Les Arcs

Above Bourg-Saint-Maurice

Les Arcs is a ski resort in Savoie, on the mountainside above the Tarentaise Valley town of Bourg-Saint-Maurice. It was initially created by Robert Blanc and Roger Godino, and today it forms part of the Paradiski system with La Plagne, all owned by Compagnie des Alpes, a French-listed company that runs several other ski resorts as well as theme parks.

The terrain in numbers

Paradiski gives Les Arcs a lift pass that covers 425 km of pistes and 132 lifts, and the difficulty breakdown is 243 km easy, 129 km intermediate and 53 km expert. That is roughly 57/30/12, an area weighted towards easy skiing: beginners have more than half the pistes, and the 53 km of expert runs is the smallest share. Two terrain parks add freestyle to the mix.

The lifts run from 1,200 m to 3,226 m, a vertical of just over 2,000 m. With the top station well above 2,200 m, the upper sectors hold snow from December through April, and the site’s snow-sure rating reflects that; the lowest slopes at 1,200 m are the weak point in warm spells. The site also tags the area for its modern lifts, and the scenery rating comes from the Tarentaise setting and a high point above 3,200 m.

What Paradiski changes

The link with La Plagne dates from 2003, and it is the linked total, not Les Arcs alone, that the 425 km and 132 lifts describe. For a visitor that means a single pass covering two large resorts, and a week that can be split between them without changing accommodation. Even those who stay on the Les Arcs side will find the terrain breakdown gives beginners and intermediates a full holiday’s worth of pistes, and experts a smaller 53 km.

Purpose-built, with a valley town below

Les Arcs is a resort created for skiing rather than a village that acquired lifts; the founders’ names, Robert Blanc and Roger Godino, are the founding story Wikipedia records, and the resort’s origin as a creation explains its position on the mountainside rather than in the valley. It has a proper town below it in Bourg-Saint-Maurice, the Tarentaise valley town of which the resort forms a part. For visitors this means a choice between staying up in the resort itself or down in the town and riding up each morning.

Practical

Chambéry (CMF) is the nearest airport, roughly 73 km away as the crow flies. The season runs from December to April. The resort’s official website is the Paradiski site, with lift and pass details for the whole linked area.