What a Weekend in Val Thorens!

27th November 2023 | Simon Wilson, Val Thorens

Last modified on December 5th, 2023

PlanetSKI’s Simon Wilson was in the highest resort in the Alps for its official opening. He blogged daily, often hourly, and here we pull it all together looking back at the weekend, and to the future of Val Thorens.

ON ARRIVAL

So, when does the ski season in the Alps really start?

Some could argue that it never really stops.

There are still some places that offer glacier skiing year round, though that is increasingly threatened by the warmer summer temperatures.

This year a handful of resorts have opened early due to some decent autumn snowfalls, as we have been reporting on PlanetSKI:

More ski resorts open at altitude in the Alps

And one of the great signposts that winter is truly just around the corner is when the highest resort in the Alps, Val Thorens, holds its traditional opening weekend.

The so-called Grande Première starts this weekend and I’m the lucky man getting an early taste of the white stuff.

Val Thorens, France. Image © PlanetSKI

To my astonishment, for one of the the first times in four decades travelling to the mountains of the Savoie region of France all the connections worked like clockwork.

After leaving Gatwick at 8am, I found myself on the slopes above Val Thorens by 3pm.

After a fine, sunny day with highs around freezing clouds are now gathering and a little light snow is expected overnight and on Saturday.

Not as much as forecast further east in Switzerland and Austria, but it should be enough to freshen up the rather hard pistes.

Locals are also warning people to expect it to turn much colder with the temperature on Saturday at the resort height of 2,300m not getting past minus ten degrees Celsius.

On Friday the slopes were open only to a lucky few resort workers and local dignitaries, plus me.

Val Thorens, France. Image © PlanetSKI

Big crowds are expected over the Grande Premiere weekend which will feature demo tests of all the latest new skis and much partying and enjoying of the local food and drink.

“La Grande Première is an unmissable event for ski enthusiasts, offering the ideal opportunity to warm up, sharpen up and plan for the approaching winter,” said a statement from the resort.

The Test Village

It is set in the Place Caron and people can test all the latest in ski equipment, snowboards, accessories, touring skis, freeride skis and much more.

Festive activities

Mini fun areas
Live concerts
Quizzes
Raclette party
Projection of mountain films
Fireworks show

Val Thorens, France. Image © PlanetSKI

Val Thorens. Image © PlanetSKI

“This is the perfect opportunity to celebrate the long-awaited launch of the winter season. Don’t miss this unique experience in Les 3 Vallées,” added the resort.

As far as I’m concerned it’s looking good so far.

Val Thorens, France. Image © PlanetSKI

I hope you are getting as excited about the coming winter season as I am.

Do check back as I update this report across the weekend and look ahead to the winter here in Val Thorens.

We’ve already post about the coming season ahead so check out this report if you want further details:

What’s on offer in Val Thorens for this winter

Val Thorens, France. Image © PlanetSKI

DAY ONE:

Fresh snow and icy temperatures greeted thousands of skiers and snowboarders on Saturday for the official opening day of the season in Val Thorens – La Grande Premiere.

Centre of attention was the Test Village on the Place Caron in the centre of the resort where leading ski brands displayed their new skis, boards and mountain apparel to appreciative, if chilly, crowds.

It’s one of the biggest such events in the Alps each season.

Val Thorens, France. Image © PlanetSKI

More than three thousand people had signed up for the chance to demo new equipment for an hour at a time and I took a walk down to the area to get a sense of the mood – here’s my video report:

Organisers were delighted with the turnout and revealed that on Saturday alone over two thousand separate demo skis and boards were taken out by more than a thousand different people.

53 separate mountain brands were on display from all the main ski and board makers to the latest Go Pro cameras, goggles, sunglasses etc.

Val Thorens, France. Image © PlanetSKI

Somewhat disappointingly what was promised on the resort website as an “Erectic Scoot” turned out to be a somewhat less exciting battery powered snow-scooter.

No matter.

Trois Vallées veteran administrator and head of the Val Thorens tourist office, Vincent Lalanne, said 2023 was well on the way to being the best start to a season here for 20 years.

“There are several factors which are all coming together this year”, said Lalanne.

“Val Thorens already has an established reputation as the highest resort in the Alps, this year we have really good early season snow conditions and also people have heard that we just won an award as the best ski resort in the world.”

PlanetSKI covered that title at the World Ski Awards award earlier this month:

Winners of World Ski Awards announced

Lalanne also revealed he had to pull some weight to get the roads up to the resort cleared of snow this morning.

“The officials in the regional office down in the valley don’t always realise what’s happening in the mountains,” he said.

“It was sunny down in Moutiers and I had to raise my voice a bit to say: ‘Guys, come on. We have a snowstorm on the road up from Les Menuires. Come and clear it!”

On the mountain itself today, the skiing was excellent, though tough at times.

10cm or more of fluffy powder fell overnight and was being blown around by a bitter north wind.

Val Thorens, France. Image © PlanetSKI

It was the kind of weather where at resort level its like skiing inside a giant snow globe, while at the top of the lifts you feel like an under-dressed expedition member with Scott of the Antarctic.

