this year's Easter weekend, we spent quite a bit of time trying to figured out what to do ? Citybreak, a long weekend in Italy, or skiing? In the end, we decided to go for the skiing option, seeing as we'd only hit the slopes once this year... To avoid taking a big risk with the snow, we decided to head a bit further afield than the usual Isola 2000/Auron/Limone. We ended up going for Vars, a decent-sized ski resort near the Queyras massif (where we actually went to spend Easter a couple of years back).

We arrived at our hotel Friday evening, just in time for dinner (which we had at the hotel). We were a little bit anxious about what the weather would be like, as it looked very misty and snowless upon arrival. Things didn't look much better the next morning - even though the ground was now covered with newly fallen snow. Anyway, in spite of this, we decided to hit the slopes - so we jumped on the free shuttle bus to Vars Saint-Marie (excellent initiative, the free shuttle bus!).

And what an excellent idea that was! Things just started clearing up as we hit the slopes, and conditions were pretty much perfect in the morning, what with the newly fallen snow. We had a blast trying out the rather big ski domain around Vars - what made things even better was the fact that we almost had the impression of having the slopes to ourselves (I suppose that's the advantage of going skiing so late in the season).

We finished the rather long morning session in Vars le Claux, the neighbouring village, where we decided to have lunch. Quite pricey, but excellent - I had a local speciality which was basically a kind of tartiflette where they'd replaced the potatoes with a local, home-made pasta (so pasta, lardons and cheese, basically - not particularly sophisticated but boy does it hit the spot after a decent skiing session...).

The afternoon session was a bit less fun, since the snow was getting all soft with the spring sun... So we didn't end up skiing for all that long - I also lost my motivation after falling over rather stupidly on an easy slope. So after a couple of hours of skiing, we made our way back to Vars Saint-Marie, from where we took the shuttle bus back to the hotel. We were well knackered and ended up doing basically nothing for the rest of the day (mustering up the energy to go for dinner - this time we had an authentic tartiflette!)

The next day, conditions were much the same as the day before (sort of partly cloudy) - but the snow was not as good today as it had been the day before. (no new snow had arrived on the night before, so to be expected I suppose....). We decided to head over to Risoul - a neighbouring ski resort with an interconnected ski domain, this time. The morning session wasn't the best possible, the snow was very hard, and the sun wasn't out. So we didn't particularly enjoy the session.

Things got a lot better when we made our way to the L'Homme de Pierre at the extreme end of Risoul. It was a bit hard to find the place actually (we skied past the ski lift that leads up there on the 1st time - and couldn't find it on the second attempt either!) - maybe that's why there were so few people there! So actually it was pretty much perfect for us. The sun was out again, and now we really had the slopes to ourselves, it was just fantastic. Perfect snow, not a soul in sight, and a clear blue sky, what else can one expect ?

After another late lunch, we made our way back towards Vars, and decided to head back to the hotel quite early again, since the snow was getting rather poor again with the warm of the sun. All in all, another great day on the slopes, in spite of a bit of a bad start to the day.

Again, we were well nackered once we got back to the hotel - so no night-clubbing for us! We were happy to hit the sacks after a filling dinner (well, filling for me, since I begged the staff for a second serving of duck - I was still starving after the first one!).

For the next day, we decided to hit the road early and make a couple of touristic stops on the way, so that was it as far as the skiing was concerned. Our first stop on the way was Embrun. Embrun is a small town we passed upon arriving in Vars, which looks pretty interesting, perched as it is on its cliffside, surrounded by mountains. Apart from it's dramatic setting, it's pretty much your typical, charming local town. It does have a real architectural masterpiece - Cathédrale Notre-Dame d'Embrun. Actually no longer a cathedral, it's still a very impressive building.

After Embrun, we decided to drive past the Serre-Ponçon lake. It's actually an artificial lake, one of the biggest ones in Europe. The lake gathers the waters from the Durance and Ubaye rivers, which flow down through the Hautes-Alpes and the Alpes du Sud to the Rhone River. The waters are dammed by the impressive Barrage de Serre-Ponçon. We stopped near the dam and contemplated the impressive mountain scenery, reflected in the clear, blue waters, and the impressive dam.

We then carried on through Les Halpes d'Haut Provence and the Var valley (avoiding the motorway, which would've possibly been quicker), driving through yet more impressive Alpine scenery. We stopped for lunch at Dignes-les-Bains, a Spa town and the main town in the department - today being a public holiday, finding an open restaurant turned out to be quite a challenge, actually (we ended up in a local bar by the mian square, where I suppose everybody who wanted a bite ended up, not having a choice!).

We stopped briefly at the impressive fortified town of Enrevaux (which we visited with some friends a couple of years ago), for a couple of photos (of course!). And then we drove straight down to Cagnes-sur-Mer.

A really nice little Easter break then - just what we both needed I think!