3 small ski areas between Evian and Chatel have linked up to create “Les Montagnes d’Evian“. When I say linked I don’t mean by lift. They have created a ski-pass that means you can ski in any of them during the season.

As an example during the season a full Portes du Soleil season pass costs 998€, whereas this new pass will cost only 296€. Both passes offer early bird discounts. If you buy your Montagnes d’Evian pass before the 20th/December it will only cost 237€.

So for less than the cost of a 6 day PDS pass you can ski all season in these 3 great little spots.

There are no downsides. Plenty of people ski these local resorts. It’s a bit of a secret unknown to the general skiing public. They might think that they are not big enough to bother with. However it really depends on what you want from a day out. If you just want to clock up miles and miles of wide pistes and long runs, they won’t be for you. However if you are looking for peace and quiet, if you don’t want to find the off-piste tracked out within an hour, or if you are after a nice ski with lunch being just as important. Then they are perfect.

After saying all that. If you add the stats up you do get some fairly big numbers.

• The longest vertical drop (dénivelé) is almost 1000m
• 34 lifts, including 2 télécabines & 6 chairlifts
• Almost 100 km of piste (49 pistes : 10 green, 17 blue, 15 reds et 7 blacks).
• 3 snowparks, 3 boarder-cross, one big air bag.
• Plenty of restaurants by the piste.

They are even aiming this at the Swiss market. If you happen to live in Lausanne, then you can jump on a boat, then a bus up to one of the resorts and ski for an all inclusive price of 49.50 CHF.