What a Start to the Season in Val Thorens!

PlanetSKI reporter, Felix Milns, took first lifts & last lifts.

He skied pistes and powder.

He tested skis and had exclusive visits behind the scenes of the resort.

Oh, and he had to keep energy levels up with some fabulous food and of course a touch of apres.

He was one of 25,000 people in the resort for its opening – 30% more than last year as word gets out about La Grande Premiere.  

Felix blogged in real time across Saturday and Sunday and here we pull it altogether in chronological order with a few extra details.

Sit back and dream of the season to come and celebrate why ski resorts are so special.

Saturday 22nd November 2025

First thing on Saturday morning it is looking pretty darn good in Val Thorens.

One of those ‘great to be alive’ moments.

 

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Locals told me it is already one of the best starts to a season in recent memory.

25,000 tickets have been sold for the weekend and it is set to be the most popular ever opening of the resort.

It was great seeing snow on the road as we drove up on Friday evening.

It’s a pain putting chains on, but there is a reason for it and it means one thing – fresh snow is waiting on the slopes.

Here’s what it looked like as the sun rose over the surrounding peaks of Val Thorens in this stunning part of the French Alps on Saturday morning.

The resort has seen plentiful snow with the ploughs out in town and the piste bashers up on the slopes early preparing for ‘La Grand Premiere’.

First stop the Ski Test Centre.

 

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It is mainly piste skiing at the moment as Val Thorens is rocky and it needs much snow for a good covering, but there is a little bit of the soft stuff to dabble in.

The slopes were pisted to perfection first thing, but with the number of people out enjoying this first day of the season they have become chopped up in places.

No matter.

Soon enough I was at the top of the resort at 3,200m at the newly re-opened lift Cime Caron that was out of action all last season due to an accident ahead of the season opening.

PlanetSKI exclusively revealed it’s season closure this time last year as our reporter Simon Wilson was at La Grande Premiere a year ago.

• Val Thorens cable car out of action for whole season

Now it is great to see it back up and running.

 

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One of the brand new lifts in the resort, Face Nord, is also up and running.

See here for an earlier PlanetSKI article about other things that are new in Val Thorens for the season:

• See what’s on offer in Val Thorens this winter

The Face Nord will prove to be a bit of a game changer.

Essentially it cuts out the requirement to ride the slow lifts.

Not only will it improve access to the wonderfully scenic piste down to Les Orelles, but it’s also much faster to gain access to the Val slopes across the north face.

I can see a lot of lapping going on here this winter.

We started the day with a warmup run on the 30-man Peclet gondola, departing from its iconic wigwam building just opposite the town.

None of the south facing slopes are open this early so it’s a case of bagging all of the high altitude lifts and working your way round.

And of course, circling back to the Live United pop-up village, if you want to try some of the latest skis or snowboards.

Time it right at lunchtime for the stand giving out local meats and rolls for complimentary DIY picnics.

There are over 50 brands here offering snowboard boots, helmets and eyewear.

I took out a pair of freeride Salomon QST 106 which stood up really nicely both on the chopped up afternoon pistes – who knew I would be moshing moguls in November? – and a little dabble into the side-country Pow.

We took a blissful sunny afternoon run down into Les Orelles before lapping back up to the top of Cime de Caron.

It really is so great to see that connection properly up and running again.

Since it’s launched just over 10 years ago, La Grande Premiere has grown and grown, both in terms of skier numbers and general awareness.

All in all – what an opening day.

Time for a bit of apres.

Back at base the DJ was spinning tunes from a converted caravan and the local craft beers were flowing, at a very reasonable €4 per bottle.

With whoever you happen to meet.

Strong foundations for a very ValTho Saturday night.

Time to move on for some more serious early season apres.

VT is one of the resorts in the Alps with the best Opening Days.

Perhaps, make that THE best.

As I said earlier, today is most certainly a ‘great to be alive’ moment.

The rest of the ski season beckons, and what a way to kick it off.

Sunday 23rd November 2025

The cloud has come in overnight after the wall-to-wall blue sky of yesterday.

No matter, this is the place to be my friends.

I am up and about early as Day Two of the season gets underway in Val Thorens.

First lift, as you ask.

 

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Yesterday the amount of people on the slopes was  actually quite overwhelming.

It was like being here in February.

