ICE Ventura
Alpe D'Huez & Val Thorens
A great place to come to if all you want to do is ski or board all week and not much else.
This does not offer the party atmosphere as you would find in most Austrian and Italian resorts where they start the Apres scene from the middle of the afternoon. For example, we walked into a popular Irish bar one evening at about 6 pm only to find surprisingly that the place was empty. Having said that there are a great deal many more bars to go to as the town is rather spread out but in general we found that places tend to fill up later on in the evening. Even the nightclubs don’t open until 1 am so you have to be a real night owl and late starter if you really want to do this.
There is a great deal of skiing on offer here with the lift pass allowing you to ski the neighboring resort of Les Deux Alpes. For the more experienced of you I recommend trying the black run 16 Sarenne off the top cable car station Pic Blanc at 3,330m. This is a 16 km run all the way down to the bottom of the valley. If your not a keen black run skier, don’t be put off by the black rating as I found the hardest part was the first run off from the top. It starts off as a steep mogul run of about 100m then after you have conquered this part you will be fine. This can also be a little busy especially after the cable car has disembarked it’s passengers and probably best to wait for the crowds to go off first. Whilst you are waiting there is fantastic opportunity to take some pictures of the spectacular views across the Alps
Date Visited: February 2008.
Rating: 5/10.
Top tip: Great for the skiing but not recommended if your after a lively Apres scene.
Val Thorens
Val Thorens is part of the 3 Valleys ski area which also covers the resorts of Meribel, La Tania and Courcheval
Obviously there is plenty on offer here for the hardcore skiers and snowboarders amongst and you won’t be disappointed. Beware of the last lift times when heading out across to Meribel or Courcheval as you don’t want to risk being stranded in another valley and faced with an expensive taxi ride home. Plus rushing back for the last lifts with tired legs is a no no. Leave yourselves with plenty of time in hand.
As Val Thorens is the highest of the resorts in the 3 Valleys, the lift queues can easily become very busy if snow conditions are lacking in depth further down in Meribel and La Tania as many skiers staying at these resorts will head up here for the day.
If for example you are a beginner and you know that you are not likely to use the other resorts in the area to ski, there is a lift pass which is limited to the Val Thorens area only. This is a good idea to purchase and it’s cheaper.
When you are booking up your accommodation you might want to try picking one that offers ski to/from the door (you will have to pay a premium for this). If not you may find either way an uphill walk to or from your accommodation to the slopes. The longer the walk the worse it is especially when your doing it in ski boots and lugging your skis about.
Date Visited: January 2007.
Rating: 7/10.
Top tip: Get some exercise in before you come away. This place is steep when out walking around the town.