Val D Isere Lift System

The modern lift system - one of, if not the best in the Alps - makes it feasible for strong skiers to work their way along the entire length of the Espace Killy area and back before lunch.

Val d'IsereCable cars3
Funiculars1
Gondolas2
Total chair lifts21
Surface lifts22
Rides per hour78,110

Val d'Isère's first ski lift, le Rogoney, was installed on the Solaise in 1936. Prior to this, enthusiastic skiers had to climb the mountain with seal skins attached to the underside of their skis - a three-hour climb for a 10 minute descent! The Val d’Isère ski lift company went to work from 1938 to make more of the area available to skiers and in 1940 work began on the installation of the ski resort's first cable car, the Téléphérique de Solaise. When the Funival funicular at La Daille was constructed in 1987, it was the first of its type in France. Val d’Isère became a hive of activity after being chosen to host key ski races at the 1992 Winter Olympics. The high-speed Funival funicular transformed the lift system serving Bellevarde, the pivotal hub of the skiing.

Now, each winter more than a million visitors use some 100 lifts to get to the 135 ski runs which form the playground of Jean-Claude Killy.

Lift passes
New for the 2006/07 ski season, the Espace Killy has introduced a hands-free lift pass, which is automatically detected at the entrance to each lift on the mountain. Keep the lift pass in a left hand pocket away from mobile phones or metallic objects. Three types of hands-free passes are available including the Ecopass - at the end of your stay dispose of it in one of the containers provided and it will be recycled.

Val d’Isère’s half of the Espace Killy divides into three sectors: Col de l’Iseran/Glacier de Pissaillas, Solaise and Bellevarde.

The first two sectors are linked by the Lessières Express, the six-person chair lift which replaced the old ‘up-and-over’ link between Solaise and Vallon de l'Iseran. Solaise and Bellevarde join at valley level – across the nursery slopes in the village centre. Bellevarde links easily with Tignes via the Tovière ridge/Col de Fresse. taking the new superfast Tommeuses 8-man chair or over the Col de Fresse. Beginners need be wary of the relatively narrow and unprotected descent over the Col de Fresse: the blue exit can be awkward and icy on cold mornings and the side is mighty steep.

The Olympique gondola, with 30-person cabins from the village to the top of Bellevarde provides the quickest way of reaching most of the slopes. Another important development and is virtually queue-free. If you want fresh air, you can still go up the Bellevarde in the old chairlifts. Important developments in recent ski seasons has beenalso include the upgrade of the Tommeuses and Fresse chairs, which provide the vital links withto Tignes, towith high-speed detachables.

The Laisinant Express - a detachable six-person chairlift – has also improved the access to the steep, gladed ski slopes between Solaise and Le Fornet and has relieved the pressure on the central Solaise lift system. Until its construction, skiers and boarders who had skied down runs like 'L' or 'Mattis' to Le Laisinant had to catch a bus in order to get back onto the ski slopes. Together with other modern lifts, including the Glacier Express, it is now perfectly feasible for strong skiers to work their way along the entire length of the ski area from Val d’Isère’s furthest outpost at Le Fornet all the way to Tignes and back before lunch.

Although Tignes is famous for its summer skiing - and also typically opens in late September for the winter season - in recent years Val has tried to inject new life into its Pissailas Glacier area high above Le Fornet. Thirty new snow cannon were installed recently.