Studio with Mezzanine · Center of the resort

The Face de Bellevarde hosted the men's Olympic downhill in 1992 on a course laid out by Bernhard Russi, and the World Championships returned to it in 2009. It remains the signature run at Val d'Isère, where the skiing divides into three sectors, Bellevarde, Solaise and Le Fornet, between the village at 1,850 metres and the top of the Pisaillas glacier at 3,197 metres. The glacier itself, running from 2,725 to 3,197 metres, sits within the Vanoise National Park. Every December the Critérium de la Première Neige opens the French speed season here. More than 65 kilometres of piste are covered by snowmaking, and the area continues into the 300 kilometres shared with Tignes.

What separates the linked Tignes - Val d'Isère area from either resort on its own is that a single pass covers two glaciers: the Grande Motte above Tignes, topping out at 3,456 metres, and the Pisaillas above Val d'Isère at 3,197 metres. Three hundred kilometres of pistes run between 1,550 and 3,456 metres, sixty percent of them above 2,000 metres, which is why the season here stretches from late November into early May. The terrain shifts character as you cross: wide open glacier skiing at altitude, steeper pitches on the Bellevarde and Solaise faces, gentler valley runs down towards Les Brévières. The area borders the Vanoise National Park, and the Pisaillas glacier lies inside it.