The verdict on the 2011/12 season was something like this: OK-ish in the French Alps, not too good in the Pyrenees and shocking in Switzerland: more here. For the Austrians, the good news is that they are taking market share from their Swiss rivals. The less good news is that Austria is down 2% on last year.
Les Arcs' lift system is part of the Compagnie des Alpes portfolio, and they're doing rather well. See their results here
As the excellent @adepierrefeu has uncovered, the big news is that France has overtaken the US as the No1 ski country. This is not the result of a stellar French season in 2011/12 (up a modest 3%); it's due to a drastic fall in the US numbers, down 16%. The US saw the worst season since 1991-92. Europe's poor snowfalls of 2010/11 were replicated last year in the States, with 50% of American resorts opening late and 48% closing early - particularly unwelcome when skier numbers will not grow as a "natural result" of growing incomes and optimism about the future. You can read the release from the US National Ski Areas Association (NSAA) here.
Using these figures, it looks like the recent "evolution" for French skiing, measured by the number of ski days each year, are as follows:
2008/9: 58.5m
2010/11: 53.7m
2011/12: 55.3m
If the decline in France has been halted, things don't seem quite so good the other side of the border, if this summer's figures are anything to go by. Via @snowslider, we find Swiss hotels registering a 7% fall in hotel stays during July compared with the previous year, with a particularly sharp fall in the Lake Geneva region. Switzerland is being quite successful in attracting Russian and Chinese visitors, but the numbers remain small, and are yet to offset the decline in visitors from Europe. It looks like this coming winter could be a difficult one for nos amis Suisses.
Cause for Lucerne? Hard times for the Swiss tourist industry
Here, in no particular order, are ten videos all about Les Arcs and its environs. 1. The Beginning of the End for Miguel Indurain Tour de France, 1996. "Big Mig" has a jour sans on the road to Les Arcs. Chris Boardman finds it a tad tricky too. More here..
2. Top Gear aux Arcs
Watch Hammond et al descend from Arc 1950 to Villaroger. By car. Racing against the locals. On skis.
3. Skiing Today
Courtesy of my daughter.
4. Ski Joering:
Les Arcs seems to be one of the few places to practice this, er, unique activity.
5. Tour de France 2009
Sadly, they stopped in Bourg St Maurice rather than making the climb up to Les Arcs. And the winner of the stage was later tested positive. More here.
6. The 7e BCA
The Chasseurs Alpins have now left Bourg St Maurice - a big event, and one which will take some adapting to on a whole range of levels.
7. Mountain Biking on the Cachette
The red run above 1600 morphs into a notable VTT descente in summmer:
8. Panorama
This starts rather higher up, and gives a wonderful overview of Les Arcs' terrain during the summer.
9. Welcome to Paradise
It's hard to love the official Paradiski branding but hey ho:
10. The "LA Session"
I think the days of these February meetings have now gone, but they were quite something...
Les Arcs cannot claim to be the best destination for non-skiers. All is not lost, however. Here are some things to do if you are going to be in Arc 1800 for a week, and have some time to kill....
SATURDAY
Take the bus to 1600 and then the funicular down to the market in Bourg Saint Maurice. The Grand Rue is quite animated, and the assembled stalls sell more cheese, ham and jam than you can shake a stick at. There's even a horse butcher. It starts at 8 and is over by lunchtime, so you'll need to be organised. After lunch you could have a swim in the municipal pool, which is on the road to Tignes and Les Arcs.
SUNDAY
To the top of the Transarc to see the Grotte de Glace. This is actually quite good - each year there is a different theme. During November they create an ice cave, and then expert sculptors do their thing. The only downside is that the adjacent restaurant (La Creche) isn't Les Arcs' finest. But it's a good place to meet skiers and the view from the terrace looking over to the Nancroix valley is great. The Transarc is one of the lifts open to non-skiers (see below).
MONDAY
Snow-shoe walking. This "snow art" below the Varet lift (below) was created by a gifted snow-shoer, by the way. (Search for "Simon Beck" on Google to see his latest work). There are quite a lot of organised outings - Arc Aventures have a daily programme, as do the ESF in both 1800 and 1600. Some outings go from the top of the Tranarc; others in the forests above 1800 and particularly in the 1600/Courbaton sector.
