ski vars: resort guide
A guide to the Vars ski resort in the French Alps: “The kind of views that make you reflect on life.”
This year I returned to Vars, a clasically French ski resort in La Forêt Blanche, for the third time in a row. I’m familiar with this corner of the French Alps, but this is the first time I’ve pointed my skis down its famous speed ski track – the fastest in the world.
“The sheer speed comes so quickly that there is something peaceful, almost serene about it.”
By Paul McGee, Head Feature Writer. May 6 2019
C’est la vie en rose I decide, not for the first time, as the eight of us clump down the metal steps from our ski locker to get on the snow. A stupefied smile forms at the corners of my mouth, and I close my eyes for a moment and draw in the morning air.
I’m back on the snow, after what feels like a hiatus that’s been far too long. I step into my skis and absorb the blue sky, the brassy sun, the sublime snow conditions and the soaring peaks of the French Alps which have once again replaced the Chiltern Hills of rural Buckinghamshire back home.
We ski down the little track that leads to the Fontbonne chair lift. The early morning promises the kind of stunning day that seems so prevalent here in the Southern French Alps. The week ahead looks good according to the weather forecast too. Wall to wall sunshine and blue skies. Some fresh powder would be nice but the snow forecast for the week ahead says no. That’s okay, they maintain their pistes in Vars as well as anywhere I’ve skied.
A gaggle of mixed abilities, we’ve enjoyed this convenient piste access more than once before. Nonetheless there is a collective sigh of appreciation as we take in the crystalline blue sky and glide down to the three person chair which feels like our exclusive ride: in the years I’ve been coming here, I can’t remember a time when I’ve queued to get on it.
So a quick intro. Don’t worry there won’t be a test at the end. I’ve been skiing since I was 11, thirty years this year. Ouch. My wife Becky started much later, at the same time our two boys, now 17 and 20, did. Strange how they’ve spent only a third as much time on snow as I have but, strangely, they’re both on the cusp of exceeding my skills. They’re accompanied by their girlfriends, one of whom is a first timer. Our long term friends and ski buddies are with us too. To sum up, as a group we need a good mix of colours from green to black and bit of park time. Oh, and the Chabrieres speed ski run.
We arrived in the resort yesterday, having made a 2 day journey of it from London Stansted Airport to Nice, with an overnight stop in a pastel coloured Provence town called Volonne. That left us an easy 2 hour drive the next morning, plenty of time to pick up supplies from the Intermarche at Guillestre, and our skis at the Gliss Center.
So now, content with our hardware, we ride the short chair up to the top of Melezes, an easy blue that crunches under the skis first thing in the day, and down to the two two-person chairs, Peynier 1 and 2. One takes you up into Les Claux, the western side of the resort with its links to Risoul, the other rises east to the quieter Peynier side. Our side, as we refer to it, because it’s a stone’s throw from our accommodation at Les Chalets des Rennes. Peynier is smaller than Les Claux but more peaceful and with some fast and fun pistes. Because of its aspect it gets great afternoon sunshine and if you fancy a vin chaud bathed in the glorious warmth of a clear southern alps day, make for the fittingly named Les Balcons de Peynier restaurant with its expansive terrace giving onto the kind of views that make you reflect on life.
Or maybe you just want to make the most of the beautiful snow conditions, in which case you can get your speed on down the red Peynier 2, which drops steeply as it becomes Resiniere and brings you racing into the lower village of Vars Sainte Marie. There’s a straightforward black if you want something just a bit challenging (particularly when it’s snowed recently because it’s one of several runs in La Foret Blanche that is left ungroomed after a fresh dump – big thumbs up to the resort for that). There’s a slalom course and a couple of nice blues, but the appeal of the Peynier side lies not in its range of slopes, but the tranquillity: at some times of day you can go top to bottom and not pass another skier.
But for all its quiet charms, the Peynier side of Vars plays second fiddle to the broad expanse and endless white space across the valley. As its centrepiece is surely the trio of uncrowded long blues: Jas du Beouf, Serre Banet and the super cruisy, gently undulating Heureux.
There’s a huge snowpark, Park de l’Essyna, which caters for all abilities with it’s gentle humps and low rails to mountainous jumps where freestylers wow the occupants of the Crevoux chairlift that passes overhead. At the top is Evasion, a steep mogul black that’s almost as wide as it is long – you can take a few chances here without risking a collision, and if the snow conditions are right – as they are for us – you can pull off a seriously fast mogul descent.
