Les Arcs Ready For Winter With New Attractions
From the Aiguille Rouge to the Aiguille des Glaciers and spread over three massifs (Mont Blanc, the Vanoise and the Beaufortain), the Les Arcs – Bourg Saint Maurice playground offers endless possibilities. The diversity of the scenery and the extraordinary variety of leisure activities on offer make it a destination that is an invitation to all outdoor adventures. To make the most of this vast natural space, visitors have a choice of 4 different sites on a human scale, the Bourg Saint Maurice base camp and 38 traditional villages and hamlets tiered on both sides of the valley.
For skiing, Les Arcs is one of the unmissable destinations, regularly appearing in the list of the world’s top 5 resorts*. For the altitude resort, which benefits from being able to guarantee top-quality snow cover throughout the winter season, skiing is therefore still essential and continues to generate major projects. In Les Arcs, however, we have been fully aware for some years now of the need to evolve our development model. The issues of sustainable development and society ’s new expectations call for a new paradigm where the attractiveness of all aspects of the mountain will be reinvented.
All the investments in Les Arcs – Bourg Saint Maurice have been therefore designed to be sustainable and to provide visitors with shared emotions over and above just the pleasure of skiing.
After a winter with the ski lifts closed, during which Les Arcs proposed alternatives to holidaymakers who came to enjoy the mountains despite the situation, two facts stand out. The first is that we are all really looking forward to being able to go skiing again. The second is that this winter with no lifts has also strengthened our conviction that the mountain is an unparalleled space of resourcefulness and fullness. We already knew this in Les Arcs, but the guests who came out last winter now seem to be aware of it too.
Skiing is therefore still the essential activity from the range proposed in Les Arcs, but with every passing season, the resort is finding new ways to enjoy the mountains: a real strategy of diversification of our outdoor proposals that is also made possible by investments in the mountain area with a double vocation.
NEW
Vallandry ,the new “go to”sector of the ski area
A new panoramic terrace and relaxation area for an informative halt This terrace is a real panoramic belvedere and a spot where skiers and non-skiers can meet up for a “suspended” moment. A lovely “Relaxation Area” has also been created where people can take a break or have a meal in a welcoming decor that highlights the local pastoral culture with exhibitions of traditional objects and local plants.
A Mountain Animal Museum to raise holidaymakers’ awareness On the upper floor of the Relaxation Area, a Mountain Animal Museum will present some thirty species of local fauna. The unique museum has been put together
in close collaboration with the Vanoise National Park whose experts will make regular visits to hold discussions or offer presentations of the mountains’ ecosystem. A fun way of learning more about the local biodiversity and the best ways of preserving it. Entry to the Mountain Animal Museum is free.
A new gondola
A comfortable 10-seat gondola, installed where the old Vallandry chairlift used to be, will take skiers from the bottom of the slopes to an altitude of 2138 m in just 6 minutes. It is open to both skiers & pedestrians.
In summer, the Vallandry gondola will serve both hiking and mountain biking trails. This project therefore contribute to a diversification of activities proposed in the mountain area in all seasons. Photovoltaic panels will be installed on the lift and the heat of the machinery and rainwater will be collected and reused for the needs of the site.
Are you apprehensive about learning to ski? A 3 step-by-step progression areas have been developed at the top of the new gondola, so you can learn quite safely without being stressed by speed freaks.
“First time on skis”
• “First turns” with its own drag lift
• “First Descents” on the Forêt des Pitchouns run This area completes the one that was created last winter in Arc 1800, reaffirming a desire to offer a ski area that is accessible to as many people as possible and makes it easier to learn to ski.
The Aiguille Rouge sublimated to combine contemplation and sensation
For several years the Aiguille Rouge, the highest peak of Les Arcs culminating at 3226 m, has received a great deal of attention. Following the installation of a footbridge in 2019, offering an exceptional panoramic viewpoint over
the chain of the Alps, and the renovation of the cable car station in 2020, this winter holidaymakers will have new surprises to discover.
Dizzying sensations on a zip line
Les Arcs’ zipline is bound to be THE new attraction of the winter. The zipline, which passes over the old Flying Kilometre run which held the world speed skiing record for many years (251.40 km/hr, Simone Orgone’s performance, 2006), will make it possible to reach speeds of 130 km/hr, on your own or on a dual ride! After the descent, you can collect a souvenir photo to share with your friends.Don’t forget to smile! Price: 55€ / descent One descent included in the Premium Pass- 50% reduction with the Essential Pass
A new panoramic terrace and an eco-responsible café
A new 40-seat terrace 2700 m above sea level has been designed as a place where skiers and non-skiers can meet up. A convivial café created by Maison Falcoz has also been installed there, where you will be able to get homemade soup, a tramezzino sandwich, a baker’s calzone or a pie. The bread is homemade, baked in the wood fire. The Falcoz family do not compromise on eco-responsibility and all their products will be organic, fair trade and, as far as possible, from short circuits. The organic waste will be recycled and used for compost. There will not be any bottles of mineral water, but good Les Arcs water in either a flat or fizzy version and a selection of explosive hot and cold drinks that will get your taste buds tingling! The café is a partner of the “Une bouteille à la mer” Association.
