Skiing Around the Portes du Soleil
The Portes du Soleil is an huge ski area located in the Alps between France and Switzerland. It is made of several Towns and Ski resorts, most of them connected by lifts and slopes. While others are only reachable by road.
I got the chance to explore pretty much the whole area while spending a winter season working as a chalet host between Morzine and Avoriaz. You can read about my whole experience in this post
Getting to the Portes du Soleil
The Portes du Soleil area is very well known among british skiers, as it is one of the easiest to reach by plane. Morzine, the closest town, is only a couple of hours drive by Geneva airport. And there are several private and public transport options running between the two.
Other main towns from which easily access the area are Les Gets and Chatel, on the French side. And Les Crosets, Champery, Champoussin, Morgins and Torgon on the Swiss one. And of them more or less easily connected by ski.
Other areas of the resort are Abondance, La Chapelle d’Abondance and Saint Jean d’Aulps. All slightly harder to reach without having a car
Getting Started with your Skiing Adventure
To ski around the resort, first of all you will obviously need a Skipass. You can either book it on line, and have it send it via mail or pick it up on arrival. Or directly buy it from any skipass office, usually located close to the main lift access to any resort.
The on line purchase will usually save you a couple of euros, and in busy days also some time lining at the shop. And also allow you to find some nice offers on the website
You can either choose to buy the pass for the whole area or for only any
of the resort you are going to ski in. Good cheaper option if you are
a beginner or just don’t have much time during the day.
But be careful to don’t ski outside your pass validity zone, as you won’t be able to jump on the lift back.
And hiking up the slope with all your gear on doesn’t sounds that fun
Better to be safe than sorry
A good practice when purchasing you skipass is adding to it the snow insurance. It will cover your transports and medical expenses in case of and accident on the slopes. This is the one they sell with the skipass. It costs about 3 euros for a day or 59 for the whole season, and should also cover the not used skipass days, in case any accident happens at the start of the holiday.
But there are also different options. And if you already have a travel insurance, it might already cover also accidents of the slopes
In any case is better to be covered, as the rescues on the mountain are really expensive. Especially the helicopter ones!
Skiing Resorts around the Portes du Soleil
Let’s have a quick overview of the main resorts
To get a better idea of what we are talking about, I would firstly suggest you to take a look at the map of the area
MORZINE
Morzine is a nice village located at about two hours from Geneva Airport. Its Ski area is usually underestimated, and used mainly as a gateway to reach Avoriaz or Les Gets. The town itself is known for its rainy weather, making the lower runs not always the most fun. The area at the top of the Pleney, the principal Gondola, hosts several blue runs. And it is always quite busy, especially because of the ski schools. Head left to Nyon for more quiet and challenging runs, especially the ones descending from Pointe and Chamossière, the highest points of the area. You can also go through Nyon to head to Les Gets, jumping on the Chamiaz lift.
And also take a bus from there, in case you want to avoid the busy Morzine central area.
LES GETS
I used to get to ski around Les Gets pretty much every day at the start of the season, when I was living in Morzine. If you are staying in any other of the resorts it can be slightly less convenient, as to get there you will firstly have to go to Avoriaz and either take a bus or the gondola down to Morzine. As described in this post about Avoriaz.
Anyways, I love Les Gets. And especially the bowl where the Rainfoly and other lifts starts. On nice weather days you can also enjoy the view of the Mont Blanc and other beautiful mountains.
The slopes might be slightly shorter than the ones around Avoriaz and other resorts. But I find them more fun, as they mostly just go straight down with no many flat or windy parts.
Most of the slopes in the area are blue and red, generally easier than the reds in Avoriaz for example. There are also a couple of easy black runs, not too steep but often quite bumpy.
Les Gets was my favorite place during the coldest January days, as it is a bit lower than most of the other resorts. And it is usually slightly more quiet, so good for weekends and busy school holidays.
The easier ways to reach the ski areas are from the town of Les Gets itself and from Morzine. Either via the easy flat blue run starting from the main ski area. Or in a more fun way via Nyon and a couple of red runs.
My favorite runs:
the smooth red slopes going down from Nauchets and Chamiaz
The local ski pass here covers both Morzine and Les Gets, as they are pretty much connected as one single resort.
And also a beautiful quiet area called Mont Cherì
Mont Cherì
Mont Cherì I a tiny ski area part of Les Gets, located at the exact opposite side of the valley. To get there from the main ski area you need to go down to the main resort access, Les Chevannes. And from there reach the Mont Cherì cablecar with a short walk across town.
It will take no more than 5 minutes (is shorter than it seems on the map!), so not a big deal.
And if you feel extremely lazy, there is also a small train running between the two
The mountain offer a few very wide and smooth red runs, a blue and a couple of blacks. Thanks for its slightly remote location, it is probably one of the quietest spots in the area. So very good for busy days.
