FRANCE
It’s a far cry from the glitz of, for instance, Courchevel, but as someone who comes to the mountains to ski rather than sashay around resort bars and restaurants, it suited me perfectly. And Orelle has a modest amount of apres-ski action: there’s one small bar, wryly named The Four Valleys, set in the busy village square beside the ski lift, where you can also find the ski school, kit hire, tourist info and that most essential feature of any ski trip, a pizza van. Meanwhile up on the mountain where all Orelle’s pistes converge at Plan Bouchet, bustling mountain restaurant Chalet Chinal Donat is a win for decent-value, meat- focused Savoyard fare and post-run beers. With just eight marked pistes (four blues,
three reds and one black) and one boarder cross racing run, Orelle’s local ski area may not be extensive, but all the descents are long and winding, and with 2,953ft of vertical available, it doesn’t take long before my legs start complaining. As might some people’s lungs — this is some of the highest skiing in Europe. The bonus is, of course, that the season runs long here at such lofty altitudes, lasting well into late spring, early summer. Off-piste, meanwhile, Orelle is ideal for
first-timers, with runs allowing for a swift return to the pistes if things get tricky. And there’s plenty for more experienced off-pisters.
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I revel in the fact that the extensive ‘ski hors- piste’ surrounding all the marked trails isn’t even tracked out by lunchtime on a day after a fresh fall of perfect powder snow. And once I’ve exhausted all that Orelle has to offer, I’m right on the edge of the biggest ski area on the planet, where the options are near limitless. A long day’s skiing takes me to Courchevel
at the opposite end of the Trois Vallées, and all the way back. I manage to find fresh ski legs for the return in the inevitable race for the last lift of the day, motivated by the knowledge that otherwise, the two-hour taxi ride back to Orelle would cost more than a flight home. But there are easier pleasures: exciting
off-piste adventures above snow-sure Val Thorens; the loud excesses of the Folie Douce restaurant in Meribel; or the long, undulating descent down ‘Jerusalem’ to the pretty village of Saint-Martin-de-Belleville (with a pit stop at Maya Altitude restaurant at the top of the run for the best chicken tikka skewers in the Alps). In short, there’s more skiing here than I could discover in 10 full seasons, and all of it accessible from a little forgotten valley.
More info: A week’s self-catering at Residence Hameau des Eaux in Orelle costs from €329 (£285).
alpvisionresidences.com
orelle.net
les3vallees.com
Clockwise from above: Combe-de- Rosael piste, Val Thorens; View of the Ouillon piste from the 2 Croix chairlift in Les Sybelles; dog sledding in the Vanoise National Park, Bonneval sur Arc, the highest village of Haute Maurienne (6,100ft); Skiing at Les Carroz, in Flaine
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