The secret French valley happily hidden in the shadow of Val d’Isère

Lying in shadow of the country’s most popular ski resort is a valley of villages, with peaceful slopes, charming streets and cheaper hotels

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“Now we can enjoy a glass of wine,” said our sun-crinkled guide, Fabrice, as he magicked a bottle out of his backpack. We had not long arrived on touring skis at the lower Vallonnet glacier, a soaring wall of pale blue ice in a beautiful, remote valley in the Haute Maurienne Vanoise.
Clinking half-filled plastic tumblers under a cartoon blue sky, surrounded by mighty snow-capped peaks, we felt a million miles from anywhere, which was surprising given that Val d’Isère, one of France’s biggest and blingiest ski resorts, stood just a short distance away.
We had met Fabrice earlier that morning in the mountain village of Bonneval-sur-Arc, a small cluster of old stone and timber houses that sits at the end of the Haute Maurienne Valley in the central Alps. The tiny town is one of six individual ski resorts that lie along the Arc river, sandwiched between the Italian border and the Vanoise National Park.
Separating Bonneval from Val d’Isère in the neighbouring Tarentaise Valley is the Col de l’Iseran, the highest road pass in Europe. During summer months the route links traditional Bonneval with well-developed Val, but in winter all access is cut off. This is not for want of trying, however; numerous proposals to build a ski lift linking the two resorts have been put forward over the years – but Haute Maurienne locals remain steadfast in their rejection of the plans.
“The chances of linking Val d’Isère and Bonneval are close to zero,” said Yves Dimier, a director at Val Cenis. “This project could have potentially been done a few years ago, but honestly nowadays it is totally against the way that we imagine the future of our ski resorts.”
The six resorts that line the length of the Haute Maurienne Valley all remain comparatively unspoilt. Where Val d’Isère has luxury hotels, Michelin-star restaurants, and a dancing-on-tables après-ski scene, the resorts of the Haute Maurienne feature mostly self-catering apartments, low-key local restaurants and not a single nightclub.
The resorts also offer a very different ski experience, which is what makes this area such a fascinating place to explore (the resorts are not linked but they do share a ski pass). Bonneval might only have 32km (20 miles) of trails, but what it lacks in marked runs it more than makes up for in off-piste adventures: as well as ski touring it’s fantastic for freeriding and hosted the Freeride World Tour Qualifier last winter.
Seven kilometres away, on a wide, snow-covered plateau, lies Bessans, one of the best resorts in the country for cross-country skiing. Professionals, locals and amateurs train on its 133km of winding trails and at its biathlon stadium. At the mouth of the valley sits Valfréjus, the home of speedriding; La Norma, renowned for its quality snow cover; and Aussois, popular with families. Situated in the heart of the valley is Val Cenis, the largest and most diverse of the resorts.
“We’ll go through the trees, OK?” asked our guide Jerome, slipping off the marked piste into shin-height powder snow before we had time to answer.
Traditionally known as a family resort with 125km of largely cruisy blues and tree-lined reds, our gung-ho guide was determined to show us that the slopes at Val Cenis can also cater to advanced skiers. It helped that we had arrived soon after bucketfuls of fresh, fluffy snow had fallen – some 2m (6½ft) in the previous 10 days.
That’s one thing about Val Cenis, and the Haute Maurienne Vanoise in general: it is far more snow-sure than some French ski resorts. Altitude, slope gradient and north-facing slopes help ensure that when the snow arrives, it stays. So confident are the locals of their weather that last season saw the resort launch its Weather Guarantee programme, offering visitors a refund if they experience rain, snow or hail for more than three hours in a day, the only resort in Europe to do so.
Fortunately for us, we had perfect conditions, with snow so deep that during one comical fall the magnetic lens from my goggles whipped off and was buried in the snow, never to be seen again. Back on the groomed pistes, Jerome led us along the red Bois des Coqs run and then the long, looping blue traverse to catch the chairlift to our lunch stop at L’Alpage d’Augustin. Following a generous serving of local speciality raviolis du bleu de Bonneval, we headed up to the Col du Mont Cenis for views over the frozen Lake Cenis, which sparkled in the sunshine, before tackling more runs.
For much of the day we had the pistes to ourselves and never had to queue for a lift. Granted, my visit did not overlap with peak holiday weeks, but even during busy periods Val Cenis never sees the kind of crowds that Val d’Isère does.
“We’re not as well-known as we deserve to be,” said Jerome as we skied our final run. “But we also don’t want too many people to come.” Hear, hear, Jerome – let’s hope this wonderfully unique ski resort never changes.
Katja was a guest of Haute Maurienne Vanoise and stayed at the four-star Hotel Le St Charles in Val Cenis, where doubles start at £115, B&B. A six-day Haute Maurienne lift pass covering all six resorts costs €168 (£140). The pass covers unlimited skiing in the resort of purchase plus one day’s skiing in each of the other resorts. Chambéry is the closest airport. Regular trains run between London and Modane, roughly 20km from Val Cenis. Find out more at haute-maurienne-vanoise.com.
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