Skiing around the 125kms of pistes and forest trails above Val Cenis Vanoise is is mainly for beginners and intermediate skiers and boarders with long cruising greens and blues with many ending up back in the villages.

One look at the Val Cenis piste map shows just 5 black pistes so on the face of it, there is not much to challenge expert skiers. However, between the high valleys of the Maurienne and Tarentaise, the Vanoise National Park provides some of the best back-country off piste ski tours in the Alps where you can explore pristine natural beauty on guided day tours or stay overnight in the mountain huts.

Back-country ski tours

Some of the classic off-piste ski trails accessed from Val Cenis where your mountain guide replaces your piste map include...

• The wonderful descent to Lake Cenis
• L'Arcelle
• Col des Hauts

The ESF ski schools provide these guided tours which can be booked locally.

More ski areas

Other ski resorts close to Val Cenis and in the Haute-Maurienne Vanoise valley include....

• Sardieres-Sollieres (9 km)
• Aussois (11 km)
• Bessans Val D'Arc (11 km
• Bramans (11 km, and
• Pralognan La Vanoise (16 km)

The combined number of piste map for the area shows 300kms of trails and you can buy a lift pass for the entire carousel which is known as Eski-Mo.