Market day in Val Cenis

Looking for a traditional French village with a ski resort, I came across Val Cenis in Savoie, at the southern side of the highest paved mountain pass in Europe, Col de l’Iseran, 2,764 meters. In winter the closest airport is Turin and then the Frejus Tunnel. Flying to Geneva is also a possibility.

We sought the French atmosphere of a traditional village. On the recommendation of a friend, we stayed in the village of Lanslevillarde. The Arc River flows through the town which is on the north bank, whilesouth side, where the skiing is, has hundreds of ski-in ski-out vacation apartments. The town is at 1,500 meters and the highest lift goes up to 2,850 meters. We rented a cozy two-bedroom apartment with a fire place in the center of town on the north side of the river. The owner was an alpine guide and very French, that is, not as accommodating as he might have been. More on him later. Scouting out the restaurants we found traditional Savoie fare, Fondue, Tartiflette, and Pizza.

Skiing down to the restaurant in Val Cenis

The skiing can be divided between, the tree lined trails starting at 2,100 meters and going down to the village and the open areas above the tree line up to the top. This is an area of untapped potential. The skiing above the tree line is has great potential. For the most part it’s natural snow and the red runs with a 700-meter vertical are really great for cruising: the excitement of a good pitch without moguls. The drawback is that the lift going up to 2,850 meters is an old fashioned non-detachable chairlift that takes forever to get to the top. On a sunny day this could be plus, but in inclement weather going up is an unpleasant experience. Also, there’s only one mountain restaurant in this sector.

The fire place in our rented flat

We were there for two weeks, half of the time enjoying the sunshine but experiencing poor visibility on the other days. But on the days with poor visibility, I skied the runs below the tree line down to village taking advantage of the better visibility and enjoying the uncrowded non-stop runs with verticals of 500 – 600 meters. Artificial snow provided good cover all the way down to the village.

Oh, about the owner. Two days before our planned departure, he alerted us to the chance that French farmers protesting against the government might block the Frejus tunnel on the day we had planned to drive back to the airport in Italy. We couldn’t take the chance of missing our flight, so we revised our plan and left a day early. But where to go for these remaining days? A quick look at the map pointed me to the Sauze d’Oulx, part of the huge “Milky Way” ski region linking Sestriere with Montgenevre. We left Val Cenis on a grey Friday morning and two hours later arrived in sunny Italy. The local tourist office found us a pleasant hotel for one night. We checked in, and got dressed for skiing. A short walk up the hill to the lift and I was back in my element. Long red runs, great for non-stop cruising and sunshine, with a plethora of restaurants on the piste offering a wide range of Italian cusine. While I was skiing my partner was surveying the possibilities for dinner. She found a great restaurant with tapas and gourmet Piedmont delicacies plus a selection of Piedmont’s famous Barolo and Barbera wines. Rising early the next morning, I got in another few hours of fabulous skiing, before getting in the car for the drive the airport.

The score: Italy 1, France nil.

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Stanley Rubenstein

Stanley Rubenstein learned to ski on a slope at the city golf course on Staten Island in New York City. He was a founding member of the ski club at Hobart College in Geneva, N.Y. After immigrating to Israel in 1971, he worked as a ski instructor on Mt. Hermon for more than ten years. As chairman of the Israeli Ski Federation for 20 years, he took Israeli athletes to the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships, and was with the first Israeli ski racer to participate in the Winter Olympic Games in Torino in 2006 and Whistler Mt. in 2010.He lives with his partner in Caesarea, Israel.

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