La Plagne Video Report : 23rd January 2012

I have done night skiing before in both Les Deux Alpes and Val d’Isere but always under a full moon and I was a little sceptical as to how this would work. The last full moon had been over two weeks ago and as I was supposed to be filming the whole event I couldn’t see how this would work.

“My medium is light.” I explained to the Oxygene office thinking that a Blackadder quote would cover my scepticism and make light of the fact that I thought this un-lit night ski was a terrible idea that would almost certainly finish with me somewhere between La Plagne and Courchevel, cold, alone and in a field of cows.

“Oh don’t worry” the kindly office girl soothed, “you’ll be with an instructor”.

Unless he’s a bat I am not reassured, I thought.

Meeting my perfectly normal instructor at the foot of La Grande Rochette, in Plagne Centre, I was a little disappointed to note that he was not a bat, or a super-human-night-sighted-mega-instructor but a chap called Ewan from Glasgow. He was, however, very friendly and assured me that we would have a good time.

Taking the last bubble up to the summit of La Grande Rochette we moved into the last of the day’s sun and then watched the sun set over the mountains. With everyone else but our group of twenty off the hill we had the sunset to ourselves and it was very peaceful and undeniably beautiful.

After a few games on the snow we headed inside for an aperitif and some canapes before sitting down to the cheesiest of cheese-fests - The Fondue.

Bread, potatoes, cold meats and salad as well as a never ending supply of wine was to accompany our bowl of melted cheese and after consuming enough to give me nightmares for the rest of my natural life we had dessert, genepi and more wine.

Heavy and sleepy I was ready for bed when the realisation hit me that I now had to ride down to La Plagne, IN THE DARK!!

As it turns out this is not that difficult, provided you have not taken the offer of “all you can drink” as a challenge to your masculinity rather than a generous offer.

Fitted with a head torch I set off and found the snow surprisingly fresh and soft despite the cold temperature and as the piste was smooth it wasn’t difficult to ride down. We took the blue “Mira” piste down the hill and no one, aside from a few over-zealous wine enthusiasts had any problems.

Once down in La Plagne we went for a couple glasses of vin chaud before heading in our separate directions home.

Skiing under torch light is good fun but the best time to try it would definitely be under a full moon as there is an eerie beauty to the mountains when they are lit by pale blue. Even without the full moon it was a good evening out and definitely an unusual holiday experience that you’ll remember when memories of cruising pistes in the day time have faded.

For more information about night skiing or to book contact Oxygene directly.