Albertville, Host 1992

So after having such a great time in Chamonix and not having to go to work for a few more days, we decided to extend the ski trip by 3 more days and go skiing Val D'Isere, a very scenic 90 minute drive from Chamonix.  On the way to Val D'Isere we stopped off in the 1992 host town Albertville.  It was quite small, not a whole lot going on but nice enough. Unless you were a tourist with a strange obsession of former Olympic sites, there was not much reason to stop here. Of course, we did check out the Olympic museum which was full of memorabilia and crazy French costumes from the Olympics.

This Olympics had a lot of venues spread out over a wide area.  We decided to go to Val D'Isere ski resort because it hosted the Men's alpine events, while nearby Les Tines hosted freestyle skiing. Meribel, in the next valley over, hosted the women's skiing but we did not have time to go there.

The newly developed part of Albertville Town Centre

While in Albertville, we also checked out the Olympic Park which has the mast used in the opening ceremony, the Olympic Cauldron and arena where the short track speed skating and figure skating took place.  The arena looks like it has seen better days now.

Olympic Arena and Cauldron

We stayed at a small Logis hotel (great for inexpensive lodging in France), the food was not as good as the Excelsior in Chamonix, but adequate.  It was difficult to find a place to stay in Val D'Isere that offered lodging at nightly rates, and at a reasonable price it seemed it all had to be done by the week.

On-piste Experience: Gold


Wow, what can I say, skiing at Val D'Isere was incredible, there are lifts everywhere and bar some of the larger cable cars in the morning the lift lines were not bad.  We took this mini TGV funicular thing up to the top of the mountain, it looks like it was built for the Olympics, and this thing moved.  It was like taking a subway to work, but in your ski gear.   The Skiable terrain here is massive, it is linked to another ski area, Les Tines to form the Espace Killey and our pass was good for both.  To get from one end of the ski area to another took about 2 hours, and we still hadn't made it to the far end of Les Tines!  We needed at least two more days to explore the skiable area. There was a wide variety of runs, Mike enjoyed carving on the blues while I tried the Olympic Downhill run and reds.

The "TGV" Funicular thing

The Olympic Downhill run is tough, I can't believe the skiers bombed down it!  It was more challenging that the Downhill runs I previously did in Nagano or Lake Placid. I think for FIS events, they use an easier red run.  I took me 5+ mins to do the run and the athletes did it under 2mins I think.   The conditions were good, but got icy towards the end of the day. We found an unofficial jump on the first day where I tried to pull some wicked eighties freestyle moves.  I managed to pull off a back-scratcher but failed massively on the Daffy.  The terrain park had some huge jumps, but I  didn't see anyone brave enough to go off the black rated jump; it looked outright suicidal.  There is plenty of off-piste skiing too but we had enough pistes to explore to keep us occupied for the day.

The weather there was great: not too cold, loads of sun and not too warm to cause any melting.  The only complaint was the food on the hill was really expensive and of low quality.  On the second day we went to the base and into town where I had the best quiche of my life and some great pastries, still pricey though.

Apres Ski: Gold


Unlike Chamonix, which was older, this was a purpose built resort, complete with very expensive shops selling designer mountain wear.  Most of the gear was way too expensive, and too pretentious for me to consider buying.  There were a lot of restaurants and pubs to enjoy on the main drag, but they didn't seem as cozy as the ones in Chamonix and I imagine they were expensive  We went to the Moris Pub, which had live music (an Irish singer); it was good fun.  For clubbers there is the Folie Douce right on the slopes, it seems things kick off their at 3pm.  It kind of reminded me of the student union and Ministry of Sound  slopeside, I think it is aimed to a crowd who is age is not as advanced as mine.  I think generally the apres ski here is more boisterous and probably slightly more expensive than Chamonix, but there certainly isn't a shortage of things to do when the lifts stop.  Val D Isere is not for people who pinch pennies, fortunately for people who do there is St. Bourg 30 minutes down the road where we went one night, we had a great pizza in a pizzeria in a strip, the waitress looked like Tina Turner who had cosmetic surgery gone wrong, but it was probably half the price of a pizza in Val D'Isre.  There are also very authentic French drinking establishments in this town.

Il Folie Douce

Overall: Gold


Marc Says:  "This is probably the best ski experience I have ever had. It isn't cheap but worth it the extra price.  The lift system is great, conditions were great too with a wide variety of runs and challenges.  Can't complain. I wish I had more time here to explore the runs, do some off-piste skiing and experience more apes ski."