Val Thorens Report

Hi all

Just back from a week in Val Thorens. First time back in 3V in over a decade. I had forgotten how extensive an area it is. We skied mainly in the VT area itself with limited forays to Orelle valley, Les Meunieres and a little bit of Meribel valley. Didn't get as far as Courcheval at all and didn't feel the need to :D.

The snow was in very good condition - I guess the high altitude keeps it pretty fresh - generally hard packed but not too icy with a little bit of slush at lower altitudes. We had 5 sunny days and 2 bad days with very limited visibility. Lift infrastructure is superb, though I was surprised at how few moving carpets there were for loading chairs - these seem to be standard in Austria now :roll: .

We really enjoyed the skiing in the Orelle valley which tended to be fairly quiet. A long Red, Mauriennaise, from the top down to the valley was really good. There were also a couple of nice runs off the top of Pointe de Bouchet. This is where the new Zipwire leaves from - 1.3km long, top speed of over 100kph and a max height over valley of 250m - not for the fainthearted :shock:. My 13yo daughter was keen to do this and after a little soul searching, we agreed she could. However, they wouldn't let her on due to a headwind - which would have stopped her from getting all the way across :oops:. The run off the top of the Col de Roseal is not great - a busy narrow pathway :x.

Also enjoyed the runs off the Boismint chair. Again very long red runs that were nice and quiet :wink:. However, hit here early one morning and found it quite icy so perhaps better after it has had a chance to soften a little.

Great selection of long cruisy Reds and Blues above Les Menuires. Again not terribly popular so you could virtually have the slopes to yourself at times. Also worth heading over to the slopes above St Martin de Belleville, including the very quiet Jerusalem run :wink:.

Headed over to the Meribel side on two days. The first time, the weather moved in just as we were getting the gondola up Mont du Vallon. This made for a slow careful descent. hit it again a few days later in perfect sunshine and was able to bomb down the same (Campagnol) run - some pals had skied the other run but said that there was a lot of out of control maniacs on that side :evil:.

Area 43 park beside the Plattiere lift is a really well laid out fun park graded from beginner to expert with at least 2 half-pipes and lots of jumps. I'm not into jumps but plenty there for all tastes. From the bottom of that, we took the Pas de Lac gondola to the top of Saulire and then took the long Red - Chamois down to Meribel. Big wide slope - hard packed in places and a couple of steepish pitches, especially just after the Folie Douce - must be interesting when it disgorges lots of drunks onto the piste at dusk :shock:.

We had a ski-in, ski-out apartment which was very convenient. The village is quite large and confusing initially until you get the hang of it. Some nice restaurants but tended to be fairly pricy. We had lunch in La Maison in the village one day - pizzas up to €20 and €7.80 for a large coke :shock:. Seemed to be a few lively pubs but we tended to stick with the slightly quieter, O'Connells, at the top of the village. This had a decent atmosphere and you could hear yourself think :lol: . Pints of Grimbergen white beer for €7. Food on the mountain was generally good but certainly quite a bit more expensive that Austria or Italy. Treated ourselves to a bit of a blow-out long lunch in the restaurant at Chalet de la Marine (they also have a more modest bistro)above the resort on the Friday - weather was pretty crap so didn't mind losing ski time :lol:. The lamb confit was really excellent and came as part of a "menu" which included dessert for €39. Dessert consisted of a trip to the dessert counter where they filled your plate with a selection - we had plenty for 5 to share so not bad value at all :oops:.

Overall, I was really impressed with the scale and variety of the skiing. Snow was great even though it was quite late in the season and I could easily see it holding up well into April - they don't close until 8 May. Lift infrastructure was very good and kept going until after 5pm for some lifts giving very long days. It is relatively expensive but by eating in occasionally we kept costs down. Also lots of takeaway places so we got pizzas for the kids while the adults headed out for proper food a couple of nights - this kept everybody happy :mrgreen:.

Travelled through Lyon airport. This was a bit of a pain. Delays getting through passport control on the way in and way out, long delay in luggage coming through, slow security line on way home, etc :twisted:.

We travelled out on Saturday, 19th and stayed in resort for 7 nights but skied a full day on Saturday 26th. Then headed to Chambery where we stayed overnight. Only been to the airport before which is a hellhole at ski weekends but the town is lovely :wink: . Really pretty pedestrianised centre. Flight home on Sunday afternoon.

Will post some GoPro footage shortly :!:

What an excellent and helpful trip report. Thanks Wanderer. This is one I will be cutting, pasting and emailing to myself for future reference !

Good stuff Wanderer, glad you enjoyed it.

People I know keep telling me to go back to the 3V - I learned in VT many years ago and have nothing but unpleasant memories of the whole week! However, I always manage to find reasons not to go back, and book elsewhere, despite being told the skiing is "world class". I know its a huge linked area that would suit me well.
However you've confirmed several reasons why I wont go back Im afraid - food and drink prices being a big one.

Interesting comments re Lyon airport. I used that a few times, admittedly to get to Serre Chevalier and once home from Alpe d'Huez, but found it worked really well when flying with BA. Not quite so good with Monarch, but thats what you get the you use the oldest fleet in the sky!!!

Never considered Chambery as a place to visit, might have to look at that for my cycling trips.....

This is a little bit of GoPro footage from our last day.

Wow nobody else there and looks like great snow.

Ranchero_1979 wrote:Wow nobody else there and looks like great snow.

In fairness, this footage was taken on Easter Saturday and changeover day does appear to be particularly quiet in the area - probably too far from any major city for weekenders. The resort was pretty much full for the week but this was not reflected on the slopes with the exception of the main "landing area" in front of the village which tended to be very busy all the time and some of the home runs in the afternoon. The plein sud run down from the Folie Douce could be fun between about 3.30 and 4.30 :shock:. But it was easy to escape the crowds and find lovely quiet slopes all over the resort :mrgreen:.

Yep great snow - the advantage of being so high :wink:

Tony - I wouldn't write it off as a destination. Yes, some of the food and drink prices can be ridiculous but the skiing is fantastic with a great variety of runs, most of them extraordinarily long, good infrastructure with no queues worth talking about :lol:. Probably great off-piste in the right conditions as well. The prices I have quoted were the extremes. More modest fare was available - still not cheap compared to Italy or most of Austria - but manageable. In the context of the overall cost of a ski holiday, it was not that material, especially as we cooked in a few evenings. We had a lovely apartment and it was easy to throw together a decent meal at a low cost, washed down by very nice high quality wines from the supermarket at much lower prices than at home :wink:.