Flaine Ski Area

Flaine forms the largest sector of the Grand Massif ski area. Flaine just by itself has five black runs, 22 red runs, 30 blue runs and seven green runs and some specailist areas for beginners so there are runs for every standard in the main bowl

Flaine is also linked with nearby resorts of Les Carroz d’Araches, Samoens, Morillon and Sixt-Fer-a-Cheval, which are known as the Massif sector and boast 145km of runs. With Flaine, the whole area is known as Le Grand Massif and has 265km of runs in total.

The Grand Massif has 14 black runs, 47 red runs, 67 blue runs and 16 green runs. Throughout the ski area the pistes have numbered markers down each slope to give you a reference to how far you have progressed down the piste at any given time.

Flaine itself is nestled in a huge natural bowl, which provides the majority of the resort’s runs. The bowl sits primarily west facing with aspects looking north and south.

The Grandes Platieres gondola whisks skiers up almost 1,000 metres to the summit of Les Grandes Platieres, from where there are sumptuous 360 degree views of Mont Blanc, and the Aravis, Belledonne and Jura mountain ranges. On a good day you can see Lac Leman and Geneva.

From the top of the Grandes Platieres gondola there is a whole host of runs that you can take to ski back down to resort.

Between Les Grandes Platieres and the summit of Tete Des Lindars to the south there are numerous red runs that come off both peaks. Although these pistes meet up with blues further down, beginners and early intermediates are better served utilising the Serpentine blue off Les Grandes Platieres in the opposite direction. It provides access to several blue runs which feed into the Axinite blue, the main artery back down into Flaine resort.

If you want to remain high, however, there are four lifts across the bowl, which start from halfway up.

The link with the Grand Massif from Flaine at resort level is through the Grand Vans chairlift. From the summit of Grand Vans, which stands at 2,204m, there is also a 360 degree view of the area. Grand Vans provides direct ski access to Les Carroz, Morillon 1100, Morillon Village and Samoens 1600.

To access Samoens Village you need to use the Grand Massif Express gondola from Samoens 1600.

To access Sixt-Fer-a-Cheval from Flaine you must take the Grands Platieres gondola and ski the extraordinary 14km Les Cascades blue.

Most of the runs above les Carroz are in woods so it’s a good place to head to when there is poor visibility. Generally the slopes here are not as steep as the main Flaine bowl or the area above Samoens 1600 but there are exceptions and the one one balck run and various reds deserve their grading.