A HIVE OF ACTIVITY: The Valleé de l'Arc

Few visitors to Les Arcs these days spend much time in the Vallée de l'Arc below Arc 2000.  Skiers venturing below the Bois de l'Ours are faced with a long ride back on on the Pré St Esprit lift or or the similarly slow Comborciere over to the 1600/1800 side.  Most piste-bashers therefore avoid the area, which is a shame.  The Comborciere ride may be slow, but the high mountain scenery is stunning.

Click here to see the presentation

All of this is about to change, courtesy of a €20m investment by lift company ADS.  The background:

• It's a strategic site - linking Arc 2000 with both 1600 and Villaroger
• It's a beautiful site - direct views of Mont Blanc
• The two lifts are old (PSE dates from 1980, Comborciere from 1985) and slow (14 and 13 minutes respectively)
• The current blue slope is tricky for beginners
• There's no artificial snow

All of this is about to change:

• The Pré St Esprit lift will be replaced in time for December 2017 (planning permission is out at the moment).  The new lift will be twice as fast and have twice the current capacity.  The planners are sensibly moving the top station to be higher than at present - linking directly with Plagnettes.  This will relieve the strain on the key Arcabulle lift.
• There will be new investment in snowmaking, and a new building for clients with toilets and other facilities
• The blue piste is going to be expanded by 40% - made wider and the slope modified to make it a piste "accessible to all".
• The Comborciere lift will be replaced the following year (i.e. in time for December 2018).  Journey time will be reduced to 5m30, and the base station will be adjacent to the Pré St Esprit.  There willl be a new project to create a new red piste.  (Presumably this means a downgrading of the black Comborciere piste, but the presentation doesn't go into details).

The piste provides bad whether links to Villaroger, as well as
an alternative route over to Arc 1600.
It also provides access to the Belliou La Fumée restaurant

WHAT NEXT FOR LES ARCS? The Ski Area

The latest update from Avenir et Animations des Arcs summarises some of the changes coming up in Les Arcs over the coming years.  There's going to be a fair amount of activity both on the mountain and in the resorts.

On the mountain, the lift company's plans include:

Summer 2016
- Further improvements to the area around the Le Lodge restaurant
- Free access to the Villards lift to take you up to Mille 8
- Inauguration of the new club house on the golf course; the idea being that this becomes a focal point for summer visitors
- A new mountain bike track at Mille 8
- Improvements to key footpaths including the balcon sentier at Villaroger and the route to Notre Dame des Vernettes at Peisey

Sumer walking below the Grand Col

Christmas 2017 (sic).  I assume this means the forthcoming season, but not sure...
- New investment in the lower part of the Arc 2000 valley, centred on the replacement of the ancient Pré Saint Esprit Lift
- Remodelling and widening of some of the pistes
- Artificial snowmaking at Villaroger

Programme 2018-2020
- More investment in snowmaking
- Modernisation of the Transarc
- New carriages for the funicular
- Replacement of the Comborciere and Vallandry lifts

The Villards lift to Mille 8 will now run summer and winter

This is all part of what appears to be a reasonably coordinated plan also involving the town hall and private investors, who are putting money into improving the infrastructure and boosting the numbers of visitors.  The battle against the "lits froids", apartments occupied for only a few weeks a year, continues.

These investments - in the mountain and in the resorts - amount to some  €450-€500m between now and 2020.  More on the plans for the resorts soon.