January in La Plagne means cold. Properly cold — the kind of -12°C overnight temperature that freezes your boot buckles and turns your breath into visible clouds even before you step outside. Belle-Plagne sits at 2050 metres and when the cold settles in and fresh snow comes, it becomes one of the most photogenic mountain environments going. The light on a clear January morning at altitude is unlike anything lower down.
La Plagne connects into the Paradiski domain with Les Arcs via the Vanoise Express cable car — one of the largest telecabines in the world, carrying 200 people per cabin across a 2km valley crossing at 1800 metres. The combined ski area gives you 425km of piste which takes most of a week to properly explore. The runs off the Bellecôte glacier are the highest and most dramatic; the long valley runs back to Montchavin and Champagny are the most satisfying.
The cold snap brought some of the best snow conditions of recent years — light, dry, genuinely powdery on the upper mountain. The trees on the lower runs were loaded with snow in that particular way that makes them look decorative rather than just cold. Belle-Plagne’s satellite villages and the 1800 centre are well stocked with decent restaurants, and the tartiflette and vin chaud situation was, as ever, taken seriously.