Grand Massif
| Le Grand Massif | |
|---|---|
| Location | France |
| Nearest city | Geneva, Switzerland |
| Top elevation | 2,500 m (8,200 ft) |
| Base elevation | 700 m (2,300 ft) |
| Skiable area | 265 km (165 mi) of runs |
| Runs | 146 (20 green, 64 blue, 49 red, 13 black) |
| Longest run | 14 km (8.7 mi) |
| Lift system | 71 lifts |
| Terrain parks | 16 |
| Snowmaking | 551 cannons |
| Website | Grand-Masssif.com |
The Grand Massif is a ski resort located in Haute-Savoie department, France.
The Grand Massif area was born in 1980 by the combination of the Massif (Les Carroz, Morillon, Samoëns, Vernant and Sixt Fer à Cheval) and the Flaine bowl resort; the first combined ski passes were sold for the 1981 season. The area provides a tremendous variety of on piste runs, off piste and between piste skiing, scenery and height, providing good skiing in all types of weather and conditions.
The area consists of a ridgeline running between the valleys of the River Arve (coming down from Chamonix), and the River Giffre (sourced in the National Park area above Sixt), with spurs running off the ridgeline to form the Flaine bowl and the high valleys and ridges of the Massif.
In the best snow conditions it is possible to ski from the Tete des Saix (2120m) down to Morillon village at 700m on a choice of runs, and from the top of Flaine (2480m) down to Sixt at 800m on the classic picturesque 14 km Cascades run.
The resort of les Carroz (1140 – 2500 metres) is administered by the commune of Arâches-La Frasse and the resort of Flaine (1600 – 2500 metres) has been jointly managed by the commune and by Magland, a small town situated in the valley. Compagnie des Alpes ("CDA"), the world's largest ski operator, acquired four resorts in the Grand Massif (Flaine, Samoëns, Morillon and Sixt) in mid-December 1997, and in 1998 formed a global alliance with Canadian developer Intrawest. For Flaine this means the addition of 2,700 beds (with a further 2,000 in a second phase) and investments in new lifts, services and infrastructure. Les Carroz remains independent of the Flaine resort management.
This season, the Grand Massif ski area is open to skiers from Saturday 17 December 2016 until Monday 17 April 2017.
Until the 1930s the village of Les Carroz was a simple farming hamlet with just a few houses. At 1100m altitude, it sits on a large sunny plateau overlooking the Arve Valley south east of the town of Cluses, on the road to Flaine. The village is part of the commune of Arâches-La Frasse. Whilst the busy periods are during the ski season (mid December to third week of April) and during the French summer holidays (July and August), it has a permanent population and is open all year round.
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Wikipedia