Val Thorens (), is a ski town located in 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 ...

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 ...

French Alps The French Alps are the portions of the Alps mountain range that stand within France, located in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur regions. While some of the ranges of the French Alps are entirely in France, others, such as ...

at an altitude of . It is located in the commune of

Saint-Martin-de-Belleville Saint-Martin-de-Belleville is a former commune in the Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in south-eastern France. On 1 January 2016, it was merged into the new commune of Les Belleville. Saint-Martin-de-Belleville is home t ...

in the

department. The resort forms part of the

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 ...

ski area which, with over 600 km of piste, is one of the largest linked ski areas in the world.

Resort

In 1971 the first of three drag lifts was installed, followed in 1972 by the opening of the first ski school.

Skiing

The resort is usually open from mid-November until early May. The highest ski-able peaks are Pointe du Bouchet (3230 m) and

Cime de Caron Cime de Caron is a mountain of Savoie, France. It lies in the Massif de la Vanoise range. It has an elevation of above sea level. It is a mountain in the Les Trois Vallées, Three Valleys (Les Trois Vallées) a popular ski resort, in the valley o ...

(3200 m). Many of the slopes in Val Thorens face north and north-west. However, the resort itself faces south. Val Thorens has a total of 68 marked runs, and several terrain parks. The main snow park hosts a stage of the national SFR Slopestyle Tour, and the ski cross arena is frequently visited by the FIS Skier X World Cup. Val Thorens is part of the '' 3 vallées'' ski domain, which is connected by a common ski pass.

Summer skiing

Beginning in 1973 Val Thorens operated ski lifts all year round on the Peclet glacier. Low visitations and melting glacier concerns led to a complete removal by 2002.

Lift System

Val Thorens has 31 lifts, which include magic carpets, draglifts, chairlifts, gondolas,

funitel A funitel is a type of cableway, generally used to transport skiers, although at least one is used to transport finished cars between different areas of a factory. It differs from a standard gondola lift through the use of two arms attached to tw ...

s and a cable car.

Notable Persons

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 ...

* Adrien Theaux * Jean-Frédéric "JF" Chapuis *

Chloé Trespeuch Chloé Trespeuch (born 13 April 1994) is a French snowboarder competing in snowboard cross. She qualified for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi and won the bronze medal in the snowboard cross. At the 2022 Winter Olympics she won the silver ...

Sports competitions

Tour de France

The resort hosted a

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 ...

stage finish in 1994.

Nelson Rodriguez Nelson may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Nelson'' (1918 film), a historical film directed by Maurice Elvey * ''Nelson'' (1926 film), a historical film directed by Walter Summers * ''Nelson'' (opera), an opera by Lennox Berkeley to a lib ...

of Colombia won the stage, which had the second highest elevation for a stage finish in the history of the Tour de France. The Tour de France returned to Val Thorens for the Stage 20 finish on 27 July 2019 and won by

Vincenzo Nibali ), The Nibbler , birth_date = , birth_place = Messina, Sicily, Italy , height = , weight = , currentteam = , discipline = Road , role = Rider , ridertype = Climber , proyears1 = 2005 , proteam1 = , proyears2 = 2006–2012 , protea ...

Ski competitions

In December 2017, Val Thorens is host city for snowboard cross during the

2017–18 FIS Snowboard World Cup The 2017–18 FIS Snowboard World Cup was the 24th World Cup season in snowboarding organised by International Ski Federation. The season started on 4 September 2017 in Cardrona, New Zealand and concluded on 24 March 2018 in Quebec City, Canada. ...

References

External links

Official Val Thorens website
{{Authority control Ski areas and resorts in France Tourist attractions in Savoie Sports venues in Savoie