Val D'Isere - difficulty of runs

A snowHead

Hi

I am due to be in Val D'Isere from 26 Feb to 6th March.

Having looked through some of the posts relating to Val on snowheads, it seems that:

a) The resort runs are pretty crappy.

b) Piste grading tends to be a bit optimistic.

I am not a fantastic skier by any stretch of the imagination, but can get down most pisted runs I have skiied without falling over too much. Cool

A lot of the advice I have seen seems to suggest getting the lift down rather than skiing down. Is this because the resorts runs are particularly steep or just busy and icy?

Also - I have seen a lot of references to The Face as being difficult. Is this because of the gradient or is it because of ice or moguls. I would quite like to have a go at it, but would like to know exactly what I am getting myself into.

Grateful for any comments on this and advice on Val generally!

Cheers

Gerard

A snowHead

I've never seen the face with moguls on but it can be quite icy, it's groomed every night. I think it's one of the best on piste runs in the espace killy and you should definitely have a go as it's a far better way to finish the day than taking the lift down. The blue however will be covered large moguls and people lying all over it at four o'clock and is generally a nightmare. Still better than taking the lift down though

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

Santons and M (from Bellevard and Solaise respectively) can be tricky at the end of the day. Face is a superb run. It can also cut up according to conditions, but grab it in the morning and it should be fine. My nervous intermediate friend made it down Face at lunchtime on the 4th day and regretted not doing it earler in the week. Yes, its steep in parts, but it's generally even pitch, wide enough to be forgiving, and has a few ridges that form natural rest points. Other than that the pistes are graded one lower compared to most resorts, but it's not as bad as it sounds because the runs are twice as wide as most other resorts.

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Hi Gerard,

From a first time Facer this season, I'd say on a good day with the sun shining and not very chopped up it could be a lovely relaxing run for an intermediate skiier. However, the reason it is a difficult run is that it gets icy - the first time we did it there hadn't been a lot of snow for a while and it really was a case of digging your edges in to control speed on the way down. Because it is out of the sun for most of the day it can get very icy, and has a reputation for it.

A few days later it had bucketed down with snow, and was a completely different run. It wasn't that chopped up, but the sheer volume of unpisted snow made it a challenging run for very different reasons to the icy day. Less of an issue controlling speed, more of an issue keeping burning legs going through the conditions - that said every run in the resort was the same.

Give us an idea of the kind of runs (what colour, and in what resort) you can ski comfortably, we should be able to tell you if you are going to be able to get down it safely and enjoy yourself.

In my opinion there's a lot of people who talk about the Face, and on Tignes side Trolles, who make it out to be the hardest run on earth. At the end of the day, with tired legs, you have to ski that run to get home in fading light. Of course, in those conditions it will be a challenge for most skiiers, so try to get on it earlier in the day - in my opinion just before lunch is probably a good time to give it a go, it's had a few hours of slightly warmer temperatures, and hopefully a bit of sun, so will soften up a bit, but shouldn't get too chopped up. By 4pm it is a different prospect. Once you've done it once, getting down at the end of the day is less of a challenge.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Will definitely have a go in that case - I much prefer wider runs than narrow ones.

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Sorry Monium, my last post crossed with yours.

I have skiied some blacks in Chamonix, Zermatt, Les Arcs and Whistler in a reasonable fashion. Reds are generally not a problem.

Struggled a little on the Swiss Wall in Avoriaz last year in icy, mogully conditions though... Skullie

After all it is free

Be wary of Verte to La Daille. Graded green but can be boiler-plate ice with a few puffs of artificial snow here and there. Unless things have changed a lot - been few years since I was there.

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Sounds great! Seriously looking forward to it now! snowHead

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Gerard McNeely, can't imagine you won't enjoy it - was my favourite stomping ground - though recently other areas have called. Picking up on bar shaker's comment, don't forget Fornet. A lot do, which can leave it in wonderful condition when other areas have been hammered.

You know it makes sense.

You will absolutely LOVE it Happy

I was there last year in March.

