From sliding on ice to fatbiking in the snow: Val d'Isère is not just about skiing

Illuminated by more than a kilometer of orange lights, the daunting 1,400-meter track stretched out before me. Higher than Ben Nevis, the highest mountain in the UK, the run, called La Face de Bellevarde, played at the Albertville Winter Olympics in 1992 and attracted hardcore skiers and off-road enthusiasts. piste in Val d'Isere for decades.

But I'm new to skiing, and luckily my view of Bellevarde wasn't from the top of the piste. I was perched high in the treetops opposite, in a harness hanging from a particularly sturdy pine tree.

It was a treetop adventure course, with all the zip lines, swings of Tarzan and the Wobbly Bridges you'd expect, but unusual in that it only opens when darkness falls, the path illuminated by LED lights. It's one of many new activities this classic ski destination is testing to try and broaden its appeal after Covid shutdowns and the war in Ukraine (Russia is its third-largest market) has seen visitor numbers falter.

"We have a good reputation for challenging pistes and world-class off-piste skiing," said Benjamin Dubois, technical director of the ski school. from Val d'Isere. "But we have to attract new people in a sustainable way, and that means offering something for beginners and for those who don't want to ski at all."

I wish arrived in the most carbon-free way possible – by train from London, via Paris, to Bourg-Saint-Maurice, then by bus to the station. Val d'Isère already has the Green Globe sustainable tourism certification - for measures such as planting trees and removing over 100 lift pylons - and has added the coveted Flocon Vert (Green Snowflake) in November.

The resort has also ramped up recycling and energy efficiency programs in the valley, replacing gas-powered buses with buses electric vehicles and switching snow groomers to biofuel. They are also working to diversify the activities on offer so that as the snow line increases due to climate change, there isn't just a demand for more artificial snow (snow cannons use up a lot of snow). energy).

Although Benjamin was keen to show me the new children's and beginners' areas at the top of the Solaise mountain, I was distracted by a first glimpse of the surface frozen Lac Ouillette, setting, later in the day, of my first non-ski experience - ice floating.

That, when the time came, essentially meant donning a orange drysuit and jumping into a frozen lake - the (Nordic-inspired) idea is to spend some time just floating around. Initially, the thought of hanging out in icy water left me cold (in many ways), but as I slipped into the small watery rectangle that instructor Damien had carved out of the ice earlier, the air was filled with the almost musical sounds of shards of ice. floating and colliding on the surface of the water. I let go of his arm and felt the suit tighten around my thighs, then I collapsed in the water and immediately surfaced.

In the beginning, me and my companion...