Where to Ski And Snowboard - Val Thorens offers new runs, new passes

Val Thorens offers new runs, new passes

1st October 2010, by Chris Gill

Nice when it's sunny, but reliably snow sure

Continuing last season’s creation of a new nursery area and slopes, Val Thorens has been busy expanding it for the new season: with the construction of two more green runs and a red.

The new green slopes form part of a free beginner area that was built for 2009/10, with covered moving carpet lifts. One of these new runs, Campagnols, is deliberately ‘z’ shaped for making those first turns down a piste a bit more interesting than the nursery enclosure. For intermediates, a red run (Les Chardons) has been created in the Plein Sud area, as an alternative to the existing blue pistes. It also gives access to a new family picnic site.

And while the skiing members of the group get to grips with the parallel turn, non-skiers venturing to Val Thorens (not, we note, an ideal ‘off-slope’ resort) now have the option of a new three-in-one leisure pass, and a walker’s lift pass.

A pedestrian 6-day pass costs 54 euros and covers eight lifts in the resort, including access to the “fourth” valley and Orelle. So, you can plan walks or head up the mountain for lunch. Perhaps more useful if you’re a non-skier there, is the leisure pass, costing 111 euros; including the eight lifts, plus a descent on the toboggan run and entry to the resort’s two swimming pools and leisure centre facilities.

Val Thorens is Europe’s highest resort, so makes a sensible choice for an early or late season break – although its height and lack of trees makes it a bleak place when the weather closes in!