Valloire

A snowHead

Ten of us including kids are off to Valloire...not really sure what to expect,most of us are experienced skiers apart from the kids.The piste map looks ok and we've got a 5* chalet for a grand. Can anyone enlighten us,any info would help.Cheers.

A snowHead

andyjc, no experience myself, but my sis-in-law and family loved it. They are not experienced skiers though.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

Well it's supposed to be a lovely setting! and still very french/unspoilt (no brits)! and fairly cheap according to what I've read,which isn't much. But can't really find much out about the slopes.

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andyjc, Skied there a couple of days a year or so ago. Can't comment on resort as we weren't staying there but drove up from the valley. Nice skiing, some good reds, nothing too scary but it's not a big area. The links between Valloire and Valmenier are were a bit of a pain because the lower runs were closed (early season lack of snow). Mountain restaurants and ski pass were good value. If you like smaller ski resorts you should enjoy it. I think the "No Brits" is a bit of an exaggeration...there were plenty around when we were there but it's certainly not taken over by them and is still quite French.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

It's supposed to be 150k which isn't too bad + I'm told you can get to Val Thoren on a day pass from some obscure lift near by...is that right?

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andyjc, If you've got a car you can drive down to the Orelle lift and go up into Val T from there - about 45 mins in the car? It's a pretty good way up into the 3V and the skiing on the Orelle side is very nice too even if you don't go up and over. The only problem is that the Orelle bubble can close in bad weather but they do a guarantee with the lift pass....if they let you go up they promise to get you back from Val T if the lift closes....mind you it'd be a hell of a drive round!!

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andyjc, I know the area reasonably well as we have an apartment in Valmeinier. Valloire is a small town rather than a purpose built ski resort so you may have a bit of a walk to the lifts. There are 2 main routes up depending on which mountain you choose with Setaz being the better for more competent skiiers although you need to ski across to Crey du Quart to reach the links to Valmeinier. Its from here that you will find the most challenging on-piste run in the area - grandes drozes under the 6 pack chair heading towards Valmeinier 1500. If you fancy something a little less frenetic and more scenic, the link from the top towards Valmeinier 1800 down combe orsiere is a nice long blue which is perhaps a little more challenging than the colour suggests at a couple of points down the run. On the subject of extent, I think 150km of marked piste is about right over the entire linked area.

We have always found it pretty quiet so if you are expecting lots of partying you may be disappointed. You will find (or at least hear!) a few Brits but generally it is mainly french with a few Italians and people from the Benelux countries.

If you are looking for lessons, I think the only ski school is ESF and in Valmeinier at least, I have heard comments that language can be a problem.

Check out the link which should give you a good idea of what to expect: http://www.valloire.net/hiver-ns/index.html

After all it is free

We are staying close to Les Verneys lift I think it has access to the Setaz sector...Whatever,it must be ok if you've purchased a place.

andyjc, Skied there a couple of years ago for 3 days, pretty good varied skiing. Stopped further down the valley so unable to comment on the night life etc.
As homphomp, mentioned worth contemplating a trip via Orelle to the 3V (approx 22€ upgade for the day), it's about 30-40 mins down the valley, then 20 min gondola.

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My first ever ski trip was in Valmeinier which is linked to Valloire. We had unbelievable weather/snow and i enjoyed it greatly. The pistes were generally very empty and well groomed, the only bad thing being the link between Valloire and Valmeinier - lots of slow drags and flat pistes... However, Valloire has the majority of the runs anyway so its not like you need to get over to Valmeiner every day to have decent skiing.

From what I saw when i skiied to Valloire and had lunch there, it was quite nice and actually felt like a town, rather than the majority of other French resorts. If you do want to Ski over to Valmeinier, be warned, there is not much there at all! Its just a compact purpose built resort which may be very convenient, but not great for apres ski.

To the beginners in your group, i would advise to use the blue pistes rather than the green ones - the green ones tend to be roads which are very narrow. Admittedly, they are not steep but there is not much room to make your turns and depending on the confidence of the skier, it can cause problems.

Im sure that you will have a great holiday, its a great resort that offers a different experience to the typical French mega resorts.

