Ice Climbing World Cup 2017 in La Plagne

The Championships are the last stage of the international competitive season and are sure to be hotly contested.

The opening ceremony will take place tonight (Friday) in the village centre at 7pm heralding the start of two days’ competition which culminate with the finals on Sunday.

The event comprises two disciplines – Speed, which is a pure Spiderman-like dash to the top - and Lead, where strength, endurance and originality of line win the day. The Russians are expected to dominate the Speed event and have a strong showing in the Lead but there are also competitive challengers from Korea and Italy. Ireland also has a podium hopeful in the shape of Eimir McSwiggin, taking part in the womens’ Lead event. French climbers should also feature in the mix, given the home advantage.

The full schedule kicks off tomorrow with the Lead qualifications taking place between 8am and 12pm, followed by the Speed qualifications between 2.30pm and 4pm. The Lead semi finals take place 7.30pm to 9.30pm on Saturday evening and should make for quite a spectacle under the floodlights.

Sunday morning sees the Speed final running from 9am until 12.30pm followed by the Lead final between 3.30pm and 5.30pm. An awards ceremony will be held in the village from 6pm.

Getting to Champagny is relatively easy from any of the La Plagne villages, plus it gives access to some of the most stunning scenery and interesting terrain in the whole area. Be warned though, snow cover is quite thin this year – particularly lower down. If you’re on the Montchavin side of the area, just get yourself to Plagne Bellecöte and take either the Roche de Mio gondola followed by the Levasset run - or the Les Blanchets chair followed by the very short Quillis run. Both options lead to a juncture where the Levasset run continues down to Champagny middle station.

Coming from the Montalbert / main side of the mountain, get to Plagne Centre and either take the Funiplagne Grande Rochette or the Colorado chair followed by Verdons Nord. Both Les Verdons and La Grande Rochette summits have blue and red run choices to access the Champagny sector. This area has astounding views over Courchevel and the rest of Trois Vallees as well as the towering Grande Casse, highest peak in the area.

Beginners would be advised to head to the top station of the Champagny gondola, taking the Borseliers link chair to ride back down to the gondola. From there it only takes around 5 minutes to get down to village level. More experienced riders can follow Les Bois down to the village (Mont de la Guerre is currently closed). Snow cover is reasonable – mainly artificial down at village level. From Champagny, a regular bus runs up to Champagny le Haut.

By car, head for Moutiers then take the exit for Brides les Bains and continue up the road past Bozel until you reach the sleepy hamlet of Champagny. This too is a stunning drive which snakes its way past Trois Vallees and round the back of La Plagne. From there, follow the sign posts for le Haut.

Stuart Hamilton is the Creative Director or iRide Ski and Snowboard App - a new skiing and snowboarding app, available now on Apple iOS and Android.