 Poster: A snowHead
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What a place, 100% recommend it.
This is my first ever post, I’ve found the forum useful so wanted to report on my latest trip.
useful websites http://www.ski-valloire.net/domski/rm.php - interactive piste map show photos. descriptions of all pistes. Google chrome will translate all.
http://www.welove2ski.com/jsp/index.jsp?lnk=101&id=293&desc=Valloire%2C+France&resname=293&x=28&y=14
Overview:
For the past two years I have skied in Tignes and before this year’s trip had three weeks on the snow, last year I progressed to several blacks in the Val and Tignes but what I really like is getting in the high mileage on red (or blue) terrain. My girlfriend was new to skiing so I was looking for a resort that was good for beginners and intermediates and a resort that had charm and not just a concrete lump and a resort good for couples in late twenties / early thirties.
Travel:
DIY job, flew Easy Jet to Geneva then got the train from the airport to town (free going to Geneva, only 5 min journey) then train from main Geneva central to Chambery (approx 1 hr), change at Chambery for 45mins and then train to St Michael Valloire (approx 1 hr) and then coach from the station up to the town centre. The coach journey is only 11 miles but took one hour due to the winding road and lots of snow. Return train tickets were £50 pounds each and return coach was approx 16 euro each. – Overall this was a very easy transfer, a little long but very easy and relaxing.
Accommodation:
Chalet Galibier. This was great, right opposite the Moulin Benjamin lift and about a 10 – 15 min walk to town centre. Free shuttle stops outside the accommodation but the free busses stop at 1945hrs. ESF have an office in the building and the meeting point is at the Moulin Benjamin lift so very convenient. I can’t really fault the accommodation and the price we paid it made it a bargain.
Ski Area.
I really liked the area, we were there in a good snow year in Jan but the resort does have 400+ snow cannon so should be ok most years. Piste maintenance was excellent.
The area has 150KM of slope over three mountains, Setaz (next to the accommodation) is north facing with good snow cannon cover and mostly tree covered, there is a good red run right from the top to the town which in total is about 1000 meters of vertical on genuine red gradient and very wide. This run was never busy the whole week. Setaz is also very good for beginners, there is a 5KM green called Myosotis, this run is great, no need to use poles as it keeps a steady gradient and the run is through trees, full snow cannon cover and mostly wide, excellent for beginners, my girlfriend could ski all 5KM on day two, a real confidence booster and a pleasure to ski together. At the top of the Setaz gondola there is a great area called ‘thimel’ which is a mix of Red, blue and green, again, great for beginners and there is also a kids beginner area here. Setez ahas a couple of blacks that I did, both steep reds really, but good fun.
Crey du Quart Valloire side is treeless with mostly wide pistes, reds tend to be steep blue runs but still really good fun, and I really enjoyed the combined red runs of Blanchon / Mulot which create approx 750 meters of vertical and at the end you can continue back to Moulin Benjamin on Myosotis as this is linked in. The ‘Lutins’ blue run from top of the Brive Gondola to town was open all week and is a really nice blue and has 700m vertical. Apparently this track was remodeled in summer 2011 to make it handle more skiers and make it all blue (instead of green / blue). Unfortunately there are no snow cannon so might not be there in a bad year, a really nice run back to town though. Crey du Quart is also good for beginners with a beginner area at top of brive gondola and another long green called escargot, although escargot is not as nice as Myosotis. Crey du Qurat Valloire side was the busiest area and a lots of tracks that cross each other.
Crey du Quart Valmeinier side is fantastic, less busy than crey du Quart Valloire and has some really nice blue runs especially the Armera run, starts off treeless then opens up wide and nice gradient through the trees, the bottom does go flat but not for long and in total is six plus KM, so nice.
The red from the top called ‘Praz Violet’ is a belter, really nice views and a speedy run. Combe Orsiere (CO) on the grand Plateau is also long and a real pleasure to ski although only accessible from a steep drag that’s not suitable for beginners. At the bottom of this side of the mountain there is the river valley and a blue piste that runs from the bottom of CO back to Grand drozes six pack, this makes a really nice circuit of: start at Moulin Benjamin, ski over to Valmeinier via setaz red, Brive Gondola, Brive 2, Armera Blue (or CO), lifts to Valmeinier side, green to Valmeinier, new six pack up to 2400 meters in Valmeinier, ski back to Valmeinier 1800, through the town and onto the Nevache blue back to Grande drozes six pack to Valloire, then ski over to Blancon red take Blanchon / Mulot all the way back to Moulin Benjamin chair all in time for lunch back at the apartment, – lovely.
Overall, the ski area feels vast, has a great variety of slopes, some 1000m+ descents and very good for beginners too – loved it. In one week you will not get bored if you take in Valmeinier as well. The drag lifts back from Valmeinier have been replaced, access to Valloire from Valmeiner side is by a high speed six pack and then a slower 4 seat.
Cons, some lifts are slow but never really bothered me (and there are high speed gondolas and high speed chairs too), sign posts are a little confusing to start with as they navigate via the chair names and only have the piste names in small letters but after a few days I got the hang of it.
