Val Thorens pistes and ski area: a guide for every level

How big is the Val Thorens ski area?

Val Thorens-Orelle, the area covered by the local lift pass, has 88 runs over 150 km of pistes, according to SETAM. Les 3 Vallées as a whole has 600 km.

On the official piste map, green means easy, blue average difficulty, red difficult and black very difficult; SETAM's EasyRider map picks out the green and blue runs suited to beginners. Saint-Martin-de-Belleville opens on 12 December 2026, a week after the rest of Les 3 Vallées.

Is Val Thorens good for beginners?

Yes: four covered magic carpets are free, so beginners can start without a lift pass. SETAM's 2026/27 EasyRider map describes three sectors in the heart of the ski area with wide, gentle slopes. According to the resort's website, the Castor and Pollux carpets are next to the green Voie Lactée, and the Musaraigne and Campagnols carpets next to the green Grenouillère.

Next comes the EasyRider pass, for 4 hours or a day at half the public price. It covers many green and blue runs and five lifts: the Cairn, 2 Lacs and Caron gondolas and the Cascades and Moutière chairlifts. SETAM sells it at its ticket offices, where you can also pick up the beginners' map.

• Green runs on the beginners' map: Combe de Thorens, Voie Lactée, Grenouillère, Espace débutant, Roc, Traversée des 2 Lacs, 2 Combes and Flocon, among others.
• Quieter hours: the map recommends skiing between 11:00 and 15:00.
• Helmet: according to SETAM, it cuts the risk of head injury by 35% for adults and 61% for children.

Where should intermediates ski?

Intermediates have blue runs starting as high as 3,000 m. Les 3 Vallées recommends these:

• Tête Ronde (blue): from the top of the Péclet Funitel at 3,000 m, facing the Aiguilles de Péclet, with wide curves and easy turns.
• Lory (blue), to Orelle: from the top of the Thorens Funitel through the Bouchet glacial valley into the Orelle sector, which Les 3 Vallées calls quiet and sunny. Orelle is included in the Val Thorens-Orelle pass.
• Boismint sector: sunny from early morning, with wide, easy, little-used runs such as the blue Blanchot and Tétras; the Plan de l'Eau chairlift takes you back up.
• Pluviomètre (blue): a wide, smooth run towards the village, on every official route home from Méribel and Les Menuires.

With a 3 Vallées pass you can cross from valley to valley on blue runs alone: Les 3 Vallées publishes a one-day itinerary from Val Thorens to Courchevel and another from Courchevel to Orelle.

Which black runs and steep pistes suit experts?

The black runs of Val Thorens include Combe de Caron, from the Cime Caron cable car, and Goitschel, from the top of the 3 Vallées chairlift (VT5); Orelle adds Combe de Rosaël. Here is how the resort and Les 3 Vallées describe them:

• Combe de Caron (black): steep at the top, then through a narrow bottleneck into wide valleys. It faces north and, says the resort, needs endurance and technical mastery.
• Goitschel (black): steep and sustained from 2,900 m in the south-facing Plein Sud sector. The resort suggests skiing it in the morning, after grooming, before skiers return from the other valleys at the end of the day.
• Combe de Rosaël (black): the only black run in the Orelle sector, from Cime Caron, with a 500 m drop over 2 km. It faces south, so Les 3 Vallées advises early season or early morning.
• Les Asters (red): from the Thorens Funitel at about 3,000 m, north-facing and steep at the start, with a big drop over a short distance.
• Christine (red): from the Péclet Funitel, technical turns down a secluded valley below the Péclet glaciers, over about 700 m of vertical.

A 3 Vallées pass also takes you to L'Éclipse in Courchevel, rebuilt for the speed events of the 2023 World Championships and the longest black run in Les 3 Vallées: 3.3 km, a 970 m drop and a 30% average gradient.

What is the highest point of the ski area, and where are the glaciers?

The highest point the lifts reach on the Val Thorens side is Cime Caron, at 3,200 m on the official piste map and the resort's website (one Les 3 Vallées page gives 3,195 m). The Cime Caron cable car and the Orelle-Caron gondola go up to it, and from the top, says Les 3 Vallées, you can see more than 1,000 Alpine summits, Mont Blanc among them.

