The need to ski more mountains led us to a last-minute booking at the end of January. Catching the morning flight to Turin. We picked up the smallest car available at the airport, as we only carried our ski boots and a small bag.
Our skis were left behind purposely, as we were aiming for rental skis on this trip. Our first stop was Valtourneche in the Aosta Valley. Heavy snowfall in the alps was absent so far this winter. So we set the goal to find some wide, long and well-groomed slopes for carving. You will find this in the Cervino Ski Paradise. This ski area is one of the biggest in the alps, connecting Cervinia in Italy with Zermatt in Switzerland, all in one lift ticket.
A carvers paradise
The higher up you move in the system, the better the slopes are for carving. This rule obey especially on the Zermatt side. So if you are looking for convenient skiing, there is no need to go all the way down on the dark side. Stay high in Switzerland to avoid narrow and step slopes full of moguls.
It’s just one and a half hour drive from the Turin airport to Valtourneche. We were done with checking in and ski rentals before noon. Finding our self in a gondola heading up the mountain before noon on this first day.
We stayed with half board at Hotel Al Caminetto. A small family-owned hotel in the center of the village, affordable and price worthy. What we really love abut skiing in Italy is the slope food. Skiing in Italy can sometimes be a little off date, especially when it comes to the lifts.
Italian slopes face the sun and so does the restaurants. Who do not love Italian food and wine in the sun? When in Valtourneche you need to stop at Foyer DES Guides for lunch or a drink. It’s located right at the slope halfway down the mountain. Their terrace is facing south and once you landed a table, you will be stuck for hours.
The goal for today skiing was Courmayeur. Another Italian ski classic just an hour drive away from where we woke up this morning. This ski area is located at the end of the Aosta Valley. The whole area is overlooking the sunny side of Mount Blanc. Or Monte Bianco as it’s called in Italy
One day in Courmayeur
As a ski resort, Courmayeur is smaller and more compact than Cervino. But it’s not small. A wide variety of slopes in three different directions ensure there is something for everyone here. On the sunny side overlooking the Aosta Valley, you will find easier wide slopes for carving. On the north side there are steeper, more demanding slopes. In the northwest corner you will find world-class off-piste. Easy accessible by the vintage YOULA and ARP cable cars bringing you up to 2755 meters.
From the top you will have your own choice of path down to the Val Veny facing a 1200-meter vertical drop. But beware, the last couple of kilometers at the bottom reaching the Zerotta chairlift are flat. Courmayeur is a favorite, not only because of the easy access and variety of slopes. Here you will find some of the best on slope restaurants in the world. One of them; Chiecco is a personal favorite for both of us. A stop at Courmayeur is worth it, just to go up there for lunch.
When skiing is done for the day, the village of Courmayeur as a lot to offer. So even if we did not stay for the night this time, we can highly recommend a couple of days here. Our goal for the night was Hotel Pointe Isabelle on the other side of Mont Blanc tunnel, downtown Chamonix.
Moving on to France
The drive between the two ski towns is due to the tunnel less than an hour. So we checked in at the hotel and headed out for a good meal. When in France, we are continually looking for some good seafood. And that we found just a two-minute walk from our hotel at Josefine.
The luxury of not skiing in Chamonix
Skiing in Chamonix is world-famous, no doubt. But it requires snow in the valley, and so far, this year snow was absent in the lower regions. The only option for skiing was to go both up and down, with the first cable cars or gondolas surrounding the town.
After three days of good carving in Italy and Switzerland, gaining sore bodies and burning legs, we decided to take a day off from skiing. The plan for the day was just strolling in the town and pay a visit to the QC Terme. A day ticket at the SPA is more or less the same as a day ticket to the lifts. No harm to the budget was done in that decision, but well worth it.
There are a few QC Terme SPAs around in the alps. We can strongly recommend exchanging a day of skiing for an SPA experience when they are in the neighborhood.
Well, you can’t go to Chamonix not to ski if you are a skier, can you? Off course not. After we were done relaxing at the terme, we went to the ski shop to rent some skis. It surprised us how hard it was to find some decent race carvers in the rental shops.
Who rent carving skis in Chamonix?
First at the third stop we finally found something ski able for the existing snow conditions. The next morning after checking out from the hotel we took the ski bus to the gondola bringing us up to planpraz at 2000 meters. With snow conditions like this, Chamonix does not stand out. The two areas, Brévent and Flégére that are connected. Not by skiing but with a flat leveled cable car, offering on piste skiing mostly in black or red terrain. To steep for long turn carving on busy days like this.
There are some blue/red slopes who were very crowded due to the circumstances. Chamonix is one of the ski capitals in the world and there are numerous skiers here. Not only tourists but also residents. When conditions are like this, relying on man-made snow or hard pack, there are far better places to go skiing than the lift systems around Chamonix. This might also be the answer why it was so difficult to find 17 radius carve machines in the rental shops downtown.
On-piste skiing isn’t the talk of the town
They are simply not suitable for the skiing offered by the mountain. After we had ski through the system. Which is easily done within two hours when there is no powder snow in sight. We ended up with our usual habit, locating the best on slope restaurant in the current system. The La Bergerie de planpraz.
