Val-d'Isère (, literally ''Valley of

Isère Isère ( , ; frp, Isera; oc, Isèra, ) is a landlocked department in the southeastern French region of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. Named after the river Isère, it had a population of 1,271,166 in 2019.commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...

of the

Tarentaise Valley The Tarentaise Valley (french: Vallée de la Tarentaise, ; frp, Tarentèsa) is a valley of the Isère River in the heart of the French Alps, located in the Savoy region of France. The valley is named for the ancient town of ''Darantasia'', the ...

, in the

Savoie Savoie (; Arpitan: ''Savouè'' or ''Savouè-d'Avâl''; English: ''Savoy'' ) is a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, Southeastern France. Located in the French Alps, its prefecture is Chambéry. In 2019, Savoie had a population of ...

department (

Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (ARA; ; frp, Ôvèrgne-Rôno-Ârpes; oc, Auvèrnhe Ròse Aups; it, Alvernia-Rodano-Alpi) is a region in southeast-central France created by the 2014 territorial reform of French regions; it resulted from the merger of Au ...

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...

) in southeastern

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. It lies from the border with

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

. It is on the border of the

Vanoise National Park Vanoise National Park (french: Parc national de la Vanoise) is a French national park between the Tarentaise and Maurienne valleys in the French Alps, containing the Vanoise massif. It was created in 1963 as the first national park in France. ...

created in 1963. During the

Albertville Albertville (; Arpitan: ''Arbèrtvile'') is a subprefecture of the Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in Southeastern France. It is best known for hosting the 1992 Winter Olympics and Paralympics. In 2018, the commune had ...

1992 Winter Olympics ) , nations = 64 , athletes = 1,801 (1313 men, 488 women) , events = 57 in 6 sports (12 disciplines) , opening = 8 February 1992 , closing = 23 February 1992 , opened_by = President François Mitterrand , cauldron ...

, the ''Face de Bellevarde'' was the site of the men's downhill race. Other

alpine skiing Alpine skiing, or downhill skiing, is the pastime of sliding down snow-covered slopes on skis with fixed-heel bindings, unlike other types of skiing ( cross-country, Telemark, or ski jumping), which use skis with free-heel bindings. Whether for ...

events held during those games included men's giant slalom and alpine combined. Val d'Isère regularly hosts

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

alpine events, usually for the men in early December, and hosted the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

. It is located in the

région with good transport links in and out of

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...

and

Chambéry Chambéry (, , ; Arpitan: ''Chambèri'') is the prefecture of the Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of eastern France. The population of the commune of Chambéry was 58,917 as of 2019, while the population of the Chambér ...

. The ski area of Val d'Isère and

Tignes Tignes () is a commune in the Tarentaise Valley, in the Savoie department in the Rhône-Alpes region in south-eastern France, known for the highest skiable area and the longest ski season in Europe. It is located in the Savoie region with good tr ...

forms the

Espace Killy Espace may refer to: *ESPACE, a complexity class in computational complexity theory *Espace musique, a Canadian radio service *Espace 2, a Swiss radio station *Radio Espace, a French radio station *Espace Group, a French media company *Group Espace ...

, named after the triple Olympic champion

Jean-Claude Killy Jean-Claude Killy (born 30 August 1943) is a French former World Cup alpine ski racer. He dominated the sport in the late 1960s, and was a triple Olympic champion, winning the three alpine events at the 1968 Winter Olympics, becoming the most su ...

who grew up in Val d'Isère. There are two mountain huts (called “refuges” in French) owned by the

on the territory of Val d'Isère: le Refuge du Prariond and le Refuge du Fond des Fours.

Skiing and snowsports

The western and central areas of Val d'Isère are most recognizable by their "chalet" architecture, while in the eastern part of the town high-rise architecture dominates the landscape. Along with nearby

the area forms part of the " l' Espace Killy", the self-titled "Most Beautiful Ski Area in the World". The Pissaillas Glacier offers summer skiing, as well as the usual winter fare.

Snow cannon Snowmaking is the production of snow by forcing water and pressurized air through a "snow gun", also known as a "snow cannon". Snowmaking is mainly used at ski resorts to supplement natural snow. This allows ski resorts to improve the reliabilit ...

are placed on certain slopes to accommodate heavy skiing. The ski slopes themselves are equipped with a high-volume gondola, able to transport standing skiers, the funicular ''

Funival The Funival is a gauge funicular railway in Val-d'Isère, France The Funival starts above ground in La Daille and after a few hundred meters it enters a tunnel ending at the mountain station on top of the ''Bellevarde''. The Funival uses two ...

