Yoga & Skiing in Les Menuires

19th April 2024 | Katy Dartford, Les Menuires.

Last modified on April 26th, 2024

The Yoga and Ski week at Les Menuires in Les3Vallees is now in its 8th year and is surging in popularity. PlanetSKI’s Katy Dartford sees what the experience is all about.

I am not much of a yogi.

I’m not bendy and I get distracted easily.

But I do appreciate that we should do some form of stretching before and after exercise – especially skiing.

I also appreciate that it’s been a difficult winter season with resorts looking to offer visitors other activities when the snow is less than optimal.

So could a few days of spring skiing and yoga in Les Menuires – which is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year – be the perfect solution?

Yours truly in the snow. Image © Katy Dartford/PlanetSKI.

When I arrived in the middle of April at ‘Chalet Camarine’ in Saint Martin de Belleville – conveniently located on the snow front – it was bucketing snow.

Yoga + Ski in Les Menuires. Image © Katy Dartford/PlanetSKI.

Amazing given that the day before it had been t-shirt weather.

The following morning I skied as best I could in white-out conditions, looping the lifts from Saint Martin de Belleville round to Les Menuires, as far as Bruyeres, then back via the Sunny Express for lunch.

After a few more runs, it was a relief to finish early and strap on some snow shoes for an ‘apres ski’ hike to Lac du Lou refuge, from the rustic restaurant, Chez Pepe Nicolas.

Carrying our yoga mats we hiked along a mountain path, stopping twice for some meditative deep breathing and to feel rooted to the ground below us.

Yoga + Ski in Les Menuires. Image © Katy Dartford/PlanetSKI.

I appreciated the chance to let my heart rate slow down and to take in the views of the flickering lights of Les Menuires, as the sun set beyond its avant-gard millennium bell tower.

After about an hour we arrived at the refuge at an altitude of 2045 metres.

Yoga + Ski in Les Menuires. Image © Katy Dartford/PlanetSKI.

We stripped off our snowshoes and gortex layers and unrolled our yoga mats in the warm dining area that had been cleared of tables.

Yoga + Ski in Les Menuires. Image © Katy Dartford/PlanetSKI.

We spent the next hour and a half doing various backbends, sun salutations, stretches and balances, and unusually for me, I did not continuously look at the clock hoping it was over.

There was the usual frustration at my short arms preventing me from reaching the floor and being able to link my arms around my knee and back on one side, but not the other.

There’s a definite imbalance in my body that I’ve been ignoring for some time.

But it’s probably because I often neglect to warm up properly for sports like skiing.

As one of the festival’s yoga teacher Lili Barbery-Coulon explains:

“Yoga is the perfect compliment to skiing, warming up the muscles before and after people take part in sport.

“It also helps to strengthen the whole body again, perfect for skiing and snowboarding.

“Yoga is also a great way to work on your breathing and to calm a busy mind, there is no better way to be fully present in the mountains”

At the end of the session some of us tried doing a headstand and to my surprise, I immediately pinged into position, finishing the class on an unexpected high – possibly due the blood rushing to my head – but also a slight sense of achievement.

The class was followed by a vegetarian dinner of ‘croziflete’ – a Savoie pasta bake with Tarentaise crozets ( small, flat pasta squares named after the patois word “croé” meaning ‘small’) dripping with reblochon cheese and a traditional myrtle tart.

Yoga + Ski in Les Menuires. Image © Katy Dartford/PlanetSKI.

I was quite sleepy, but at least I now had the energy to make the final snowshoe back down the valley.

Yoga + Ski in Les Menuires. Image © Katy Dartford/PlanetSKI.

Walking in the crisp winter air, our path lit up by our head torches and chatting all the way, we were back in what seemed like no time, and more than ready for bed.

The following morning was a complete contrast and we skied non stop in glorious sunshine.

This time we headed to the other side of Les Menuires from the Pointe de la Masse cable car, where at 2804 metres we enjoyed stunning views of the freshly snow sprinkled mountains, before flying down a nearly empty red back to Croisette.

Yoga + Ski in Les Menuires. Image © Katy Dartford/PlanetSKI.

The pistes were even more empty a few hours later – and not just because it was French lunchtime.

The same piste was a completely different affair, having turned into puree.

My legs were broken by the time I reached the bottom.

At this time of year it’s normal for conditions to rapidly turn to sticky mush – so I was happy to head off to another class offered by the yoga festival.

I entered a dimly lit room at the Salle Léo Lacroix in Les Menuires where our teacher, surrounded by Tibetan sound bowls and small drums, asked us to close our eyes and pick an ‘intention card’.

Mine told me to ‘Trust the Doubt’ and questioned ‘What was the insidious feeling I was trying to express?’

I wondered if this might be related to my skiing…

Tibetan ‘singing bowls’ are said to achieve relaxation, reduce stress, anxiety and physical pain.

After wrapping myself in a blanket and uncoiling onto a yoga matt, I rapidly drifted off into a doze as the sound vibrations passed through my body, despite the drums and triangles jolting me awake when they were struck instead.

The Yogiski festival has been running for eight years in Les Menuires, but the first time it’s expanded to include venues in Saint Martin de Belleville.

The sessions are free apart from a small supplement for the longer day retreats and post snowshoe/yoga dinner.

According to Director of OT Les Menuires, Marlene Giacometti they try to offer as much variety in the sessions as they can, and they are proving so popular the programme will continue in April 2025.

Other classes and workshops on offer included sophrology, laughter yoga, Vinyasa yoga, Qi Gong and foot reflexology.

I hope to be back.

See here for more about Yogaski in Les Menuires