WHAT’S SO SPECIAL ABOUT VAL D’ISERE?
Val d’Isère is probably considered the best ski resort in the world, or at least in Europe, by more skiers than any other resort. The ‘resort of the millennium’ has everything.
Of course, every ski resort, however obscure, has at least one aficionado who rates it the best in the world. But for most skiers to put Val d’Isère at the top of their list of favourite places it must be pretty special. Val d’Isère’s secret is not that it has something for everybody, but that it has so much for everybody.
The season lasts longer in the Espace Killy (Val d’Isère and Tignes) than almost anywhere else in Europe, because these resorts are high, have exceptional snowfall, and are slightly north-facing. In spite of another exceptional snowfall in the last week of April, the lifts closed as scheduled on 3 May 2009 only because there weren’t enough people skiing to justify keeping them running! 300 snow cannons put down a base in November before the lifts have even opened which always lasts well into the following June, and the two glaciers offer excellent summer skiing as well as incredible conditions all winter.
There are 300km of wide, varied, beautifully groomed runs catering for every sort of piste skier, from wobbly beginners on their first green run to experts straightlining the OK, hitting the bumps of the S or Sache, or scaring the bejabers out of themselves and the rest of us on the legendary Face de Bellevarde.
Val d’Isère enjoys one of the world’s biggest off-piste areas, much of it on unspoilt National Park land. There are vast expanses of mountainside accessible directly from lifts, yet where one doesn’t see a lift or a piste for hours. Instead of sanitized ‘back bowls’ there are literally thousands of acres of hidden ridges and valleys, some a short walk carrying skis, others a longer walk on skins. Some fanatics ski so far they have to return by helicopter…
Snowboarders find an extraordinary range of slopes with deep snow without the mandatory sack-race shuffle to reach it.
There are wide nursery slopes with free lifts, good snow and snow cannons to keep it that way.
There is a brilliant snow park with everything from little ramps for one’s first six inches of big air to huge jumps where the dudes have time for multiple spins, flips and trouser-retrievals.
There are more than a dozen ski schools, offering everything from teddy bear clubs to powder days, from race training to free-riding, from scaredy-cats to heli-skiing.
There may be better resorts for shopping. There may be resorts with better après-ski, though we don't know any.
But for skiing, Val d’Isère is the best resort on Earth.
Left: 29 November 2008 and right: 3 May 2009
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