Valmorel: value-for-money skiing

With the recent Brexit developments it looks likely that British skiers are going to have to put value for money higher up on their ski holiday wish-lists.  One destination to consider is Valmorel, the first resort you get to in the Tarentaise valley after leaving Albertville. Even though it has many of the facilities of it's bigger, brasher neighbours, lift passes are cheaper and eating, drinking and sleeping on the mountain are considerably less expensive.  Valmorel has 135km of pistes and 33 lifts, similar to La Rosière, and with a similar altitude spread of 1200m - 2600m.

Le Bourg 

Valmorel is best of France's '4th Generation' purpose-built ski resorts, reflecting local Savoyard architecture with more intimacy than the massive constructions of the 1960s found elsewhere. The central village is laid out along a car-free 'Grande Rue', with a surprisingly eclectic mix of bar, restaurants and shops. None of the adjacent buildings are more than three or four stories high, and local stone, wood and lauze (slate)  being the materials of choice.

Like many of the Tarentaise ski resorts, Valmorel was home-grown response to the decline of traditional local economies in the middle of the 20th century: agriculture of course, but also the local mineral industries. Despite the decline of these in the 1960s. caused by cheaper imports and changing tax rules, two are still very much active at the foot of the valley of the Morel. 

FerroPEM furnace

You can't miss FerroPEM as you drive by La  Lechère, its vast satanic furnaces turning rocks into rare silicium alloys, and Carbone de Savoie at Aigueblanche, coated in black dust  from processing wood into the base material for everything from aeroplane wings and mobile phone components.  These industries were originally attracted to Savoie by the availability of cheap electricity from hydro-electric power. Both these factories have their own generating systems; you can see their pipes snaking up to hidden reservoirs high in the mountains. They are so efficient they also make a sizeable contribution to France's national grid - the original green energy.

Michel Besançon

So, disturbed by the exile of young people from the valley, the two towns got together to exploit the superb natural bowl below Le Cheval Noir (2832m) , and employed the architect Michel Besançon to develop plans for the new resort. Besançon had been involved with the inception of La Plagne, where he had learnt a lot about the pros and cons of tourist 'urbanisation' in virgin mountain pastures, and the look and feel of Valmorel is very different to that of say Plagne 1800.  But the integration of living facilities with the ski area and a logical layout of pistes and lifts bear witness to his expertise.

Valmorel opened in 1976 with just 8500 beds, tiny by comparison the  the Paradiski  or Trois Vallées resorts just down the road.  It has grown steadily, but not uncontrollably, and link across the Col de la Madeleine  to the Maurienne resort of St François-Longchamp which opened in 1983 doubled the size of the original ski area.  In 2011 ClubMed chose Valmorel for its first 4 trident holiday centre in the Alps, putting Valmorel and La Grande Domaine firmly on the map for their predominantly French clientèle. 

Although primarily a 'family-friendly' ski resort, with lots of easy and intermediate slopes at all levels, there are some notable off-piste adventures to be had: the all-day itinerary off the back of the Col de Mottet down to St Martin in the Belleville valley is stupendous, and the big steep-sided bowl below La Lauzière is often untracked for days. It's is certainly not Argentiere or Val d'Isère (although a major investor in Valmorel) but there's enough varied terrain to keep 90% of skiers happy for a week.

Col de Mottet

And value for money? A 6 day adult lift pass is just over €200 euros, drinks are about one euro less than in Les Arcs and you can find a pizza or a salad for about €5 - all in all about 25- 35% less than the mega-resorts. And if you want somewhere cosy and convenient to stay check out the Australian-owned

Chalet de Valmorel.

Valmorel resort website: www.valmorel.com