Face's reputation, IMHO, is because it is steep in places, and is pretty sustained - the last section is pretty long and steep all the way, so I guess its that end of day leg burn that some people find tough. Its super wide though, all the way. Do it at the start of the day in good condition to get a feel for it.

Generally speaking I found all the blacks in Val pretty fair for the grade - face is easy in comparison to some. If you feel up to it, the dotted blacks are seriously good fun. My experience of the week was, Val dotted black = steep mogul field. So if you love sustained bumps, then you'll love it, and its great for technique - I had just done a mogul course at 'Cas before we went, and by the end of the week in Val was loving the bumps.

The hardest run for me, was Foret. This one goes through the trees, is extremely (for me), narrow in places, and gets seriously mogully. To be fair the run was closed, but it was nails, and snowing heavy, somehow my snowboarder mate did better than me (on moguls?!!).

If you like steep, but smooth and wide, trolles over in Tignes is great fun, really cool steep bit and a def need to carry your speed up the flat bit into resort.

Def get up the Grande Motte ( Laughing

) and do descente, its beautiful up there, and late season hopefully lovely and sunny.

As others have said, make sure you explore the mountain, and get over to Tignes, its a massive area.

Hope you have a great time!

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

Depends on the weather between now and when you arrive. I haven't been down Face for a few weeks - last time I did it was hard-pack and it won't have improved much since then as (up until yesterday) we haven't had any snow for 3 weeks, just wall-to-wall sunshine. The word in the pub on Monday was - don't bother unless you enjoy sliding sideways. As mentioned above, the easier runs down to Val get pretty busy at the end of the day, but are good before lunch.
If we get the snow we've been praying for then Face in the morning can be a great run, but best avoided when there's a snow drought (last 3 weeks) or it's Half Term (next week).
Look out for the Grand Pre lift in the Bellevarde area. The snow there has been good all season - it's a great playground.
BTW - Face isn't super-wide all the way, but the short narrow section isn't as steep as other bits.

A snowHead

A snowHead

La Sache was the toughest run I did whilst there in 09. Face was closed due to the World Championships being on (good view of the end of the men's DH from the restaurant wink

) and access to the glacier was closed when we tried it due to high winds.

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

Ted Ligety didn't seem to have too much trouble with Face when I was there in December Toofy Grin

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If you get the first lift, then when its courderoy with nobody on it (everyone else is heading up to go to tignes) then you get a wonderful view down - migh be a bithard, but traverse a fe wturns then give it a run for 3 or 4 long turns.

Very nice

There's no easy way down anywhere later afternoon; my favourite spot is at the bottom of la daille watching everyone trying to get down narrrow pistes with no snow left on them when they shut the two pistes on the right (looking up hill) which they always seem to do. Lots of bum sliding going on

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Gerard McNeely, From the centre ov Val D there are two main mountain areas - Solaise and Bellevard. The runs down from Solaise can be a bit busy but I wouldn't generally recommend taking the lift down. I think there is a case for the lift down from Bellevard in some conditions for some skiers. There are 4 main piste options: Epaule de Charvet, a black which is fun in good snow but often rocky and often closed; Santons, a blue which is a gully part of the way and often resembles a ten-pin bowling lane with the pins being fallen skiers. Great for practicing slalom round bodies. It ends with a long schush and very long flat bit; Face, which you've already been told about. Great fun in good snow but not much fun in icy conditions or when it's not snowed for a while; and finally the group of pistes going down to La Daille - these can be bedlam towards the end of the day and while doable they can be very busy with quite a few narrow stretches. So there is a case for spending more time in good snow on great pistes up top and then nipping in the Olympique gondola to come down.
As far as the rest of it goes, no-one has yet mentioned Leisse - a wonderful black just off the side of the grand motte. If you get frersh snow it can be great. Also fun to do the end-to-end tour from Fornet to Brevieres via the Motte. Quite a challenge to do that in time for a late lunch.

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After all it is free

Santons is best done on a Saturday morning, French transfer day. We have had it to ourselves and it's then the most awesome natural halfpipe.

