Albiez Montrond

Although not lift-linked to the huge Les Sybelles ski area, knowing that an undemanding 20min drive from St-Jean d’Arves is all that separates the two might just encourage you to come and discover what Albiez has to offer. If so, you might be surprised.

The ski terrain sits among fantastic scenery and you’ll have plenty of time to appreciate it, thanks to a combination of fixed chairlifts (along with a few drag-lifts) and some surprisingly wide pistes. If you’ve been looking for somewhere in which to perfect your carving technique, you’ve just found it. The majority of the groomed runs are graded blue or red, with a couple of short-and-steep blacks plus a choice of three green-graded novice areas.

Not that it’s all tame, however – the off-piste potential includes a dedicated ‘Espace Rando’ area accessible from the Crête d l’Ane drag-lift and just below the 2470m Tête d’Albiez-le-Vieux. Tucked out of sight in the next valley lies the ski area of Les Karellis, to which Albiez might one day be linked if a longstanding plan finally becomes reality.

It’s the real thing. The cosy heart of Albiez-le-Vieux tells you instantly that you’ve arrived in an authentic mountain farming village, but a tourist office, a ski-hire shop and nearby lifts confirm that it’s also been welcoming skiers for many years – in fact, Albiez installed its first lift back in 1957.

The skyline here is as you’d expect, pleasingly traditional, but things haven’t stood still. There’s one of the friendliest and best-appointed child-care/kids’ club facilities we’ve seen. There’s also a range of quality apartment-style accommodation and services just beyond the 1638m Col du Mollard, which featured in the Tour de France 2015.

Mollard is the higher of the two centres, and if anything has an even more spectacular setting, although if you plan on using the child-care centre you’ll obviously need to use the free skiers’ shuttle buses which operate between the two centres.

A combination of exceptional value for money and a friendly, unpressured environment mean that the most immediately-obvious appeal is to young families. However, the local ski terrain is also perfect for intermediate skiers who just want to cruise on wide, well-groomed pistes while enjoying some of the most dazzling mountain scenery you’ll find anywhere.
That said, there’s also some surprisingly good off-piste potential here, too – while just 20min or so down the road lie some 310km of groomed terrain in the excellent and currently underrated Les Sybelles ski area.
Finally, there’s accessible terrain for anyone who feels like trying cross-country skiing.

Snowboarding

Cross-Country Skiing

Handiski...