Snowboarding

The Portes du Soleil and Avoriaz in particular have been at the forefront of European snowboarding since the beginning. With 7 separate parks and up to 3 halfpipes, there is no better place in Europe for snowboarding.

Freeriding

With 650km of slopes, there is something for everyone here. The blues and reds of Avoriaz, Chatel and Crosets in particular are very well suited to snowboarders. The tree runs through Les Lindarets are some of the best in the world. The huge area of the Portes du Soleil (website) means that along with the huge variety of kinds of run, you'll also keep finding new gems that you'll want to do again and again. For the off-piste rider, the interlinked nature of the resort opens up almost endless possibilities. The Edge offers guiding to open this up to you.

Freestyle

The Portes du Soleil has some of the most progressive snowparks in Europe, with something to suit everyone. Avoriaz has the La Chapelle "baby park" with three lines moving up from gentle rollers to get a bit of air from to some small kickers with a metre or two to clear in the air. It's perfect if you're just getting into jumps, you're offered a very gradual progression. There are also a few boxes to get you used to hitting objects.

 

For the more advanced, there is the Arare park in Avoriaz and the Superpark in Les Crosets. This is where the really intimidating stuff is, and where you can often see the sport's big names getting some practice time in. There's some pretty amazing stuff to be seen, essentially the tricks you see in the big competitions that year. This is where you see quite how big those jumps they hit in the films really are.

There are schools that specialize in freestyle skiing and snowboarding, so if you're a bit unsure about getting into a bit of freestyle, then getting that first lesson to get you started down than road could be a really great investment that'll ultimately pay big dividends. Check out the ski and snowboard lesson pages.

Halfpipes

There are 1-3 halfpipes in the Portes du Soleil, depending on the time of the season. Smaller pipes can usually be found in Les Crosets and Chatel, with a full size and regularly maintained super-pipe in Avoriaz right next to the town itself. Halfpipe is an intense but rewarding discipline, again we would recommend a lesson to get you started if you're not already used to it.

The Stash

Avoriaz now host's Burton's Stash freestyle area. Only the second of it's kind in the world, and the first outside the US, The Stash is a new and more playful take on freestyle snowboarding. To see the photos and read up on the philosophy, check out their website.