We stumbled across les Rousses while trying to avoid Switzerland. The plan was to head for the French Alps for some skiing. We wanted to by-pass Switzerland because the emergence of Omicron had brought with it a rash of new border controls. Driving a few more miles was preferable to having things stuck up our noses again. We stayed north of Geneva. This took us through the Jura mountains. A picturesque area famous for cheese. Add a small, friendly ski resort and that is me very happy for a few days.
Diane had a chance to re-acquaint herself with skiing. After falling last year and hurting her knee, she avoided skis for the rest of the season. Les Rousses was an ideal place to start again. No crowds. Gentle slopes and snow in remarkably good condition for so early in the season. After a couple of days she was definitely starting to get her ski mojo back. We even spent xmas day skiing.
The weather turned to rain. We moved on to La Clusaz, a French resort not far from Mont Blanc. It continued to rain. Solid rain for three days. I tried to ski in the rain. Enjoyed it for a couple of hours before wetness and coldness dampened my enthusiasm. Took days to dry my gloves out. That afternoon a big, wet, soggy avalanche came down one of the pistes I had skied in the morning.
Eventually the sky cleared and despite the sun it became very cold. This was no good for the skiing at all because the runs became seriously icy. Hard and fast. Much harder to control your speed and direction. Diane rather sensibly avoided this. I dabbled a bit more until eventually conceding that while La Clusaz is a lovely area, it needed a bit more snow. Another Covid New Year arrived, marked by a single person cheering from a balcony. We moved on.