Savoie Mont Blanc Highlights New Outdoor Activities

Savoie Mont Blanc has been delighted to welcome back British visitors since the 14 of January. Among the 112 ski resorts of Savoie Mont Blanc, some are very well-known by British skiers who represent a very important clientele: 38% of the total clientele of Méribel is British, 42% for Val d’Isère and up to 80% for Sainte-Foy Tarentaise.

Some resorts such as Notre-Dame-de-Bellecombe or Arêches-Beaufort only have a small number of British visitors every winter but nonetheless are very pleased to welcome them. Others like the resorts of the Maurienne Valley are more and more attractive to the British market.

Xavier Shouller, the director of the French ski specialist Peak Retreats, says ‘Bookings have been very strong since various travel restrictions were lifted. Both our clients and ourselves are very confident that it will now be a superb season. We have had record requests for our ski areas in the Maurienne Valley this year. Resorts such as Val Cenis are not as well known but they offer large very snowsure ski areas and great prices”

Savoie Mont Blanc offers some of the best skiing in the world, but also many fun other outdoor activities, including some new ones for this season.

• Three new zipwires have opened this winter. In Arc 2000, fly over the Olympic speed run at 130km per hour. There is a new zipwire in Peisey-Vallandry, starting from the top of the Aiguille Rouge, and Valmorel has the longest zipwire in Savoie (1.4km long).
• More and more resorts now organise electric bike tours during the apres-ski. La Plagne offers snowbike tours with a guide. The Grand-Bornand has launched the Noct’e-Bike, where you can enjoy an hour and a half of descents on the empty slopes. In Albiez-Montrond, visitors can cycle down a blue run with an instructor from 4.45pm.
• After Chamonix Mont-Blanc, Val Cenis, La Rosière, Le Revard and La Clusaz, it is now Morzine-Avoriaz that’s opening a skywalk. At 2,019m, Le Pas de l’Aigle is a 10m-long footbridge made of glass, with a 350m drop and a 360-degree panorama with stunning views of Lake Geneva and Mont Blanc. It is free to access for ski-pass holders.
• Toumo yoga, also called ‘cold yoga’, comes from Tibet. While doing breathing exercises, participants get immersed in snow or cold water. Toumo yoga pushes our limits of adaptation to the cold and is reported to help in strengthening the immune and cardiovascular systems. Caroline Favre, a yoga teacher and therapist in Ayurveda, offers Toumo yoga sessions in the resort of Pralognan-la-Vanoise.
• Once a week, the ESF in Plagne Montalbert organises a descent in a bob raft on the Olympic bobsleigh run, followed by a night skiing experience. Speed addict should definitely try it!
• In Les Arcs-Bourg Saint Maurice, skiers can have an introduction to speed riding, before visiting the igloo village and discovering a 200m2 ice cave decorated with huge sculptures on the theme of prehistory. The experience ends with an aperitif in the igloo.
• Mine d’Or Odyssée in Morzine-Avoriaz is a mini adventure combining an orientation course in the forest done by snowshoeing, a descent by luge and the crossing of a rope bridge.
• Courchevel organises a snowshoeing tour with a stop for mulled wine in an igloo before walking across the forest down to the Aquamotion centre. Participants can then swap their snowshoes for their swimming costumes and relax at Aquamotion.
• Snowshoe from Les Menuires to the Lac du Lou for an introduction to ice diving. To recover and share your experience, enjoy a Savoyard meal at the refuge du Lac du Lou.

Savoie Mont Blanc covers two-thirds of the French Alps and includes world-famous resorts such as Val d’Isère, Méribel, Morzine-Avoriaz and Chamonix, as well as smaller and less well-known ones like Saint-Gervais Mont-Blanc, Valloire, Le Grand Bornand and many more.