Mountain Rooms & Chalets in Val d'Isere has catered and self-catered accommodation in apartments and chalets - rentals for the season, weekly or shorter stays.

Season Dates for the Coming Season

Official start date (i.e. first day the lifts operate)
Saturday 1st December 2007

Official end of season (i.e. last day the lifts operate)
Tuesday 4th May 2008.

The Snow Record

It wouldn't be much fun to spend money on a ski holiday only to find there's no snow in resort. Well, Val d'Isere has always been the most snow sure resort you can visit.

With all the talk of global warming, we can only hope that our elevation will ensure we continue to experience great snowfall, year after year. Last season people talked of no snow in Europe. To us in resort, it was so unfair to be included in that horror story. We didn’t have our best year but we certainly had a great snow season. We all enjoyed powder on many occasions, wonderful piste conditions, spring snow when it was supposed to be spring conditions and we were skiing until the bitter end. Don’t always believe what you read in the papers. Call us in resort to find out the true story (tel: 0033 4 79 41 17 43).

Check out the snow forecast by logging on to www.snow-forecast.com or just ask Melanie Crawford (Reservations) on UK 0700 2000 456 for a true snow report.

Espace Killy

High Speed Gondola
To reach the summit there are 3 possibilities; the Funicular at La Daille, the Bellevarde Face chairlifts or the Bellevarde Face High Speed Gondola. The old cable car was inapt for todayÄs influx of skiers so it had to be replaced. The STVI (the lift company), opted for a gondola type 3S Doppelmayr (now we are getting technical!) with two carrier cables and a tractor. Some facts:

Enlargment is 205kb (1024 x 648pix)

18 cabins, each seating 24 with 6 standing

Length of journey is 5 minutes

Altitude of departure point is 1835m

Altitude of arrival point is 2689m

Output is 2600 persons per hour (for the first season in service)

Almost 15 million euros (about 10 million pounds) has been invested by the STVI. It is situated at the foot of the Bellevarde sector. It is amazing!

New Tommeuses Chair
Anyone who sat on the old long, slow chair heading for Tignes will find the installation of the new high speed version a huge relief. You can now enjoy a 4 man, 5 minute ride from the bottom to the top.

Espace Killy

is the name of the collective ski areas of Val d'Isere and Tignes. The altitude of 1850m in town reaches 3,550m at the top, which is why we have one of the best snow records in the world. Your lift pass covers you for both areas giving you 130 lifts, 300km of marked pistes and a never ending range of off-piste terrain to enjoy. You will never get bored skiing or boarding the Espace Killy.

The lift system is also described as one of the best in the world moving you quickly and efficiently around the mountain. The links are carefully calculated to give access to off-piste terrain as well as the marked pistes.

Vital Statistics

Altitude of resort		1850m
Altitude at the top of the lifts		3550m
Number of lifts Val side only		96
Alpine skiing slopes		135 (300km)
Green slopes		21
Blue slopes		65
Red slopes		35
Black slopes		14
Cross country slopes		16 (48km)
Snowboard Park		1
Half Pipe		1
Free nursery lifts		7

Beginners

Some say Val is not the best place to start skiing or boarding; it is just for the experts. In fact, it has an easy access nursery slope with free beginner lifts to kick-start your technique. Unlike other resorts, you quickly progress to the top of the mountain (Solaise) where easy beginner slopes await you. This sector offers fabulous mountain views, an abundance of easy slopes and a range of restaurants to meet your more advanced ski friends (instead of them coming down to base station to meet you). This set up gives any beginner the chance to see friends and family enjoy the other, harder slopes around you whilst you practice your turns on the greens. Perfect! Just refer to Vital Stats. to see how many blue and green slopes are actually available.

The Town

Life in Val started at the Church and the place gradually grew from there. The Church is still very much part of the town in the Old Village. This sector is undoubtedly the prettiest, with quaint, old stone properties lining little snow filled streets. From the Church, the town is one long high street with an abundance of shops and services on offer.
All our accommodation is well situated with lifts, shops and bus stops in mind.
A free bus service operates in Val running from early morning until late at night. This is ideal if you don't fancy walking with heavy skis or after a cocktail or two!

