Although psychologically, Val d’Isère is not the ideal beginners’ resort, the ski resort is anxious to dispel the myth that just because the ski area is fundamentally for strong skiers, it doesn’t have much in the way of nursery slopes. It does: although the overwhelming ambience veers in the direction of hard core, there are 16 green runs, and beginners will discover numerous ski runs suitable for their abilities.
Apart from good village nursery slopes, which are free, Solaise is the gateway to some gentle ski slopes off the Madeleine, Datcha and Glacier lifts (though downloading by ski lift back to the valley floor is pretty essential to avoid tougher slopes lower down at the end of the day). Likewise at the top of Bellevarde, intelligent use of the lift system opens up a range of lovely long green pistes such as Borsat ,Verte, Mont Blanc, Grand Pre and Genepi, on which beginners can benefit from high altitude snow conditions, without feeling threatened by their environment (particularly as they can get back to the village on the Olympic gondola to Val centre or in the gondola that drops from la Folie Douce to La Daille).
It is generally recognised that Val d’Isère’s gradings err on the degree of difficulty. It is often said that a blue piste in Val might well be a red piste elsewhere. Likewise some of the green runs – some are more blue and so can be quite tough for complete beginners to cope with. The Col de l’Iseran runs are, by and large, wide and pretty easy, especially if conditions are good at the top of the glacier. And because they are quite a way from the resort village, these ski slopes tend to be uncrowded too.