I don’t want to skim over the neighbouring Risoul because it comes with an equally tasty selection of scenic tree-lined runs and fast reds and blacks. But the real draw of the Risoul side is its off-piste potential. There’s a lot to choose from here and even the most avid off-piste junkies won’t get bored. The town itself is perhaps a little more functional than pretty, but nothing here is ugly. Okay it’s not all chocolate box chalets but it isn’t concrete monstrosity either. The in-between ski areas are breath taking too, and a venture to Risoul and back can easily soak up an entire day – if you feel like it.
One of our favourite runs though is back in Vars and it’s a red we all get something out of. If blue Heureux is a super cruiser, the red Olympique Sup. is its equivalent – but on reheat. Lots of space to let your skis run out so that you can carve from top to bottom, but with a more serious gradient that puts the afterburners on your descent. A word of caution: at the brow of the last blind roller you’ll be warned to slow down. Do so – lest you find yourself ejected skyward with the plunging slope suddenly far, far below your skis. I’m not a reckless skier but I didn’t take quite enough pace off and finished the final 100m or so at speed, on my back. You can carry on down Olympique Inf. and into Vars Sainte Marie if you choose but my advice: just do the top part again instead.
Throughout La Foret Blanche is an excellent range of mountain restaurants to choose from. A regular of ours is Chal’ Heureux, conveniently located at the bottom of Heureux and the Mayt chairlift. It’s well priced given the situation – a portion of fries is around €4, beer €3 – €4 and vin chaud about the same. You can stay here too, although I never have, but on-piste access surely doesn’t come any better.
Further across at the bottom of Olympique Sup. and the Peyrol chair is Chalet l’Horizon, which is similarly priced and also features a nice sun terrace. Le Pra Rond, somewhere around the midway point between Vars and Risoul, is also well worth dropping in on as it faces some great reds and blues and an expansive off piste area. Again, prices won’t break the bank.
But this year we’re here for the speed ski run as much as anything else. We’ve told ourselves on each of our previous trips that it’s on the to-do list but somehow we always seem to have put it off. Until now.
Most of the big European ski resorts boast one or two home-grown sports celebrities. From Canada to Australia to France to Austria you’ll find some famous skiers and snowboarders who, when they’re not travelling the world competing, are trying to blend in with the crowds on their home mountain. Pierre Vaultier grew up in Serre Chevalier, Mercedes Nicoll is at home in Whistler, Torah Bright in Autralia’s Snowy Mountains. But famous skiers and snowboarders are only famous skiers and snowboarders if they ply their trade on a world (and often Olympic) stage in front of a TV audience. Vars is different. At Vars we’re into the niche world of speed skiing. Okay so maybe they don’t live here, but the fastest skiers on the planet come here every year. Famous skiers? Well, actually yes: if you follow the FIS affiliated speed skiing season, you’ll know that the best of the best refer to Vars as the grail in their discipline. So I’d say these guys and girls were famous skiers in their own rights: the fastest lady on earth – and yes we’re talking the fastest non-motorised form of transport here – is Valentina Greggio (247.083km/h or 153.53mph) and I’ve seen her here in Vars with my own eyes. The fastest man, Ivan Origone, set the world record of 254.958km/h (158.424mph) here in 2016. I mean, what more do you want from your famous skiers? Maybe Lindsey Vonn hasn’t been here, and for all I know Bode Miller has never heard of the place, but Vars has a pedigree. I’m just saying.
The Chabrieres Stade de Vitesse is the fastest ski slope in the world. It is a “ninety-eight percent slope,” according to 2017 Speed Skiing World Champion Bastien Montes, “1.4 km of track swallowed in less than twenty seconds. We go from 0 to 200 km/h in less than six seconds. It’s a whole slice of mountain that is exploited. It’s the track!”
Bastien is right: speed skiing isn’t just the fastest thing a human can do on the snow, it’s the fastest non-motorised mode of transport anywhere on land. The chances of us doing even half those speeds are slim: we aren’t allowed to go from the top (looking up at the near-vertical descent that plunges through menacing black rocks, I’ve no problem with this restriction). And of course we don’t have the aerodynamic helmets and leg fairings to reduce drag. Apart from that – well, we’re just plain not as good as these guys.
We wait till the last day because, frankly, if anything goes wrong we haven’t wasted our lift passes. Or maybe we just want to spend the week summoning up the courage. Whatever, as we approach the little timing hut at the bottom, we see activity and some serious competitors. There are the lycra suits and the weird, alien-like helmets. Something official is going on here.
“It’s not possible for the public to go up today?” I say in my clumsy French, all but inviting the negative response.