Val d'Isere as a resort actually has 4 distinct localities:

La Daille

as you pass the ‘Welcome to Val d’Isere sign’ you come in to La Daille. This is hamlet of Val but is still very much part of Val d’Isere. This is where the Funival is located and where the World Cup racing takes place. It is easy to hop on a bus to town if you finish your ski day here and it is a great place to start your day as the queues tend to be much lighter than Solaise. Walking in to town from here is not a great idea as it takes about 25 minutes so the bus is a much better bet! The La Daille sector is where we do most of our skiing as you get the vertical very quickly and the runs are challenging, fast and just exceptional.

Centre of Val

This is the area we all talk about and detailed at the beginning of this section. All the commerce & main restaurants are based here. You can start your ski day from the centre by walking or taking a bus to get to the Solaise Express that takes you up the Solaise sector or the Bellevarde Express that whisks you up to the Bellevarde sector. They go their separate ways but start from the same place (or rather very near to each other in case a seasoned client notices!). If you don’t want to take an Express chair, you can also start or finish your day using a cable car. Both go from the town centre very near to the lifts mentioned above.

L’aissenant

Another hamlet of Val and just a short walk outside the centre of town. This is a quaint, quiet part of town as it is away from the madding crowd. You can ski back to it at night off the Solaise sector and catch a bus from the main road to start your day. We have one rental property up here and it is becoming more and more popular. There are a few bars and restaurants there that are well worth sampling or a 15 min walk (max) will take you to the centre of town. People tend to forget about L’aissenant, which for some guests is perfect!

Fornet

This is another hamlet of Val that houses the cable car that takes you to the Glacier and some amazing off-piste runs. It has wonderful mountain views, a great restaurant called Arolay (well worth a visit) and the hamlet has winding, small, cobbled streets where a lot of the old Val d’Isere families live.

Winter Events

15-16 December 2008 - Criterium de la Premier Neige, (womens)
2-3 February 2008 - Alpine Skiing World Cup (mens)
3-6 March 2008 - Big Day Out snowboard competition
11-13 March 2008 - Classical Music Festival
7-10 April 2008 - ‘La Scara’ Alpine skiing race for kids from 12-15 years old. (the future World Cup girls and boys!)
15-17 April 2008 - Classical Music Festival
21-24 April 2008 - Adventure & Discovery film festival
4 May 2008 - last ski day

Ski Hire

Our office used to be located in La Poudreuse ski hire shop so our links with Phillippe and his team are still very strong. They hire a great range of the latest ski and boot equipment available. All our clients get a discount so if you would like to book your hire kit before your arrival, just go to the La Poudreuse website and complete the form on screen to place your request. If we can help with this, just contact us.

Lift Passes

The STVI work flat out to ensure the lifts around the Espace Killy work quickly and efficiently and the pistes are perfectly groomed for us to enjoy. So its reasonable to say that we shouldn't begrudge purchasing our lift passes to play in such a huge, well managed area. Your ski pass covers the entire Espace Killy that includes Tignes and Val d'Isere. A discount of between 5% and 20% is available to clients who present their Espace Killy pass purchased during any of the last three seasons. A six-day ski pass is also valid for a one-day ski pass in neighbouring resorts (La Plagne, 3 Valleys & Les Arcs). Children under 5 go free. Children = 5 to 12 years. Senior citizens from 60 - 74 qualify for a cheaper price than adults and Senior citizens from 75+ go free!

Purchasing Your Ski Passes

We do purchase lift passes as part of our service. We do the work for you saving you hours of fun standing in line with the rest of the world. All you have to do is:

	just let us know how many days you would like and with or without insurance, adults or children
	we then purchase the passes that we pick up at 4pm Saturday afternoons to hand out either on arrival or we will deliver them to your chalet/apartment
	you no longer need a picture for a pass up to 8 days as this season we have the new electronic card system

If you would like your passes to start earlier than Sunday morning we can also get them for you.

We accept cheques or credit cards as payment for lift passes.