Town:
Great place, officially a village but feels like a town, has a 17th century church and town square, lots of restaurants and proper French bars, everyone was friendly and Friday there is market in town, really nice. We were there during the snow sculptures which were excellent. Valloire is all in one place with no busy roads so really nice although Les verneys is out on its own so don’t stay there unless you have a car (bus stops at 1945) or don’t mind being away from it all. Les Verney is higher, at 1550 m and has a great beginner’s tow that is now free. The food is excellent and cheap, our first night we had two huge pizzas, four small beers and two desserts all for a total price of 36 Euro.
Conclusion:
We really liked the place, great town, great ski area that’s mostly off the radar to most Brits. If you go make sure you make the effort to ski over to Valmeinier and get the full extent of the ski area but stay in Valloire as it’s a great place to stay. Added on top all this are the low prices, a fantastic holiday.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Jacksd2, welcome to snowheads and congratulations on such a detailed report - really useful. We did Valmeinier/Valloire a good few years ago and would definitely be going there again if we hadn't bought an apartment elsewhere. It's a great area, real character.
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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?
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An excellent report Jacksd2. Well done.
We should be there too in a couple of weeks. We've also organised a DIY trip but with a hire car and staying in a hotel in St Jean de Maurienne. We plan to get the good-value Maurienne Sans Frontieres pass and try out many of the resorts towards the Western end of the valley.
Note the pass now lasts for 8 days - not 5 as before:
http://www.maurienne-tourisme.com/fr/il4-maurienne,bougez_p38-ski-maurienne-sans-frontieres.aspx
Then we're going back again at Easter, staying in Termignon, to do some touring - and use up the rest of the pass 
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Thanks pam W and altis.
I did see the offer for the Maurienne valley, looks great and the other resorts look to be really nice, hopefully get to try some more of them. The Maurienne valley seems a place set for exploring, good skiing, value and charm.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Great trip report thanks.
We were in Valmeinier last Easter, the snow was dire, only 1 run open and that was pretty grim. After spending our first afternoon sunbathing in swimwear (25 degrees on the poolside terrace) we decided to drive over to Valloire and were very impressed. The snow was much better with much more open. We really liked it and have booked to go back this Easter, but this time we are staying in apartments just above the Brive gondola on (I think) on the Lutins piste.
Can't wait and can't stop looking at the webcams. Fingers are tightly crossed that conditions this Easter will be better.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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| Quote: |
Fingers are tightly crossed that conditions this Easter will be better.
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without uncrossing fingers, I'd say it's very, very, likely they will be. the amount of snow around now is colossal - we've never seen so much, in ten years. huge great cliffs wherever you look - we cannot see the mountains at all out of our windows. 
The next few weeks look cold or chilly. So, fingers crossed..... even if it's not terrific, it's unlikely it will be bad as last year, the worst in living memory according to the locals here.
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Had a look on google street view and I spotted a small supermarket towards the galibier side of town.
Did you notice much in the way of herbs/spices etc in the kitchen? We once stopped at a place in morillon 1100 which had loads so we just experimented all week . . .
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Hi TangoFiver,
There is a large(ish) Carrefour supermarket which is about a 15 min walk down hill from the accommodation and had everything we needed, the free ski bus also stops near this supermarket and right out side the accommodation. Directly over the road from the accommodation there is an independent ski hire shop that also has a small bakery and shop inside that sells supplies such as dishwasher tablets, wine, beer, bread etc. The accommodation also has an order service where you can pre order bread for the next morning.
We ate out 4 nights (from 7), the only negative is that our accommodation did not have an oven, it had a hob, microwave and everything else but no oven. The restaurants were very good value. didn't see any herbs in the kitchen.
Hope you enjoy your trip, we had a great time.
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Jacksd2, top report, will have to check this spot out sometime.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| Jacksd2 wrote: |
Hi TangoFiver,
There is a large(ish) Carrefour supermarket which is about a 15 min walk down hill from the accommodation and had everything we needed |
Hi, sorry to bother you again, we're just wondering if we should stop at a large supermarche on the way from Grenoble to buy all our food/drink for the week, or just do it all at the Carrefour in Valloire.
Are the prices the same as the supermakets at a lower altitude etc? It would be more convenient to get it all at Valloire (once we've unloaded luggage etc!) but we might be more limited to choice? (there are 4 of us hoping to self-cater there for 7 nights & Days, maybe with one meal out if funds permit!)
Thanks once again for all the info,
Joe 
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Jacksd2, Nice reprt, I really enjoyed the visit when I did it.
One thing to note with the valley pass that altis, mentions is that it does involve a lot of driving if youare to use it as the resorts are faily spread out and you have to use each day in a different resort. We did the old five day pass revisiting our favourite resorts at reduced price inthe days left over (we skied nine days). I think driving to different resorts every day would be tough if you are not very centrally located. We were towards the Eastern end of the valley and Valloire was as far we we visited and it was quite a drive.
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You know it makes sense.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Might look out for somewhere en route to stock up then!
Looks like good investment for the future there 
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Poster: A snowHead
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FAQ
After learning in those two it was such a sad shock when I then went to ski in Val Thorens 