“Yes, it is possible,” the official replies in English (really have to improve my language skills, am I that obvious?) “But it’s a practice session so we cannot take you up by snowmobile. You must go up the Crevoux chairlift and from there traverse the mountain, see?” He points up and far above us a group of four skiers are moving slowly across the flank of the mountain. “When you get to the speed ski track, look left up the mountain and if someone is coming down you wait. Then when they have passed, you can go and we will give you your speed at the bottom
Three of us set off. Me, my mate Don and his daughter Morgan. Riding the chairlift we are all silent, and I think now that we’ve realised it’s actually happening, the nerves start to set in. The traverse across the side of the mountain is slow going because the snow here is deep and of course ungroomed. But after ten minutes or so of riding not so much on the snow, but in it, we arrive at the side of the speed ski track. There are a couple of other amateurs whom I’m happy to defer to – if they make it down in one piece, maybe we can. But looking up, there is also one of the pros readying himself for launch. By the time he soars past us I assume he is nudging 200km/h, and the noise is incredible. There’s the roar of skis on the snow at high velocity but also the softer, booming rush as his body cuts through the air. It is a sight, but more significantly a sound, that will stay with me.
It’s time. I take a glance back up the track to make sure I’m not in anyone’s path, and step out. I can’t hang around on the snow because soon enough there will be another human projectile tearing down the slope, so I just point my skis straight down, get into the lowest, tightest tuck I can manage, and go.
A moment of serenity engulfs me. There is instantaneous acceleration, but the sheer speed comes so quickly that there is something peaceful, almost serene about it. I feel a sense of comfort and yes, peace, in the sudden envelope of velocity. And the snow under my skis – it’s so smooth. Before I started, a second or two ago, I wondered if I might lose my nerve and rise up from my tucked stance just a little. But I don’t, and I try to stretch myself forwards and backwards and down all at the same time. As the blue line streaks under my skis and I finally stand up, the track gently levelling ahead of me, there is only one thought in my mind: I need to do this again, and I need to go from higher up.
I glide through the opening in the fence to my right and come to a gentle stop by the timing hut. True to their word, the officials announce my speed: 108km/h or a little shy of 70mph. It’s fine. Pedestrian by the speed-skier’s standards but I’m okay with it for my maiden run. The professionals are capable of velocities more than double what I’ve just laid down. So yes, I need to go higher next time.
There’s only one problem. This is our last day on the snow and it’s almost 4pm. We need to start heading back to our chalet.
I’m disappointed but at the same time elated to have skied the fastest track in the world and moreover, felt safe doing it. I know I’ll be back to Vars and I know I’ll be back to Chabrieres. I know I can go faster and I intend to do so. No, nothing like the pros can do, but I’ve definitely got the legs for another 10mph or so, I’m sure of that.
Anyway it’s good to have a goal. To leave wanting more.
Vars has been good to us this time, as it always is. The weather has been sublime and when we weren’t on the snow, the nightlife has been spot on. There isn’t a club scene to speak of but we all enjoy the Piano Bar (does it even have a piano? I actually can’t remember but I don’t suppose it matters) with its decent range of cocktails and lively atmosphere. There are some nice restaurants here too, most of which serve up excellent Savoyard dishes (try La Marmotte in the centre of Vars Les Claux)
But we come for the skiing, and presumably so do you, so allow me to conclude with a quick summary of La Foret Blanche:
Elevation: 1650m – 2750m
Total Pistes: 185km
Green: 18
Blue: 49
Red: 38
Black: 10
Freestyle parks: 7
Lifts: 42
For piste map, weather, webcams, snow forecast, snow conditions, and general resort info, go to the official Vars resort website.
Pros:
Quiet most of the year and even in peak season queues are few and far between. You won’t spend hours standing around on the snow.
Multiple freestyle areas catering for all skill levels
Good off piste terrain
Plenty of wide, spacious runs
The Chabrieres speed ski track
Cons:
For me it isn’t one, but some might prefer a more commercial, bustling resort
One or two of the lifts are slow but: an upgrade to the tune of €18m is in progress as we speak and will include improvements to snow making capacity and the lift network. You can read the details on the official Vars website.
My grateful thanks go to all the people in Vars who made our trip spectacular once again but in particular:
Brice for letting us stay in his perfectly situated appartment. You can book it on Airbnb here: https://www.airbnb.co.uk/rooms/28216281?
And Romain and Yoann at Gliss Center for their easy-going enthusiasm: https://www.location-ski-vars.fr/
In case you hadn’t guessed, we’ll be back to this corner of the French Alps very soon…
