La Toussuire – Resort Review
My most recent ski holiday was to the relatively unknown ski resort of La Toussuire which is in the Les Sybelles ski area. After visiting many of the larger resorts around the Alps I’ve become increasingly fonder of skiing in the lesser known, more French resorts and La Toussuire is a great example of this.
The Sybelles ski area includes Le Corbier and St Sorlin D’arves, both of which appear in some of the tour operator catalogues. Of the three main villages, St Sorlin D’Arves ski resort is probably the prettiest, but a bit out of the way for the main skiing. Le Corbier is the most convenient, but least pretty. La Toususire sits somewhere in the middle, not a beauty, but not an eye sore either, and relatively central too.
We decided to go self catering this year (credit crunch and all) and booked an apartment through a local letting agency for a bargainous 300 Euros. Our apartment was on the main drag and just opposite the pistes.
The skiing in La Toussuire itself consists mainly of bowl skiing with the majority of runs being blue or red. There are some beginner slopes, but the blues are nice and wide and perfect for beginners too. There are some harder reds around but no blacks in La Toussuire itself. There’s also plenty of safe off piste, not for the experts, but perfect for those just venturing into off piste and want a safe area to practice. The lift system is pretty good, there are just a few older slower lifts around, one particular 2 seater calf banger is certainly a relic!
There is probably enough skiing for a week in La Toussuire ski resort itself if you are a beginner with up to 3 weeks under your belt. For improvers, intermediates and experts I recommend buying the Les Sybelles lift pass. The skiing in Le Corbier is similar to La Toussuire with bowl skiing, with mainly blue and red runs, plus there’s one black. St Sorlin D’Arves contains possibly the most challenging skiing of the area, with several blacks and plenty of difficult reds. Watch out for the hazard signed button lifts in St Sorlin D’Arves, they were the scariest I’d seen, extremely steep and long! It’s a little bit of a hike over to Sorlin, but well worth it at least once in your week.
St Colomban des Villards, another of the linked resorts, is one that I wouldn’t advise unless you’re truly bored of everything else on offer. A long windy red / blue takes you into the resort, not recommended for beginners, and once you’re in the main area of the resort there just isn’t enough to keep you entertained for long. The hike back up to La Toussuire then takes a while. St Colomban looks a lovely little village though so if you want somewhere to go to for a lazy lunch it could be worth it.
La Toussuire itself is quite a charming French village just make sure you polish up on your French because there won’t be many English speakers there. There’s plenty of accommodation, mainly self catering, but also a couple of good hotels including Les Airelles and Les Soldanelles, both of which are right on the piste.
There isn’t a lot of nightlife, one nightclub, but there are plenty of restaurants that serve drinks in the evening and many that do takeaway pizza also. So, if like me, you’re happier sinking a few glasses of wine over dinner than dancing the night away then La Toussuire definitely fits the bill.
I’d recommend La Toussuire ski resort and the Sybelles ski area for beginners and improvers who want some challenging reds. I’ll definitely be adding it to my list of must visit agains.