Michel, our ESF guide for the morning and instructor here for the last 25 years, explained “many,  many people come for the opening weekend now, it’s a big party weekend.

“It will be quieter for the next couple of weeks until the whole Three Valleys open”.

There was a queue of traffic all the way from Les Menuires from 8 am to lunchtime on Saturday, as locals massed for their first turns of the season.

La Grande Premiere has become the official opening to the French ski season and Val Thorens has  certainly grabbed the bull by the horns.

Vincent Lalanne, head of the tourist office, explained why it’s becoming an integral part of the DNA of Val Thorens.

“It’s really important for us to open with a bang,” Vincent said to me on Saturday.

“This weekend we have 18 lifts and 32 pistes open, but it’s not just about the skiing.

“It’s important for people to get the whole experience.

“So I’ve made sure all the bars and nightclubs on the Rue de la Soif (aka Thirsty Street) are open for the weekend.

“If there’s no one in the disco tonight, I’ll have some unhappy people in my office tomorrow morning!”

Given the volume of people in the resort, I don’t think he needed to be too concerned.

All of the hotels who have opened for the start of the season are completely booked so I would have been more worried that the pumps don’t run dry on Thirsty Street.

In fact I have just received official figures and 14,344 lift passes were sold on Saturday – that’s 30% up on last year.

Lalanne is rightly proud of VT’s continued hold on the title of‘a best ski resort and believes it’s the mix of epic snow-sure skiing and the late night party scene which creates such a loyal following.

As such he takes the responsibility of managing the party scene as seriously as safety on piste.

There are two nurses and one doctor working throughout the night, plus a team of 20 people  patrolling the streets.

There’s also someone in the main resort control room keeping an eye on over 200 CCTV cameras throughout the resort, ensuring things don’t get out of control and looking after anyone too worse for wear.

Music to the ears of any parents who remembers the heartbreaking stories of teenagers dying of cold after taking a wrong turn having had a few drinks too many.

Right back to the slopes…

 

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Now here at PlanetSKI we are fortunate enough to be invited to areas of ski resorts that mere mortals do not get the chance to see.

One such place in Val Thorens is the master control room where all the ski lifts are operated from.

It is the nerve centre of the ski area.

I was shown around by Jerome Grellet, MD of the lift operator, who explained how all of the gondolas, funiculars and magic carpets are now automatically controlled from here.

“We use lasers to detect any unusual movement,” he said to me.

“This automatic system is much faster to react than a human.”

I quizzed him on what this meant for employment and his answer somewhat surprised me.

“This is not about making any redundancies, in fact we are employing more people, but giving them more interesting work.

“This allows us to invest more in things like the high mountain zip wires, which is much more rewarding for our team.”

 

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After somehow resisting the urge to press the big red button, I headed back out for a tour over to Les Orelles and back up to Cime du Carron, where a freezing fog crystallised our goggles.

We stopped for lunch at the Chalet des Deux Lacs, one of my two favourite restaurants in Val Thorens.

It’s run by Nils (French) & Lauren (Aussie) Aube, who actually live under the restaurant and take their kids down to school in the village by skidoo every morning.

Talk about embracing a mountain lifestyle.

The Grande Premiere is big business for them – on Saturday they did 230 covers.

That’s starting with a bang as they typically like to run at 250 during high season.

I had the ribs, new on the menu this year, and the meal was properly delicious.

Though their double burger has surely got a strong claim to be the best in any of the three valleys.

In typical Alpine host style Nils likes to round off your meal with a generous dose of genepi.

It was just the fuel we needed to kick on through the afternoon.

Having been first on the gondola this morning we proudly represented the British flag by also catching the final Peclet Cabin of the day.

My boss, the PlanetSKI editor James Cove, is back in VT in early March so look out for his reports.

It is half way through the season for VT as it closes on the first weekend of May with La Grande Dernier.

Maybe he’ll despatch me to come back for that.

What a weekend this has been!

And the snow forecast?

20cm of fresh overnight and another 50cm during the day on Monday.

Bring. It. On.

The media team at VT has sent us a few official pictures from Saturday.

If you want to view a few more images as the season starts in Val Thorens, scroll on…

For  full round up of conditions round the Alps and the rest of Europe see the latest PlanetSKI snow report:

• Is this the best start to a ski season in recent years?

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