The highest lift in Les 3 Vallées is in Orelle: the 2026/27 map puts the summit of Les 3 Vallées, 3,230 m, at the top of the Bouchet chairlift (OR5).

According to the resort's website, six glaciers overlook Val Thorens; the map names the Péclet, Thorens, Borgne, Gébroulaz and Bouchet glaciers. The blue Lory crosses the Bouchet glacial valley, while the Gébroulaz glacier, with its crevasses, is off-piste terrain where the resort advises going with a mountain guide.

Other valleys: which pass, and how to get back before the lifts close?

To ski Les Menuires, Saint-Martin, Méribel or Courchevel you need a 3 Vallées pass (600 km); the Val Thorens-Orelle pass covers 150 km. From 19 December 2026 to 9 April 2027, SETAM's price list puts a 6-day adult pass at €367.50 for Val Thorens-Orelle and €421 for Les 3 Vallées. SETAM's ticket offices also sell a one-day 3 Vallées extension for Val Thorens passes of two days or more. More in our guide to Val Thorens ski pass prices.

The 2026/27 piste map tells you to start back to your resort at least two hours before the lifts close. Closing times are firm: if you are stuck in another valley, getting home by inter-resort bus or taxi is at your own cost. Each lift shows its closing time at the bottom station, next to a clock.

These lifts end the official routes back published by Les 3 Vallées, except Rosaël, which the map marks as another way back. *The Orelle times come from the map's Val Thorens-Orelle table, which still has last season's dates in the header. None of the map's times is contractual: check at the lift or in the Les 3 Vallées app.

Allow more time in the school holidays, when the pistes are busier (when to go). In uncertain weather, stay in your own sector: the map advises against the 3 Vallées circuit on such days.

Off-piste in Val Thorens: what are the risks and the rules?

Off-piste skiing is at your own risk, on terrain that is neither marked nor made safe. In France, avalanches kill 31 people and injure 26 in an average year, according to Météo-France. More than 90% of these accidents are dry slab avalanches, in most cases set off by the victim or someone in their group.

1. 1Go with a professional: a qualified mountain guide or a specialist instructor, as the resort, Les 3 Vallées and the lift company all advise.
2. 2Carry the kit and know how to use it: an avalanche transceiver (DVA in French), a shovel and a probe.
3. 3Read the avalanche bulletin (BERA) that morning: Météo-France publishes it throughout the season for 35 massifs, rating the danger from 1 (low) to 5 (very high). The resort's snow page refers to the bulletin for the Vanoise massif.
4. 4Keep off closed pistes: it is one of the rules on the official map. And check your insurance before you go: you pay for rescue on the pistes.

A classic off-piste route from Cime Caron is the Lac du Lou: a wide valley with no lifts in sight and 1,400 m of vertical down to the bottom of the Plan de l'Eau chairlift, with lines for experts and for skiers with little off-piste experience, according to Les 3 Vallées. The resort adds that conditions must be assessed on the day and recommends going with a professional who knows the area.

Where to get the Val Thorens piste map and live lift status

The official 2026/27 piste maps can be downloaded from SETAM's maps and schedule page, and paper copies are available at ticket offices, tourist offices and many shops.

• 3 Vallées map 2026/27: the whole area, with the lift timetables, the ski patrol numbers and the safety rules. Lifts carry numbers, VT for Val Thorens and OR for Orelle, such as VT13 Péclet.
• EasyRider map 2026/27: the beginners' map, with the free carpets, the EasyRider lifts and two suggested routes.
• Val Thorens-Orelle map: on 23 October 2026 SETAM still offered the 2025/26 edition.
• Live status: the Les 3 Vallées live page for Val Thorens shows open lifts, pistes and links; the Les 3 Vallées app adds closing times, emergency numbers and an SOS button that calls the nearest rescue team.
• Ski patrol: Val Thorens +33 4 79 00 01 80, Orelle +33 4 79 56 88 01.

Where to base yourself: where to stay in Val Thorens. Snow and wind at altitude: Val Thorens weather and snow. Our apartments in Val Thorens are booked online, by the night or by the week from Saturday to Saturday.