Piste of the action: Orelle is the perfect base for late season skiing in France

In the Trois Vallées, new cable cars whisk skiers up to some of the Alps’ highest slopes – perfect for skiing into May. And a high altitude zipwire adds to the thrills

The last run of the day is often a scrum as everyone hurtles down the same slope in pursuit of an après-ski beer. As the afternoon light faded, I was cruising from the 3,000-metre Col de Thorens down an empty piste, wondering where everyone else was. Val Thorens, probably, or Les Menuires or Méribel. But here in little Orelle, on the fringe of France’s Trois Vallées, you wouldn’t know you were in the largest ski domain in the world.

That’s the beauty of these small back-door resorts: you get a share of 600km of slopes but you’re not in the thick of the crowds – nor paying top whack. And that back door has become considerably easier (and cheaper) to open with the arrival of two new cable cars in Orelle. One whizzes you up from the village to the ski area of Plan Bouchet at 2,350 metres, replacing an older, slower lift. But the big news is the Orelle-Caron cable car that takes you directly to Val Thorens and its 150km of slopes, opening up the highest resort in the Trois Vallées to pedestrians as well as skiers. As the ski season here is currently slated to stay open until 8 May, that leaves plenty of time for spring skiing on high-altitude slopes.