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Valloire 2010 - trip report

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Resort: Valloire (linked to Valmienier)

Country: France

Domain: Galiber-Thabor (savoie)

Author: Carettam

Date: Jan/Feb 2010

Our holiday: One week cheap DIY with 6 skiers in our 20s and 30s, 1 beginner skier, the rest were strong intermediate skiers/boarders of varying confidence/ability.

Website: www.valloire.fr

Basics: Valloire and Valmienier are linked resorts which make up the Galiber-Thabor ski area, with 150km of pistes spread over three peaks. Valliore is the bigger of the two resorts, and is a real mountain village with heart; where as Valmienier 1800 is a purpose built satellite. Both villages have a predominantly French feel, and the locals are very friendly, from the lifties to the shop keepers.

Flights/transfers: Flew into Chambery, then DIY transfer. Taxi from airport to train station took 10 minutes (20 euro), then a train to St Michel du Maurienne (St Michel Valloire) took approximately 1 hour and cost 12.50 euro per single ticket. Buses run up to resort and cost 10 euro each way (must book return ticket in advance of leaving day) or 15 euro return.

Lift system: Mostly good, with hands free lift pass (150 euros for 6 days). There are two fast gondolas to take you up two of the three mountains. There are some fast quads and six packs but these are mixed in with some slow old 2 mans and a few drag lifts. Nearly all drag lifts can be easily avoided, which is good news for boarders! We did find the two-way chair over to Valmienier painfully slow, as we seemed to spend over 30 minutes on various lifts before we got to do any skiing on that mountain, so we only went over there on one day. The lift queues were no existent, even during peak ski school time at the gonodola. I think we only ever waited about 2 minutes in a fast moving queue at peak time.

The terrain: Excellent variety of terrain of all grading and some nice off piste too. On the main Crey du Quart mountain, there were some nice greens for our beginner that were quiet and gentle, but covered a fair section of the mountain so they got a feeling of travel. These greens often crossed red and blue pistes which proved useful later in the week, as our beginner could then try our sections of steeper terrain before rejoining the green, therefore being able to avoid any particularly scary steep sections.

Most pistes of all grading were well groomed and wide, with few people. We found the reds on the open Crey du Quart section were on the easy side, with only sections of serious steepness so good for motorway cruising, while on the tree-lined Setaz mountain, the reds were definitely of steep gradient for much of their length. Conversely, the groomed blacks on Setaz (Olympique, Melezes, etc) were generally just steep reds. The blues and greens on Setaz (Rhodos, Moulin, etc) were mostly just snaking mountain roads, but the views of the church and donkey farm made them interesting, and there is some good ‘just off piste’ to be had if the conditions are good (which they were when we were there). There were some more challenging mogulled blacks, especially Grand Drozes, which has a tricky section two thirds of the way down where it gets narrow and bends to the left. This section is quite shaded and was a little icy when we did it. One of our favourite pistes to do as a whole group was the blue Armera which is close to the Valmienier link. This run had something for everyone, pretty pine forest views, a few steeper sections to challenge, some easily accessible off piste through trees, and some rollers where you needed to build up a bit of speed on the downhill to get up the next one (without getting tiresome). We found the Valmienier pistes to be not quite as interesting as the Setaz sector, as a few pistes were quite narrow and appeared to be a little busier than the Valloire side.

Note: The pistes back to resort from the Crey du Quart mountain remained closed throughout our stay (lutins, etc), despite there being 30 – 40cm snow depth at resort level. Many people ignored the closed sign and skied them anyway including a ski school, but as our friend found out, the reason they were closed was that the pistes are quite narrow, not snow cannoned and unable to cope with a high volume of traffic, leading to icy and bare patches – and scratched up board/ski bases. The very bottom of the run was well used in the mornings as a ski from door piste for the accommodations situated on the mountain side (like us), and this section was fine.