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

oasis13, it may of changed a bit since you were there regarding the links between Valmeinier and Valloire. From Valmeinier to Valloire, you only need to take 1 drag lift that is reached from the fast grandes drozes 6 pack chair and then it is a 'double', i.e. 2 side abreast.

Coming back the other way you can avoid drag lifts completely if you link to Valmeinier 1500 via Crey du Quart. If you want to link directly to Valmeinier 1800 via combe, then you have to take 1 long drag (be aware, it is a bit fierce to start with) but that's it.

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You know it makes sense.

Just got back from valloire and very impressed - was exactly as described. A real friendly town with plenty going on, nice modern apartments that would be ski in ski out in a more bountiful snow season and easy well groomed quiet crusing runs, all for not a lot of cash.

We got the train via paris to st michel de maurienne, hopped in cab right outside the station, E10 each direct to the door of our apartments (Valmonts) which turned out to be fairly spacious for french self catering, although with one v. small bunk room and no oven! Quick check in, with a 'rep' on hand to sort out passes and ski hire if desired. Sauna busy but nice, pool rather small and cold but ok for a few laps and convienient. The apartments are only 300m or so from town but 200m up a steep hill - although you can cheat by using the lift in the first/lowest block to get all the way to the top and then walking back down the road to the 'back' door of the higher blocks which makes it not so bad. Very frequent ski bus up and down the hill (every 3-5mins!)

The town was lovely - big enough to have a bit of a life of it's own, there was a boarding comp, a snow sculpure exhibition and a big screen viewing of the schladming night slalom while we were there, plus cinema & icerink.

The skiing was as expected, slightly limited by my scale (not helped by the weather!) but v. well groomed, quiet, crusing runs and lots of scope for the 8 beginners I had with me (lots of easy blue/green slopes including all the major links). No queues and some fast lifts. Unfortunately not quite enough chair lifts, there are still drags in inconvienient places, both in and out of valmeinier still involves a drag and after a couple of days of avoiding the other drags I began to feel like I'd spent my entire time on the TSD Brive2, a big 6 which forms the backbone of the crey du quart sector and is the chair lift for almost every run down that face. It does at least make it easy to meet up with friends at different levels - not matter the route you take - you end up at the bottom of brive2 one way or another!

Valloire is a great place to practice high speed carving or for anyone needing a confidence boost - soldanelle, pervenche and blanchots were my favourite fast cruisers. Be warned though if your confidence is inspired by the easy reds - perhaps it was just the conditions but the grand drozes black was certainly challenging enough for us and a big step up from any of the other runs open. Selles is an INCREDIBLY long blue (12km), leading to a green all the way from the top of one sector to the bottom of the other - gentle and a great confidence boost for the near beginner. The runs to valmeinier are also long and mostly straightforward blues; combe orciere is the more challenging, steeper at the top, and narrower at the bottom than armera - very enjoyable fast run. The beginners slope is up the moutain which helps if snow is not so good.

The 8 beginners all had ESF lessons with mixed results - 2 'skied once years ago at school never since' + 3 'never set eyes on a ski before' enrolled in 'debutant', the remaining 3 one weekers in level one. The latter class seemed well taught if not quite exciting enough for the more adventurous in the group - Despite the occasional 'boo-oring' complaint the improvement in all 3 was noticeable, they went from shaky almost parallels with lots of body swing to competent intermediates well able to hold their own with myself and the other 3 5-10 weekers. The 'debutants' results were more mixed - their instructor was either inspired or insane, pushed them hard from day 1 and had them speeding all over the mountain, off piste, on the reds (don't worry about stopping or turning until it flattens out apparently), down an icy undergraded blue, and at one point even confiscated one ski off everyone! 4 of the 5, despite a mid week crisis, flourished, but he lost one of them on day 2 and she rarely skied again all week, nerve gone by being pushed onto and off chairlifts (shes afraid of heights it seems!) and of the others in the class only one made it to the last day! We also had two private lessons, mine was ok but too much what(taking away my poles/poles behind back/follow me) and no why (not commiting to downhill leg, leaning with body and not flexing are my guesses). The other was better - good exercies & explanations and my friend was impressed.

