Avoriaz: The Resort Built to Look Like the Mountain
Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France
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Avoriaz
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225
XP
+100 France
= 325 total
1 day
Avoriaz: The Resort Built to Look Like the Mountain
225 + 100 XP
Avoriaz was inaugurated in January 1967 at 1,800 m above Morzine, an entire village built from nothing: the project of the Olympic downhill champion Jean Vuarnet, developed by Gérard Brémond — who went on to found Pierre et Vacances — and designed by Jacques Labro, Jean-Jacques Orzoni and Jean-Marc Roque in the organic architecture movement, its forms deliberately mimicking the rock it stands on. Cars have been banned outright since the second half of the 1980s: they stay in the car parks at the entrance and the only vehicles inside are snow ploughs, horse-drawn carriages and tracked baggage shuttles. From 1973 to 1993 the Festival international du film fantastique d'Avoriaz brought the cinema world up the mountain. About 150 people live here all year.
Required Activities
1
of 5
Park at the entrance and walk in, then stand still for five minutes and count the vehicles that pass: the only ones allowed are snow ploughs, horse-drawn carriages and tracked shuttles carrying luggage, in a village of about 150 permanent residents
2
of 5
Walk the whole of Labro's village, then drive the D338 back down to Morzine and set the two against each other: an old Savoyard village that grew in the valley, and a village invented from nothing in the 1960s whose shapes were drawn to echo the rock behind them — decide which of the two you would rather look at
3
of 5
Ride a horse-drawn carriage or the tracked shuttle through the resort
4
of 5
Go up to the top of the resort and work out where you are: Avoriaz sits at the dead centre of the fourteen resorts of the Portes du Soleil, 650 km of linked pistes, with the high ground on the north face of the Hauts-Forts at 2,466 m and the Pointe des Mossettes at 2,250 m already in the Swiss Valais — walk or ski over the border and back
5
of 5
Find The Stash, the network of runs cut through the forest and strewn with wooden and snow features that CNN picked as the best spot in the world in 2014, and then find the reindeer's head on the resort's crest — put there for the reindeer actually imported from Finland when Avoriaz opened
Park at the entrance and walk in, then stand still for five minutes and count the vehicles that pass: the only ones allowed are snow ploughs, horse-drawn carriages and tracked shuttles carrying luggage, in a village of about 150 permanent residents
Walk the whole of Labro's village, then drive the D338 back down to Morzine and set the two against each other: an old Savoyard village that grew in the valley, and a village invented from nothing in the 1960s whose shapes were drawn to echo the rock behind them — decide which of the two you would rather look at
Ride a horse-drawn carriage or the tracked shuttle through the resort
Go up to the top of the resort and work out where you are: Avoriaz sits at the dead centre of the fourteen resorts of the Portes du Soleil, 650 km of linked pistes, with the high ground on the north face of the Hauts-Forts at 2,466 m and the Pointe des Mossettes at 2,250 m already in the Swiss Valais — walk or ski over the border and back
Find The Stash, the network of runs cut through the forest and strewn with wooden and snow features that CNN picked as the best spot in the world in 2014, and then find the reindeer's head on the resort's crest — put there for the reindeer actually imported from Finland when Avoriaz opened
Before you go
Avoriaz is a ski resort at the heart of the Portes du Soleil, and in winter people get round it on foot, on skis or by horse-drawn sleigh.
Winter access roads need snow chains or tyres.
No vehicle goes into Avoriaz: leave it in the covered or open car parks at the entrance and walk. There is no campsite and no outdoor accommodation of any kind in the resort, so base yourself at Morzine or lower down. The D338 up from Morzine is open all year, but the stretch on round to Montriond through the Lindarets valley is closed for the whole winter. Winter access needs chains or winter tyres.
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About Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
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Challenge Location
XP Breakdown
Challenge XP
225 XP
France country bonus
+100 XP
Potential total
325 XP
Country bonus earned on completion of your first challenge in France.
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