Alpine pleasures
With 300km of pistes and state-of-the-art lifts, Val d’isère is one of the world’s best winter sports resorts, writes Nan Spowart
Val d’isere is better than ever, says Nan Spowart
They don’t do things by half in Val d’isère. When creating some new nursery slopes for novice skiers they just whacked off the top of a mountain. It was a project that cost £11.1m and involved shifting a million tonnes of rock and earth and the transfer of Alpine flowers to a place of safety.
As well as reducing the gradient to an easy seven per cent, three “magic carpets” were built to transport beginners to the top of the slope. In addition there is a new North American-style day lodge with floor-to-ceiling windows offering spectacular views, a bar area serving coffee, tea, and pastries and – very unusual in a European ski resort – a comfortable picnic area, where skiers can eat their lunch and relax in warm and comfortable surroundings.
This area can be accessed from the town in just seven minutes courtesy of a new 10-person gondola with
There is a vast selection of beautiful blue runs where it is possible to ski for hours
91 cabins, complete with heated seats and wifi. Carrying up to 3,600 passengers per hour, the new gondola has increased capacity by 40 per cent, bringing an end to any previous peak time bottlenecks at the base on high season dates.
It’s a fantastic addition to a resort already well served by fast lifts so expertly planned that it is possible to ski from the top of the Le Fornet area in Val d’isère right down to the lowest village of neighbouring Tignes without ever having to walk to access another lift.
Val d’isère has always been known as one of the top ski resorts in the French Alps, particularly by the British who have been seduced by its sterling snow record, quaint chalets and luxurious hotels nestling high in the heart of the Savoie Mont Blanc.
Linked with Tignes, the ski area is extensive with two glaciers, 300km of pistes, two snow parks and is so snow sure it offers skiing 11 months of the year. Not content with the glaciers and the high altitude, the resort has invested in the production of artificial snow and now has the largest snowmaking facility in Europe. “Le Snow Factory” can pump out sufficient snow to fill an Olympicsized swimming pool in 30 minutes and cover the whole Bellevarde mountain that towers above it in less than seven days. It costs £2.1m a week to run.
It’s a lot of money but when we arrived, the skiing was still excellent even though other resorts were bare in many places.
While Val d’isère could be criticised for the lack of easy skiing near the village, once above the valley on the plateau there is a vast selection of beautiful blue runs where it is possible to ski for hours. Those who don’t fancy skiing back down to the village at the end of the day have the option of taking the gondola. Meanwhile the expert skier will enjoy the steep runs back down to the resort which include the legendary La Face Olympic run.
The adjacent area of Tignes can be accessed by using just one lift from Val and offers a wealth of intermediate skiing including the high altitude glacier.
Although the resort is easier than many to navigate as it forms a huge semi-circle, we still found it useful to hire a guide for our first day. Ours, Melvin from Evolution 2, not only showed us around and booked a table for a terrific lunch at the awardwinning mountain restaurant, Le Signal, but also gave us invaluable tips
aimed at improving our technique which helped us enjoy the rest of our week much more.
Another revelation was finding Snowberry, voted the best ski shop in Europe. Run by ex-melrose and Edinburgh Accies player Jock Dun and his wife Susan, a former solicitor in Edinburgh, there are few shops like it in the Alps. Specialising in proper boot fitting for rental, they measure and analyse your feet not just for length but for width, instep height, achilles and calf before selecting the correct boots from over 45 different models to make sure the fit is as close as possible to the overall shape of your foot as well as the size. All Snowberry boots are also equipped at no additional cost with skier orthotics for improved comfort and better performance. The skis are better quality than the run-of-the-mill hire shops too and are tailored to the skier’s ability. It is the only shop in Val d’isère, in fact, to replace their entire stock of over 800 pairs of premium skis every year.
Snowberry is handily placed in the centre of town near the lifts and the Centre Aquasportif, which not only offers two pools, but also saunas, steam baths and massage and beauty treatments, a well-equipped gym, climbing wall and golf and driving simulators. One free entry to the pools and a discounted price for the wellness centre is included with the lift pass.
The centre of town also boasts over 60 shops as well as a huge variety of bars and restaurants including two Michelin-starred restaurants.
It should be noted that Val d’isère won best après ski award in last year’s World Snow Awards on the basis of its bars and clubs like Bananas, Doudoune and Dick’s Tea Bar. There is also the legendary La Folie Douce where skiers love to party in the late afternoon, then carry on partying at the foot of the slopes at Cocorico which has live bands and is handy for the free shuttle bus that runs regularly all day and late into the night, back to the chalets and hotels.
Which brings us to whether the resort deserves its reputation for being expensive. The answer is that it depends entirely on how much you want to spend. There are places on the mountain where it is possible to eat a portion of chips for a few euros and still enjoy a fabulous view but if you want to spend more then you can enjoy a lunch of astounding quality for a lot less than the equivalent would cost in Edinburgh. The dish of the day at the excellent Tete de Solaise for example is less than €20 and for this you can sit on fur covered seats beside a wood burning stove.
Après ski can add to costs but again the best restaurants and bars are no more expensive than popular haunts in the UK.
A package holiday can also cut the costs considerably. Our chalet hotel in La Daille, just outside the main town with easy access to the slopes, provided a hot cooked breakfast, soup and cakes at 4pm and an excellent dinner with canapés, cheese and wine. There is also a bar in the hotel and a bar nearby which was cheaper than those in the centre. With the shuttle bus stopping just outside on a regular basis it meant we could enjoy the best of Val d’isère without spending a fortune.
Many skiers we met in the hotel were long time aficiandos of Val and it is easy to see why as it is, without doubt, one of the best ski resorts in the world.
Ski Total (skitotal.com, 01483 791 935) is offering the Chalet Champs Avalins in Val d’isère from £748pp travelling on 19 December 2017. This price is based on two adults sharing and includes return flights from Edinburgh to Geneva, transfers, free wifi and seven nights’ chalet catered accommodation including buffet breakfast, afternoon tea and four course evening meals with complimentary wine.