Les Arcs (Savoie)

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Logo of the ski resort Les Arcs (new in 2016)
Part of the Les Arcs ski area

Les Arcs is a French winter sports resort and the name of the adjacent ski area in the Tarentaise in the area of ​​the municipalities of Bourg-Saint-Maurice , Landry , Peisey-Nancroix and Villaroger in the Savoie department , Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region . It developed from the 1960s onwards, and over the course of several years additional areas were added to the first Arc 1600 area (English: "Arch 1600"), which were given the names Arc 1800 , Arc 2000 and Arc 1950 . All four parts form the "arches" - that is, Les Arcs. Les Arcs has become known worldwide for its special high-speed track for winter sports, especially for speed skiing .

Since 2003, Les Arcs and Peisey-Vallandry is by cable car Vanoise Express to that of La Plagne and form one of the largest ski resorts in France, Paradiski , with more than 425 kilometers of slopes.

history

The creation of this ski area goes back to the initiatives of Robert Blanc, mountain guide, ski instructor and resident, and Roger Godino, tourism officer for the mountain region, in the 1960s.

View of Arc 1600, year 2013

The first place was called Arc Pierre Blanche , later known as Arc 1600. The name indicates on the one hand the mean height above sea level (here 1600 m) and on the other hand it refers to the shape of the landscape, which resembles an arch.

Arc 2000 and Arc 1950 (year 2008)

The expansion of the ski areas took place gradually up to 2003, when the parts Arc 1800 (1974), Arc 2000 (1979), Arc 1950 (2003) were created. Individual areas were connected to neighboring towns, most recently with La Plagne . The Les Arcs resort thus consists of four “residential areas”, each of which offers a complete infrastructure.

In all measures, environmental issues such as the greatest possible preservation of nature, the inclusion of existing buildings (for example alpine huts ), an aesthetic appearance and the use of local materials were in the foreground.

The operator of all winter sports facilities at Les Arcs is the Société des Montagnes de l'Arc , represented on site by the Groupe des Arcs , headed by Roger Godino (as of 2016).

All construction measures were financed by several larger corporations and banking companies such as Saint-Gobain , Crédit Lyonnais or Compagnie des Alpes .

In the world of sports, Les Arcs is also known as the “Station of the New Winter Sports” (“Station Nouvelles Glisses”) and is part of the “Top of the French Alps” (TOTFA) ski resort.

architecture

Buildings in the Arc 1800 district (example of the architectural style)

The layout of the first district was based on urban planning work by French architects. Many of the buildings in the Arc 1600 and Arc 1800 districts were designed by the architect Charlotte Perriand , who was inspired by Le Corbusier 's style . They are perfectly integrated into the mountain landscape. The architects Gaston Regairaz from Atelier d'Architecture en Montagne and the autodidact Bernard Taillefer provided additional building plans. In the end, numerous designers, engineers and, above all, craftsmen were also involved in the realization. The materials used for its construction come from local sources, including larch wood , natural stone and slate .

A dense development was avoided, parking lots and roads are located on the edge of the districts. Because of all these aspects, Les Arc received the "Patrimoine du XXe siècle" (20th century monument) created by the French Ministry of Culture and Communication in 1999.

Winter sports areas in Les Arcs

overview

Vanoise Express cable car with a view towards Les Arcs

The entire ski area of ​​Les Arcs with its four districts covers an area of ​​around 200 km² with 107 slopes, mainly in the levels of difficulty blue and red , on two large slopes. 52 ski lifts with different transport capacities and with different equipment (chair lifts, gondolas, simple cable winches, ...) are installed. There are 10 lifts in the Arc 1600 area, with lengths between 2857 and 167 m; in the Arc 1800 area there are 12 lifts in operation, with lengths between 2121 and 64 m; In the Arc 1500 area, 5 lifts offer their services, with lengths between 2793 and 239 m, and finally there are another 10 lifts in Arc 2000, with lengths between 1862 and 105 m. Les Arcs, together with Peisey-Vallandry, Plan-Peisey and La Plagne, form the Paradiski ski resort.

The slopes of Les Arcs are of course also the venue for international competitions, for example two giant slalom runs should take place at the beginning of December 2017, which the FIS unfortunately canceled due to weather problems; more than 200 starters were registered.

In addition to the slopes, there are 68 km of cross-country ski trails, a snow park, obstacle slopes for skiing and snowboarding "Big Air", a toboggan run and even a water slide for summer fun.

The Vanoise Express cable car connects all parts of the ski resort and is (as of the end of 2016) the longest mountain cable car in the world. It also drives in summer and can even transport bicycles.

The high-speed slope

The specially prepared slope was created on the occasion of the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville , when speed skiing was a demonstration sport. It is 1,700 m long, more than 25 m wide and has a gradient of 88 percent. It can only be reached on foot with crampons. Their sliding surface is particularly well leveled so that the athletes do not take off on possible bumps. At the end of the slope there is a 100 m measuring section with light barriers, on which the speed reached is determined. This specially prepared piste has already been used for speed record attempts in other sports. In 1999 the Swiss Romuald Bonvin reached a speed of 173 km / h with the skibob .

Several world championships in speed skiing took place on the slopes of Les Arcs, at which new records were always reached. Two new world records were set on the slopes in 2006: the Italian Simone Origone measured 251.40 km / h and the Swede Sanna Tidstand set a new women's speed record of 242.59 km / h, which lasted until 2016 .

What is remarkable, however, is the best performance of Briton Kevin Alderton, who reached 162.44 km / h here on the slopes in Les Arcs; the former soldier lost his sight in the terrorist attacks in London in 2007 while helping an injured woman. He received instructions from his trainer over wireless headphones.

Literature and Sources

Web links

Commons : Les Arcs (Savoie)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Events in coordination with the FIS , accessed on December 11, 2017.
  2. ↑ World record runs 2006 on youtube.com , accessed on December 11, 2017.
  3. ↑ Spee-Ski records broken at Les Arcs , April 2006, accessed on December 11, 2017.

Coordinates: 45 ° 34 ′ 17.8 "  N , 6 ° 48 ′ 27.7"  E