La Plagne – Les Arcs Lift Link Restored
Friday, December 19th, 2008
The ski lift connection between the two giant French ski areas of La Plagne and Les Arcs will reopen tomorrow, Saturday December 20, a year after it was unexpectedly closed.
The ski lift, known as the Vanoise Express, is a rare double decker cable car which has one of the biggest lift capacities in the world in each cabin, as well as being one of the highest above a valley floor, at a maximum of 380m, and with one of the greatest distances between support towers as it cross the valley between the two ski areas. The lift was closed last year after routine safety checks determined that the haul ropes should be replaced.
The lift previously carried up to 400,000 skiers and boarders each winter and creates the link to make the ‘Paradiski’ ski area, one of the world’s largest with 425km of piste, 236 ski runs for all ability levels, 20 different resort bases, an altitude range of 1200m to 3250m, two glaciers, three summits to more than 3000m of altitude, two snow parks and four boardercross courses.
To mark the re-opening of the lift on 20 December the lift operators will offer free Paradiski extensions to all holders of a valid ski pass for la Plagne or les Arcs/Peisey Vallandry. To receive the extension, they will just need to show a valid day pass, multi-day pass or season pass at the tills.
The ski schools will also be on hand to guide skiers around a Paradiski itinerary. Several courses will be available for skiers of different ability. The ski areas of Les Arcs / Peisey-Vallandry and La Plagne are enjoying exceptional snow cover even at this early stage of the season, and practically all of the 425 km of pistes are accessible.
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December 20th, 2008 at 12:52 am
I wish there was something like this in Tahoe. This is an awesome lift! Glad they got it back up and running. There’s a great resource for keeping up with the conditions at La Plagne and Les Arcs: OnTheSnow.com. Here’s the link to their Savoie snow-report page: http://www.onthesnow.com/savoie/skireport.html