Sunday promises blue skies and some excellent piste skiing, perhaps even an off-piste turn or two with the latest powder skis.

I’ll be reporting back…

DAY TWO:

We stamped our feet, banged our arms on our sides and exhaled great clouds of steaming breath into the icy morning air.

Sunday dawned bright and cloudless over Val Thorens and a small group of us were waiting for the first cable car up the summit of Cime Caron.

There is always a special sense of anticipation when the top lift in any ski resort opens up for the day – let alone the season – and there were plenty of excited glances up to the dramatic 3,200 metre high peak above us.

With a flick of the lift attendant’s wrist the chain was removed and we surged forward to take our places for the short ride to the top.

What greeted us there was breath-taking – almost literally.

The wind howled and the temperature was minus 12.

Val Thorens, France. Image © PlanetSKI

But a short climb took me up to the exposed viewing platform where I filmed this video report in a strong wind:

From the top of Cime Caron the first few hundred metres were icy and windblown, but after that piste conditions were exceptional for an opening weekend.

It was hard to imagine today that we were skiing in November, and not January or February.

Piste conditions were near perfect and the cold temperatures kept them that way throughout the day.

Val Thorens, France. Image © PlanetSKI

Sunday was the second day of the ‘Grande Première” opening weekend in Val Thorens and the crowds have certainly turned out in force.

Late on Sunday, the tourist office released the following statistics for the weekend:

10385 ski passes were sold on Saturday
4973 skis and snowboards were taken for demo tests by
1556 individual skiers and snowboarders

Val Thorens, France. Image © PlanetSKI

One of PlanetSKI’s regualr readers, Zac Brown form Ski France, was also out on the slopes.

“It was fantastic to be back on skis again,” said Zac.

“I was really surprised by quite how many people were there on Sunday especially, it felt like the Feb holidays almost.

“Whilst I’d rather an empty piste, it was fabulous to see how many people were excited to be back on skis again.

“The snow was good, the sun was shining, and it’s got me excited for the season ahead.

“Hopefully with more snow this week, we’re in for a great start to the season.”

Val Thorens. Image c/o Zac Brown.

One note of caution on the slopes of Val Thorens on Sunday.

I witnessed a surface avalanche on one of the high peaks on the Orelle side of the mountain set off by a pair of expert skiers making the most of the excellent conditions to ski one of the couloirs above the Mauriennaise red run.

What they hadn’t seen was a group much lower down the slope who had to ski quickly forward to get out of the way of the surface slide.

Couldn’t get the camera out quickly enough to film the avalanche itself – but you can see the aftermath in the photos below.

In the zoomed in photo you can just see the shape of the two skiers who set off the slide.

Thankfully no one was hurt here, but it was a reminder of just how quickly these situations can develop.

Today in Val Thorens the avalanche danger was ranked at Level 2, which is considered low.

Final Thoughts

As I sit in the transfer on the way back to Geneva for the flight home, some thoughts have come into my head on the past few days.

To borrow (and misuse) a football cliché, it was definitely a weekend of two halves, Brian.

The weather on Saturday was more like mid-January than November.

Freezing cold winds and frequent heavy snow squalls made skiing challenging, though that didn’t seem to deter the thousands who turned out from all over France and beyond.

I met skiers who had made the trip from Nice, Paris, the Netherlands and even Spain to be on the slopes for the official opening of Europe’s highest ski resort.

Sunday by contrast was one of those fantastic piste-skiing days that will linger long in the memory.

Blue skies, 10cm of fresh snow on an excellent base and cold temperatures which kept the runs in good condition all day long.

For those who know the resort, the highlights for me were the high red runs like Col de laudzin from Cime Caron and Variante from the Grand Fond bubble as well as Mauriennaise on the Orelle side.

Updated figures from the Val Thorens lift operator show more than ten thousand skiers bought passes for Saturday and more than thirteen thousand on Sunday.

The resort says the attendance is the best for at least the last ten years.

It certainly felt like that on the main blue runs back to the resort which started to resemble Christmas or February school holidays at times.

Its all being considered a big success by the resort management, but what plans do they have for the future?

Unlike some of the other high-altitude French resorts nearby, Val Thorens doesn’t currently have any projects for major new lifts (or at least none they are prepared to discuss with journalists at this stage), though they are planning a major refurbishment of the Cime Caron cable car arrival area.

As for the future, the resort management are clear where their focus lies.

“The big challenge for us these days is the beginning and end of the season”, says Vincent Lalanne the head of Val Thorens tourist office.

Vincent Lalanne. Image c/o VT Tourist Office.

Lalanne’s team says the resort is already 80% booked for the Christmas and New Year holidays with the resort’s high altitude and guaranteed snow record proving a big draw.

The man himself has plans for future summer developments.

“We are already in talks with a number of professional sports teams about using Val Thorens as a base for high-altitude training during the summer months,” says Lalanne.

‘What we need is a big flat area outside for them to practice on, so we are looking into that.”

But thoughts of handball and football teams jogging around the Savoyard flower meadows in June and July seem a long way off.

As I left Val Thorens fresh snow was falling with up to 50cm of fresh powder expected in the next 24 hours.