Duration of the ski season
Normally, the French ski season runs from mid-December to the end of April, without interruption. Contact the Tourist Office of the resort in question, or your travel agent, for specific dates.
Safety
Observe the indications on the trail markers and the information on the pistes. Don’t forget to keep yourself informed about the operating times of the ski-lifts, and the closing times for returning to the resort. Children are advised to wear helmets.
Ski pass options
Resorts provide skiers with different ski pass packages and more and more flexible options to accommodate different types of trips. Hourly, half-day and day packages, 3 and 6-day packages, as well as longer package options are available.
Contact your resort’s Tourist Office, or the ski-lift office for more information. Most of the tour operators’ offers include ski pass packages to cover your entire stay.
Equipment hire
In each resort, you have the possibility of hiring all the equipment needed for the activity of your choice, according to your level. You will have an extensive choice of quality equipment and advice from specialists in terms of both technical levels and safety.
• Intersport - www.intersport.fr
• Sport 2000 - www.sport2000.fr
• Skiset - www.skiset.com
E.S.F. (The French Ski Schools)
French ski schools can be found in all resorts and are there to give you an introduction to skiing or to help you improve your technique. As a rule, ski instructors speak your language and provide first-class, quality coaching.
www.esf.net
Nordic Activities
The French mountains offer a wide range of activities in addition to traditional alpine skiing, such as nordic skiing, skating, nordic walking, snowshoeing and dog sledding. Nordique France has all the information you need to get the most out of the mountains.
For further information, visit www.nordique-france.com
New snow sport activities
A large number of resorts are now equipped with areas allocated to new snow sports. Contact the ski-lift offices, the Tourist Office or the E.S.F office for information about access to snow parks (Half Pipe, jump modules, boardercross stadiums, etc.), as well as coaching for these activities.
Markers on the pistes
Green piste: easy
Blue piste: average
Red piste: difficult
Black piste: very difficult
Safety off-piste
Yellow: limited risk
Check: high risk
Black: very high risk