'' from La Daille via a tunnel to the top of Bellevarde, traditional chair lifts—some with windshields and many detachable, button/disc-pulls and tow-ropes. There are both groomed slopes and backcountry (off-piste) skiing. The slopes' difficulty levels are particularly high. However, as in Tignes, there are wide, easily navigable pistes for those of the beginner-intermediate level as well. Val d'Isère is renowned as having some of the world's best lift-accessed off-piste and has many independent instructors and guides who specialise in off-piste tuition and guiding.

possesses more of the same, with a

funicular A funicular (, , ) is a type of cable railway system that connects points along a railway track laid on a steep slope. The system is characterized by two counterbalanced carriages (also called cars or trains) permanently attached to opposite en ...

shuttling skiers up through one of the mountains to the

Grande Motte glacier Tignes () is a commune in the Tarentaise Valley, in the Savoie department in the Rhône-Alpes region in south-eastern France, known for the highest skiable area and the longest ski season in Europe. It is located in the Savoie region with good tr ...

. A free shuttle bus runs between the villages in the valley, providing free transport throughout the towns of Val d'Isère and La Daille.

History

Human habitation of the valley dates back to before Roman times with traces of Celtic tribes found in the area. The town received parish rights in 1637 and the parish church, which is still a landmark in the town centre, was built in 1664. Val-d'Isere was part of the historical land of Savoy emerged as the feudal territory of the House of Savoy during the 11th to 14th centuries. The historical territory is shared between the modern countries of France, Italy, and Switzerland. The House of Savoy became the longest surviving royal house in Europe. It ruled the County of Savoy to 1416 and then the Duchy of Savoy from 1416 to 1860. Skiing in Val d'Isère has its roots in the 1930s when a drag lift was built on the slopes of the Solaise. This was followed by an

aerial tramway An aerial tramway, sky tram, cable car, ropeway, aerial tram, telepherique, or seilbahn is a type of aerial lift which uses one or two stationary ropes for support while a third moving rope provides propulsion. With this form of lift, the grip ...

(cable car). During WWII, the village secretly housed Jewish children; the former mayor of the village, Dr. Frederic Petri, sheltered a young woman in his chalet and nursed her broken leg.

Geography

Climate

Val-d'Isère has a

subarctic climate The subarctic climate (also called subpolar climate, or boreal climate) is a climate with long, cold (often very cold) winters, and short, warm to cool summers. It is found on large landmasses, often away from the moderating effects of an ocean, ge ...

(

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

''Dfc''). The average annual temperature in Val-d'Isère is . The average annual rainfall is with December as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in July, at around , and lowest in January, at around . The highest temperature ever recorded in Val-d'Isère was on 27 June 2019; the coldest temperature ever recorded was on 31 December 2000.

Tarentaise Valley skiing

The

has the largest concentration of world-class ski resorts in the world. Most well known neighbour systems are

Paradiski Paradiski is a ski-area in the Tarentaise Valley of France that offers uninterrupted skiing in between the areas of Les Arcs, Peisey-Vallandry and La Plagne. The area is linked, since December 2003, by the Vanoise Express lift. In total over the ...

( Les Arcs, La Plagne) and

Les Trois Vallées Les Trois Vallées (; ''The Three Valleys'') is a ski region in the Tarentaise Valley in the Savoie department of Southeastern France, to the south of the town of Moûtiers, partly in Vanoise National Park. Since 1971, it has been possible to ...

(

Courchevel Courchevel () is a French Alps ski resort. It is a part of Les Trois Vallées, the largest linked ski areas in the world. Courchevel also refers to the towns of Courchevel 1300 (Le Praz), Courchevel 1550, Courchevel 1650 (Moriond), and Cou ...

Méribel Méribel () is a ski resort in the Tarentaise Valley in the French Alps. Méribel refers to three neighbouring villages in the Les Allues commune of the Savoie department of France, near the town of Moûtiers (), called Méribel Centre, Méribel ...

Val Thorens Val Thorens (), is a ski town located in the Tarentaise Valley, Savoie, French Alps at an altitude of . It is located in the commune of Saint-Martin-de-Belleville in the Savoie department. The resort forms part of the Les Trois Vallées ski ar ...

and more). There were once plans to interlink all systems and resorts to create what would have been by far the largest ski area in the world. However, that vision was ended with the creation of the

Olympic Games, World Cup and World Championships

The resort hosts every year a round of the

FIS Alpine Ski World Cup The FIS Alpine Ski World Cup is the top international circuit of alpine skiing competitions, launched in 1966 by a group of ski racing friends and experts which included French journalist Serge Lang and the alpine ski team directors from France ...

for both men and women. The men's Downhill, Super-G and Giant Slalom of the 1992 Albertville Olympic Winter Games were held on the ''Face de Bellevarde'' in Val d'Isère. The

FIS Alpine World Ski Championships 2009 The FIS Alpine World Ski Championships 2009 were the 40th FIS Alpine World Ski Championships, held 2–15 February in France at Val-d'Isère, Savoie. The International Ski Federation (FIS) awarded the championships to Val-d'Isère on 2 June 2 ...

were also held in Val d'Isère.