A selection of lift pass prices for 2007/2008

VALID	ADULT		CHILDREN 5-13*		SENIOR 65-74*
	22/12/07 to 04/05/08	01/12/07 to 21/12/07	22/12/07 to 04/05/08	01/12/07 to 21/12/07	22/12/07 to 04/05/08	01/12/07 to 21/12/07
	€	€	€	€	€	€
1/2 Day**	30,50	27,50	24,50	22	24,50	22
1 Day	42	38	33,50	30,50	33,50	30,50
2 Days	75,50	68	60,50	54,50	60,50	54,50
3 Days	108	97	86,50	78	86,50	78
4 Days	140	126	112	101	112	101
5 Days	171,50	154,50	137	123,50	137	123,50
6 Days	202,50	182,50	162	146	162	146
7 Days	231	208	185	166,50	185	166,50
8 Days	249	224	199	179	199	179
9 Days	267	240	213	191,50	213	191,50
10 Days	285	256	227	204	227	204
11 Days	303	272	241	216,50	241	216,50
12 Days	321	288	255	229	255	229
13 Days	339	304	269	241,50	269	241,50
14 Days	357	320	283	254	283	254
15 Days	375	336	297	266,50	297	266,50
16 Days	384	345	304,50	274	304,50	274
17 Days	393	354	312	281,50	312	281,50
18 Days	402	363	319,50	289	319,50	289
19 Days	411	372	327	296,50	327	296,50
20 Days	420	381	334,50	304	334,50	304
21 Days	429	390	342	311,50	342	311,50
Season Pass	980	980	784	784	784	784

* Some form of identification is required for reduced rate passes.
** Half day pass on sale from 12.30pm in winter and 1pm in spring.

Ski Schools

There are a number of ski schools to consider for group or individual instruction. It is difficult to recommend a specific school as it very much depends on the instructor allocated. We know lots of them personally who work for different schools. So this is a selection of the many ones available that we would consider if we had to have a lesson:

Snow Fun
for a wide range of English speaking instructors. They offer Child Kindergarten classes for 3 years + and Child Ski School from 4 years +.
Tel: +33 (0)4 79 06 19 79

Evolution 2
for off-piste guides as well as piste instruction. There are English speaking instructors as well as French available.
Tel: +33 (0)4 79 41 16 72

ESF (Ecole de Ski Francais)
has acquired a few English instructors over the past few years to add to its largely French contingent. They are worth considering when booking your ski lessons. Tel: +33 (0)4 79 06 02 34

Prices for lessons will vary according to the ski school chosen. To give you an approximate price:

group lessons for an adult for 6 days = €118

group snowboarding lessons for adult or child for 6 days =

€135

Independent Instructors

Phillippe Clement:
at Ski Prestige is a big personality with lots of experience on the mountain. He can guide and teach surf, ski, and telemark.
Email:philippe@valdisereskischool.com
Telephone and fax:-
Winter 33- (0)4 79 06 25 94 summer: 33- (0)4 79 07 88 27
Mobile : 06 71 75 82 25

Ken Smith of New Generation:
Ken has done 10 seasons in Val d'Isere so knows the terrain inside out. He is multi talented and teaches ski-ing, telemark, snowboarding and off-piste. Mornings, afternoons or full day options available.
Ken can be booked through the New Generation office on:
+33 (0)4 79 01 03 18
or you will find him in Dicks T Bar for apres ski in resort.

Ken Smith of New Generation (centre)

Clare Burns:
Clare is the first American woman to achieve the top French qualification- Moniteur Nationale -- 1er degré. She has 10 years teaching experience in Val d'Isere and offers private coaching sessions, video feedback, race training, performance clinics, & off-piste guiding.
Mobile Tel: +33 6 20 34 82 59
Home Tel: +33 4 79 06 28 14
E-mail: cburns7@aol.com

Child Care

Val d'Isere caters for children from the age of four in créche facilities. For children under this age, we can help find a qualified, registered nanny working in resort. Please contact us for help.

All photography copyright 2000-2007 Richard Leeny & Alex Wilson
Contact us on: Tel: UK 0700 2000 456. From abroad: +44 207 607 9936
Email: sales@mrooms.co.uk. Fax: 0207 607 9740
Mountain Rooms & Chalets, Pulse House, 1A Lonsdale Square, London N1 1EN.
Mountain Rooms and Chalets is the trading name of Mountain Rooms Limited.
Registered address: No 1 Marylebone High Street, London, W1M 3PA.
Company Registration no 3618610