The snow: Excellent, packed powder for most of the week with a couple of ‘top-ups’ over night, and a big dump of powder on our last day. Blue sky days, fresh snow by night, and a powder day….what more can you ask for?

Off-piste: Plenty available, including short hops between pistes, under chairlift runs, tree runs, to some nice bowls, etc. Some parts of the area tend to get quite wind blown, so after some high winds there were many wind slabs about and the avalanche risk reached 4.

The resort: Valloire is a friendly mountain village/town and has a vibrant atmosphere. Life is centred in a handful of streets near the church, where there is an abundance of restaurants, bars, a few nightclubs, a couple of supermarkets and some shops. Valloire has a family feel and is welcoming and bustling without being too busy or loud. There is a cinema, ice rink, bowling alley but not too much else for non skiers. There are plenty of free ski buses, and even a novelty ‘tourist train’ to take skiers to the lifts.

Ski school: There are two ski schools, ESF and ESI. Our beginner used ESI and was very happy with the lessons. The instructor spoke excellent English, was supportive and encouraging. However, there was a bit of a ‘cheesy’ element to the lessons, with moral boosting chants and songs but our friend found that this was actually enjoyable rather than annoying. It cost about 200 euro for 6 days of half lessons (2.5 hrs) and a 6 day lift pass, which seems very good value!

Accommodation: In Valloire there is a mix of hotels and SC apartments. We stayed in Odlays Residence Chalet de Valle d’Or, which is made up of 12 chalet blocks, and luckily we were in the one next to the main reception. Vallee d’Or is located up the hill from the main Crey du Quart gondola, and you can ski on the Lutins green piste from behind main reception. There are free ski buses that shuttle up and down the hill until 8 pm, so you don’t have to wait long to get on a bus. Our 6 person apartment was snug and basic but fully equipped. There was a double bedroom with en-suite bath, a twin room, a shower room, a separate toilet and then the main living space with open plan living/dining/kitchen. The sofa was also a single bed and a second bed was a camp bed. The kitchen had a large fridge with small freezer compartment, a hob, microwave and dishwasher. There was also a kettle, toaster and coffee maker. The living room had a balcony overlooking the town below. Ski lockers were provided and we had free use of the pool, which was half inside and half outside. We could also pay for the jacuzzi, sauna, board game hire, bakery delivery service, pool table, so there was plenty to keep us entertained. All for less than £100 per head (apartment cost £550 through skihorizon.com).

Food: We took pack lunches most days and there were a number of picnic rooms on the mountain for bad weather days. The mountain restaurants were fairly pricy (6 euro for some chips, 5 euro for a hot chocolate) compared with the town, although nothing compared to the big resort prices. The restaurants at the bottom of the pistes (especially Soleil at the base of the Setaz gondola) were far more reasonable, with coffee only 1 euro and vin chaud at 3 euro.
The food in the main restaurants in the village was excellent, lots of pizza, fondue and red meat around. We didn’t have a bad meal and the service was always friendly and warm. English is not widely spoken, although most service staff know some basic English. We found we got a warm welcome by attempting to converse in French.

Costs: We paid about £90 per head for the apartments, about £140 for 6 day ski pass (booked through skihorizon.com, who gave us a discount), about £50 - 70 for ski hire (Ski set and Sport 2000 were used, in both cases we had good kit and good service).

Conclusion: Overall, an excellent resort with varied skiing that won’t break the bank. The three mountains means the pistes are varied and interesting, the atmosphere of the town was great and the skiing was excellent due to great snow conditions and no crowds. I would highly recommend this resort!
ski holidays
 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
A very well written report.

Thanks.
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 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?
Good report. Like this resort too. Take it you weren't there during the ice sculpture week in the second part of January? This is definitely worth the detour.
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 You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
No we missed the actual scuptling, although the sculptures were still there when we arrived. Pretty amazing! A whole street lined with giant crafted ice.
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Good report, you captured the place well snowHead
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