"Val Thorens, which houses the highest ski resort base village in Europe and is part of the legendary Les 3 Vallees resort network (largest ski area in the world), is a bowl of concrete and wood hotels with glowing windows pressed against raw alpine nothingness. It's a manufactured village perched at 2,300 meters, walled-in by wind, snow, and cliffs that seem carefully carved by gods who thought much about beauty and death."
"Every bar throbbed. Boots clomped. Laughter ricocheted off ice. Ski racers, freeriders, instructors, patrollers, tourists, interns, journalists, bartenders-everybody lubricated and vibrating, like the night before a collective exam in survival. The SnowBrains European Division had landed. Corey, Will, and I-three Americans loose in the French Alps, officially here to cover the Freeride World Tour Val Thorens stop, unofficially here to figure out how gravity, ego, alcohol, and competition coexist at altitude."
Val Thorens sits at 2,300 meters as a manufactured bowl of hotels surrounded by wind, snow, and sheer cliffs. The village offers little beyond skiing and drinking, producing a nightlife where competitors and revelers blend. Ski racers, freeriders, instructors, patrollers, and visitors gather in bars creating a charged, lubricated atmosphere before competition. Visiting journalists and riders aim to balance safety and performance while assessing the venue and the athletes. Riders display extreme focus and outcome-driven intent, while the landscape above the village looms as both a challenge and a test of survival.
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