{"id":475,"date":"2014-08-11T11:09:58","date_gmt":"2014-08-11T09:09:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mountainpassions.com\/wordpress\/?p=475"},"modified":"2019-10-23T11:06:28","modified_gmt":"2019-10-23T09:06:28","slug":"ski-avoriaz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mountainpassions.com\/winter\/ski-resort-reviews\/alps\/ski-avoriaz\/","title":{"rendered":"Avoriaz"},"content":{"rendered":"
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T<\/span>he long hairpin climb from low-lying Morzine inspires a certain tension, particularly if like us you’re here during a low period in a season whose snowfall record has been variable. After threading our way up the side of the valley the route finally flattens, and we emerge onto a snowy plateau where cross-country skiers are burning off the calories determinedly. Our attention, though, is drawn beyond them to the dramatic outline of Avoriaz <\/strong>silhouetted against more distant snow-capped mountain peaks. It’s like nothing else we’ve seen, yet looks instantly familiar, thanks to countless images in brochures and magazines.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\nOur attention is drawn beyond to the dramatic outline of Avoriaz silhouetted against more distant snow-capped mountain peaks. It’s like nothing else we’ve seen, yet looks instantly familiar…\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n\"Skier's-eye\n<\/div>\n
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Sled-dogs draw peoples' attention in the traffic-free resort centre.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Horse-drawn sleighs are used as local transport.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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What a drag!<\/h2>\n

Minutes later, after passing lines of iced-up cars parked at the roadside (followed by many more in a more secure official car-park) we reach the end of the road. From here on it’s car-free, so we’re directed to an underground car-park from which we can transfer the contents of the car to our accommodation. A couple of flights of stairs later we emerge heavily-laden and search for the nearest hook-up point for the small moulded sledges provided for visitors’ luggage. Popping a one-euro coin in the slot releases a sled and gets us moving for a return trip to the apartment. Alternatively, you can take a horse-drawn sleighride for your transfer. Obviously, it’s all second-nature to returning visitors, but for first-timers like us it’s not exactly intuitive.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Pay-back time<\/h2>\n

But it’s a price well worth paying for the pleasure and convenience of what is effectively a fully ski-in\/ski-out village. In somewhere like Arc 1950 this feels like a nice touch, but since Avoriaz is substantially larger, being able to ski rapidly to and from your apartment is a key part of day-to-day practicality. Next morning, for example, it takes just a couple of minutes to ski from our base over to the Lac des Intr\u00eats chairlift, at the opposite end of the village.
\nFrom here it’s possible to bypass the lift and take the blue-graded Cr\u00f4t piste for a long cruise down through the trees to Les Prodains. This is a popular access point for skiers taking the shuttle-bus from Morzine<\/a>, since it’s linked to Avoriaz by the Prodains cable-car.
\nJust days after our visit the mountain will receive fresh snowfalls, but for now Cr\u00f4t is closed to skiers.<\/p>\n

So we set our sights on the terrain below Les Hautes Forts (2466m) and ride the Lac des Intr\u00eats lift. At the top we warm up the legs by skiing all the way back down on the blue-graded Bleue d’Arare, followed by another, less-direct run down Bleue du Lac. Both of these runs offer enjoyable, steady cruising with some steeper sections (and elevated views of the village) to make things interesting. With today’s early morning conditions being on the icy side of firm, they also test both our edge-grip and our reflexes, so we peel off onto the blue-graded Aller de Chavanette link-run to see how things are holding up on the nearby slopes below the Le Fornet (2250m).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\n\"View
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Mogul fans will have some fun here.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\n\"Swiss
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The top of the infamous Swiss Wall - closed that day.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Ice alert<\/h2>\n

The Fornet 6-seater lift gives plenty of insight into snow conditions around us and serves a choice of snowcross runs \u2013 the blue-graded Marmotte and its red-graded counterpart Pschott. Either option looks and sounds off-puttingly icy, particularly the ungroomed Marmotte, where determined skiers are working their way with varying degrees of success through the ungroomed mogul-fields. Suspecting that right now things could be a bit on the speedy side on these runs, we opt for a calmer and more predictable cruise on Bleue du Fornet. It’s one of the higher runs above Avoriaz and is joined by a couple of reds on the way back down to the base of the lifts in the Combe de Chavanette.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Up for a challenge?<\/h2>\n

This time we take Choucas, a 4-seater chairlift to the Pointe de Vorlaz (1812m), launch-point for the two short reds we saw feeding back onto on Bleue du Fornet (which in turn joins the Retour Chavanette for a final blue cruise back to the village). More hardcore fans can access this point via a pair of long, steep draglifts \u2013 a fitting curtain-raiser for what awaits at the nearby Franco-Swiss border, which (very) experienced skiers can cross via the celebrated black-graded Chavanette or ‘ Swiss Wall’ piste. The steeply-pitched, ungroomed run is almost always heavily moguled all the way down to Champ\u00e9ry but today, not surprisingly, it’s closed due to extra-icy conditions.<\/p>\n

Armed with the perfect excuse to head in the opposite direction, we decide to ski calmly back into Avoriaz on the much more user-friendly, red-graded Les Lanches piste. All goes according to plan until we miss the less-than-prominent turn-off sign to the Retour Chavanette return-run, compelling us to re-ride Fornet and re-ski Bleue du Fornet. This time we make the turn as planned and join the other skiers heading sedately back to the village, where we break for lunch in our accommodation.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Unmistakably Avoriaz<\/h2>\n
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When we emerge we’re on foot not on skis, and head back into the village centre to join a guided tour around some of the more important architecture. Much of it, including the now-familiar high-rise apartment blocks, was designed by three young architects: Jacques Labro, Jean-Jacques Orzoni and Jean-Marc Roques. Determined to integrate the structures’ vast proportions into the landscape, the architects came up with multi-faceted facades (clad in natural, untreated red cedar shingles) beneath similarly-complex roof outlines. Look closely and you’ll see that they incorporate a second layer suspended above the main roof structure, maximising thermal efficiency.<\/p>\n

Our tour takes in one of the first buildings to be completed, the H\u00f4tel des Dromonts (designed by Labro) which hinted at what was to come, and still turns heads today with its startling half-windmill\/half-fir-tree outline.
\nIt was soon joined by many other visionary structures, and doing them justice requires a lot more space than we have here. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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