La Plagne Snowmobile Review

I went out with Snow Panthers skidoo tours last week and it was fun! The tours cost 89 Euros per bike and they can take two people each (you then have the option of switching drivers halfway through), they run their trips every hour from 17.30 to 20.30. We were on the 17.30 departure which had the bonus of having us driving around under a very moody sunset sky although I’m sure doing it in darkness would be a whole different experience altogether. The meeting point is outside Le Chaudron restaurant in Plagne Centre and there’s a 10 minute briefing and safety speech, then you’re off for 50 minutes of snow bike fun.

When we set off I was in the drivers seat and I will admit to being rather nervous. I am – shall we say – not a natural driver, in that I have crashed everything from a go-kart to a motorbike, and I was sure I wouldn’t get through it without incident. However once we set off, the driving was very simple, just gas and brake and steering, no gears or clutch to worry about, I picked it up very quickly and was soon itching for more speed.

We headed up the bottom of the blue run from the Grand Rochette and cruised along the trail to Bellecote, where we played around off and on the trails underneath the Collosess and Blanchets chair lifts. It’s a large skidoo area and you loop around back on yourself covering every inch of area available without repeating the same ground. We were travelling along narrow paths and hairpin bends then suddenly off the side of the run into gullies and up rolling snow hills, taking the bikes down slopes that seemed way too steep to be sensible and then gunning it back up the other side. You all follow each other along in a line and there were seven bikes altogether so although the path wasn’t marked you can find your way easily, but when you see the bikes in front of you suddenly taking a nose dive and disappearing from view it is rather unsettling.

The runs had not yet been pisted at half past five and I was pretty worried about mogul dodging but the bikes are so sturdy and capable that you just roll straight over anything and I soon got my confidence up and was hitting the accelerator whenever I saw rollers and happily bouncing across them at speed. My steering was fairly erratic and so the hairpins were quite dicey as I was never quite sure we were going to make it round in time but I should have had more faith, I made it to the end of my allotted driving time with far more speed and confidence than I was expecting and crucially without incident! One of the others in our party (who had previously been mocking my driving) drove his bike into a hole and had to be rescued by the instructor. Who’s the better driver now, hey?

We switched drivers at half time and it’s surprisingly just as much fun as a passanger, you hold on tight and bounce around over the bumps and hills and turns never quite sure what’s coming up next as we covered consistently new ground, but eventually taking the blue run back down into Plagne Centre and turning in our helmets.

It was massive fun and a good one for adrenaline junkies and passengers alike. Alex from Snowpanthers is very competent and likable, he didn’t overstate any of the safety issues, he let us get on with it and then was straight there to help if we got stuck in a hole(!)

Definitely get out there if you get a chance. And remember; come May I would like to see a gift wrapped skidoo outside my front door, or preferably two, then we can race!!!