Spending time together on a balcony overlooking fabulous scenery, enjoying a snack prepared ethically and expertly and “flying like a bird”: that is what Les Arcs is promising this winter!
The Aiguille Rouge cable car:
- Before getting on the Aiguille Rouge cable car, visitors will discover a few surprises that will plunge them into the wide-open spaces of the high-altitude mountains and the local fauna:
- A life-size work by sculptor Guillaume Roche of a bearded vulture, an endangered bird of prey that was reintroduced here some years ago
- A presentation to photograph showing how to make an origami mountain hare or a bearded vulture in paper at home.
- A mural by artist Jacky Arnaud, also on the theme of the bearded vulture
- A mural comparing the size of a man to that of a bearded vulture to help you to understand the unbelievable wingspan of this rare bird.
LES ARCS AND CULTURE, A LONG-STANDING STORY
Holidays are an ideal time to elevate yourself and learn something new
Culture comes quite naturally to Les Arcs. From the start, it was integrated into the paradigmof holidays, in the same way as sport or connection to nature.
The resort is a loyal supporter of cultural events and delights in creating partnerships to help them grow and flourish.
This winter, there will therefore be a number of great opportunities in Les Arcs to broaden your horizons.
The Les Arcs Film Festival 13 th edition - 11-18 December 2021
Over time, the Les Arcs Film Festival has carved out a special place in the hearts of moviegoers and film professionals alike, with over 22 000 people participating in 2019. Year after year, the Les Arcs Film Festival has expanded and it now offers multiple events within the event.
- Over 120 films selected by the talented Frédéric Boyer, the Festival’s artistic director
- The official competition with 10 films competing for the Flèche de Cristal
- Parallel sections - Playtime, Hauteur, Avant-Premières, Sommet and a schools programme –complete the panorama. Les Arcs’ architecture is once again shining beyond its borders
- Annual focus on a country or a region: this year, the cinema of the Alpine region will be in the spotlight through a dozen films
- The Green Lab, with films that deal with topics related to the ecological transition
- The Lab Femme, a think tank that works year round on the subject of parity in cinema
- Professional events that position Les Arcs as a creative platform at the heart of the diffusion of European cinema: the Co-productions Village, Work in Progress, Talent Village, Le Sommet
- Master classes, concerts, DJ sets, ski competitionsand wild evening events…lesarcs-filmfest.com
The Green Lab, an event within the event
Particularly committed to a dynamic of being ever more environmentally responsible, Les Arcs is proud to stand alongside the Les Arcs Film Festival to allow a more committed cinema to emerge. The Green Lab works with professionals to promote and imagine more sober, responsible and virtuous practices.
There will also be a “Cinema and environmental commitment” prize awarded to a film that is deemed to have shifted the parameters. In the programme, films that undertake to change the world can be identified by a “Moving Mountains“ label.
Festival Teams from the films are present for most of the films that are shown and the audience can chat to the producer and actors after the screening.
In Les Arcs, the atmosphere is particularly relaxedand you often come across the actors in Arc 1950, the high-end village where all the Festival’s VIPs are hosted, or on the “Slope of the Stars” that runs through the village.
The creation of Les Arcs played a considerable role in the radical transformation of mountain architecture. Labelled “Remarkable 20th century architecture” by the Ministry of Culture, it is a singular expression of modernity.
Charlotte Perriand, the protean designer now renowned worldwide, was one of the main figures. She devoted the last twenty years of her career to the resort’s creation and it was certainly one of her most significant works.
Following a major exhibition at the Louis Vuitton Foundation in Paris in 2018, this year the London Design Museum is dedicating a large-scale event to her
NEW
- Urban art: colouring the asphalt
- In Bourg Saint Maurice, urban art has been highlighted in several projects:
- Huge frescoes on the ground during temporary developments in two of the town’s streets
- Calls for projects to clad three facades and two air vents
- A 200 m “free expression” wall
Architecture tours
Discover Les Arcs’ architecture in a guided tour organised by the Tourist Office:
- A classic tour with a conference guide
- A ski architecture tour with a conference guide and a ski instructor
- A “Zoom in on the architecture” tour with a conference guide and a photographer
The tours are very successful, as evidenced by the 16 tours / week organised during the 4 weeks of the
February school holidays last winter, in other words 626 people. lesarcs.com/cote-patrimoine
Spreading the tourism activity over the year, extending the seasons, deconcentrating flows,
activating the ends of the seasons…
All these expressions are currently used to evoke the issues linked to a very markedly seasonal tourist activity. For many of the mountain’s players, developing year-round attractiveness will reduce the fragility of an economic system that is currently based essentially on the winter season. However, even once this observation is made, the ideal often remains wishful thinking.
In Les Arcs – Bourg Saint Maurice, theyare taking action and making the most of undeniable
assets to propose key events, leisure activities and energising holidays throughout the year.
