Portes Du Soleil

So I'm spending my season this year out in the grand Portes Du Soleil. Boasting a total of fourteen valleys and 650km of marked pistes it's ranked among the two largest ski areas in the world. It ranges from 2,400 metres all the way down to 900 metres. Despite the huge 1036 square km the resort covers most of it is connected by some 200 chairlifts. Only a few towns can only be reached by foot. But never fear, there's a free bus service running through the whole of resort dropping you pretty much anywhere.

Portes Du Soleil can also boast being possibly one of the most convenient of all ski areas as well. It's the closest major ski area to Geneva, boasting east access. The transfer from Geneva to Morzine only takes around an hour and a half, and under an hour to the idyllic Les Gets.

Morzine is a thriving, picturesque town with a really strong seasonaire community, so if you want to experience the life of a seasonaire it's a great place to go. It even boasts its own 14% german beer - Mutzig.

Although, if Morzine's hard hitting apres-skiing environment is not for you, then never fear. One of the best things about Portes Du Soleil is that it contains a variety of villages and towns. Whilst Morzine and Les Gets are more traditionally French, the area of Avoriaz is one to behold. It looms on the side of the mountain above Morzine. With its brutalist architecture and pistes instead of streets, it has to be one of the best ski towns around. It was set up the 1960s by Jean Vuarnet. Car access is restricted to Avoriaz. Instead there are horse-drawn sledges to get you around, which adds a bizarre christmas feel to the place. Some people may hate the weird mix that Avoriaz brings, but for a ski-in, ski-out resort it's pretty hard to beat.
And if that wasn't enough for you, then head over to Switzerland for an afternoon, and maybe even do the Swiss wall on the way back, possibly the most notorious run in the Alps. But if moguls and madness aren't quite your thing then you can always head over into Morgins, Les Crosets or Champery for beautiful sights and some traditional swiss food.

Freestyle

For those looking for freestyle kicks, the Portes du Soleil has seven parks and four free-to-use airbags to practise those mad flips safely before trying them out in the big boys park. Avoriaz also has a superpipe, which has the same dimensions as the half-pipe at the olympics. And of course there's The Stash, a freestyle ski and snowboarding run carved out of the trees, creating a natural run thats always a bit of fun on your way back down the mountain.

Backcountry

Given its size, it's no surprise that the Portes du Soleil has extensive backcountry to be explored by expert riders. The brilliant thing about the backcountry skiing here is that you don't have to trek for miles to find untouched wilderness, sometimes it's just a 10 minute hike from the top of a lift.