La face de Bellevarde

The FIS Alpine World Ski Championships 2009 were the 40th FIS Alpine World Ski Championships, held 2–15 February in France at Val-d'Isère, Savoie. The International Ski Federation (FIS) awarded the championships to Val-d'Isère on 2 June 2004, in Miami, Florida. The other two finalists were Vail/Beaver Creek, USA, and Schladming, Austria, which was later selected to host the 2013 championships. Vail/Beaver Creek gained the 2015 championships. These were the first world championships at Val-d'Isère, although the area hosted four of the five men's events at the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville (the slalom was held at Les Menuires). Val-d'Isère is a regular stop on the World Cup circuit, usually by the men in early to mid-December. These were the fourth world championships held in France. Chamonix hosted in 1937 and 1962, and Chamrousse hosted the alpine events for 1968 Winter Olympics (from 1948 through 1980, the Winter Olympics were also the world championships).

Val-d'Isère (French pronunciation: [val dizɛʁ], literally Valley of Isère), nicknamed Valdi, is a commune of the Tarentaise Valley, in the Savoie department (Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region) in southeastern France. It lies 5 km (3 mi) from the border with Italy. It is on the border of the Vanoise National Park created in 1963, with good transport links in and out of Lyon, Geneva and Chambéry. During the Albertville 1992 Winter Olympics, the Face de Bellevarde was the site of the men's downhill race. Other alpine skiing events held during those games included men's giant slalom and alpine combined. Val d'Isère regularly hosts World Cup alpine events, usually for the men in early December, and hosted the World Championships in 2009. The ski area of Val d'Isère and Tignes forms the Espace Killy, named after the triple Olympic champion Jean-Claude Killy who grew up in Val d'Isère. There are two mountain huts (called “refuges” in French) owned by the Vanoise National Park on the territory of Val d'Isère: le Refuge du Prariond and le Refuge du Fond des Fours.

The Funival is a 1,200 mm (3 ft 11+1⁄4 in) gauge funicular railway in Val-d'Isère, France The Funival starts above ground in La Daille and after a few hundred meters it enters a tunnel ending at the mountain station on top of the Bellevarde. The Funival uses two trains, connected by cables, on a single track. Halfway, a short section of dual track (passing loop) allows the trains to pass each other.

Piste Oreiller-Killy is a World Cup downhill ski course in France, at La Daille on Rocher de Bellevarde in Val d'Isere, Savoie. It debuted 58 years ago in 1966 and is named after ski legends Henri Oreiller and Jean-Claude Killy.The course is about two kilometres (1.2 miles) down the road from "La face de Bellevarde", an extremely steep course designed by Bernhard Russi for the 1992 Winter Olympics. Silvano Beltrametti's accident on the course in December 2001 led to safety improvements; blue lines were introduced in ski competitions, which led the way to the next poles.

Refuge du Fond des Fours is a refuge in the Alps.

The Tignes Dam, also known as the Chevril Dam, is an arch dam on the Isère in the municipality of Tignes in the Rhône-Alpes region in south-eastern France. In planning since the 1920s and under the protest of locals, the dam was constructed between 1948 and 1952 with the purpose of hydroelectric power. At the time of its completion, it was the tallest dam in Europe. Water from the dam's reservoir, Lac du Chevril, feeds two power stations, the 96 MW Brevieres Power Station and the 332 MW Malgovert Power Station, for a total installed capacity of 428 MW. The yearly average combined output of the two power stations is 94 MW. Brevieres is located about 1 km (0.62 mi) downstream of the dam and Malgovert is also located downstream, 17 km (11 mi) to the northwest at 45°37′04.28″N 6°47′25.31″E. The dam was designed by Coyne & Bellier and is currently owned and operated by Électricité de France. Lac du Chevril flooded the town of Tignes which was relocated nearby. In 1989, in preparation for the 1992 Winter Olympics, Jean-Marie Pierret painted a fresco of the Olympian figure Hercules on the dam's face. The feat, by Pierret and eight other painters, took 60 days.The dam plays an important part in the French supernatural drama television series The Returned.

Aiguille de la Grande Sassière is a mountain in the Graian Alps, on the boundary between the Aosta Valley (northern Italy) and the French department of Savoie. On the Italian side, it marks the end of the Valgrisenche; on the French side it commands the Val d'Isère.

Tignes (French pronunciation: [tiɲ]) is a commune in the Tarentaise Valley, in the Savoie department in the Rhône-Alpes region in south-eastern France, known for the highest skiable area and the longest ski season in Europe. It is located in the Savoie region with good transport links in and out of Lyon, Geneva and Chambéry. It is best known as a snow sure ski resort. Together with neighbouring Val d'Isère, it forms the Tignes – Val d'Isère ski area. The proximity of two resorts offers one of the most seamless links between ski areas in Europe, in effect creating a single skiable area of over 300 km piste. Whilst not the largest ski area in the Alps, the level of integration between the two resorts is so good that it is often described as feeling like one of the largest single ski areas as a result. Tignes was the freestyle skiing venue for the 1992 Winter Olympics, co-host city for the 1992 Winter Paralympics and host of the Winter X Games. This, coupled with the year round skiing, season length and large number of ski parks/slalom runs has cemented Tignes as the go to training ground for snow sport athletes.The terrain of valley lends itself to more challenging skiing, with advanced skiers often opting for the resort as their preferred ski area. The town has however strived to improve its appeal to beginner and intermediate skiers with the introduction of easier runs lower down in the valley towards Tignes-Les-Brévières and upgrading existing chairlifts and installing new ones with smaller elevation gains.

Lac de Tignes is a lake at Tignes in the Savoie department of France.

The Funiculaire du Perce-Neige in Tignes, France is an underground Funicular from the neighborhood Val Claret to the summer-skiing area and the lower station of the Telepherique Grande Motte.

Tignes-les-Brevières (1550m) is a small skiing village in the French Alps that is the lowest point of the ski resort of Tignes. Owing to its geographical location the village receives as much snowfall as its neighbours and during the 2005/6 season, Les Brevieres had over 4 metres of snow. The town is connected to other parts of Tignes after ski runs shut by a continuously operating gondola.

Pointe de la Sana is a mountain of Savoie, France. It lies in the Massif de la Vanoise range and has an elevation of 3,436 metres above sea level.