Leisse is great and the off piste to the far side (from the train station) is safe and can be sparsely tracked after a dump.

For €15 you can buy a 'first tracks' ticket to do Double M at 8.00am. It's quite something to do but, really, Double M never gets that messed up.

Do the four corners, if you get a chance. It's a great day out.

Also get in a chilli bowl or burger at the Loop (on the right at the bottom of Trolles) or a lasagne at L'Arbina (centre of Tignes), all unbelievable value and great for watching the world ski/board/walk by.

I take it back, Face with moguls would be......interesting.....I've only come across it pisted so far (4 trips) will keep a wary eye out for that one!

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I'm just back from a week in Tignes. Face was icy in the afternoon but OK in the mornings. The Fornet glacier runs were superb with good cover. Leisse was a bit hard packed in places, but skiable as was the black off the top of the Grand Motte. I enjoyed Double M finally managing a couple of non-stop runs down it, but Sache was reportedly very stoney mid way down and I wasn't keen on doing further damage to the bases after the previous week in the 3 Valleys quarrys of Marmottes and Park City.
However all may be better now as snow was forecast for the middle of this week. Smile

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Val D'Isere /Tignes always had a bit of a reputation for having runs a bit harder than most for the grade.
I suspect that it is possibly less true now than it was. QUite a few of the old red runs have been regraded to black. The Leisse run spoken of above used to be a red run (and was never pisted). Combined with the regrading of runs a few of the slopes have been widened and are pisted regularly. Trolles used to be a solid mogul field that was never bashed and had a narrow section that became very 'ledgey' and awkward with huge bumps.

Most runs the difficulty is highly dependant on the snow. The high runs in val d'isere tend to keep their snow well and remain in good condition. The lower runs often suffer heavy traffic and become scraped and icy by the end of the day whatever their nominal grading. Sharp edges are as important as good technique to ski them sometimes and the volume of partially out of control skiers detract from the pleasure form even the biggest ice fans.

I remember having a very wobbly moment on a short but nasty run called 'Épaule du charvet'. Embarassed

You know it makes sense.

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

I've only been to Val D'Isere once and unfortunately it was late in the season. Up the hill, the snow was fine but the runs down to La Daille, where we were staying were just slush. We thought that we would try skiing down to La Daille one morning, before it melted. What a nightmare. Yesterdays chopped up slush frozen solid! As some others here have commented, the blue down to Val gets chopped up at the end of the day. Car sized moguls and bodies everywhere. Not my favourite resort but it's probably much better earlier in the year.

A snowHead

If you find yourself getting around the EK without too much bother, then virtually anywhere else will seem like a doddle. It's the best area in the world (and I've been to them all, obv) for improving quickly.

A snowHead

[/quote]

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

Thanks for the advice.

I do enjoy moguls (albeit I ski them badly Toofy Grin

), so sounds like the right place for me... snowHead

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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

i haven't read all the posts above but as an intermediate who does still fall over occassionally, I thought the Face was one of the better runs back to resort, though I would take it easy if you are tired.

Most of the runs back to resort are under rated in my view, blues should be red, greens should be blue, some greens are red in places.

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Moderate snow the last few days has really spruced up the runs. Face yesterday was very nice!

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Overall I found Val pretty hard as an intermediate in 2009, and since The Face was shut for the World Championships, the only ways down were to La Daille, or Santons. Neither was especially pleasant - the runs down to La Daillle were fine, having to queue for a bus at the bottom was a right pain. Santons is, as others have mentioned, a nightmare mainly due to traffic.

It's a pretty village and there are some great runs in Tignes, but I doubt we'll go back. Everyone in our group (all far more expert than me) preferred the other resorts we've visited - the 3V, Les Arcs and (especially) Whistler.

After all it is free

Val d'Isere also has a huge amount of off piste - some very difficult, some easy, and everything in between. It is a very good place to start trying to ski it and I would recommend "Alpine Experience" as good people to go with - they will put you in a group of the same standard.

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Val D'Isere - difficulty of runs

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