These are ideas for professionally guided outings, not route directions. Beyond the marked pistes, avalanches, cliffs and glacier hazards demand specialist judgement. Choose the day’s route with an appropriately qualified local professional; carry a transceiver, shovel and probe and know how to use them.

Icons describe terrain, skiing demands and walking, including route variants. Skiing labels are descriptive, not official grades. Open terrain describes the landscape, not the snow conditions; a missing terrain icon does not mean that feature is absent.

Solaise

Skiing: Guide to assess
Walking: No walking

An off-piste area on the Solaise side, with several variations.

Fredrik’s experience

An accessible training run

Combe des Américains sits between Datcha and Lièvre Blanc, in the same neighbourhood as Super L. You can see the area from the Laisinant lift. For me, it is often a warm-up or training run. It is so accessible that it gets tracked out quickly, but that same accessibility makes it easy to come back and try another variation without much effort.

First after a snowfall

If you are first after a snowfall, you can count yourself lucky. There is a proper pitch and several ways down. I like looking towards the edge of the forest: the closer you get to the trees, the more sheltered the snow can have been from the wind. In my experience, untracked patches last a little longer there too.

Different aspects and repeat laps

There is a lot of variety. Small gullies give you different aspects to work with, and the snow can change according to the sun, warmth, wind and snowfall. Rather than automatically following the middle where most people ski, we have often found better snow on the little ridges. With the guide choosing suitable lines, repeat laps give you a chance to explore those differences.

Surprisingly hard work

It is surprisingly hard work. The slope is quite steep and the pitch keeps going through each section; there is not much of a natural breather. Because it is often well skied, the lower part can start to feel like a mogul run. Even then, I have sometimes found untouched snow among the trees. That mixture of accessibility, sustained skiing and different little lines is what makes it useful as a training run.

Choose the variations and stopping places with your guide; proximity to lifts and trees does not remove avalanche exposure.

Sources

Local ski report

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