For one night only

Posted by LizWoods 22nd March 2010

There are Igloos in La Plagne!

Yes, I know, you are wondering what on earth I am talking about, It really is true, there are 4 real Igloos here in La Plagne at 2000 metres, with magnificent views of Mont Blanc and without an Eskimo or a Penguin in sight!
It is the idea of a local couple Joel and Aurẻlie. After working all day as a ski instructor and Guide, Joel personally built each Igloo at the Dou Dou Praz plateau at night. The plan is that the site is completely ecological both during its life and when the snow melts there will be no sign of the village.

The village has been built so we are able to experience Igloo living and they are available to spend the night in. The evening starts with a short snowmobile ride to the village where you are welcomed with an aperitif around the ‘camp fire’ with some local music and stories. Finding ourselves suitably chilly but with high spirits, we were served a local savoyarde meal with wine inside the surprisingly cosy Dining Igloo.

I’m not sure whether we were putting off the sleeping part of the experience, or lack of it in our case, but it was after midnight that we staggered to our Sleeping Igloo, the outside temperature was a very cold -15C.

I hear you asking, what about when ‘nature calls’, you will be glad to know the village comes complete with an Igloo Bathroom with sawdust, or is that too much information? The question is do you leave the warmth of your cosy sleeping bag inside the igloo that is an ambient 0.C degrees and make a run for it in the dark freezing night, or put all your outside clothes and boots on first? There is no perfect answer our group tried all scenarios and there was always a story and great laughter with each experiment.

The dawn was a stunning, clear, silent and very cold alpine day which certainly cleared away the cobwebs of the previous short night! We were offered a welcome hot drink before we somewhat reluctantly made our way back to civilisation, warmth and a hot shower.

I am not a fan of camping and I have come to the conclusion that I would be a pretty useless Eskimo! Despite the fact that I will not be volunteering for an Arctic expedition any time soon, for one night only I can thoroughly recommend this unique, fun experience.

Chrissie Kimber, La Plagne

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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About the author

Liz joined the team in 2005 and is a new but enthusiastic convert to skiing. Liz looks after the office and our book warehouse. She also has the tough job of keeping us organised and for helping to keep maddogski.com up to date.

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