After a long and satisfying lunch break at La Bergerie we took the gondola back downtown and headed for the rental shop. Dropped off our skis and jumped in our rental car. It was time to hit the road again. The goal for this evening was Val d’Isere, one of the leading ski resorts in the world. Even though it’s just 150km between Chamonix and Val d’Isere, you have to calculate with at least a three-hour drive.
On the journey you will pass quite a few good resorts, all worth a visit. Already before leaving the Vallée Blanche, you will pass by Les Houches. This is where the F.I.S alpine world cup is held annually.
Val d’Isere, a skiers paradise
Just reaching the bottom of the valley, you start a hill climb on a narrow and winding road to the next ski area; Megève. And so it goes on. La Clusaz, Bissane, Valmorel, Courchevel, La plagne, Les Arc. The names of great ski resorts keep piling up along the way. In fact, in this part of the world, you can ski for months without having to ski the same slope more than once. Well, we didn’t have a month of time, we had only two days left on our speed trip. So we keep on moving, leaving all these slopes behind for another time. At dinnertime, we finally arrived in Val d’Isere.
Weather can be a challenge in this region, being a high altitude location at 1850 meters above sea level. With that said, it’s also one of the most snow proof resorts in the alps.
This time we hit the jackpot. The forecast for the upcoming days was calm wind, sun and -5°c/23°F. Perfect ski conditions, in other words, there was no option to lie in. Early wake-up call, a quick breakfast and time to hit the slopes. The ski area of Val d’Isere is connected to Tignes and Val Claret, it’s huge. From the top of La Grand Motte to the bottom of Les Bréviérs it’s almost 2000 meter/6500 feet skiable elevation.
The area includes two glaciers, La Grand Motte and Pisaillas. It’s challenging to ski the whole area in two days. But we aimed to give it a try, heading up the first morning gondola at Solaise to reach the sun at the top. The plan was to explore the northern part of the system in the morning and take care of the central system around Bellevarde and La Daille in the afternoon.
Up and down, around and around
This was the first time back in Val d’Isere for me since the early 90s, and I pity myself for not go here more often. First, the lifts are all up to date except for a few vintages one, but they have their charm too. Skiing is a dream, long wide slopes with the perfect mix between red and blue, like they were built for modern carving.
The advantage of skiing red/blue slopes when you are skiing in a gang is that everyone can keep up the pace. Which is not the case when you go into the black ones. No transportation tracks. In Val d’Isere the terrain is skiable all over. You jump off a lift and ski down to the next, and there is always a good run looking back at.
During this morning, we skied all the lifts on the north side without skiing the same slope twice, that’s nice! With burning legs after four hours of non-stop skiing except for a pit stop espresso at the bottom of the vallon gondola. We took the olympique cable car up to the other side and stopped for a well-deserved lunch at the top of the Bellevarde.
After the lunch break, we pointed our ski tips down the OK slope. An Icon race piste not only for Val d’Isere but also for the Henning family. This was the piste my brother Niklas won the F.I.S World Cup super-g on skis back in 1989. I myself competed in the I.S.F Word Pro Tour in the same discipline on snowboard the year after.
Skiing down the memory lane is always special. I can tell you that the race from that day in history still goes down the spinal cord. For me, it’s independent of slope. I remember them all as soon as I enter the top of a piste where I have once raced. The OK ends up in La Daille and from there you can take either a subway train back up to the top or a gondola, it’s your choice.
Closing hour coming up and time to go back to the village and our Hotel le Val d’Isere which is perfectly located right in the middle. After a well-deserved sauna and a dip in the pool, we went out for some shopping and a drink before it was time to hit the sack to gain power for the next day on the slope.
Three resorts in one
The ski area of Val d’Isere connects several villages, including Val Claret and Tignes. It’s a hard work to ski through the lift system in two days. But we gave it a good try as the conditions were outstanding. Taking the first cable car in the morning up to Bellevarde once again and heading in to the Val Claret bowl.
In Val Claret there is a train going two thirds up the mountain to the base of the grand motte glacier. When I was a kid, this glacier used to be the perfect training ground in the autumns. Due to climate change, there are only a few weeks of summer skiing going on here. Except the excellent winter skiing, of course. Anyway, taking the last cable car up to the top is awarded as you get a long descent down to the bottom again.
Skiing the bowl of Val Claret
Moving on around the bowl of Val Claret gives you a new perspective of how a perfect ski resort is to be set up, it’s a pure pleasure skiing your way through this system. Not only that, the lifts are up-to-date, the slopes are fun, offer a great variation and the Mountain View is stunning as well.
All in all, this valley offers all you can wish for in terms of a ski holiday. However, the architecture of the village Val Claret and Tignes bears the marks of 60s and 70s brutalism just as many other French ski resorts, and that does not rhyme with coziness.
Val d’Isere, on the other hand, has taken a different turn to their architecture where they tried to follow a red tread inspired by history, which makes this part of the valley the place to stay. After six intense days, our round trip was about to end as we drove back to Turin via the Frejus tunnel. In order to catch the early flight home, we checked in at a refurbished old farm hotel named Romantic Hotel Furno which turned out to be far better than any ordinary airport hotels. Well, this was indeed at ski trip on speed, and we can highly recommend everyone to copy this trip as it was a blast.
