Les Deux Alpes (now more commonly written as Les 2 Alpes, particularly when referring to the ski domain) is one of the biggest and most important ski resorts in France's Isère département; perched high on the edge of the wild & beautiful Parc National des... moreLes Deux Alpes (now more commonly written as Les 2 Alpes, particularly when referring to the ski domain) is one of the biggest and most important ski resorts in France's Isère département; perched high on the edge of the wild & beautiful Parc National des Écrins, at the latitude where the Northern and the Southern French Alps meet.
Resort Overview:
Les 2 Alpes is consistently at the vanguard of new-school snowsports and has one of the biggest snowparks in the Alps, plus innovative in-bounds freeride 'Slide Zones' features. The ski area is most famous for having Europe's largest skiable glacier; with high-altitude snow-sure pistes which are just as busy in summer as they are in winter. The descent from the summit to the lowest piste-accessible point in the domain delivers an incredible on-piste vertical drop of 2220 m (7282 ft), one of the world's biggest. In the local regional dialect, the word 'alpe' refers to a high meadow; Les 2 Alpes is therefore so named because it straddles the mountain pastures belonging to the two nearby parish villages of Mont-de-Lans and Venosc, whose originally separate summer-only farm settlements have now merged into one large year-round mountain-sports resort, strung out along the meadows on a long flat col high between the Romanche and Vénéon valleys. This large & lively new town sprawls for almost 2 km (1¼ mi) in an urbanised strip along this linear perch, bordered by the bustling base-area ski slopes. With over 2000 permanent inhabitants, a figure that swells 16-fold with the influx of international visitors during the height of the winter season, it is one of France's most animated resorts: offering a wide choice of accommodation and a large & vibrant selection of shops, cafés, restaurants, bars and clubs. The resort may have an unpolished appearance, but it still has a discernible & likeable soul.
Village Altitude:
1650 m (5413 ft).
SKI AREA STATISTICS
NB:
Stats given are for the entire Les 2 Alpes domain (excluding La Grave).
Altitude Range:
1300–3568 m (4265–11,706 ft) Vertical Drop = 2268 m (7441 ft).
Pistes:
100 in total: 21 Green 47 Blue 19 Red 13 Black 1 Snowpark (1 Halfpipe) 4 In-Bounds Freeride Zones 3 Children's Zones 20 km (12¾ miles) Nordic Pistes Total combined 'mileage' = 225 km (141 miles).
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