Val Cenis Snowboarding

Beginners and advanced boarders are well catered for in Val Cenis. The green runs above Lanslevillard are wide and with low numbers of visitors compared to better known busy resorts, the pistes are relatively quiet. 

Improving intermediates who don’t mind drag lifts will be well rewarded, with pistes such as Arcelle, Solert, Met, Tomba, Bec Rouge, Fema and Quebecoise and Grand Combe all offering wide, well groomed runs perfect for big carving turns. 

Another feature perfectly suited for boarders is the easily accessible off-piste. The Solert and Arcellins chairs offer easy access to extensive off-piste terrain between the pistes that surround them, while the Plan Cardinal chair also opens up a host of off-piste opportunities. 

Val Cenis should upgrade the Mont Cenis draglift in Lanslebourg to a chairlift if it wants to attract more boarders. The Mont Cenis is a key lift, and by the resort’s own admission it is a difficult one, with a steep incline. The two draglifts at the top of the ski area in Termignon also limit accessibility for improving intermediate boarders.

The two pistes that link the Arcellins area and the Solert area are quite narrow and difficult for some intermediate boarders; the Vers La Berche red from Arcellins is manageable, but the return Vers Mont Cenis is designated black because if it’s so narrow – it isn’t actually that steep. Boarders may choose to avoid the Écureuil red run, which is narrow and includes an uphill start, and also avoid black runs Moraine and M. Jacot Met, which are more often than not mogul runs.

Val Cenis has three snowparks which are in need of improvement, reasons being they are too small, concentrate too much on rails and do not include enough boxes or kickers. There’s a snowpark next to the Pré Novel chairlift in Les Champs, a second snowpark between the Solert and Met chairlifts, off the Familiale blue and a third snowpark in Termignon on the Petite Combe slopes reached by the Grand Coin chair.