This winter we discovered a ski area, or 'un station' in French, just 2 1/2 hours north of Aix. Les Orres, at an altitude of 2,720 m (8,924 ft)is located in the Durance River Valley in the Hautes Alpes about 200km north of Aix.
My first visit there was a mid-week day trip with our French friends, Denis and Bettina Lucas-du Reau. We had great skiing and there was barely a soul on the mountain.
The area at Centre Station ...
It seemed like a good spot for a family ski trip so during the February school break, Nick, Sarah and I went there for a few days. We rented a small apartment in Les Melezes d'Or, one of the newest, slopeside complexes. Our unit was a bit of a disappointment from the internet site upon which I made our reservation....very small and quite bare bones. It had only been open for two months and Nick wondered if they really even had an occupancy permit! We survived our two nights there but won't be returning any time soon.
There was certainly more snow on my first visit, but the mountain seemed to hold the snow on the pistes pretty well, so even though they hadn't had new snow in two weeks the skiing was still pretty good on the second trip. Being school vacat ion week, there were lots of people on the slopes and in the lift lines! Our first day we had warm temps and plenty of sunshine. In the distance you have a superb view of Serre-Ponçon Lake and the Durance Valley. 
but the next day more wintery weather arrived...
We had a lunch outdoors at this slopeside restaurant on the sunny day...
The colors for the pistes on French slopes are green, blue, red and black. Here's a sign at the top...
All in all it was a nice ski trip, but not a great ski trip. Moral of the story: Don't go skiing during school vacations and don't trust everything you read or see on internet travel sights!
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