Tour de France

The resort was the start of Stage 9 to

Briançon Briançon (, ) is the sole Subprefectures in France, subprefecture of the Hautes-Alpes Departments of France, department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region in Southeastern France. It is the highest city in France at an a ...

in the 2007 Tour de France. The 2019

Tour de France The Tour de France () is an annual men's multiple-stage bicycle race primarily held in France, while also occasionally passing through nearby countries. Like the other Grand Tours (the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España), it consists ...

passed through Val d'Isère on July 26, on their way to Tignes, descending the Col de l'Iseran. Due to unexpected bad weather – a hailstorm resulting in landslides on the road along the ‘Lac du Chevril' – the organisation of the Tour had to cancel the stage passed the Col de l'Iseran. The cyclists stopped in the village of the Val d'Isère.

GEM Altigliss Challenge

Val d'Isère is the location of the annual winter sporting event GEM Altigliss Challenge which is organised by

Grenoble School of Management Grenoble Ecole de Management (GEM) is a French graduate business school (Grande Ecole) renowned for its teaching in innovation and management. The consular institution was founded in 1984 in Grenoble, in the Auvergne-Rhone Alpes region, by the ...

. Each February over 1000 students from 30

Grandes écoles Grandes may refer to: * Agustín Muñoz Grandes, Spanish general and politician *Banksia ser. Grandes, a series of plant species native to Australia * Grandes y San Martín, a municipality located in the province of Ávila, Castile and León, Spain ...

of France participate in the week-long skiing and snowboarding event which takes place in Val d'Isère.

Popular culture

Val d'Isère was made well known as the vacation spot of characters Edina and Patsy in the British sitcom, ''

Absolutely Fabulous ''Absolutely Fabulous'' (also known as ''Ab Fab'') is a British television sitcom based on the ''French and Saunders'' sketch, "Modern Mother and Daughter", created by Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders. The show was created and written by Saund ...

''. Although the movie ''

Les Bronzés font du ski ''French Fried Vacation 2'' (''Les Bronzés font du ski'') is a classic 1979 French comedy directed by Patrice Leconte. It is a sequel to ''Les Bronzés'' (1978), and it was followed by '' Les Bronzés 3 : Amis pour la vie'' (2006). Plot Th ...

'' (''French Fried Vacation 2'') has been a great success in France, only a few people are aware that it was shot in Val d'Isère. In 1994, a video game named after the resort, '' Val d'Isere Championship'' was released for the

Super NES The Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), commonly shortened to Super NES or Super Nintendo, is a 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan and South Korea, 1991 in North America, 1992 in E ...

, after it was featured in an episode of '' GamesMaster''. Another game called '' Val d'Isère Skiing and Snowboarding'' was released for the

Atari Jaguar The Atari Jaguar is a home video game console developed by Atari Corporation and released in North America in November 1993. Part of the fifth generation of video game consoles, it competed with the 16-bit Sega Genesis, the Super NES and the ...

in 1995. Val d'Isère has referenced in the film adaptation of ''

Me Before You ''Me Before You'' is a romance novel written by Jojo Moyes. The book was first published on 5 January 2012 in the United Kingdom. A sequel titled ''After You'' was released on 24 September 2015 through Pamela Dorman Books. A second sequel, ''St ...

'', having been changed from

Notable people

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...

triple gold medalist

grew up in Val d'Isère. *

Henri Oreiller Henri Oreiller (5 December 1925 – 7 October 1962) was an Alpine skiing, alpine ski racer and Olympic gold medalist from France. He won two gold medals and a bronze at the Alpine skiing at the 1948 Winter Olympics, 1948 Winter Olympics, becoming ...

(1925-1962): First champion of the Winter Olympics in France (two golden medals in Sankt Moritz 1948). *

Christine Goitschel Christine Béranger-Goitschel (born 9 June 1944) is a former French alpine skier. She is the elder sister of fellow champion skier Marielle Goitschel and the aunt of the former speed skier Philippe Goitschel. Her sister Patricia was a national ju ...

(born in 1944): Olympic champion Innsbruck 1964. *

Marielle Goitschel Marielle Goitschel (born 28 September 1945 in Sainte-Maxime) is a former French alpine skier. Marielle is the younger sister of Christine Goitschel, another champion skier of the time, and the aunt of speed skier Philippe Goitschel. After grea ...

(born in 1945, sister of Christine): twice Olympic champion in 1964 and 1968
website of Val d'Isère, 5 September 2019

External links

Val d'Isère Tourist Office

Val d'Isère history

WW2 Val d'Isère Tragedy - Allied POWs died at the Colle Galisia in 1944
* (http://www.skiline.co.uk/blog/tignes-or-val-d-isere {{DEFAULTSORT:Valdisere Venues of the 1992 Winter Olympics Olympic alpine skiing venues Communes of Savoie Ski resorts in France