SkiBike Tour 2013-14 - La Faucille
Posted: Tuesday, 4 February 2014 by Mark Kinnon in Labels: 2013-14 Tour, D.I.Y., France, SkiBike
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After yesterday's ski fest, I was determined to get back on the skibike today and headed to La Faucille another local ski station in the Jura mountains. It is situated at the top of a mountain pass, off the N5 trunk road, that heads from Geneva in a Northerly direction. It's a 30 minute journey going there and a bit less coming back as you have to negotiate a steep climb with numerous hairpin bends.
I left base camp with a fine drizzle falling, this changed to rain and then snow once I was past the pretty market town of Gex. The road stayed clear, but the car park had a good few inches of crunchy snow on it. It looked like the weather was going to be a repeat of yesterday's performance and visibility was going to be the issue.
I got my lift pass and headed for the chairlift that serves as the backbone of the station and is the one allocated for SnowScoot (and skibike) use. It is of the detachable design so loading and unloading are stress free. Curiously for every one or so chairs there is a single enclosed gondola. I opted to use the chairs, but it turned out I could have used either.
The elevation is only 230 metres, so none of the runs are particularly long, but there is plenty of variety to suit all abilities. I remembered too late that one of the red runs is quite steep and prone to ice, so you can guess which one I found myself on for my warm up run. There were some excellent off piste sections including the obligatory, under the chairlift bit and this is where I spent a lot of time.
I stopped for a quick lunch, my mother used to say that "hunger is the best sauce" she was right, the cheese crepe and vin chaud I consumed tasted like the finest meal I have ever eaten.
I ended the day on the Grand Tetras blue run for the most part picking my way from one piste marker to the next. Occasionally the skies lifted enough to see more than 20 metres ahead, which I took as my cue for a quick blast.
I was so pleased to see that La Faucille remains friendly toward skibikes, although I am probably the only one to have rode one here. Like a diamond La Faucille might be small, but it is perfectly formed.
I left base camp with a fine drizzle falling, this changed to rain and then snow once I was past the pretty market town of Gex. The road stayed clear, but the car park had a good few inches of crunchy snow on it. It looked like the weather was going to be a repeat of yesterday's performance and visibility was going to be the issue.
 |
| During a clearer spell - visibility was going to be the issue |
I got my lift pass and headed for the chairlift that serves as the backbone of the station and is the one allocated for SnowScoot (and skibike) use. It is of the detachable design so loading and unloading are stress free. Curiously for every one or so chairs there is a single enclosed gondola. I opted to use the chairs, but it turned out I could have used either.
The elevation is only 230 metres, so none of the runs are particularly long, but there is plenty of variety to suit all abilities. I remembered too late that one of the red runs is quite steep and prone to ice, so you can guess which one I found myself on for my warm up run. There were some excellent off piste sections including the obligatory, under the chairlift bit and this is where I spent a lot of time.
I stopped for a quick lunch, my mother used to say that "hunger is the best sauce" she was right, the cheese crepe and vin chaud I consumed tasted like the finest meal I have ever eaten.
I ended the day on the Grand Tetras blue run for the most part picking my way from one piste marker to the next. Occasionally the skies lifted enough to see more than 20 metres ahead, which I took as my cue for a quick blast.
I was so pleased to see that La Faucille remains friendly toward skibikes, although I am probably the only one to have rode one here. Like a diamond La Faucille might be small, but it is perfectly formed.