Worldwide Ski Resorts • France • Valmorel

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Overview

Located south of Lake Geneva and near Chambery, Valmorel lies across the Maurienne and Tarentaise valleys with pistes from an altitude of 1400 to 2550m — here you can stand at the very top of the Col de Madeleine which features on many Tour de France mountain stages.

It is a pretty, traditional style resort made up of several small hamlets and the central village of Valmorel and although purpose built has maintained the chalet-style architecture to keep the traditional feel. There are fairly extensive slopes at Valmorel to suit all but the most adventurous of experts but is ideal as a family resort with groups of mixed abilities. The local ski schools are renowned for their teaching of beginners with dedicated learning areas.

Profile

Valmorel is a purpose-built ski resort but has the appeal of a traditional Alpine town with its low-rise stone and wood buildings and traffic-free main street. Valmorel also features ski-in/ski-out accessibility and has excellent facilities and a good range of shops. Thousands of beds are available in slope-side luxury hotel/resorts, traditional-looking chalets, apartments and private residences.

Valmorel offers over 150 km of piste, which are mainly aimed at intermediate skiers, although beginners will find some nice easy runs on which to learn. There may not be enough runs to keep advanced skiers occupied however if conditions permit,there is some off-piste skiing. Noteworthy is the fact that the resort can suffer from a lack of snow as it is fairly low at 1400m. This can prevent you from skiing to your door. Also, the lift system could do with an upgrade to speed things up.

Mountain Information

The pistes are aimed in the main at beginner and intermediate skiers and Valmorel will appeal to these levels most. The area is particularly well covered by pistes and the resort has 153kms in total, which comes close to some of the bigger and better known resorts. The ski area is also laid on grass so that at the end of the season even when the snow gets thin, you don’t find the rocks that feature in so many of the other big-name resorts! The Grand Domaine, of which Valmorel is a part, has 201 snow cannons, 52 lifts and a snow zone area with a boarder-cross and a half-pipe.

Apres Ski

The main village is surprisingly lively for a relatively undiscovered resort with a number of bars and restaurants to grab your interest. For a purpose built resort Valmorel is very sympathetic and there is plenty of accommodation slope side. The main high street is traffic free and activities are centred here. There are some fine restaurants serving traditional fare as well as some lively bars and traditional pubs.

French Resort Guide

Resort Information • Valmorel

Resort Height Resort Height 1250m
Top Station Top Station 2550m
Bottom Station Bottom Station 1250m
Vertical Descent Vertical Descent 1300m
Drag Lifts Drag Lifts 16
Chair Lifts Chair Lifts 8
High Capacity High Capacity 0
Opening Dates Opening Dates Dec - April
Rating Expert Rating Expert 5
Rating Intermediate Rating Intermediate 6
Rating Beginner Rating Beginner 7
Apres Ski Rating Apres Ski Rating 6
Snow Reliability Snow Reliability 7

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