Nordic Skiing: Grand Coin Nordic Ski Area - French Northern Alps - 1,609 m. (5,279 ft)

Thu, 3 February 2022

Technical

Minimum altitude: 1,330 meters

Distance: 32.9 km

Slope Aspect: North

Vertical Climbed: 1,039 meters (3,409 feet)

Vertical Descended: 1,044 meters

Description

The Grand Coin nordic ski area is located north of the col du Chaussy (1533m) in the Maurienne valley near to the Col de la Madeleine. Access is either from Montaimont/Bonvillard (1355m) or from the Col du Chaussy via the lacets du Montvernier. A "coin" is a summit in old French and the Grand Coin is the principal mountain behind the ski area. The area claims 70km of prepared cross country trails and 60km of snowshoe trails. There is a chalet restaurant and ski lessons are possible from the Col du Chaussy. Montaimont also has a hotel/restaurant and a shuttle bus service to Bonvillard.

Trip Report

I'd wanted to get over to the Grand Coin last winter but the close quite early in the season. I'd cycled through the Col du Chaussy back in November - when I'd injured my knee and ankle on ice from which I'm still suffering. You could say I was returning to the scene of the crime. First thing, the lift pass office and pistes only open at 10am, not point being too early. The pistes start directly on the Col du Chaussy road at Bonvillard. At the first junction I took the right as I wanted to ski la Colonne red piste but this wasn't open and was unskiable. I continued on the black, against the flow of traffic but no-one was around this early, then picked up the Bergein to the col. This route was much steeper than the main road.

The snow at the col was frozen, not easy to ski on as there were some frozen tracks. So I did a complete loop of the Bergein and back to the col then I took a climb, unmarked for skiing, to the Chalet du Meleze where there were great views over the Maurienne mountain ranges. I finished with a loop of the Grand Tour and back up to the Chalet du Meleze then back down to the car as the snow was getting quite sticky in places. 32km and I covered most of the pistes, some twice or more. The area probably has 25km of skiing when everything is open. It is a nice little area but not much flat.

Conditions

A bit thin at Bonvillard but after the first corner the main road to the Col du Chaussy was good although there wasn't  a huge amount of room for skating between the classic tracks and the churned up snow from snowshoers. Good cover at the Col du Chaussy although the snow was soft by midday. Cover on the Bergein/Grand Tour descent was thin in places. A lot of walkers/snowshoers on the trails despite them having their own routes.

Route


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