Ski Blog

Wayne Sharpe and friends visit St Foy near the mega resorts of Tignes and Paradiski.

I have passed the turning to St Foy many times over the years on my annual pilgrimage to Tignes or Val d’Isere but never given it a second thought. In December of 2005, I was given a taster of its delights.

After finding the cheapest flight from the Midlands to the Alps - that being Fly Thompson from a cattle shed they call Coventry airport to Leon for £48 (inc taxes), we arrived at the Leon car rental at 9.40am French time. Three of us hired a Renault Kango that looked like a bile-green bread van – ugly, but oh so practical, and we were soon on our way. Two and a half hours later were had passed through Bourg St Maurice and were just about to turn past La Thuile to Sainte Foy.

First impression of the village was it was very French; pretty little houses in classic local stone and wood style. You could not really tell where the Village turns into Ski resort. We stopped off at the supermarket, later found to be the only one, for those essentials of milk, eggs, teabags and (surprisingly) English bacon. The guys, being hungry, also grabbed one of the rotisserie chickens filling the outside air with smells that could not be resisted. Across the way was the tourist office, where we were welcomed and exchanged 104 Euros for lift passes.

There we were given a report on the snow conditions: No new white stuff for three days but plenty of powder all the way down to the village. A short drive up the hill, past the ubiquitous Premier Neige chalets, saw us at the chalet Col Du Mont Half an hour later we were out of the chalet and straight on to the blue slope down to the chair. Whilst waiting for my colleagues, I had a quick look round and saw the usual meeting places for ski school and two free magic carpet lifts being used enthusiastically by a handful of children. The nearest restaurant, situated at the base of the home run, looked busy - with mostly French families eating out on its sun terrace.

A quick look the board indicated we were at 1550 and the top lift was at 2620. Don’t let this low start height put you off though - the resort has an uncanny habit of holding powder-type snow. The guys arrived after stopping to pick up a crepe for pudding and we were off on the first lift. You have probably gathered now that we are not rush-around-types, but are little more leisurely. - In fact only I could actually ski, my pals were boarders - but we had all decided to snowboard on this trip to take advantage of the powder.

At the first station There are two restaurants at the intersection of three main runs - a blue , a red and a red mogul field. We only ever used one of the restaurants though, as it was in direct line off the lift and all the resort staff seemed to use it. The plate du jour was always good, followed by a pichet of red, and some cheese for myself and cake for the others. Well it was cheap and we were on holiday! It was one of these lunch times during our mingling with the resort staff that we discovered the Joys of Genepy (what a pretty little flower). And the fact that the village was growing fast as dutch builders cash in on the demand for traditional-style but very modern accommodation. With only three lifts , a fourth is due in 2006 - you could be fooled into thinking the skiable terrain is limited. This could be true if you are not even ever so slightly adventurous and wished to stay on piste for the whole week. From the top station there are only two marked runs down - a red and a black. I must admit not doing either all the way down as the off-piste is inviting, vast accessible and easy. The off-piste area is marked and you could start doing the easy routes down to the second chair then progress up to the Traverse and the longer routes to the bottom lift. Although long, it would be difficult to get lost as all routes seem to lead back on to piste or itineraries straight back to village. This is what is so good about St Foye: you can be adventurous but still feel safe. There are several routes that we didn't get time to do as they required a guide and they are very long.

The run to Monal is apparently a classic. We intend to go out in March to do all the itineraries especially now we have shared a bottle of sloe gin with a friendly ski Instructor who owns the Iceberg Bar in the village. We took two days out to visit the Espace Killy and Le Paradiski areas. Although extensive, the snow in both resorts was tracked and icy when compared to St Foy, which is clearly down to the number of people using the slopes. We never queued for a singe lift, compared to Val, and twice in the week we saw both the Val d’Isere and Tignes race teams practicing here.

Overall, St Foy is a great place to have as a base, especially if you have car as Tignes, Val, Les Arcs and La Plagne are all within 20 minutes. But I warn you: like us you will be spoilt by the unhurried atmosphere, empty pistes and excellent snow of St Foy and will end up returning.

Criticisms? Limited piste skiing, but what there is is good and un-crowded. At 3pm we were finding sections of piste that were still groomed. There is a shortage of nightlife, although there are four bars and live music at weekends. Following early apres ski and a sauna, dinner, we shared the driving and traveled into Val for party nights. Our group stayed at chalet Col Du Mont, a private chalet owned by Nick www.skisainte-foy.com It sleeps 12 and has a sauna - most importantly is ski to door. The Official Resort web site is www.saintefoy.net