Our 2020 trip to France exposed us to some exquisite, petite ski areas in the remoter sections of the Alps. Pralognan la Vanoise is but one of them. At the end of the road & surrounded by the grandest peaks imaginable, we were surprised to see the town absolutely humming with people midweek in mid-January. We were thinking that the ridiculously cheap ski lift pass here actually attracts a crowd. Turns out that several events were on in the resort. The major European dog sled race, La Grande Odyssèe, spends three days here & a night-time ski-rando race was on as well. It then holds a Telemark World Cup event the following weekend – way to make a quiet January busy (worth noting if coming here in January!). Thankfully though most of the people were non-skiers, leaving the hill all but deserted – yippee. At one point I did see the six-seater chairlift (must have been installed with a big future in mind!) have a chair with 6 people on it. Couldn’t believe my eyes, so took a photo. Pralognan management are welcome to it – they can pin it on their wall cos I beat it rarely happens.
The backdrop of mountains at Pralognan is as impressive as it gets. The precipitous pinnacle of the Aiguille de la Vanoise & the 3,855m glacier-draped Pointe de la Grande Casse being the most prominent.
Pralognan is in the very same valley as Courchevel & the Champagny base of La Plagne, so seeing a host of humans shouldn’t come as a surprise. But the village may as well be a world away from the Prada-set at Courchevel.
The Mont Bochor cable car is the quickest way up the ski hill, whisking up to 2023m in a few heart beats. From there, beginners & intermediates have several wide-open choices on about 325m of vertical in a relatively sunny position. The comfortable Ancolie 6-seater chair runs the whole vertical.
The Genepi quad serves fantastic tree-lined beginner -intermediate piste trails & has the benefit of two excellent restaurants – one at either end. The Gentiane quad is effectively just a link lift to get back to the Bochor area. It is possible for all abilities to ski the full 945m vertical of the resort in one go through a combination of trails descending the mountain. Good fun for all involved.
Two steepish advanced trails lead into the top of the Genepi chair. The ’Epena’ run was lively. Looking across to skier’s right, a series of off-piste spurs & couloirs would be good in a deep snowpack, but alas were bony & unskiable during our visit. Also, some of the better advanced trails were not open due to a lack of snow on their lower reaches. Bit of a worry in mid-January (particularly after such a good December), but snow-making is non-existent on the advanced terrain here & the resort isn’t super high – highest lifted point is 2355m. In a warmish season in France, that is gonna be an issue (plenty high if this was Austria though!). We imagine there would be some good tree skiing between the Creux Noir lift & the Combe des Pariettes advanced valley trail. Will have to come back to scope it all out though.
The village & novice learn-to-ski area are in cold shadow up until around 2pm in winter. The brief appearance of the sun is a blessing. The upshot is the village is wonderfully snow-draped throughout winter – a definite appeal in these warming times.
Around 30km of Nordic trails lead further up the valley deeper into the National Park for some delightfully quiet away from the ‘down-valley throng’. The backcountry ski-touring options from here look interesting too. A host of indoor activities are available in the local sports centre plus there are the usual alpine pursuits like tandem paragliding & of all things, ski-joëring. Let's face it, who doesn't like getting towed around on skis by a horse?
A series of super mountain huts & restaurants are located on the slopes. The best of them is Refuge les Barmettes at the top of Genepi. For après, it would be fun to do all three from top to bottom & then head to one of the many fun village bars like La Grange or Pepe Gust.
Whilst the overall terrain limitations may mean the resort never makes it into full Powderhounds Gem status, Pralognan la Vanoise is one of the French Alps’ loveliest places to visit & ski with friends. It is indeed a petite haven amongst giants. Check out Pralognan (when the snowpack is deep) for a night or two of bliss in the mountains, or as a sneaky day trip to get away from the humanity at the mega resorts of 3 Vallèes or La Plagne.
You can see our thoughts on the pros and cons on the Pralognan-la-Vanoise overview page and also see our European ski resort ratings regarding how we score it compared to other skiing areas.