There is a moment in Valmorel's winter season that isn't documented anywhere. It isn't in the resort brochures. It doesn't appear in travel guides. The professional photographers who shoot for the tourism industry carefully avoid it, because it has none of the images sold to families who book in November for January. And yet, for those in the know, it is the most beautiful time of the year.
I call it the last snow. It's a window of about three weeks that opens in early April and gently closes around the 20th of the month. The resort stays open, the slopes are groomed, the lifts are running. But almost no one is left. And the mountain, freed from its crowds, becomes another mountain.
01. A simple observationWhat the numbers say.
During the February school vacation, Valmorel welcomes around 12,000 skiers a day. Lines at the lifts, crowded slopes in the afternoon, mountain restaurants serving until 2:30 p.m. in a respectable din. It's high season. It's why people come. Fair enough.
In April, after Easter, there are maybe 1,500 skiers a day left. One eighth. The lifts take 30 seconds instead of fifteen minutes. You ski nonstop from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. without ever seeing anyone ahead of you. The mountain restaurants are quiet. The staff relax. Everyone talks to everyone, because everyone recognizes each other in this small, late-season loyalty.
In April, Valmorel becomes the resort it was in 1980 again. — An ESF ski instructor, who told me so one evening in March
02. Snow qualityA false rumor worth setting straight.
Rumor has it there's no snow left in April. Not true. At least not in Valmorel, which has a north-facing exposure and a resort altitude of 1,400 meters (4,600 ft). What changes isn't the quantity, it's the texture.
In the morning, the snow is groomed and firm. Skiing it feels like velvet. Beginners love it, because it doesn't give way under their weight, doesn't catch their edges, doesn't “grab” unpredictably. It's the safest snow to learn on. Children who start in April progress much faster than in February.
Around 11:30 a.m., the sun gets to work. The surface softens. It turns syrupy without turning mushy. Experienced skiers find a plasticity in it that only exists in spring: turns take shape, hold, and finish without effort. Some ski tourers ski nothing else. They call it carpet snow.
After 2 p.m., the snow gets a little heavy on the south-facing slopes. Time to head in. It's a good excuse to sit on a terrace, have a beer before 3 p.m., and get back to the chalet for the end of the afternoon.
03. A typical dayA last-snow day, in detail.
8:00 a.m. Breakfast on the terrace.
We take breakfast outside in two layers of wool and a beanie. The sun is already climbing. The terrace faces due south. It's 28°F in the air but 46°F on exposed skin. We drink our coffee slowly. Those who aren't skiing simply stay put.
9:15 a.m. First lift.
The Pierrafort gondola, which keeps you waiting twenty minutes in high season, is a walk-on. Eight people in a sixteen-seat cabin. A clear view of the Lauzière, still covered in snow. First turn at 9:22 a.m.
10:30 a.m. Break.
At the Pierrafort refuge, we treat ourselves to an espresso on the terrace, at 2,250 meters (7,380 ft), feet in the snow, face in the sun. The server recognizes us. We talk for 20 minutes. That never happens in February.
Noon. Lunch.
Instead of the packed February refuge, we ski down to Doucy-Combelouvière, to the Ferme Bonne, which seats 40 instead of 120. We eat a tartiflette made with reblochon from the farm next door, have a glass of Mondeuse, and let an hour and a half go by. Nobody is in a hurry. Nobody is waiting behind us.
2:30 p.m. Last runs.
Two easy runs to help digestion. The snow is getting heavier, you feel it in your legs. The kids laugh more than they actually ski. We're back at the chalet around 3:45 p.m. Arpian's terrace stays in the sun until 5 p.m.
4 p.m. Wood-fired hot tub.
Unlike February, when the soak has to wait until nightfall, in April you take it in the middle of the afternoon. You'll have it to yourselves. The contrast between the hot water and the already mild air is less dramatic but more indulgent. A glass in hand, the day slung over your shoulder.
04. The savingsSince we have to talk about it too.
A one-week stay at Arpian in April costs €6,500 for the whole chalet (up to 23 guests). The same week in February is €12,000. For fifteen people, that's a difference of €366 per person. More than the price of a weekly lift pass in Valmorel (which, in April, is also cheaper: €262 instead of €308).
Restaurants offer end-of-season discounts — not always posted, but readily granted if you ask. Equipment rentals drop by 15% to 25%. ESF group lessons are in low demand, so they're almost private for the price of a group class. The total savings on a family week for fifteen, between February and April, easily come to around 1,000 to 1,500 euros per family.
I always tell hesitant parents: for the same service, in April, you have everything to gain. The resort is the same, the lifts are running, the pass is the same. What you lose is the crowd. What you gain is the real mountain.
05. The one drawbackWorth planning for.
There is one. To be honest. In April, some slopes close late in the day — typically the most south-facing ones, around 3:30 p.m. The ski patrol closes them when the snow gets dangerously soft. So plan your last runs on north-facing slopes, or head down a little earlier. Not a big deal. Just something to keep in mind that you didn't have to think about in February.
Also, above 2,400 meters (7,870 ft), the snow is sometimes too icy early in the morning. That's only a nuisance for advanced skiers who like steep terrain. For kids and beginners, it's a non-issue.
06. What comes afterSpring in the high pastures.
The resort closes its slopes in mid-April. The next day, Valmorel tips into another season that almost no one knows. For four to five weeks, until mid-May, the valley is left to itself. The snow melts slowly lower down. The first alpine flowers — purple crocuses, blue gentians — push up through the ground. You can hear the marmots waking up. The cows head back up to the high pastures.
Arpian stays open in April even after the slopes close, for those who love this silence. We have a few loyal families, couples, sometimes writers or photographers who come to work in the chalet for five days. In this off-season window, the rate drops to €5,000 a week. The mountain, for its part, costs nothing to those who let it be.
If you don't know Valmorel in April, try it once. Just once. And if you come back in February afterward, you'll do it with your eyes wide open. You never see the mountain the same way once you've known it with no one around.
