ski concierge ski report Val Thorens

Once again the ski day started late because the draw of some extra sleep was too overwhelming. We finally made the 20 metres walk from the chalet to the piste at around 10am and headed to the Bruyeres lift which would take us to the highest point in Les Menuires (Col de lu Chambre) and allow us to ski to the high altitude resort of Val Thorens. There are a few runs down into Val Thorens but unfortunately not many are open this early in the season. We took the long blue piste Pluviometre which is a fantastic run to warm the legs for a day of skiing.

Pluviometre takes you into the heart of Val Thorens where the options are endless for to choose your next run. We took the Moutiere lift, from where we skied the wide Altiport, Lagopede and Gentiale blue runs back to the Moutiere lift, thanks to @emilyshipway for recommening this area. We then went back up Moutiere lift and skied down Linotte (blue) and Traverse des 2 Lacs (green) to the Porteite lift. At this point it did not seem too cold but this all changed during the journey on Portette. Going over a small ridge the temperature seemed to drop 10 degrees and freeze every water molecule in my body. After some hurried pictures of the amazing view we skied the long the red run Portette down to the mountain restaurant Fabrique for a body warming vin chaud.

After warming the cockles the next stop was Val Thorens latest additions, the covered Magic Carpets (a tunnelled converyor belt). Absolute genuis idea and surely must catch on in other resorts. Obviously we had to try them out. We then headed to the Funitel Peclet lift which would take us to 2950m, as unfortunately the Glacier chair lift was closed. Spending some time to enjoy the view we skied the fantastic Beranger (red) run back down into Val Thorens for lunch, stopping to watch some freestyle skiers jumping into a large inflatable safety matress. Thanks to @Laradunn for recommending La Cabane for lunch but unfortunately we didn’t make it that far up. We ate lunch at the La Galoubet restaurant where a pizza and salad (yet again) cost 26 euros, 5 euros more than the exact same meal in the centre of Les Menuires.

With the day drawing closer to the end we decided to head back to Reberty, this was done by first taking the Plein Sud chair lift, then a short ski down to the Bouquetin Funitel back to the Col de la Chambre. From here we skied down the mogully end of day David Douillet (red) back into Reberty and straight into the hot tub.

Considering the lack of recent snow the ski conditions are really good, especally the higher you go (full marks to the snow cannons and pisteurs). Unfortunately not all the runs are open (currently you can’t ski back to Les Menuires from Val Thorens without getting a lift) but as the season progresses and hopefully with some more snow things can only get better (as D-ream once sang).

Check out our youtube site for a video snow report from Val Thorens…