Food and drink wise: on the mountain chalet ripalle (by the drag of the same name) was the best food by some considerable margin. The place at the bottom of the setaz gondola does good panini and excellent burgers. The "cafe chant du pain" up the main street from the brive gondola does excellent pastries, but surly service! Off the mountain restaurant l'escale which backs onto the brive gondola was friendly with lots of fondue choices and excellent creme brulee.

Ski hire: The beginners hired from the relatively friendly but slightly expensive skiset at the roundabout, ok apart from a tendency to give everyone skis far too long (I had to ask them to change 5 of 8 pairs down at least one size). The chamois sport seemed better and cheaper and the 4 'intermediates' all hired from here ( we had the luxury of time to shop around as no lessons to run to!)

Overall we had a great, trouble free holiday and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend the resort to other beginners & intermediate cruisers.

aj xx

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

a.j., thanks for that post - we're off to Valloire on the 16th for the first time so it's great to get some up to date info. We're staying in the Chalets de la Vallée d'Or just near where you were - hope Lutins is open by next week! May try your lift trick - thanks for the tip. I was interested that the food at the chalet ripaille was good - I have been reading some French forums where they were moaning about it, but that may have been last season.

A snowHead

the lift trick doesn't work unless you are in the valmonts (you need their door codes). the d'Or chalets are quite a bit further up - you'll definately be wanting the bus! On the plus side they did look very nice and were taking delivery of a second hot tub while we were there - maybe it will be in by the time you arrive Wink

Ripalle isn't excellent by any means but the others we tried on mountain were worse (2 weren't open and one is on the really long blue so choice was limited) while ripalle has good desserts and soup/salad choices. I got the feeling most people headed back into the villages for lunch to be honest.

Have a great time!

aj xx

A snowHead

How busy does Valloire get in February? I've been to St Sorlin D'Arves the last 2 years and although busy it is tolerable. I'm thinking about moving a little further along the valley to Valloire for half term next February (I know this years is only just over but...). Ther is also mention of a shuttle from Grenoble has anyone used that?

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

There will be at least four UK school groups there at half term, I predict - SkiBound operate two hotels in Valloire.

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Bump.

Colin B, did you do Valloire in half-term in the end? Any comments on how busy it was/n't? It's in pole position for my (enforced) half-term jaunt (or rather Valmeinier, but treating them as more-or-less the same thing).

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Have bin looking into going to Valloire myself this feb. Can anyone confirm that the link between Valloire and Valmeinier is no longer a drag. Seemed to be some conflicting reports earlier on here. On that note what is the area like for drag lifts. Being a snowboarder I tend to try to avoid places overrun by drag lifts Very Happy

andyjc, You mentioned you had a chalet??? Any chance of letting us know the name. have tried to find chalets in this resort but have only come up with hotels so far....

Thx

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We had a lovely 5 star chalet, try www.les-fermes-du-planet.com there are 4* and 5* chalets for 4 to 14 people. We had the 5* chalet caile for 10-12 people, best chalet i've ever stayed in. The chalet is about 1 mile out of town but there is a chair 100m up the road and the free shuttle bus stops outside, all the time. You will find loads of others for valloire and other areas at www.mediavacances.com . This is a french owners website.
As far as i remember the link is a chair lift.

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

The link from Valloire to Valmeinier 1500 is a chair across the valley that can be taken both ways .No drags needed to ski there and back in either direction. However if you wanted to link with Valmeinier 1800 most people would have to take the long Plateau drag which a boarder would hate. You can make this link from the top of Brive 2 chair as long as the black Coterieux run is open and you are happy skiing it.
The only other long drag is Cornafond on the Valloire side. not a nice one but can be avoided completely.
Last half term getting out of Valloire in the morning was a bit busy but once on the mountain no probs at all apart from the number of slow chairs

After all it is free

Andy,

Interest in Valloire for Xmas. Could you tell me please how you travelled (airport, travel from etc). I am looking at flying into Chambery but then found that minibus transfers are around £420 for for. Didn't particularly want to hire a car.

Help!!

Valloire

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