PeakWindow/Val Thorens
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Showing this resort's typical peak window · closest airport CMF — adjust above
Resort dossier

Val Thorens

FR·Tarentaise◇Part of Les 3 Vallées· 600km
livelyfamily-friendlyExpert terrainGlacier skiingIntermediate paradiseLearner-friendly
Weeks 1–4

Typically -7.7°C · 25cm fresh / week · powder day 50% · mixed 46%

Top elev.
3230m
Base elev.
2300m
Pistes
600km
Lifts
156
Piste mix499km mapped
Green14%
Blue48%
Red29%
Black8%
Val Thorens
Wikimedia
COMPOSITE SCORE
69
Snow88
Typically 140cm
Typical depth140cm
115cm172cm
Travel46
From your origin
Size100
Piste km, discounted for linked-area connectivity
Fit50
Vibe, terrain, activities
What to expect

What to expect in weeks 1–4

Based on 29 winters of weather data, modelled at ~2893m (not the village). Any single year can be very different.

Typically mixed, around -7.7°C, with 25cm of fresh snow over the week. Powder days hit 50% of the time. Other weeks run stormy.

Icy mornings
0.5 days/week
spring-like in 4% of years
Snow texture
Powdery
soft, easy turns
Typical wind
5.1 m/s
peaks to 20 m/s
Typical Freezing level
1573 m
0°C isotherm
Powder days
50%
of years see 10cm+
Rain at base
0 days
per week
Storm
38%
of years
Bluebird
16%
of years
Thaw
0%
of years
Mixed
46%
of years
Climatology

What a season here looks like

Each track shows the typical range across 29 winters. The marker shows where your selected weeks sit.

Reliability60cm+
100%
Depth
140cm
Temperature
-7.7°C
Fresh snow
25cm
Snow line
1573m
Wind
5.1 m/s
Trend · 76 winters

The snow has held. The air has not.

Val Thorens's typical base has sat near 126cm since 1950, and a good winter still beats a bad one by 120cm, far more than any decade here differs from another. The winter freezing level has climbed 47m a decade.

122cm
138cm
135cm
127cm
125cm
116cm
129cm
106cm
1950–1959
1960–1969
1970–1979
1980–1989
1990–1999
2000–2009
2010–2019
2020–2025
Winter to winter
66–186cm

Across single winters (1953–54 to 1965–66).

Typical base
−16cm

1950–1959 to 2020–2025. The Tarentaise region moved −8cm.

Freezing level
+47m

Per decade. 1868m in 1950–1959, 2293m now. Still 7m below the village.

Calibrated reanalysis, 1950–2025. Bars are each winter's mean base, rules each decade's mean. 2020–2025 holds 6 winters, not ten. Every figure here averages a full season, so none of them will match the readings for your chosen weeks above.

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Transfers

Transfers

AirportDriveTrain
Chambéry (CMF)98 min
Geneva (GVA)166 min
Lyon (LYS)146 min
Method & sources

We weigh snow reliability against this resort's own history, add live conditions where we have them, then adjust for how hard the trip is for your group.

  1. 01ERA5-Land hourly grid → daily SWE & snow depth at the resort cell.
  2. 02Bias-correct against ground stations (SLF / Météo-France nivôse).
  3. 03Build per-week climatological percentile · 30 winters.
  4. 04Anomaly = current week vs. cell's own 30-year baseline.
  5. 05Snow-sure read at the highest-snow cell within ~15km. When most resorts are bare, ranking shifts toward this, surfacing glaciers in shoulder seasons.
  6. 06Weight + rank against your origin & vibe profile.
Sources

Snow data sources

Ground stations the score is based on.

  • VAL THORENSmeteofrance
  • Les Menuiresmeteofrance