Ski-Areas > Northern Alps > Savoie (73) > Tarentaise > Sainte-Foy Tarentaise
The ski resort of Sainte-Foy-Tarentaise is situated in the Tarentaise area of the Savoie department in the Northern Alps region. The ski station is served by three long and to be honest, not that quick chair lifts. These take you up to 2,550 meters and the Col de l'Aiguille. The base of the pistes is at 1550 metres. There are 25 km of lift served runs and 10 km of cross country trails. The resort apparently has a snowpark but we didn't notice it when we visited. From December 2006 the Marquises chair high speed six seat chair will double the area of ski runs with new blue and red pistes in the Camps Filluel sector and will improve access to off-piste skiing around the Marquise ridge, the couloir des Foyères and into the Mercuel valley.
The resort boasts 800 hectares of off-piste skiing, it pays to have touring bindings to access some of the better terrain. If you are in the area at another resort that is getting tracked out, make a bee line here - It never really gets tracked out.
Since the 1960s and the epoch of the Plan Neige and the white gold rush there had been plans to open a ski resort at Sainte Foy. The initial idea was to build a resort in the open west facing vallon de la Sassière with its glaciers under the 3600 meter Aiguille de la Petite Sassière. This offered developers the prospect of summer skiing the Eldorado of the time. However access was via a mule track through the summer hamlet of Nantcruet and building a road would have been very costly. In the mid-70s their was a project to construct a cable car to link the village to Planay-Dessus then les Charmettes. Drag lifts would then offer skiing under the north-west facing bowl situated under the pointe de la Foglietta. It seems this project didnt meet with local approval. Investigative journalist Danielle Arnaud spoke to the son of the mayor, a restauranter about this plan and he was not keen to develop a ski resort.
Finally in the early 80s it was decided to build lifts in the Bonconseil and Plan-Bois sectors to the east of the village and the finally station opened in 1990. The last new resort to be built in the Savoie. The resort has suffered from poor finances but has become fashionable with British tourists who have been charmed by the authentic village feel and speculation has been fuelled by the property boom in the United Kingdom in the early 21st century.
Nearest Airport(s): Geneva Cointrin 160 Km, Lyon Saint Exupéry 200 Km, Chambéry 110 Km, Grenoble St Geoirs 190 km
Road: Motorway A43 to Albertville, N90 Dual carriageway to Moutiers , D902 to Bourg St Maurice -> Ste Foy
Rail: Bourg St Maurice International TGV station: 25mn by taxi or by bus (http://www.autocars-martin.com/)
Ste Foy has attracted a large number of quality chalet operations and being down the valley a bit can make a good base for exploring the whole upper Tarentaise valley without having urban feel of Bourg St Maurice.
Premiere Niege offers catered and self catered chalets and apartments in Sainte Foy, their website is http://www.premiere-neige.com/. Seems to be good value and can help with transfers with the option to do ski safaris and with guides.
Also take a look at this private apartment at Sainte-Foy.
There are also a number of smaller chalet companies operating in the resort, including The White Room who offer both catered ski and snowboard holidays and specialist summer mountain-bike holidays, see http://www.whiteroomchalet.com/.
If you are looking for a larger venue for a group or corporate event, both summer or winter, then the Chalet du Rassel should be on your short list. This typical Savoyard property is a former brewery built in the 1880s.
There are 2-3 bars in the resort, Chez Alisons, the Iceberg, but primarily La Pitcouli. Le Brevette at the top of the first lift is a great place for lunch
There are four ski/board shops in Sainte Foy: ZigZags, Ski Set, Ski Republic and Intersport. The first three are located in the main resort centre, with Intersport a bit out-of-sight at the end of the row of buildings including the ESF and the Iceberg bar.
ZigZags has great, friendly staff and stocks top-quality hire kit. Ski Set is the largest of the gear shops and the only one with much of a choice of equipment for sale.
Other than ski shops, there is a small Sherpa supermarket, a boulangerie and a souvenir/newsagents shop.
Want to be more confident to go off piste? HATadventures provides off piste days and courses based in Sainte Foy Confidence building programmes, off piste skiing, avalanche talks, beeper training, video feedback Can take boarders in the groups http://www.skioffpiste.co.uk
email: stefoy@wanadoo.fr
Category: Ski Areas
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