Things to do in Val Thorens

Val Thorens is the highest ski resort in Europe, built at 2,300 metres at the head of the Belleville valley. There are no trees and no pretence of being an old village. The mountain starts where the street ends.

What the altitude buys

• A long season. Late November into early May, longer than anywhere else in France, with the pistes running back to the village itself.
• Cime Caron. A cable car to 3,200 metres, with the Ecrins on one horizon and Mont Blanc on the other.
• The top corner. Being the highest point of the Trois Vallees, the links here open early in the season and hold on late.
• A sledge run. Six kilometres of banked track dropping from around 3,000 metres, the longest of its kind in the country.
• No trees. Above the treeline the whole bowl is visible from the village, which is useful in good weather and merciless in bad.

What is actually booked

The catalogue here is short and honest. Teaching is the main thing sold, and at this height it is as much about reading snow and wind as about technique. The other line is the helicopter day.

• A full day of instruction. Eight hours with an instructor, the standard unit sold here, on snow that changes hour by hour.
• Heli-skiing. The one big-ticket day: France does not permit helicopter drops for skiing, so the machine sets down on the Italian side.
• Off-piste guiding. For the couloirs behind the ridge, which want settled snow more than they want a plan.
• Summer. Short and thin up here, a few weeks of walking and mountain biking with the village largely shut either side.

Practical

• Cold. At 2,300 metres a bright February day can sit at minus 15C with wind on top, and gear that works lower down will not do.
• Thin air. Expect a slow first day, drink more than feels necessary, and take that first afternoon gently.
• Transfers. Around three hours from Geneva or Lyon, less from Chambery, and nearly all of them land on a Saturday.
• On foot. The centre is pedestrian and crosses in about ten minutes, so a car is dead weight once you arrive.
• Wind again. Snow cover rarely fails at this height, but a gale can shut the top lifts for a day at a time.
• Tipping. Instructors are thanked at the end of a good week rather than by percentage.