Les Arcs
| Paradiski | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Location | Les Arcs & La Plagne, France |
| Nearest city | Bourg-Saint-Maurice |
| Coordinates | 45°34′18″N 6°48′28″E / 45.57167°N 6.80778°E |
| Top elevation | 3,250 m (10,660 ft) (3 above 3,000 m (9,800 ft)) |
| Base elevation | 1,250 m (4,100 ft) |
| Skiable area | 425 km (264 mi) of runs |
| Runs | 237 (easy: 136; intermediate: 66; difficult: 35) + "Nature" runs |
| Longest run | 10 km (6.2 mi) (2,100 m (6,890 ft) vertical drop) |
| Lift system | 171 (1 funicular, 15 cable cars/gondolas, 62 chair lifts, 93 surface lifts) |
| Terrain parks | 9 |
| Snowmaking | 470 cannons |
| Website | http://www.lesarcs.com |
Les Arcs is a ski resort located in Savoie, France, in the Tarentaise Valley town of Bourg-Saint-Maurice. Initially created by Robert Blanc and Roger Godino, it is a part of the huge Paradiski system which is under ownership by Compagnie des Alpes, a French-listed company owning several other ski resorts as well as theme parks.
The five areas—Bourg-Saint-Maurice, Arc 1600, Arc 1800, Arc 1950, and Arc 2000—are situated at an altitude spanning from 810 to 3226 metres, although skiing is mostly possible above 1200 metres. The ski area consists of 106 runs, 54 lifts, and 200 kilometres of descent. The highest peak in the resort is the Aiguille Rouge (Red Needle) from where is a 7 km long piste with 2026 metres in vertical drop down to the Village Villaroger. Since the opening of the Vanoise Express cable car in December 2003, Les Arcs has become part of the Paradiski group of ski-connected resorts, which also includes the La Plagne area. Paradiski in total has 425 km of pistes.
Les Arcs has the reputation of being one of the original French "mega-resorts". All of them have a convenient, large, and varied network of pistes. Les Arcs has the specificity of a unique "avant-garde" modernist architecture labelled as "heritage of the 20th century". Most of its resorts are built following this modernist architecture, with the exception of latest—Arc 1950—which is built following the traditional architecture in the Alps and also with a more defined village ambiance.
The ski domain provides a mixture of open runs (especially above Arc 2000) and wooded runs (around the outlying villages of Peisey and Villaroger in particular). Its terrain park has a good reputation, with green, red, and black jumps and rails. It is also good for snowboarders, with few drag lifts. The ski lifts have been gradually updated so virtually all critical lifts are modern, fast, and comfortable.
Modelled on the accelerated progress of the Sophringham Method, Les Arcs' ESF ski school teaches ski evolutif; students are taught parallel turns from the beginning, but on very short skis (that get progressively longer through the first week). Les Arcs is regarded as having excellent beginner ski areas in each resort, although absolute beginners have little to progress to; away from the nursery slopes things get trickier. Les Arcs is also regarded by many as the home of snowboarding in Europe. Local instructor Régis Rolland popularized the snowboard in France with the Apocalypse Snow series of films made in the resort in the early 1980s.
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Wikipedia