Mountain Layout — Skiing

Here is a larger, more detailed map in pdf format.

Here in an interactive trail map.

An area as enormous as Val d’Isère/Tignes is virtually impossible to describe in words. Your first clue will be when you exit from the Funival or Bellevarde cablecar and look out over the seemingly endless fields of snow. Even the trail map, on a relatively small scale, gives no feel for the immensity of the area.

The Val d’Isère share of l’Espace Killy is divided into four sectors corresponding with the three main ridges dropping into the town and the glacier area.

Le Fornet sector is reached by Le Fornet cablecar, which rises the first 1,246 feet. From the top of the cablecar, skiers can drop back down into the town on a steep and narrow expert run directly under the cables or loop to their right around an advanced beginner trail. There are also two choices of lifts further up the mountain. The gon-dola leaving from the cablecar building reaches the Col d’Isèran area, which provides access to skiing on the Glacier de Pissaillas or allows skiers to take the connecting lift to the Solaise sector. The very long Signal drag lift will take you to just under the Signal peak at 10,633 feet. From there you can take a tough intermediate trail back to the cablecar or drop into the off-trail Le Vallon powder fields, which then drop more than 3,000 feet back to the base of the Fornet cablecar.

The Solaise sector is also reached by cablecar from the village center. This area is a wide-open beginner and intermediate paradise. About 1,500 vertical feet wait for open slope cruising. Off-piste itineraries from the Solaise will keep any expert happy.

The Bellevarde sector has the best access, with four methods of getting to the top of Rocher de Bellevarde and two additional lifts serving intermediate and beginner runs from La Daille. The Funival, a high-speed subway, rises from La Daille through the rock to the top of Rocher de Bellevarde. A new cablecar, l’Olympique, carries skiers up the La Face side to the top of Bellevarde. Beginners have a series of runs at higher altitudes and a choice between two long runs with more than a 2,900-foot vertical back to La Daille. Intermediates have their choice of two more challenging drops back to La Daille. Intermediates can drop down La Face or into the valley back to the town. There are also excellent off-piste routes from the top of the Bellevarde sector. Take Le Kern around the front of the cliff and drop through powder back to town, or take the drag lift to the side of the Charvet rock cluster and ski around the backside of the formation entering the valley, eventu-ally returning to town, or drop down to La Daille off-piste.

Mountain rating
There is something for everyone; the upper reaches are excellent for any skier level. Experts can test themselves on the steeps that sail into town, and on extensive off-trail and powder-skiing pockets. It’s a good idea to take a guide along, at least for a day, to find the best places to test your limits. Also, if you plan to ski off-trail, check with the ski school before you leave for the latest information on snow conditions.