But the best part is surely the amazing view of the Mont Blanc. Not just from the highest view point, but all the way down most of the slopes!
AVORIAZ
Avoriaz is the highest and most central resort of the Area. Unlikely the surrounding ones, it is more a ski village than a proper town. It offers a wide offer of skiing in – skiing out accommodations like not many other places. Making it perfect especially for short stays.
It is really all about skiing, and is pretty empty during the summer months. While it is usually one of the busiest resorts during the winter. More about Avoriaz in this post
CHATEL
The ski area of Chatel is porobably one of the widest. It is reachable either from Avoriaz, on the French side. Or from Morgins, on the Swiss one.
The town of Chatel itself is located at a quite low altitude, and there are no ski slopes running all the way down. Its ski area is basically divided in two different ones, connected by a couple of lifs that go un and down: Garbleou and the Portes du Soleil.
For adrenaline seekers
Right at the border between Chatel and Avoriaz ski areas you will also find the Fantasticable. A skiers-firndly zip line connecting the two sides of the valley. What makes the winter fantasticable special is having your ski gears to follow. Enabling you to keep ski down once at the other side.
I personally really like the part of Chatel located close to Avoriaz, called Plaine Danse. It is really wide and open, and unlike most of the slopes around Avoriaz, sunny also in the afternoon. There are several blue and red runs on both sides of the mountain. But the best part of the area are the many easy off-piste opportunities. Soo much fun especially on fresh powder days!
There are also a few snowcross and really bumpy black runs. And a fast and sometimes slightly icy long red run down to all the way down to the start of the Linga cablecar
On the other hand, I admit I am not a big fan of the main Chatel area, with pretty easy runs and usually and full of kids and schools. It is also quite low, especially going towards Morgins, and during the warmest times the snow conditions are often not the best.
From there you can also head to La Chapelle d’Abondance and Torgon. But again better to keep them for the coldest days. Possibly after a fresh dump of snow.
LES CROSETS AND THE OTHER SWISS RESORTS
Just a quick Swiss Wall away from Avoriaz!
And a couple of other ways, no worries. We could say Les Crosets is pretty much the access point to all the surrounding Swiss resorts: Champery, Champoussin and Morgins.
From Champery you can access the Ski area (and come back) with the big Gondola, as there are no slopes running all the way to there. You can only ski down to Gran Paradis, about half way to the town. Following a long a pretty flat red itinerary running right behind Les Crosets valley.
Something more similar to cross-country I have quite enjoyed for a couple of times with mi skis. But definitely not recommended for snowboarders.
Skiing the resort loop in a Day
It is possible to easily do a loop around the main resorts in about 5 hours. Or at least a couple more if starting from Morzine or Les Gets. The easier loop runs between Chatel, Avoriaz and the Swiss resorts. And it can be done without taking the skis off too much.
The only walking part is in Morgins, where you can either take the bus or walk for about 10 minutes to the other side of the valley. When I did the loop I was going from Switzerland to Chatel, and definitely had to walk the little uphill between the two. But I’ve noticed that the people doing the loop in the other way were able to more easily ski around Morgins streets.
Just try to pick a day with lots of good snow, especially important for the lower resorts.
Other activities around the Portes du Soleil
There are also several snow alternatives to skiing around the hundreds of kilometres of pistes. Such as:
Jumping and trying tricks around a Snowpark. Every area has at least one, and they usually fit any level of skills, from beginners to free ride pros
Cross-country skiing. Exploring one of the many tracks, especially around Avoriaz and Les Gets
Touring Skiing. Either close to the slopes or exploring the middle of nowhere. Always being very careful to avoid the avalanche risk
Snowshoeing, or walking in general
Partying. Enjoy a nice lunch or Après ski in one of the many mountain lodges and restaurants. The most famous is probably the Folie Douce, right in the middle of Avoriaz skiing area.
There are also a few music festivals held around the resort. Like Rock the pistes and the Snowboxx
Final tips and notes
That is pretty much all about getting started with your Portes du Soleil skiing Adventure.
For more tips to make your skiing holiday easier and finding the always better snow, you can jump on this post
If you are planning to stay there for the season, check out this website to find very good skipass deals, if purchased in advance. And if you want to know more about working and living in the French Alps, this is my story.
Also remember to download the Portes du Soleil winter App. which you can also use to check the weather, snow situation, and tracking and sharing your skiing itinerary!
If you prefer having a printed skimap (as I do!). You can get easily one of them from the liftpass office. Or at the entrance of the main lifts, like the Super Morzine. They usually have the lifts and pistes of the Whole area on one side, and the local map on the other. I’ll also leave you the PDFs of Avoriaz resort and the Portes du Soleil here.
Time to hit the slopes now!
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