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Bars
and Clubs
Val probably has the best
social scene for any resort in the Alps, and it's flat!
Try these bars on your pub crawl:
The Pacific Bar - The best bar for sport (massive plasmas) and drinking
Moris Pub - Big and buzzing, great live music from Mullit
Le Petit Danois - Lively
Scandi bar with hot staff and breakfasts
Bananas - Regular first
stop on a big night out, mind the ‘freestylers’…
The Saloon Bar - good for apres-ski and late night messiness
Bar Alex – Run by Phil the Kiwi, friendly with new restaurant
Cafe Face - Stylish cavern
bar with happy hours
Dicks T-bar
- The original and best with international DJs and famous artists including Chesney Hawkes! Even provides a hangover cure in the form of an all you can eat, Full English from 9-12.30.
The Graal -cheesy French night club on the edge of town.
The Doudoune – new cheesy French night club out of town.
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Off-piste
The Espace Killy has such a wide choice of off piste but venture out there safely. Aways take a rucksack with an avalanche transceiver, shovel and probe, talk to the staff at Henry’s Avalanche Talk to get trained in avalanche safety procedure. Workers have died, so don’t take the risk lightly.
Tour de Charvet - take the Grand Pre chair .
Drop left into the bowl and pick one of the huge variations
on the descent.
Cols Pers - Take Fornet and then Signal and traverse
across before selecting a pitch. Stunning back-country
skiing with long run-out following the Isère river.
Pays Desert - Take Fornet and T-bar (if open)
Vallée Perdue - Take the Tommeuses chair to a
truly varied terrain with a tunnel.
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Moguls
Bellevarde – the famous Olympic
run down La Face is usually mogulled from top to bottom
Solaise - the infamous Solaise bumps are a steep
route down to the village under the lifts
L'Epaule - south-facing and sunny moguls -
hit it at about 11.30!
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Speed
Bellevarde to La Daille (1050m vertical) - race the Funicular!
Solaise to Val (700m)
Fornet to base camp
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Snowparks
The terrain around Val is so good you rarely
need a man-made environment. However, there is a world renowned board/ski-park on the Bellvarde at the top of the Mont Blanc lift.
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Events
Premiere Neige - first downhill race of the
season
For 2009 Val d’Isère is hosting the World Cup in February - one to watch
The last Funiculaire. The last run of the Season up the mountain in May, an unofficial event kindly tolerated by the pisteurs. Envolves people decending in retro flourescent one piece suits, on a variety of toboggans, canoes, paddling pools, bikes etc. Carnage and great fun.
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Famous
visitors
People come to Val to
be seen on the mountain not off it! Jean-Claude
Killy remains a famous son. Damon Hill has been
sighted, as has Zoe Ball-Cook, Fatboy Slim, Bono and the Edge, Gerard Depardieu, Helene Christianson, and many other luvvies. Home of the beautiful people.
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Away
Days
Although Val is on the large side for a ski
resort, you will still want to escape on occasion.
For a skiing day out, try Ste Foy. Just 30 mins
away this rustic resort has reams of off-piste potential.
Bourg St Maurice is not
the most exciting town, but is large enough to provide
a distraction. Towards the end of the season,
consider a trip to La Rosière and over the Col du Petit
St Bernard into Italy.
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Shopping
There's a shop for everyone in Val. Some of the favourites
include Billabong, Misty Fly, Quiksilver, Poudreuse, Napapijri and
Hors Limites. Fat Face and White Stuff all feature.
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 Internet
Cafés
Powder Monkey – Internet café in Le Galerie des Cimes, directly opposite the main bus station.
You can also use free wifi in some of the pubs and Dick’s T Bar.
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Eating
Out
On those occasions when your need to get away
from the kitchen, you can still get good value for money
about the resort:
Le Lodge - good value pizza
Le Canyon - Traditional French dishes
Billabong Cafe - American diner style
The Melting Pot - great
curry night!
@ Table - top take-away options (CdS
Discount)
Perdrix Blanche - Excellent but on the pricey end
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Mountain
Restos
If you're guiding or skiing with a group of
guests, these restaurants are a good bet for a stop, but you might need to save up…
La Folie Douce (top of La Daille) - Excellent Apres Ski with live music.
Trifollet (Bellevarde)
Marmottes (Bellevarde)
English Medical Centre 04 79 06 13 70
For when things go wrong! Dr Griffiths has run the English medical Centre for the last 10 years. If you have done a season in Val d’Isere before you might know him as he's the one who gives the ‘Do as I say not as I do’ health talks at the start of the season to all of the tour operator staff. It covers all aspects from what to do in an emergency in France (dial 112), to how to stay healthy and avoid a dose of something unpleasant. He is also the man to send your clients to (or go yourself, if unlucky) when injured on the mountain. The French ambulances deliver to his Surgery back door so request the English Medical Centre or end up at the French one…!
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McDonalds
The nearest 'Royale with
Cheese' is in Bourg St Maurice (30 mins).
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Shopping
Day
Options in town include Casino and Spar though they are exceedingly expensive so shop down the valley at Super U when you can. For wholesale items, you'll probably take the occasional visit up to Bob's Cash 2000 on the way to Fornet.
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Transfer
Day
Located as far up the
Tarentaise valley as you can get, Val d'Isère is consequently
at least an extra hour of transfer time on top of the
Three Valley resorts. Private transfers are an increasingly popular way to get up the mountain as they are well over an hour quicker than the coach. However throughout the season you will do well to beat any of the following times - Bourg 30min, Chambèry 2.5hrs, Lyon 3hrs and Geneva 3hrs. There are many new roads and a motorway in progress which will speed the journey from Geneva.
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Après-ski
Events
If you are a Rep, Val d'Isere offers a number of popular après-ski offers you can put out to your guests and boost your income. The following suppliers and ideas should help you put together a programme:
Tarentaise Tour – Everyone loves this 'haute montagne' ski day. Takes in Val, Tignes, Les Arcs and La Plagne.
Speciality Evenings – Cheesy as it may be, traditional Savoyarde nights out can be great fun. Try Le Casserole or Table d’Alain for Fondue.
As well as the usual skidoos, parapenting, snowboarding lessons etc why not try out ice racing in cars or quads. You can even helicopter up the mountain at the end of the day, spend an evening in an igloo being served cheese and then chocolate fondue, then ski down in the dark. Expensive but an awesome experience, talk to Alaska Moto-neige on 0615194629.
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Living
Val isn't as bad as some resorts,
in that it's fairly compact and flat. If you're working for
a tour operator you're always going to be fairly close to the action.
It's a fair walk into town from Chatelard, but the only call that's
likely to affect your social life is La Daille and even then you
can walk back within 30 minutes (next to nothing with a few demis
inside you!). Don’t live in Le Fornet however, as it is a 45 min walk.
There is an association called Vie Val d’Isere that gets you discounts as a seasonaire, around town, and the best value insurance.
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MyNatives
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If you’re thinking of doing a season in Snowbird then why not search through MyNatives to see who else has worked there and what advice they may be able to offer.
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Thanks to Adam Hemms from Europe Transfer for updating the page. |
