Ski Club 2.0 Home
Snow Reports
FAQFAQ

Mail for help.Help!!

Log in to snowHeads to make it MUCH better! Registration's totally free, of course, and makes snowHeads easier to use and to understand, gives better searching, filtering etc. as well as access to 'members only' forums, discounts and deals that U don't even know exist as a 'guest' user. (btw. 50,000+ snowHeads already know all this, making snowHeads the biggest, most active community of snow-heads in the UK, so you'll be in good company)..... When you register, you get our free weekly(-ish) snow report by email. It's rather good and not made up by tourist offices (or people that love the tourist office and want to marry it either)... We don't share your email address with anyone and we never send out any of those cheesy 'message from our partners' emails either. Anyway, snowHeads really is MUCH better when you're logged in - not least because you get to post your own messages complaining about things that annoy you like perhaps this banner which, incidentally, disappears when you log in :-)
Username:-
 Password:
Remember me:
👁 durr, I forgot...
Or: Register
(to be a proper snow-head, all official-like!)

Orelle - What's it like?

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Will be going to the 3 Valleys at the end of Jan for a month and I am keen to venture over to Orelle. Has anyone been and would they be able to tell me what the skiing is like over there?
ski holidays
 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Skiing is really nice over in Orelle, we skied it often last Xmas as it was our route home from Val T...well worth a visit!
latest report
 Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
I drove 37 miles from Bourg St Maurice so that I could parked my car right at the heart of Val Thoren to ski Orelle.

Like the rest of the Tarentaise some runs near the top were closed and others could be stony. That is my assessment of Orelle which was nearly identical when I was exploring La Plagne and trying to ski to Champagny. In other word the best snow condition was in the main resort Val Thoren! The ski map shows Orelle a quiet zone with great snow potential but unfortunately snow is in short supply at Jan 2005.

If you spend a month there Valmorel could worth a visit. Like Orelle its St. Francis can be accessed from another valley outside Tarentaise.
latest report
 You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
Tuck Thong, yes Orelle has some very nice skiing and it's definitely worth going there during your 3V trip. There are only 3 chair lifts at Orelle (and the cable car up from Orelle village below) and 6 pisted runs (and a boarder cross course), but you can do nearly 1000m of vertical in one run and there's some excellent fast cruising red/blue skiing from the top. The pistes seem to stay in better condition on the Orelle side too (disagree with Saikee there, I was in VT for 4 weeks in Feb/Mar 04 and went over most days Smile ). The other attraction is the off-piste; the highest Bouchet chair you can traverse onto a big wide open bowl below glacier Pointe Renod with lots of powder opportunities. The longer off-piste run off the back of the Bouchet chair into the valley below Glacier Bouchet is well worth doing too and is not difficult.

The thing to watch is the weather - it can get very cold and blowy over there and the visibility can be dreadful if the cloud comes into the Orelle valley. Try go on a day when the vis is good and the wind is down - check for reports at the Grand Fond or Caron stations before you go over.

If you don't mind a short black run (can be a bit icy), then the easiest access is from the top of Cime Caron cable car instead of Grand Fond, fantastic views of the top too. If you go from Grand Fond it involves some walking/poling on a track across a very windy ridge - this was deeply unpopular with the boarders in our party! snowHead
ski holidays
 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
The Orelle is South facing so consequently gets a lot of sun. Any off-piste sking is probably better done earlier in the day rather than in the afternoon. The snow was in very good condition early this January, maybe because it was sheltered from the strong winds, predominately from the North, in December.
snow report
 You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
The "4th valley" is my favourte spot in the 3 valleys. Check out some of SussexSnow's comments on the Snowspots wiki site.
ski holidays
 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
The snow in the 4th Valley is holding up pretty well at the moment (or was a couple of days ago) and it's a delightful place to ski - much quieter than the other three valleys. Like most of the area, it could do with a fresh dump and lovers of off-piste will be disappointed at the moment. Definitely worth a visit if you're down this way.
snow report



Terms and conditions  Privacy Policy