Paradiski Turns 20 Years Old

21st December 2023 | Simon Wilson, Paradiski

Last modified on December 30th, 2023

The huge ski area in France that links Les Arcs with La Plagne is celebrating its birthday. PlanetSKI was invited along for the party.

It’s not every journalistic assignment where you find yourself swinging through the freezing winter night 380m above a valley floor packed together with local dignitaries in the pitch-black interior of a double-decker cable car.

But then it is not every year that one of Europe’s biggest ski areas celebrates a significant anniversary.

Paradiski – which brings together the large neighbouring French resorts of La Plagne and Les Arcs with the smaller area of Peisey-Vallandry – was officially launched in December 2003 when the Vanoise Express cable car, which links the resorts, started operations.

PlanetSKI was there at its construction.

Vanoise Express. Image c/o PlanetSKI

And here it is now.

Vanoise express. Image c/o Paradiski.

To mark the occasion, this month has seen a series of celebratory events culminating in the rare night-time cable car crossing this week.

I joined more than a hundred current and former resort staff, local politicians and representatives of the resorts’ overall owner Compagnie des Alpes.

As we reached the La Plagne side of the valley, a light snow started falling as guests sipped champagne and speeches were made.

Image c/o Paradiski.

Keynote speaker Pierre Gonthier, head of the La Plagne tourist office and the former head of the Vanoise Express development, thanked everyone present.

He recounted some of the obstacles the fifteen million euro project had to overcome, including on environmental grounds from some residents in the Ponturin river valley below the crossing.

The unusual double decker design of the Vanoise Express took two years to plan and two years to build.

Gonthier said such a large construction project would take even longer these days, given the extra administrative and environmental restrictions now in place in and around ski areas in France.

Vanoise express. Image c/o Paradiski.

Vanoise Express Fact Box:

Carrries up to 188 Passengers
Unusual double decker design
1.8km in length and 380 m above the valley
Joins La Plagne and Peisey-Vallandry ski areas in 4 minutes
Top speed 45 kmh
Cost 15m euros

This being France, a major public anniversary could not be allowed to pass without the commissioning of a significant work of art.

So earlier this year, the eco-artist Saype unveiled two enormous portraits, painted directly onto the snowfields above La Plagne and Les Arcs using an innovative and environmentally friendly charcoal-based spray paint.

Paradiski, France. Image c/o “C Saype”

The portraits of two children linked by a rope are intended to symbolise the joining together of the ski resorts – and also more broadly the connections between people, the artist told the evening gathering.

Paradiski, France. Image c/o “C Saype”

Although his work has already been covered by further snowfall and will slowly dissolve safely, photos of it now adorn the twin towers of the Vanoise Express lift.

Setting aside the razzmatazz of the anniversary ceremony and the snow-painting, what should we make of Paradiski itself and what it offers two decades on?

Well, here I must declare an interest.

In 1978, my late father was an early UK investor in a timeshare apartment in Plagne Bellecote, one of the main mountain villages of La Plagne.

It was here that I first learned to ski and that in the subsequent decades I have shared my own love of the mountains on countless trips with family and friends.

Image c/o Simon Wilson.

The Paradiski area will likely never be as fashionable as some of its large French competitors such as the Three Valleys or Val d’Isère/Tignes, nor will it attract the hardcore high mountain crowd that head to Chamonix.

But for generations of British families, La Plagne and Les Arcs have provided virtually guaranteed snow sure holidays and an introduction to the traditions and cuisine of the Savoie Region.

Paradiski, France. Image c/o Olivier Allamand

Paradiski Fact Box:

Formed in 2003
Joins together 3 Resorts: La Plagne, Les Arcs, Peisey-Vallandry
20 different mountain villages
260 separate pistes totalling 425 km of slopes
70% of slopes over 2000 metres altitude

The Paradiski resorts have a deserved reputation for excellent intermediate skiing with wide blue slopes, steep and well-maintained red runs and a smattering of more challenging black pistes.

Paradiski, France. Image c/o Olivier Allamand

However, there is also some terrific off-piste terrain to be found and where secret powder stashes remain for days, which in other resorts would be tracked out in hours.

Just this week, I had a fantastic day out chasing fresh powder on then slopes above Champagny-en-Vanoise with guide Emmanuel Ollinet from the ESF in Belle Plagne.