Winter & Ski Home Ski Resort Reviews Alps La Forêt Blanche

Family skiing, with a cosmopolitan vibe

The liaison between Risoul and Vars passes through spectacular scenery.

THE FORET-BLANCHE OFFERS 180km of varied ski terrain for all levels in the Southern French Alps and accessible via flights into Lyon, Grenoble, Marseille, Nice and Turin. It would suit those in search of something slightly alternative. A solid and underrated option for families and those with an eye for value, there's also off-piste terrain above Vars, which has established quite a reputation among free-ride skiers. The villages of Risoul 1850 and Vars sit at either end of the ski area and are very different in style. Between them they should satisfy most tastes, with Risoul attracting younger (including Eastern European) skiers and Vars Sainte-Marie those preferring a quieter, more traditional experience. Somewhere between the two is the less than low-rise development of Vars Les Claux.

Risoul’s tree-lined pistes provide safe, sheltered skiing on the rare occasions when the sun doesn’t shine.

Skiing here has definite appeal to anyone uncertain of their level of ability. If that sounds like you, start on Risoul’s gentle, tree-lined lower pistes then stretch yourself on the steeper stuff higher up below the 2571m Razis (departure point for Vars). Feel good? If so, you can work your way round to the 2457m Peyrolle peak before takling the 2361m Homme de Pierre (accessed by drag-lift). If not, explore the Forêt-Blanche (white forest), which has real meaning on this side of the mountain, the trees adding considerable natural beauty to the worthwhile shelter they provide.
Getting around is no problem either, thanks to an efficient lift-system combined with clear signage. Among the gentler stuff there are some good Blue-graded cruises plus the odd steep – with moguls, if you’re up for developing your technical skills.
Of course, should you decide to venture over the ridge into the Vars sector you’ll find a whole lot more waiting to be discovered. It’s an easy liaison, yet with a sense of covering some distance – and the scenery is simply amazing.

Lunchtime on the front-de-neige in Risoul 1850.

Despite continuing to offer solid value, Risoul is gradually shrugging off its budget image, with an expanding range of accommodation designed to broaden the appeal of this high-altitude, purpose-built ski village. The more recent architecture is a major improvement on the original front-de-neige apartment blocks, and the overal vibe is pretty relaxed. It’s far from being comatose, though, not least since there’s a definite cosmopolitan air – evidence of Risoul’s great success in marketing itself to attract overseas skiers. Although not ski-in/ski-out, getting to the lifts is simple enough.
So, what about the downsides? Well, here and there we spotted a few sprayed grafitti problems, and during our visit we were both irritated and inconvenienced by an anarchic approach to visitor car-parking, despite a theoretical ban on on-street parking the provision of dedicated car-parks set sensibly apart from what could so easily become a pleasant car-free village heart.

Approaching a ski destination in mild weather is unnerving, and our drive down from Briançon left us in no doubt that we were now in the sunny Southern French Alps. Fortunately, as we passed the brooding fortress of Mont Dauphin and began the long climb to Risoul 1850, temperatures began to drop reassuringly.

Sure enough, by the time the village finally came into view the shadows were lengthening and the thermometer reading had plummeted. After settling into our apartment we gazed out onto a spectacular landscape of snowy mountains turning to pale pink by the setting sun. It was quite a welcome.

Crisp and dry

Next morning we headed off to the chairlifts, keen to get an overview of the legendary Forêt-Blanche. True to its name, the forest covers much of the mountainsides above Risoul 1850, creating a sheltered, natural setting for the mostly gentle pistes which snake their way down among the larch plantations. Further up, of course, things naturally became progressively steeper, and our early start made for entertaining progress on the icy surface.

The gentle return cruise below the Col de Valbelle.

Heading above the tree-line brought us to the 2571m summit of Razis, where the snow quality was much more forgiving and the views were genuinely panoramic. Making a note to enjoy them sometime from the sun-terrace of the inviting, piste-side restaurant, we pointed our skis towards the looming vastness of a gentle onward descent which would take us all the way down to Vars Sainte-Marie, a vertical drop of almost 1000 metres. The long cruise (totalling around 8km, in fact) allowed us plenty of time to take in the full drama of our new surroundings, whose snowy central expanse contrasted sharply with the softer intimacy of the forests which are a less obvious trademark feature here than those back in Risoul. By the time we eventually hit the tree-line above Vars we were convinced that it's always good to have a choice of terrain, particularly during a week of variable weather conditions.

Feeling like we owned the mountain...

The subsequent two-stage climb up to La Mayt (2580m) gave us an opportunity to get things into clearer perspective, and to appreciate the beauty of it all displayed to perfection beneath a clear blue sky. After lunch we elected to stay high and enjoy perfect conditions in near-solitude around the Col de Crevoux (2530m), feeling as if we owned the mountain.

Proving that you don’t have to go to Vars for more challenging terrain.

We made the most of it until the slowly-sinking sun told us that time was running out and we’d better think about making our return runs into Risoul. The liaison, a super-gentle Blue scenic cruise almost hidden on the piste-map, dropped us onto something a little steeper. We then opted for a Red-graded piste, which, being steeper still, produced a stimulating end to the perfect day’s skiing – until, that is, the moment when we sensed the first flurries announcing the arrival of a fresh snowfall. Next day promised to be even better.

© Roger Moss