Skiing in the portes du Soleil
The
ski area of the Portes du Soleil
For
50 years, the Portes du Soleil has been acknowledged as one of the largest ski
areas in the world. There are 12 linked ski resorts between France and
Switzerland, located just one hour’s travel from Geneva: Abondance,
Avoriaz, Châtel, La Chapelle d'Abondance, Les Gets, Montriond, Morzine-Avoriaz,
St Jean d'Aulps, Champéry, Morgins, Torgon, Val-d'Illiez - Les Crosets -
Champoussin.
This
area is a veritable nature preserve of powder snow and an ideal environment to
help skiers perfect their technique. The chairlifts wind their way discretely
up the wooded hills and the ski pistes themselves meander down through pastures
and forest, occasionally passing a farmhouse which may be a hundred or so years
old.
From
mid-November until the end of April, the ski area is blessed with excellent
falls of snow. The average depth of the snow is generally around 7.83 m (25
feet) each year.
There
is a wide variety of skiing packages available in the Portes du Soleil too. You
can go on ski safari or tour the entire ski area seeing everything as you ski
from resort to resort, valley to valley, country to country ...