Sbooker Scenic Hiking in the Alps, May/June 2026

[Tony Crocker]

We passed though the Maurienne Valley in Jan/Feb 2023, but skied the two areas at the far west end. That trip started with sbooker and family in Les Arcs, and the next day was at Valloire/Valmeinier.

Unfortunately, the first two appeared to be already in advanced meltdown mode.

Aussois is south facing. La Norma like most of these places, rises to 2,700 meters, though its base elevation is low at 1,350.

Sybelles at the far western end, has a lower elevation range and was our last day of that 2023 trip, so quite bit of manmade hard snow after a couple of dry weeks. Aside from Sybelles, I'd say the Maurienne Valley has the second largest collection of under the radar places with decent altitude to the Upper Rhone Valley, plus the bonus of that Orelle access to Val Thorens. Like James and sbooker, we'll get there sometime. The Maurienne was under consideration on our recent trip but then the areas to the north got much more new snow.

 

[Sbooker]

My original plan three years ago was to ski all four of the areas in the Haute Maurienne valley from my lodging in Arvieux: La Norma, Aussois, Val Cenis, and Bonneval sur Arc. Unfortunately, the first two appeared to be already in advanced meltdown mode. I hit Val Cenis on a whiteout storm day and quit after 2.5 hours because I was feeling seasick. The day at Bonneval is linked above and after realizing how close I was to the 3V, I ended up with two nice days there. Thus, the guidance to ski the two smaller ones may be "don't wait until March" (based on one visit, YMMV).

Looking back at that thread, you asked about the town of Modane. Did you drive through there?

I didn’t drive through Modane. We came over Cenis pass. The road appears to be a green run in winter. Kylie said she thought it would be fun to ski because it’s wide and has switchbacks through the trees.
March is our time frame for next year.

 

[jamesdeluxe]

Your point about the valley being nice and quiet is correct. This is Val Cenis, the biggest village, and as you can see it's comparatively small with no nasty hotels.

This is very traditional Orelle, alongside the bottom of the gondola. You really can have your cake and eat it too -- especially how you can access the 3V with zero traffic or other unpleasantness, for example the $25 I paid for a packed parking garage the following year at Courchevel.

 

[ChrisC]

Your point about the valley being nice and quiet is correct.

Maurienne Valley is impressively large and full of quite a few mostly north-facing ski resorts.

For the US Ski Press, it's almost as if it does not exist, especially squeezed between mega-resort heavy Tarentaise or the Oisans Valleys.

 

[Sbooker]

We fly out of Malpensa tomorrow. A last night in Stresa. Lake Maggiore at its best.

@jamesdeluxe you’ll be glad to know that last pre dinner beer for the trip is a bock. And a great one at that.

We can endorse late spring in the Euro Alps.