Val Thorens — On the piste

With access to the Trois Vallees you will struggle to take every lift during a visit, and beyond the lifts there is an abundance of off-piste. At this altitude there are a lot of powder days! The local area alone has 140km of piste and something for everyone, but aside from the tendency for lifts to shut in bad weather there is another big drawback. The area suffers more than most with overcrowding in school holidays.
 
On a blue sky day you will struggle to beat Val Thorens. Beginners are spoilt of choice with new blue runs for 2010/11 season, the L'Eterlou taking you safely up to the Col de Rosael, at 3,000 meters and amazing views over the resort and Belleville Valley. There are easy, flatter slopes of the Musaraigne to find your feet  and a good network of easy runs to move on to, whilst intermediates will cope with most of the local area. The steeper slopes of the Cime de Caron are a good place to push your limits. With very few steep pistes advanced skiers will need to head to other parts of the network or get their kicks off piste.