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The vast vertical of Les 2 Alpes ski area extends from the wooded slopes by the resort itself up to the year-round snow fields of the glacier. With the upper lifts reached by walk-on lifts and the resort itself at quite a healthy altitude despite being one of the more southerly of the major French resorts, snowcover is not a problem. More than 78 snow cannons cover the lower slopes to make double sure. It's an unusual ski area in that the ski area does not fan out around the resort as so many do but instead keeps going backwards, up to the glacier and away from Les 2 Alpes itself - rather like Keystone in Colorado. Beginners have a good selection of runs with more than 20 greens (very easy) trails around the resort, mostly served by more than a dozen parallel drags that run next to one another up from this high valley floor. They have either the Ecole de Ski Français (ESF) with about 150 instructors (rising to 200 in February peak season)and the ability to offers tuition in Portugese or Russian as well as the more mainstream languages if required, or there's the International Ski School. Intermediates have the most to excite them - with this huge terrain rising up to the snow sure Glacier du Mont Lans which has the remarkable subterranean funicular actually running underneath the glacier you ski back down over. For a bit of added fun the slalom stadium features a free parallel slalom course. Although Les 2 Alpes alone does not have a particularly highly thought of ski area for experts, its off piste lift link to La Grave is a major asset. The 2100 metre descent from the top lift above the Girose Glacier down to the tiny village is regarded as one of the most challenging, and dangerous, lift served descent on earth. It has claimed the lives of several expert skiers. The route is normally open from late January through to April. La Grave is one of a handful of small European ski centres off the tour operators maps and lacking in any facilities but none-the-less legendary for their incredibly expert and off-piste skiing. A couple of cable cars make the return trip back up from La Grave and only experts, ideally with guides should take this and other off piste routes down. There are eight black pistes of which the most popular are Super Diable and the Belle Etoile returning to the village. The area ski pass includes a day's skiing on the Milky Way or in Alpe d'Huez or Serre Chevalier if Les 2 Alpe's skiing fails to satisfy for long enough.
Country:
France
Resort height:
1300m
Top lift:
3520m
Bottom lift:
1300m
poor conditions
good apres-ski
reasonable
prices
good overall
All of the resort information on this page about
Les Deux Alpes has been provided for information purposes only. We regularly
update our
Les Deux Alpes information, facts and figures but we recommend that you check
with the appropriate official
Les Deux Alpes websites before travelling.
These driving times are approximate and will depend upon traffic and road conditions
