The Galibier Thabor Ski Area comprises of Valmeinier and Valloire mountain villages. There are actually 3 mountains spanning the 150-kilometre run ski terrain. In Europe, the size of the ski area is measured based on the slope run by kilometre and not based on the size of the whole area as opposed to say, in the Americas.
Dutchman and I have both skied and snowboard in Valmeinier and Valloire ski resorts but for this particular blog entry I will focus on Valmeinier. Because we were staying in Valloire, precisely right across the Moulin Benjamin lift, it usually takes us several hours to get to the Valmeinier area. There’s a lot of chair lift and ski station connections change and several ski slope runs in between.
Click here for the ski map: Galibier Thabor Ski Map
Catch22: Lift Connections from Valmeinier to Valloire
The catch22 here is the lift connection between Valmeinier and Valloire mountains. The Crey du Quart mountain is divided into 2 parts—Valmeinier Crey du Quart on the left and Valloire Crey du Quart on the right, which means both parts of the mountains have separate access lifts and this is where you need to pay more attention with. Most chair lifts close at 16:15 and sharp. The French will not give you any consideration if you are 1 minute late and will readily point you to a board with a taxi number on it. Taxis are charging between 40 and 50 euro from Valmeinier to Valloire.
The main lift connection between both areas, Valmeinier and Valloire and particularly in the Crey du Quart area are a combination of three lifts. Yes, THREE freaking lifts! Plus of course a ski run in between. These lifts are:
1) Armera Chair Lift – This is the main two-way chair lift connecting Valmeinier mountain and Valmeinier Crey du Quart mountain. If you are staying in Valmeinier this is your only focus. If you are staying in Valloire, make sure you catch this lift by 15:40-16:00 (depending on how fast you can ski down later after taking the next lift). If you miss this, call a taxi.
2) TSD Grandes Drozes Chair Lift – This is an in-between connection lift located right across the Armera lift. Hop on this to go up and then ski down to the direction of Moneul lift via either one of these blue slopes: Arcosses and Mine. If you miss this, call a taxi.
3) Moneul Chair Lift – This is the crucial and final lift that connects to Valloire ski slopes. If you are able to take this on time (closing is 16:15) then you are golden for the day. Dutchman and I barely missed this for 3 minutes! From the top of Moneul you can ski down to Valloire village or take the Cret de la Brive gondola which closes a bit later. If you miss this, call a taxi.
So yes, between both mountains there are THREE CONNECTING LIFTS. Missing either one will not make you to Valloire. Call a taxi instead.
The Slope Situation of Valmeinier
Firstly, I don’t do black slopes. Dutchman does but when he is with me, he avoids them as well. We have mixed emotions about the slope situation in Valmeinier ski area.
The Armera blue slope in particular have undercover red (steep) and green (flat) slope parts and they go from wide to narrow. Narrow slopes are bad for snowboarders and I don’t like them either. I guess they have no idea what to call this changing slope—some parts were almost flat, other parts steep enough so they probably just decided to play safe and cast the die on the middle and categorise this as a blue slope. There were also icy slopes in the last part of the run. It was too late for me to avoid the icy portion (they were a handful icy plates!) thus I fell down because of this.
For beginners, do take heed. We saw many beginner skiers having problems with the steeper parts and icy slopes.
The Perce Niege red slope from the Le Gros Crey, the highest slope summit of Valmeinier is surprisingly very narrow and steep. If you are not an advanced skier, this can be dangerous for you. I am not an advanced skier, I consider myself more as an advanced intermediate skier and I really had a bone with this slope. I think this could even be classified as a Black slope? See my separate blog entry here: Perce Niege Red Slope Scare in Valmeinier
Be careful of the Cyclamen red slope, this has many humps.
The best slope in Valmeinier is Eglantiers red slope starting from the top of Le Roi lift down to Valmeinier 1500m.
Valmeinier Altitude Cafes and Restaurants
The highest café restaurant is at the top of the TSD Jeux chair lift. One can access this as well by skiing the Perce Neige red slope and cutting it down off piste before reaching the plateau. We were eyeing on going here for lunch but Dutchman and I unfortunately missed a turn. There was no direct slope link from Perce Neige red slope to this café terrace other than doing a short off piste trail. It was too late to communicate with the Dutchman who happens to be already down at the plateau waiting for me as I tackled and cursed the red undercover as black slope. So we decided to ski to the next café restaurant.
This is the Bar Restaurant Les Gros Crey located along the Petit Dejeuner green slope. The café restaurant has lovely views of the alpine surroundings and down to Valmeinier 1800m. As it was getting late, we settled for a quick drink instead, a vin chaud and a chocola chaud.
Travel Period: January 2014
Destination: Valmeinier (Savoie – Rhone-Alpes), France
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