To date, 250 million Euros (that's 250,000,000!) have been dumped into Val Thorens to make it au courant yet with an alpine appearance. Val Thorens is way up there, which is to say you'll have some serious altitude here-almost 2300 meters of atmosphere below you!

An old shepherd shack amid the pastures is what you'd see had you visited Val Thorens a few decades ago. Several high-rise hotels and apartment buildings, a sport complex, restaurants and pubs await you today. Tourists (mainly British, Belgian Dutch, and German with an expansive Scandinavian habitue in the last few years) make up all but 75% of Val Thorens' visitors. Luckily, there are just enough hotel beds to go around.

You'd expect some voguish name for Europe's highest ski resort, especially lying in the French Alps. However, with a name like Val Thorens, it's not very common and therefore not easily forgotten. And, once you make your first holiday visit, you will never fail to recall it (or return) again.

No matter when you choose to take a ski holiday, the ski opening is almost year-round: The resort can be skied until around the heart of May. The slopes face a north by northwest direction, regularly given a good dusting of snow by Mother Earth. This may mean you'll have less sun, but it doesn't necessarily mean you'll have less fun. Still and all, you can soak up the rays from many of the resorts that face south regardless.

Val Thorens is a member of the Trois Vallee ski area. This means if you want some sun, or some trees, or an melange of sunny cross-country trails amid the trees, you can use the same ski pass and head down to more suitable terrain. This pass makes skiing open to any of the areas, anytime of the day, anytime of the year, for one fixed price.

Let's put it this way: That's 600 km of open ski slopes and virtually 20 km2 of groomed paths with over 100 km of cross-country trails, all accessible from 180 ski lifts! Moreover, with peaks above 3000 meters (skiable: Pointe du Bouchet and Cime de Caron [approx. 3200-3220 meters]), an apres venue that's hard to beat (but one you can dance to), ski schools and all the slopes for one pass, Val Thorens is hard to say "No" to. It is the envy of many other Alps ski holiday resorts in Europe, rightfully so.

If you have a sporty mind, an athletic form, or a hearty soul, you'll fit in all too well in Val Thorens, France. It is one or a combination of these traits that draws like-minds to the highest ski resorts in the Alps. You will not be alone but you will be free as you brisk down the slopes, past resorts and hotels, whipping former worry aside. Maybe it's the lack of oxygen to the brain; perhaps it's the lightness of the air; but, whatever the case, all the complexities of life are left at the pinnacle after your first run. The open skiing lying all around awakes your senses to the importance of life, not the drudge of living. Come be free and virtually elevate your self at Val Thorens.