#ABRICOTINE AVORIAZ SERIES#

It built its first terrain park and half-pipe back in 1993. Avoriaz has also had an open mind when it comes to the latest trends and was one of the early Alpine capitals of snowboarding. It’s not just the look of the place that’s futuristic. Most of the accommodation is in self-catering apartments, and some of it is brand-new.

#ABRICOTINE AVORIAZ SERIES#

Designed to be car-free, it’s based around a series of high-rise buildings that are linked by boulevard-style pistes on the outside, and stairs, lifts and covered walkways within. Set at the top of a great cliff, in a high-ish mountain bowl, Avoriaz has always been one of the most forward-looking ski resorts in the Alps. In a good, cold winter, you can have a blast here. Prices are noticeably lower than in some of its rivals, too. Still, the terrain is very good here – and the snowfall average for the highest slopes is one of the best in France (around eight metres a season – significantly higher than Val d’Isere, for example). But it does mean snow quality is more variable than you’ll find in the likes of Val d’Isere, Courchevel or Val Thorens, with more icy mornings and more slushy afternoons on the pistes. Batteries of snow-cannons making the stuff artificially see to that. That doesn’t mean the lower slopes are snowless very often. That compares unfavourably with the A-list ski areas such as the Espace Killy and the Three Valleys – and it makes much of the skiing here vulnerable to the sudden thaws that can hit the Alps, even in January. Several of the resort towns and villages are down at 1000m. Problem is, the highest lift in the Portes du Soleil tops out a 2466m, and many of the slopes are below 2000m. And it would be one of the world’s greatest ski areas if only it were a little higher.

It’s a vast and endlessly-varied playground, boasting 197 ski lifts, 650km of pistes, 10 terrain parks and oodles of off-piste in between. Avoriaz is part of the Portes du Soleil – a trans-frontier alliance of a dozen ski villages in France and Switzerland, south of Lac Leman.

Abricotine avoriaz