GOOD-BYE TO SPEED SKIING

One of the USPs of Les Arcs for many years has been the Kilometre Lancé speed skiing piste, on show every March and April below the Aiguille Rouge.

Speed skiing was briefly an Olympic sport

Les Arcs and Vars have traditionally been the two main French venues for this niche sport.  But it's been a number of years since the piste at Arc 2000 has been used, leaving the way clear for Vars, venue for this year's Coupe de Monde.  In the words of one ESF instructor I spoke to last month: "the resort has chosen to invest in other things - the ski de vitesse piste is just too expensive".

It still remains an important part of the resort's history - not least in the various posters you will see in local cafés and restaurants.

Les Arcs has not given up on being the host for competitions, however.  The coming years are likely to see more serious slalom races following the investments at the Arc 1600 Cachette piste: more on that here.

WINTER OLYMPICS 2022: A Two-Horse Race

Planet Ski reports that Oslo is the latest candidate to quit the race to host the 2022 Winter Olympics.

In doing so, the Norwegian capital joins Barcelona, Munich, Davos/St Moritz, Stockholm and Krakow.

This leaves Almaty in Kazakhstan and Beijing as the only two remaining candidates.

Perhaps there will be a French bid for the 2026 games.  Then again, after the shambles of the Annecy 2018 bid, perhaps not.

La Plagne (looking over to Les Arcs).  The resort's bobsleigh track
was wheeled out as part of the Annecy 2018 bid

THE LES ARCS A-Z: A Guide for 2012

Here's an attempt at a guide to Les Arcs and the surrounding area....

Architecture - 3 sites in Les Arcs have been awarded the label of "Architecture of the 20th Century": the sites of Arc 1600/1800, the town hall and cinema in Bourg St Maurice and the Aiguille Rouge cable car station - overview here

Bourg St Maurice - "la montagne dans la ville", gateway to Les Arcs

Cycling - Les Arcs was the scene of Indurain's downfall; La Plagne of historic performances by Roche, Fignon and Boogerd

Domaine Skiable - here is the 2010/11 plan des pistes; the Les Arcs website has been a bit slack and hasn't put up the new 2011/12 one up yet - and there are a few changes, for example in the Mont Blanc area above Arc 1600

Edenarc - you can buy your new flat here and look back at what might have been, with Charlotte Perriand's original design here

Funiculaire - "unique in France", with a new makeover.  Timetable here

Golf des Arcs - a beautiful site, 32 holes, open from June until les premieres neiges

Arc 1800 runs to resort, on the golf course

Hauteville Gondon - home village of Robert Blanc, founder of Les Arcs

Infos practiques - on the Les Arcs website

Jeux Olympiques - the speed skiing was at Les Arcs, and saw a tragedy on the morning of the event

Killy - as in Espace Killy - about 40 mins up the road from Bourg

League Tables - Alpe d'Huez beats all the Tarentaise resorts, and is a brilliant all-rounder, summer as well as winter - see rankings here

Manchester United - cf Val d'Isere.  France's best ski resorts are matched with their Premiership equivalents here

News - @ledauphine gives comprehensive coverage and will improve your French

Off-piste - there is a Bureau des Guides at 1800, and Arc Aventures also have specialists.  Here's a book for the armchair expert, in French but with some English summaries.  It's available in resort

Aiguille Rouge summit: 3220m

Plagne - as in La Plagne - Les Arcs' local rivals...

Quecha - the low-cost Decathlon range.  The shop in Albertville (just off the RN90) is very good and sells ski de fond, ski rando equipment etc, which can be hard to find in the resorts



Rosiere - as in La Rosiere - distinctly under-rated - my favourite (apart from Les Arcs, of course).  Great views in both directions towards both La Plagne and Tignes, as well as the link with La Thuile to explore

La Rosiere: looking up the valley towards Tignes

Society and Politics - against an uncertain economic background, the area is not short of heated debates about which direction/s it should take in future - overview here

Tignes - just up the road.  Park at Les Brevieres

U - as in Super-U on the Route des Arcs at the edge of Bourg St Maurice

Valmorel - a resort on the up, with a new Club Med, new lifts, and handier for the airport than the Haute Tarentaise - quick review here

Websites - official Les Arcs site is more style than substance, but others compensate

X-ray - main cabinet medical is close to the Cachette lift in Arc 1600.  Will cost you several hundred pounds to be taken down the mountain by a hunky pisteur

Y - La Grotte du Yeti appears to be a chain of bars - with branches in Arc 1800, Les 2 alpes, St Francois Longchamp etc

Z - As in Zinedine Zidane - the France football team often train at Tignes, for example before their ill-fated trip to South Africa....