Transfer to Alps: The Essential European Ski Resort Guide
Oct 14, 2026 · 19 min · 10 segments
Ready to ride the highest ski domain in Europe? In Episode 5 of Transfer to Alps, hosts Liam and Chloe take a deep tactical dive into the slopes, ski lifts, and hidden lines across Val Thorens and the…
This is the big one, and when you look at the raw statistics of the local Val Thorens and Orelle ski area, the numbers are just staggering.
You've got 150 kilometers of fully linked high-altitude pistes spread across 88 marked runs.
But the statistic that completely changes how this mountain skis is that 99% of the entire area sits above 2,000 meters.
It makes such a massive difference to the snow quality.
Because you are skiing between 2,300 and 3,230 meters, the snow up here simply doesn't suffer from the warm valley air that turns lower resorts to heavy slush in the spring.
It stays cold, light, and wonderfully chalky.
You can carve hard edges into the corduroy at 3:00 in the afternoon, and the snow still holds like a dream.
It really does.
And the local lift company, SETAM, has never stopped innovating.
They have just completed one of the most ambitious engineering projects on the mountain, the brand-new Faisan Nord Gondola.
Oh, the Faisan Nord lift is an absolute game changer.
They invested 15 million euros into this state-of-the-art 10-person Doppelmayr gondola.
It replaces the old, slow Glacier and Col chairlifts that used to freeze you to the bone in high alpine winds.
What's brilliant about Faisan Nord is the terrain it unlocks.
It whisks you up in warm enclosed comfort and drops you right at the start of the legendary Faisan Nord and Asters pistes.
But even more importantly, it creates a seamless wind-protected link straight into the Orelle Valley via the Loris run, meaning you don't get bottlenecked on the ridge during stormy days.
And that is just within the local bowl.
Because the moment you clip into your bindings in Val Thorens, you are also standing at the high-altitude gateway of the Three Valleys.
With a single pass, you have 600 kilometers of interconnected runs spanning all the way across to Meribel, Courchevel, Les Menuires, and Saint Martin.
It is officially the largest linked ski area on the planet.
You can start your morning on the frozen glaciers above Val Thorens, cruise through the pine forests of Saint Martin for a long lunch, ski over the ridge into Courchevel, and head back home without ever taking off your skis.
This is the big one, and when you look at the raw statistics of the local Val Thorens and Orelle ski area, the numbers are just staggering.
You've got 150 kilometers of fully linked high-altitude pistes spread across 88 marked runs.
But the statistic that completely changes how this mountain skis is that 99% of the entire area sits above 2,000 meters.
It makes such a massive difference to the snow quality.
Because you are skiing between 2,300 and 3,230 meters, the snow up here simply doesn't suffer from the warm valley air that turns lower resorts to heavy slush in the spring.
It stays cold, light, and wonderfully chalky.
You can carve hard edges into the corduroy at 3:00 in the afternoon, and the snow still holds like a dream.
It really does.
And the local lift company, SETAM, has never stopped innovating.
They have just completed one of the most ambitious engineering projects on the mountain, the brand-new Faisan Nord Gondola.
Oh, the Faisan Nord lift is an absolute game changer.
They invested 15 million euros into this state-of-the-art 10-person Doppelmayr gondola.
It replaces the old, slow Glacier and Col chairlifts that used to freeze you to the bone in high alpine winds.
What's brilliant about Faisan Nord is the terrain it unlocks.
It whisks you up in warm enclosed comfort and drops you right at the start of the legendary Faisan Nord and Asters pistes.
But even more importantly, it creates a seamless wind-protected link straight into the Orelle Valley via the Loris run, meaning you don't get bottlenecked on the ridge during stormy days.
And that is just within the local bowl.
Because the moment you clip into your bindings in Val Thorens, you are also standing at the high-altitude gateway of the Three Valleys.
With a single pass, you have 600 kilometers of interconnected runs spanning all the way across to Meribel, Courchevel, Les Menuires, and Saint Martin.
It is officially the largest linked ski area on the planet.
You can start your morning on the frozen glaciers above Val Thorens, cruise through the pine forests of Saint Martin for a long lunch, ski over the ridge into Courchevel, and head back home without ever taking off your skis.
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