Plenty of skiable slopes in Valmeinier French ski resort
Author: Roberto Garabelli
Source: add-articles.com
This part of Valmeinier has an alpine ambiance outmatched only by the characters that live and work here year round. There’s another town closer at 1400 meters, but the surrounding aura is not like that of the older town. In either resort, you’ll view the incredible 3207 metered peak of Mont Thabor.
You’ll find plenty of skiable slopes in Valmeinier French ski resort. Indeed, Valmeinier has one of the longest runs in all of Europe at nine kilometers long. You’ll find, too, 150 kilometers of pistes. The division of the levels of terrain is evenly divided around the resort. You’ll find about 80 total runs with just over 50 runs dedicated intermediate skiers. Experts and beginners get nine and 20 slopes respectively. There are plenty of cable cars (33 to be exact) to take all the skiers to the top of their favorite slopes, too. The lift breakdown provides 15 chair lifts, 2 gondolas and 16 draglifts. There are over 400 snow cannons found here too.
If you’re interested in the lifts, then you’ll be surprised to learn that the first lifts were installed in the early 1970s. From then on, the surrounding villages have slowly cashed in on the influx of tourism to the area. The Valmeinier ski area and surrounding villages, however, have not given in to the over-commercialization that you may have seen in other French resorts and villages. Valmeinier still holds a certain allure that makes visitors feel that they are in a special place of France.
The highest lift in Valmeinier takes you over 2500 meters, with an unmatched panorama. Since there are just about 10 thousand beds in all the hotels, the area holds the same ski price tag as found in similar French resorts. A weeklong ski pass may cost an adult less than 175 Euros, while a one-day pass will run the same adult less than 40 Euros. If you’d like your family under the same ski pass, the weekly rate hovers around 500 Euros, depending on the time of season. If you’re family is larger than the more traditional family, it will cost you a little over 100 Euros to add children on the same ticket. The ski season starts mid-December and runs till mid-April. The thousands of hectares of ski area, mostly above 2000 meters, will keep you content for your entire ski holiday.
Valmeinier is doubly known for its slopes as it is for its nature. There are two national parks in the area that surround Valmeinier. The first is the Vanoise National Park and the second is the Ecrins National Park. If you are the type of person who must get away from the crowds and into nature, you’ll have plenty of room for escape. There are plenty of mountains in the area that will beckon you for a ride. If you’re lucky, you may run into an old mine where former residents mined the area for anthracite. It was at this time that Valmeinier really took off as higher paying wages replaced harder working field labor. This affluent lifestyle changed quickly when the coal was gone. In the early part of the 20th century, there were fewer than 100 residents living in Valmeinier, the “valley of mines.”
Valmeinier has a great snowboard park for those interested in taking skiing to more extremes. The best snowboard park in the area is the Crey du Quart snow park. Here, boarders will find all the quarter- and half-pipes they’re used to skiing on. The park is groomed every morning and it’s even passed all the necessary requirements to become certified by the French Snowboard Association. If you’ve ever wanted a great European snow boarding park, you’ll not be let down by the one found at Valmeinier.