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Your indispensable guide to Skiing in Val d'isere...

Your indispensable guide to the real Val d'isere. Where to ski and not to ski according to your abilities. Also where to dine on the hil and how to get there! Thorough reading prior to departure is highly recommended!

Which slopes?
Val d’Isere is a must for anyone who is really into their winter holidays. It is a perennial  favourite, especially among us Brits for some reason. Val itself is in quite a steep sided valley ensuring you get lots of local exhilarating runs. The area itself is split into three different sections, Le Fornet, Le Solaise and Bellvardes, each with their own unique charms. Twinned with Tignes, the area of Espace Killy has a flawless snow record mainly due to its proximity to the Mediterranean and the subsequent low pressures that dump a regular helping of the white stuff onto the neighbouring Italian Alps. Here’s our insider guide to the highlights.

Chilled out
There’s plenty of place to choose from if you just want to cruise round the resort at a leisurely pace dipping in and out of restaurants. Bellevardes has lots of gentle runs on it’s west facing slopes with fantastic views towards mont blanc and le Grande Motte glacier. From the top of the mont blanc chair there’s Genepy, Borsat and Grand Pre which all fit the bill. Look out for Creux and Edelwiess reached by the Tommeuses chair.

Le Fornet is normally very peaceful, anything around the Vallon bubble is gorgeous, when the sun hits head up Cascade for better snow. All these runs make perfect warm up runs for anyone who hasn’t skied for a year or more.
 

Tree lined
To be honest, when the bad whether sets in the options are limited as this is such a high altitude resort. Rule of thumb is just get down to the lower runs where the cloud isn’t so dense. Take the lift back down into resort as the steep icy runs back into the village can be treacherous with limited visabilty, although the run back to La Daille is fine. The best thing to do would be just to wait it out in a cosy mountain restaurant.

Challenging
If you are an expert skier or boarder then you are certainly in the right place. Off-piste is the star of the show here, hire a guide for your group and get the insider knowledge to get fresh tracks in the some of the most exciting terrain to be had in the whole of the alps!

Val D’Isere has invented a new type of piste called ‘Naturide’. These are black runs that are still regularly patrolled for avalanche risk but don’t get groomed. Piste S over at Solaise is a particulary tricky example of this, with A and M being only marginally
easier. Be careful of the grading, quite often red runs can seem more like blacks and even some of the blues can have difficult sections.

Of course we couldn’t go without mentioning the eminent Face of which the majority is
the Mens downhill ski run. Descending more than of a kilometre of heart stopping piste from Bellevarde summit to the bottom of the valley, this is a clear case of early bird catches the worm – stunning when the snow is freshly groomed.

Mountain Restaurants
The mountain restaurant in Val D’Isere are absolutely fine, only small gripe is that there aren’t enough of them! Book ahead to make like easier, although one perk of this resort is that it’s very easy to ski down to the resort for lunch. The following deserve a mention:

Le Signal just above Le Fornet.
Le Trifollet heading down to La Daille on the OK piste.
Tufs, base of La Daille
La Fruitiere is by the La Daille gondola and has table service.
La Folie Douce next door, brilliant après ski, ok food.
La Taniere, half way down the Face.
L’Edelweiss on Mangard run to Le Fornet, spectacular views.
Les Clochetons, manchet valley gets good reviews.

Getting There
Val D’Isere is right at the end of the Tarantaise valley. Now with budget airlines flying to Geneva, Lyon and Chambery the transfer time is 2 and a half to 3 hours tops.

Chambery is the closest, then Lyon and Geneva is 3hrs away. The bus service from the airports is reliable and departs daily with the exception of Chambery which is Saturday service only.

Catch the train to Bourg Saint Maurice then do the last 30km by taxi or jump on the regular bus. Tignes and St Foy are very close by car widening your options for accommodation.

Statistics
Nearest town - Bourg St Maurice
Shops- 170
Laundrettes - 3
Post office - 1
Banks - 4
Highest Lift - 3456m
Ski Area - 300km
Longest run - 10km
Lifts - 96
Mountain Restaurants - 13
Beginners - 22%
Intermediate - 40%
Advanced - 38%
Off piste - 10/10
Pipes - 2
Parks - 2
Trees - 18%
Backcountry - Superb
Fly to - Chambery, Geneva
Transfer Time - 2 or 3 hours
Nightlife - Crazy and hedonistic

Bananas
For pint sized original cocktails head for Bananas. Chalet girls love this place, also popular with the Brit crowd as first port of call when embarking on an inevitably crazy night out. Right at the