Intermediate Ski Resorts

Sitting atop the biggest ski area in the world, the snow that blesses VT’s fun blues and wide, speedy reds is some of the finest around. Start by taking the Plein Sud or Boismint chairs, which lead to gorgeous blue groomers that’ll warm you up for a full day exploring. For reds, head to Cime Caron for a marathon descent on the Col de L’Audzin followed by the Haute Combe. The Peclet glacier’s a top spot for zoomy reds like Lac Blanc and Beranger down to town - other favourites are thigh-burner red Christine and its milder counterpart the Tete ronde blue, which take long lines across the glacier to the other side of the area. With the 3 Valleys pass up your sleeve, there’s no shortage of routes to turn your skis to – all the way over to Meribel and Courchevel or down to pretty little St Martin.

If you’ve a few weeks of red-run skiing under your belt, St Anton’s an ideal base to expand your repertoire. Start off on the blues, which would probably be reds in France considering Anton’s reputation for cranking up the difficulty… A case in point: the gradients of Galzig and Gampen mean that runs like the Happy Valley #4 and Fasch #36 are a little more than your average blue cruisers - but we love them nonetheless (especially when linked with Stock #20 for a confidence-boosting valley descent). In the same way, the pistes branded ‘medium’ here are edging on ‘advanced’, so a week’s skiing will see technique improve tenfold. The red #14 off Schindler Spitze is a favourite that coils around the Valluga peak, linking onto blues #12, #4, and #1 that flow down the mountain and back to base. A SNO tip to end with - north-facing Rendl has some of the best conditions in the resort, but being on the other side of town it often gets forgotten (making those reds and blues yours to roam…).

It looks like a giant spilled his spaghetti down this side of the valley, with red runs pouring down the mountainside. Maybe it was the sheer size of the Milky Way that shocked him - with 400km of pistes across the ski area, you’ll be running out of puff before you run out of slopes in these parts. The local pistes are wide, open, and luxuriously well groomed, most easing into blue runs as you approach the town. Our favourite has to be the Gran Pista (#11); this long tree-lined red has close edges which makes for a race-like end to the day. Take a gondola to Sestriere to make the most of lengthy reds like #79 or #80, both of which are thigh-burning fun, or make a cracking day trip all the way over to Montgenévre in France - adding in a couple of blues or blacks to change the pace along the way.

A purpose built resort done right, Les Arcs is widely ski-in/ski-out, has excellent connections and bundles of linking intermediate slopes, making skiing from your village and back down again stress-free. For a rip-roaring run into 1800 and Vallandry, ski the red Reches or Myrtilles – their long, evenly pitched slopes really let you go full-throttle. More challenging slopes are never too far away – the Aguille Rouge is the longest red run on the continent at a whopping 8km. There’s also oodles of gentler terrain, like the forested Mont Blanc piste into Arc 1600 and Foret that trails into Vallandry. Then the Paradiski’s your oyster - take a day trip over to La Plagne for the smashing selection of hills on the other side of the area. Ski some of the most snow sure slopes in the region up on the glacier, where a long steep red sweeps down from 3417m for a sure-fire adrenaline boost. We love to venture over to Montchavin and back (stopping for a hearty Tartiflette at Le Forperet if you need to refuel).

In the stonking great SkiWelt area, a staggering 128km of reds – and even more blues - are waiting to be skied. And Söll has super access to the best of them. Get the gondola up to Hohe Salve, where runs dart off in all directions to connect with the surrounding villages - like the one that trails down through the trees into Itter, and the 7km route to Hopfgarten. These serve as a super warm up for a trip all the way over to Ellmau, which begins at the same point with a lift link to Zinsberg, contains a series of short, sweet reds and blues and finishes with a gorgeous tree-flanked cruise from the Hartkaiser peak. To cap it all, you’re only an hour from Innsbruck airport, so plan your flights right and you’ll squeeze in some extra skiing hours at either end of the holiday.

Slap bang in the middle of the giant Portes du Soleil, Morzine’s a winner if you’re partial to tree-lined pistes. These not only safeguard the snow but also provide playful little spots along the edges of runs – and we can’t get enough of them. Our favourites: the Choucas & llevre blues, which link onto one another for a deliciously long cruise to the edge of the town. If open descents are more your thing, head up top where the Arbis red’s one of the most free-feeling stretches around. Closer to home you’ll find Pleney’s maze of reds taking wide, sweeping lines we’d be lapping again and again, if the easy links to Les Gets and Avoriaz weren’t quite so tempting…

Almost half of the marked runs here are red, and with blues making up another hefty chunk, intermediates have over 100km to ski. To ease in gently, Pengelstein holds the broadest collection of blues - #25 is wonderfully wide, plus it’s one of the longest routes around for building up a rhythm. The #3 over on the Horn is another must-ski, where it’s impossible not to enjoy the rolling descent through forest and down the valley. Two of the best red pistes can be reached directly from town; #22 wiggles back to base with steeps, banks, moguls and tree-sections, while #21’s also known as the Streif, the setting for the legendary Hahnenkamm race. When it isn’t packed with ice for racing season, it’s actually pretty tame – a great one to tick off the list.

At 600km, the 3 Valleys is the biggest ski area in the world - and with 75% of it painted blue and red, even the most mile-hungry skiers discover new runs years after. Courchevel’s a splendid base to explore from, and you can spend a good few days skiing the local area alone. Groomers like red Creux take you on a journey across different pitches to keep the focus on developing technique, while corduroy cruisers like red Park City into blue Altiport open up fabulous views of distant peaks. We’ve always rather liked the red Combe Saulire, and we’re not alone – many exalt it as their favourite piste of all time. The start’s a little steep, but the whole thing’s gloriously wide and open. If this leaves you hungry for more, the rest of the area awaits: From Creux Noirs, a run of the same name links with Niverolle and Aigle for an all-red descent into Mottaret, or the Chamois from Saulire takes you into Meribel centre – then it’s up, up and away…

You’ve got two mountains to play on here - Whistler Mountain on the south and Blackcomb to the north. If you’re a fan of long pistes that seem to stretch on and on, you can’t miss the Peak to Creek - from the Whistler summit, it carves a glorious path between the trees and right back home. From Little Whistler, the Harmony runs are a hoot, with short black diamonds flitting between them if you fancy upping the ante. There’s just as much to ski on Blackcomb… if not more. Don’t miss the sea of wavy blues from the 7th Heaven lift, where favourites include the dreamily named Panorama and Cloud Nine. Between and under the Solarcoaster and Excelerator chairs lie a veritable set of trails ranging from the easy-going, zig-zagging Green Line to the self-explanatory Cruiser. These dip through the trees and back to base - all in time to head back up and ski it all again.

Tignes takes up one half of the Espace Killy – and it’s a whopper. There are more than 100 red and blue runs here: You could ski a new area each day and still have more to discover next time. Some of our favourites can be found close to home, like the blue Combe piste near Le Lac, and Val Claret’s speedy red Double M. But don’t miss the terrain higher up: The Grand Motte glacier has some of the most snow sure skiing in Europe on its mixed bag of reds, and you can link onto others for a thigh-testing route from 3456m all the way back to base. The best thing is being able to set off and explore mighty Val d’Isere on the other side of the area – opportunities just seem to go on and on in these parts, and we can’t get enough of them.