Winter & Ski Home Ski Resort Reviews Alps Orelle / Val Thorens

Backdoor access to Val Thorens and
the Trois-Vallées (and a lot more)...

The Trois-Vallées Express gondola lift provides skiers with rapid access to Val Thorens and beyond.

In the Vallée de la Maurienne (sometimes referred to as the 'Fourth Valley'), and close to both Modane and the Fréjus Tunnel. The A43 Turin-Lyon autoroute also runs through the valley. What suddenly put Orelle on the map as far as skiers are concerned was the arrival in 1995 of the Trois-Vallées Express gondola lift, from the top of which a single onward chairlift makes it possible to ski into Val Thorens in just minutes. Add a large free car-park linked to the base of the gondola lift via a footbridge and you can see why this place is getting noticed.

The scene which awaits at the top of the gondola: the Rosaël high-speed chairlift to the onward runs into Val Thorens.

In theory you could ski the entire three valleys from here. The vast area offers close-to-limitless skiing for just about all levels, but only the fittest are likely to make it all the way from here to the furthest terrain. But even if you don't make it beyond Val Thorens you'll still have plenty of entertainment, including long Blue- and Red-graded scenic cruises for intermediates. Even closer to home, Orelle's very own terrain is easily overlooked in the desire to press on, a pity as it has an unpressured feel, some great scenery and a few surprises for anyone expecting it all to be tame. The only downside is that all the skiing on this side of the 3V is above the tree-line, so it pays to keep a wary eye on weather conditions - and forecasts, if you're planning on returning to Orelle (which, officially at least, is only via the gondola).

The Hameau des Eaux d'Orelle offers self-catering accommodation just above the old village.

Orelle and its eight outlying hamlets still retain their identities as small, traditional working communities, and the deep (and in winter, perpetually shaded) valley location tells you something of the cheery resourcefulness of the communities. As a tourism destination, though, Orelle is a relative newcomer, as you'll see from the recently-developed accommodation. Most is sited above the old village, which is tiny, so when you feel like an evening off from self-catering, Modane or St Michel (10min drive) are the only viable options. The nearby Gare TGV of St-Michel/Valloire has high-speed rail services to and from Paris and Turin, making Orelle worth considering for anyone looking for greener travel.

Above the vastness of the legendary Trois-Vallées at Cime Caron, Val Thorens.

Younger and budget-conscious committed skiers will find it hard to resist the value on offer here. Factor in the reassurance of lift access to the highest-altitude skiing on the French Alps and the case for choosing Orelle as a base strengthens still further – particularly if you're prepared to forgo things like a dazzling nightlife.

Driving past Orelle is something we've done many times over the years, while en-route to other areas. Eventually, though, the sight of the Three Valleys Express gondola lift looming high above the roadside proved just too much to resist, so this time we're back to find out what we've been missing. As we peel off the road from Modane in the chill of dusk the first thing we discover is that it takes surprisingly little time before our accommodation comes into view just above the village. After checking into the Hameau des eaux d'Orelle we garage the car and transfer ourselves and our luggage to a snug apartment with a view we'll have to wait until the following morning to see.

There's a chill in the air, along with a sense of anticipation among the early morning skiers.

There’s no snow overnight but temperatures plummet, and we awake to a frosty overview of a development of large, chalet-style apartments set around a central green, against a backdrop of mountains between Valfréjus and Valloire/Valmeinier. To our far right we glimpse the idly-dangling cabins of the gondola, prompting us to make an early start.
We're not the only ones, judging by the lift-queues which greet us down below – clear signs that word is getting out about this place. But the wait is less than we'd expected and soon we're leaving the village far behind as we head up the mountain on an epic haul of more than 5km, gazing expectantly at the craggy terrain above, with no idea as to what lies ahead until the last minute. As we crest the final ridge, though, we're suddenly through the snow-line and into a very different world, proving once again that in a less-than bountiful snow season there really is no substitute for altitude (in this case around 2360m).

The Rosaël high-speed chairlift, installed in 2009, provides and onward link from the gondola to almost 3000m.

There’s powder up there...

It's hard not to smile as we step from the gondola onto pure, soft powder – and there's plenty more all around, so we glide down to the nearby Rosaël chairlift for an overview of the Orelle sector's snow-cover on the smooth haul up to the 3000m mark. At the top, close to the Col de Rosaël, we get our first glimpse of Val Thorens, looking very different when peering down from the Maurienne side compared to gazing up from somewhere like Les Menuires. Getting there involves little more than launching off onto the Blue-graded Chamois piste, which kicks off a gentle cruise, with the possibility of a detour on the Red-graded Falaise piste, taking us to the base of the Grand Fond Funitel lift.

