Alpine Club Châtel
Mountain Sports Holidays in the French Alps

Alpine  skiing

Châtel and the Portes du Soleil resorts provide an excellent base. Not only will you be able to find plenty for every standard of skier, the siting of the slopes in Châtel allows groups with widely differing abilities to use the same base, yet find radically differing challenges depending on which slopes you head out on. We can obtain a discount on your lift pass and can pre order any hire equipment at special rates from Vertical Horizons, so it is ready for you to collect when you arrive. 

Our location at the entrance to Châtel provides easy access to four separate skiing bases. (Super Chatel, Linga, Pre la Joux and La Chappelle.) So you should not get bored.

In good weather the restaurant sun terrace alongside the main Super Châtel lifts, provides a favourite lunchtime meeting place for groups to rendezvous and catch up on each others progress. Beginners lessons start and end just a few yards away. The terrace is also fully accessible to any non skiers who qualify for cheap tickets to travel up on the main lift. On arrival you will enjoy a fine view out across the beginners slopes whilst working on a serious tan, safe in the knowledge that you can always retreat to the restaurant fireside if the weather turns bad, and still meet their friends as promised for lunch.

Super Châtel provides beginners with a safe base to learn, featuring perhaps the worlds slowest rope tow, before exploring the excellent variety of confidence building wide green and blue runs which converge on the restaurant. Several of the ski tows here have been upgraded to open up a range of new slopes, and reduce queues. Nearby you will find the specially prepared "Milka" mauve slope which was specifically designed with children in mind. This stunningly beautiful treelined slope weaves in and out of Switzerland and has been specially decorated with models of alpine wildlife, flora and fauna, and is  occasionally frequented by skiers dressed up as purple and white cows handing out dozens of "Milka" chocolate bars.

Meanwhile more serious skiers will find plenty of challenges nearby. From one edge of the beginners area the Morclan chair provides direct access to two black runs and three red runs all of which are challenging. Opposite, the Corbeau tow makes a sharp left turn before climbing steeply to deposit you at the top of a steep black run, comprising a mogul field with bumps the size of VW Beetles. If on the way up you decide the Black slope looks a bit too much, then you will find there is an alternative way down following a long blue run which winds its way around the back of the mountain and which will return you safely back to the beginners slopes half an hour later.

In good conditions the Corbeau Black run also forms the start of an extremely long, fast, and challenging run. After descending the black mogul field you have a choice of routes to skirt the beginners practice area, by following either the wide blue and red pistes, or via the jumps and half pipe in the snowboard park, before joining the red run which drops down into valley. Often this route ends above village level at the queue for a slow and generally crowded chairlift. However if you are lucky you can keep to the left past the lift queue and descend on a long narrow winding green run which leads all the way to the main lift station in the village below, and just a few minutes walk to the Tunnel Bar where our mini bus shuttle will collect you at the end of the day.

At the Pre la Joux lift station you will find La Perdrix Blanche restaurant provides another convenient rendezvous for groups of differing abilities, located right beside the beginners slopes and luge run, whilst steep red and blue runs (and an incredibly long green run) converge from the mountains above. These lifts also provide swift access to the snow-sure Avoriaz slopes, and is probably the best starting point for more long range circuits in the Portes du Soleil. At the end of the day the restaurant also serves as the pick up point for our minibus shuttle.

Midway to Pre la Joux is the Linga stadium. This vast snow bowl left after the glacier receded offers stunning daytime views, and a mix of blue, red and black trails. These become massively more challenging when they are opened up for floodlight skiing at least one night each week (normally Wednesdays) between 7.30 and 9.30pm. Night time ski sessions are free for all lift pass holders.

Finally don't overlook the La Panthiaz lifts at La Chapelle d'Abondance which provide superb access to some of the most under-utilised slopes in the Alps, often offering virgin slopes for days after the last snow fall. The mountain restaurant at the top of hill offers astonishing value meals with one plate of chips more than enough for three people, and bowl of soup large enough to float a submarine. From this ridge you will also find a link down to the village of Torgon in Switzerland, however if you don't plan to complete the circuit over to Super Chatel, be warned it's T Bars on the way back, so boarders may prefer to stick to the La Chapelle slopes.

Throughout the Portes du Soleil you will find plenty of conveniently sited restaurants. Over the years most have been tested by various Club members and the chalet staff, who will be happy to provide advice if you plan to explore the farthest parts of the area.