We spent a lovely Easter holiday weekend in Les Saisies, a family ski resort in Savoie department. This also marked the end of the Winter (skiing) season 2018/19 for us, since Les Saisies was practically  one of the last stations to still be open this late in the Spring. We skied 23 times this winter, and did 221.08km with 3241m of descent (This figure is from TomTom MySports since it only has an option of downhill skiing). Also, I honestly thought we had done more kilometers, like closer to 400. Maybe it just felt that way.

The best day for skiing was Saturday, but still the snow was very soft and soggy before noon.

In the afternoon we drove to the nearby town of Hauteluce, and took an easy hike towards Le Plan des Loups, without reaching the plateau itself, since it would have required quite a climb.

The weather on Sunday was not quite as nice, so we skipped skiing and went for a couple of hikes instead. There were quite a few groomed walking paths on the snow that did not require snowshoes. The first one took us to the top of Mont Bisanne (1941m) in little more than 3 kilometers (we started at 1625m). This was relatively hard walk since the slope was steep and a bit icy at places. From the top we saw as far as Dent de Crolles (2062m), the second highest peak on Chartreuse that is some 20 kilometers North-East from Grenoble — skilled viewers may spot it in the last photo below.

The afternoon hike took us to another direction and despite being longer, it was much easier. We climbed to Mont Clocher (1976m) in 6 kilometers. From there we would have had a splendid view to Mont Blanc, but it was hiding behind the clouds. Eventually during our hike, the Sun came out.

On Easter Monday we enjoyed our last chance of skiing, although the conditions were abysmal; the snow was even softer and soggier than on Saturday. And what else it could have been since the temperature rose well above +10 degrees.

Les Saisies was nice and quiet little station, especially now at the end of the season. We will definitely come back for more skiing, since the landscape is quite nice for that, not too hilly, not too flat, and the surrounding mountains are gorgeous. But the area is renowned for Summer hiking as well.

One negative point, though: since Les Saisies  is mostly a holiday resort comprising of apartment bought for investment purposes, and with few permanent residents, it is also very expensive. Supermarket prices are about the double of what one finds in bigger cities, and Brewdog beer bottles cost 8 euros in a bar!!!