TUESDAY
Les chiens de traineau are not cheap, but it is an amazing experience. Their kennels have now moved from the Comborciere lift to Arc 1800, so the dogs can be closer to their clients. More here.
WEDNESDAY
Check in at the Hotel du Golf. You can get good deals out of high season if you book direct. And they now have a small pool/spa complex which will be nice and quiet during the day.
THURSDAY
Running out of options here, but today might be the day to take the bus round to Arc 2000 and meet your skiing chums at the Chalets de l'Arc (more on restaurants in Les Arcs here.) Pedestrians can (just about) make it to the Varet lift, and onwards to the Aiguille Rouge at 3226m).
If it snows or rains, the option of going to see a film in Arc 1800 and Arc 1600 is sadly no longer available. (The cinema in Bourg St Maurice on the main road is a listed building by the way). Occasionally some of the big blockbusters are shown in "v.o.", with English subtitles. Of course if you come before Christmas, you can immerse yourself in an entire film festival.
FRIDAY
Connect with the "real France" by going back down to Bourg St Maurice and taking the train to Chambéry, which has a lovely setting, a fine old town and some good shopping.
Chambéry is, by some distance, the largest town in Savoie, is the capital of the department, a university town and one of the few places in the area to vote for the Parti Socialiste. More on the town here.
It is also home to a noted handball team, which regularly records attendances of 5,000+.
AND FINALLY....
The tourist and lift pass offices sell a special "pedestrian guide", which includes one or two other attractions eg the "luge run", which goes from the top of the Transarc down to Arc 2000. A day's lift pass for pedestrians was €16.50 in 2011/12, with the following lifts on offer: Transarc 1 and 2, Arcabulle, Vallandry, Vanoise Express and the Funiculaire.
Tignes isn't really steeped in Tour history. It's only been there once in fact, but the 2007 tour did stay on for a rest day when it did come to town. The stage was won by the dastardly Rasmussen, who was later removed from the Tour by his Rabobank team - Wikipedia summary, including the Tour in London, can be found here.
Here's the Stage from another angle - a nice behind-the-scenes video, including the ridiculous-ness that is the publicity caravan, about 3 minutes in.
Tignes is a frequent base for altitude training of French sports teams. Stade Francais are regular visitors, for example. However the most notable recent guests were perhaps the French football team, who spent some "quality time" together in May 2010, before their disastrous South African adventure. Look out for Franck Ribery, who looks particularly reluctant as the happy campers take to the chairlift with their snowshoeing kit in tow.
Given its fame, it's perhaps surprising that the Manchester United of skiing has only hosted two Tour arrivals, in 1963 (below) and in 1996, the day after Indurain's nightmare on the way to Les Arcs.
Here's some (silent) video of the 1963 stage, including the Col de l'Iseran at 5'40". The stage was won by Spaniard Fernando Mazaneque.
1996 saw a relatively unusual mountain time trial stage, on what is (by Alpine standards) the pretty dull road between Bourg St Maurice and Val d'Isere.
The next day brought snow, which meant the planned epic stage over the Iseran and Galibier to Sestriere had to be shortened. Riis won and went on to win the Tour - overview here. Details of Riis's later confession to having taken drugs here.
Val d'Isere has also been a ville départ, in 1963 (to Chamonix) and in 2007 (to Briancon).
The famous La Plagne logo. More on the history of the resort (and the evolution of the logo) here.
La Plagne has a more illustrious Tour de France history than Les Arcs. It's been a stage finish four times, and at least two of those finishes are among the recent classics. More here.
Here's Laurent Fignon, winning in yellow, and on the way to victory in 1984.
"It's Stephen Roche"! The famous comeback in 1987 (at 2 minutes in), followed by his collapse just after the finish line.
Alex Zulle wins in 1995 on the way to 2nd place. This stage was one of 7 back-to-back mountain stages....
And Michael Boogerd was allowed the freedom to escape and win in 2002. This stage finished 100m lower than the previous three:
According to www.salite.ch, the 21.4km climb from Aime, at 6.6.% gradient, with 1400m of climbing, has a difficulty rating of "130" which puts it in the same category as Alpe d'Huez....
