Les Deux Alpes

Altitude

• Resort Top: 1270m
• Resort Bottom: 1270m
• Piste/run/trail top:
• Piste/run/trail bottom:

Size

• Pistes: 92

Piste Difficulty

• Beginner Pistes: 64
• Intermediate Pistes: 19
• Advanced Pistes: 9

Lift System

• Gondolas: 6
• Regular Chairlifts:

Freestyle Features

• Terrain Parks: 1
• Halfpipes: 1
• Boardercross: 2

Ticket Prices

• 1 day: €41
• 6 day: €202
• Season: from €800

Food and Drink Prices

• Pint of lager: €5
• Cheeseburger & fries: €9
• Pizza: €11

Closest Transport

• Airport: Grenoble – 110km, Chambery 135km
• Train: Grenoble – 72km
• Bus: Les Deux Alpes

Is That Right?

A six day Deux Alpes lift pass also gives you access to two days in Alpe d’Huez and a day in the resorts of Serre Chevalier, Montgenevre and Sestriere … as well as unlimited access to adjoining powder paradise of La Grave and Les Vallons de la Meije (when link is open)

Les Deux Alpes is as bald as Bruce Willis – there’s not a tree to be seen: not a bush, not a blade of grass, just a wide-open monochromatic landscape. When there’s good snow, this is a lot of fun, though when it’s actually falling, making out where you’re going can be tricky! A resort that’s always welcomed snowboarders, Les Deux Alpes has long been a favourite with Brits and it’s easy to see why. Also, this is the place to head to in the summer to practice your freestyle.

The town itself is a mixture of old and new buildings, all strung out ribbon-like along the floor of a valley that sits on a plateau over-looking the village of Venosc. From the old-town end the views of the titular “two alps” are fantastic, and there’s a decent mix of places to stay, with something to suit all budgets.

The strange thing about the resort is that it feels sort of upside down. The glacier at the top is very flat and often wind-blown, the mid-section of the mountain has most of the best intermediate terrain and the stupidly steep, sometimes icy black runs are at the bottom – leading you back into the resort’s base.

THE PARKS (4 out of 5)

There’s the lot here: a series of park lines for different abilities, a pipe, various ‘Slide Zones’ and a boardercross. Deux Alpes has been developing its freestyle areas for over 13 years and has them spot on.

The main park is situated by the Toura chair. To your right as you go up, there’s a short rope tow allowing easy access to a few of the smaller hits and jibs, as well as the competition big air kicker. From the top of the chair you can take the boardcrosser, or enter the park proper. There are two options – a slopestyle course with well-sculpted (and sizeable!) kickers and rails to the right, or to the left, a few smaller hits and jibs leading down to the 120m-long halfpipe. To the extreme right, there’s usually one mega-booter, with a tabletop of around 25m – strictly for French rude boys and bold seasonnaires only! All this is finished off with the ‘cool zone’ – a BBQ area, blasting music from turntables. Under the Glaciers chair are two ‘Slide Zones’ which while short, are great if you want to practise banked turns at speed without the out-of-control fools who block up the main boardercross.

THE POWDER (3 out of 5)

Check out The Dome for powder, and routes off the 6-man chair, La Fee, for steep, deep and testing riding. There’s some hardcore off-piste around the Clot de Chalance, accessed from the Serre Pallas run, but you need to have a guide to show you the routes.

From the bottom of the Super Diable you can head left out of the area for some cool riding before picking up the Diable piste much further down. Ask in the tourist information about the free off -piste chats and mini-tours. To be honest if you really love pow, head for La Grave. The completely un-pisted resort is a freerider’s paradise, populated by bearded old men with carabinas jangling from their belts.

There’s only one lift – a rickety old cable car – but there’s an infinite number of routes down the hill. However, many of these end in large, icy cliffs, so you’ll need a guide! To access it, take the glacier T-bar to the top, then a further drag, which will deposit you next to a waiting snow-cat. Grab one of the handles on the rope behind it, and enjoy the tow across! Unfortunately, the cats only tow you one-way, so when you’re done shredding pow, make sure you’ve still got enough energy for the lung-busting hike back over – at nearly 4,000m above sea-level!

THE PISTES (4 out of 5)

There really is a piste for everyone in Les Deux Alpes, from beginner to expert. The very base of the resort has a number of free drag lifts for those getting their very first turns in. There’s also a chair or a gondola up to a large flat beginners area halfway up the mountain once you’ve mastered the very basics. For the intermediates there is mile upon mile of groomed motorway piste.

Check out the Roch-Mantel and the Signal if that sounds like your bag. It should be the law that the Sandri piste at the foot of the glacier to the mid-station be taken at full whack, as it’s a good buzz. By the end of the day, things do get a bit clogged up on the way down, with a couple of narrow fl at paths bottle-necking everyone, but so long as you’re controlled, you can bomb it past most of them. The Valentine run to the base can be an absolute nightmare, as it’s very steep and often either mogulled, or sheet ice. Sometimes both!

THE PARTIES (4 out of 5)

The setting of the town is a match for any in the Alps, but like many French resorts, the architecture is a bit of a mess, with its mix of 70’s apartment blocks and wood clad hotels. However, there are loads of off -slope services, including a cinema, bowling alley, sports complex and an outdoor climbing wall. It is a busy package tour destination so expect a lot of tourist junk shops, but there are a couple of decent snowboard shops too.

The nightlife goes off seven nights a week, with things starting early and finishing late. Smokey Joes, near the main gondola station, is good for a beer after the slopes, and it has a big screen for the football games. There’s the obligatory Yeti Bar too, but the real place to go is Smithy’s, which gets messy later on. The Red Frog is a friendly Brit haunt, and Pub Le Windsor is a great little bar with a massive whisky menu. L’Avalanche and L’Opéra are the places to head in the wee hours – if you can still stand.

“The connected resort of La Grave only has one lift – a rickety old cable car – but there’s an infinite number of routes down the hill. However, many of these end in large, icy cliffs!”