Resort Spotlight: Les 7 Laux (Les Sept Laux) LOCATION Very close to the city of Grenoble, just up in the Belledonne mountain range in the Dauphiné Alps. Drive into the city of Grenoble in around 30-40 minutes traffic permitting and the airport is just over a one hour’s drive away too. Chambery is also just 50 kms away, so another option for flying in and then driving from Calais would normally take about 8.5 hours. The train would be London-Paris-Lyon-Grenoble and then a taxi or a bus from there. Not too difficult because you get pretty close in Grenoble and whilst that might not be for everyone...could do a nice little stop over on the way too. THE SKI AREA    There’s 120 km’s of ski trails that link up three separate villages, there’s about 22 ski lifts, mostly chairs and some drag lifts plus a gondola too, and 90% of the lifts are 10 years old or newer.  Within that 120 km’s there’s 45 individual ski trails that include green, blue, red and black, so genuinely something for every level of skier and snowboarder . It is mostly blues and reds, but there’s 7 black runs so pretty significant and it has the largest freeride area in the region including the The Vallons du Pra trail which is basically a marked off-piste route.    The beginner’s terrain is extensive and separate from the main ski area and then there’s a nice progression onto green runs after that. The majority of runs are blue and red so we are talking about all this freeride terrain but at the end of the day it’s beginners and intermediates that actually get the best deal here.    SKI SCHOOLS    There’s the ESF, ESI: Pro 7 school that also offers freestyle and freeride lessons and a dedicated snowboard school called Slash  and another called Easy Riders. They all say they have English speaking instructors. SNOW RECORD Village is 1350, and it goes up to 2400 metres, that’s more than a 1,000 metre vertical and with its location they get good snowfalls through the winter and well into spring here.  A lot of the slopes are north westerly facing so they hold the snow well. THE VILLAGES    The main village is Prapoutel and it’s where most of the accommodation and facilities are. It’s mostly self-catered accommodation and there’s a good choice of both value and higher end places to stay and it’s easy to walk around – it’s not tiny in any sense but it’s not like a massive town either. It does have that sort of purpose built feel, but in a nice way and the views across the valley are fantastic. Why is it called Les 7 (seven) Laux? It was founded in the 1960’s / 70’s by a group formed of 7 communes in the area. Where do I go for a pint? O’Bar BU What about a bit of Tartiflette ? Le Rocher Blanc Prices for the actual holiday? A starting price of around £1500 for the whole apartment for a week and that includes a return Eurotunnel fare peakretreats.co.uk or call them on 023 9283 9310 Peak Retreats is the French Alps specialist and they have been organising holidays in the French Alps for over 20 years. They have multiple awards pretty much on a yearly basis and they are ABTA bonded.  In the meantime Happy Skiing :). Please do leave a review it's the only way other like minded skiers get to find us! And don't forget to check us out on the following channels inthesnow.com instagram.com/inthesnow TikTok@inthesnowmag youtube.com/inthesnowmag facebook.com/inthesnow and contact us with your suggestions for further episodes at [email protected]