The first tantalising glimpse of distant Val Thorens, from the 3000m Col de Rosaël.

After climbing back to 3000m and quite close our starting point at the Col, we blast our way down the Red-graded Variante and over to pick up the Portette chairlift, gradually working our way across the sizeable, mostly north-facing area which finally tops off at 3130m on the Glacier de Thorens. It's already clear that there's no shortage of long, wide, cruisy runs above Val Thorens, which is exactly what the majority of today's intermediate skiers are looking for.

A change of scene...

Sadly for us, we have just one day here, and little hope of skiing it all. So for now we decide to head down past the village for a closer view of what we've so far only glimpsed in the distance. When we get there what seemed remote and exposed feels much more welcoming, and the energy level, with skiers converging from all directions, is infectious.

The heart of it all, between tall apartment blocks and gentle novice areas on the final run down beside the village.

Later we'll get a lot closer, but first we take the impresssive Péclet funitel lift for a scenic ride up to the famous Glacier de Péclet at 2945m. At the top there's the option of a run down to a chairlift for a haul up to a single Black-graded piste called, not surprisingly, 'Glacier'. Maybe with more time and in softer conditions we'd do just that but for now we pause to take in the scenery spread around us before skiiing back down to the village on the long, Red-graded Béranger. One day, though, we'll return to try the four or more alternative runs we have to skip for now, not least since we sense lunchtime approaching, which means working our way further around the mountains to reach our chosen restaurant.

The Glacier de Péclet is just one of the unmissable experiences which abound above Val Thorens.

Once safely down we ski over to join another chairlift, this time the Plein Sud high-speed six-seater. It's a key link for skiers heading directly over to Méribel and Courchevel, and throws in the welcome bonus of bird's-eye views of the lower end of the village. The haul begins gently enough, passing over the Blue-graded Cairn piste, before climbing more determinedly between chalet-style apartments while below us skiers thread their way cautiously on a steeper section of piste which has become quite icy in the low, low temperatures.

Flying low...

A little higher up there's further light entertainment, as more confident skiers and snowboarders are tackling some well-established mogul-fields on either side of the pisted terrain.

Glacial temperatures making things tricky for less-confident skiers below the Plein Sud chairlift.

We leave most of them behind as we continue climbing ever higher, and transfer to another lift, the Bouquetin funitel, which drops us near the viewpoint of the Col de la Chambre (2850m). The following brief Black-graded run down the Goitschel piste delivers us neatly beside the welcoming terraces of La Fruitière, where we relax for a memorably enjoyable meal in what must count as one of the best locations in the French Alps.

Heading for home...

When we finally summon the will to leave, it's to take a long Blue-graded cruise down the Plein Sud piste and over to the Caron gondola lift for a haul up to the Cime Caron cable-car – the world's largest when it opened in 1982, with a capacity of 150 passengers per car. In 2010 new panoramic cars were installed, making the 2.1km ride up to 3200m even more impressive than before.

The world-famous Cime Caron cable car now features panoramic cars, giiving a foretaste of the views from the summit.

Even so, the incredible views from the summit are simply hypnotic, and well worth the journey. Suitably uplifted, we decide to round off the experience in style, with a run down the Black-graded Combe Rosaël piste we see snaking away far below us, something we'll never forget. Even without the near-vertical wall of sheet ice we encounter along the way, it's quite something, and fires us down back into the heart of the Orelle sector's own terrain for a final few runs before we have to head back to the valley below.

Sometimes less is more...

The half-dozen or so runs don't look much on the piste-map, but maps don't get across the sense of being there, and this is one place which makes a case for the notion that sometimes less is more. As if to prove the point, the Bouchet chairlift will haul you all the way to 3230m – the highest lift-accessible summit in the whole of the Trois-Vallées – from which you can ski very nearly 1000m of vertical drop back to the gondola. Deciding that by now our hard-working legs just might not be up to it, we satisfy ourselves for now with half that figure, on a run down the Blue-graded Peyron piste, while the sun sinks languidly into the gathering late-afternoon haze.
Minutes later, in the cosy fug of the Trois-Vallées Express gondola, we gaze in wonderment at the scene unfolding below us, with a considerable sense of achievement at the mileage we've packed into a single day here and the experiences we've had along the way.

© Roger Moss | MountainPassions.com

The Black-graded Combe Rosaël piste drops from the 3200m Cime Caron towards Orelle's gondola arrival point at 2350m