La Clusaz or Le Grand-Bornand: one Aravis, the lively village or the quiet one
The Ski Snug teamUpdated 12 October 20265 min read
La Clusaz and Le Grand-Bornand are neighbours in the Aravis. Both are traditional villages on our list for families, both fly from Geneva, and both run from December to April. Because they share the area, the question is not which ski area you want. It is which village you come home to, and what the skiing nearest your door is like.
On character the answer is quick. La Clusaz is lively and local, a village close to Geneva with a weekend feel. Le Grand-Bornand is rural and friendly, a farming village that keeps itself quiet. On the piste around each village the differences are smaller and more interesting, because which of the two is the gentle one depends on what stage your family has reached. The numbers first.
The numbers, side by side
| Figure | La Clusaz | Le Grand-Bornand |
|---|---|---|
| Village altitude | 1,100 m | 1,000 m |
| Highest piste we measure | 2,457 m | 2,362 m |
| Ski area | The Aravis, shared, not classified in our data | The same |
| Piste we measure around the village | 97 km | 85 km |
| Green and blue | 56 km, 58% of the piste, 8.1 km of it green | 52 km, 61% of the piste, 17.4 km of it green |
| Black | 8.9 km | 11.3 km |
| Piste steeper than one in four | 39% | 37% |
| Piste gentler than 15% | 38% | 32% |
| Piste at or above 1,800 m | 18% | 15% |
| Season | December to April | December to April |
| Nearest airport | Geneva | Geneva |
Two rows point in different directions. Le Grand-Bornand has more green, and La Clusaz has the bigger share of gentle piste. Most of this page is about why both are true.
Altitude: close, with La Clusaz a little higher
La Clusaz's village is at 1,100 metres, 100 above Le Grand-Bornand's 1,000. The highest lift we map is 2,458 metres from either village, and it is probably the same lift, so the top is not a difference between them. The piste is. The highest piste we measure around La Clusaz starts at 2,457 metres, and around Le Grand-Bornand at 2,362, 95 metres lower.
Through the middle the gap is small. Eighteen percent of La Clusaz's piste is at or above 1,800 metres, against 15 percent at Le Grand-Bornand, and half of it is above 1,528 metres, against 1,482. The lowest piste we measure is at 1,035 metres around La Clusaz and 943 around Le Grand-Bornand.
Neither is snow sure on our measure, which asks for more than half the piste at or above 1,800 metres and skiing that reaches 2,500. Nobody can promise snow, and if height is what you want most, neither village gives you much more of it than the other.
Size: La Clusaz has a little more on the doorstep
The Aravis is not classified in our data, so we quote no total for it. Measured from the run geometry ourselves, we make it 97 kilometres of graded piste around La Clusaz and 85 around Le Grand-Bornand, 11 more at La Clusaz. Both are under the 116 kilometres of the median resort we cover. The two measurements may overlap, so never add them together.
Neither has marked off piste itinerary in our data. The longest runs are a matched pair: La Clusaz's Coverie is a 2.5 kilometre blue with 234 metres of vertical, and Le Grand-Bornand's Le Var a 2.4 kilometre blue with 182.
The skiing: more green at Le Grand-Bornand, gentler blues at La Clusaz
Green is reliably tagged at both, so the easy end can be read closely. Le Grand-Bornand has 17.4 kilometres of green against 8.1 at La Clusaz. For a first week on skis, that is the figure that counts, and our terrain ratings, which rate resorts for four levels of skier, put Le Grand-Bornand ahead for first timers and level the two for everyone else.
56 km green and blue 58%32 km red 33%9 km black 9%
52 km green and blue 61%22 km red 26%11 km black 13%
One step up, it turns round. These are average gradients per run segment, and a run's grade is set by its steepest pitch, so read them as how the week feels rather than a verdict on any one run. La Clusaz's blues average 14.6 percent, and only one of the 17 French resorts we cover has gentler blues. Le Grand-Bornand's average 17.4, against 16.2 for a typical French blue. La Clusaz also has the bigger gentle share, 38 percent of its piste gentler than 15 percent against 32, and more green and blue in kilometres, 56 against 52.
Then the hard end, where both are serious. La Clusaz's reds average 29.0 percent, the steepest of the 55 resorts we cover, and its blacks 37.3, the second steepest of the 55 we cover. Le Grand-Bornand's reds are the third steepest of the 55 resorts we cover, at 28.1, against 24.3 for a typical French red, and its blacks average 34.3. The steep shares are close: 39 percent of La Clusaz's piste is steeper than one in four, the joint sixth biggest share of the 55 resorts we cover, and 37 percent of Le Grand-Bornand's. Le Grand-Bornand has more black, 11.3 kilometres against 8.9.
Who each one actually suits
La Clusaz suits families who want a livelier village, and anyone who likes the weekend feel of a resort close to Geneva: lively, local and traditional is our read. Its gentle blues suit a family whose children are past their first days, and its reds will keep a strong skier honest.
Le Grand-Bornand suits families with a complete beginner, and anyone who wants the week to be quiet. Families, authenticity and quiet are its list, and our read is rural and friendly. The green runs give a first timer more room, and there is a little more black for the strongest skier in the group.
The bit nobody tells you
Le Grand-Bornand's own line says it keeps things gentle. Measured, that holds for its first rung, the green runs. Past them, La Clusaz has the kinder blues and the bigger share of gentle piste, and Le Grand-Bornand's reds sit close behind La Clusaz's at the steep end of the 55 resorts we cover.
So the quiet village is not the gentle mountain. Book Le Grand-Bornand for the quiet and the green runs, not because you expect its blues and reds to be soft.
So, which one
you want the livelier village, gentler blues, a little more piste and a little more height on the piste, or a strong skier in the group wants the steepest reds of the 55 resorts we cover.
quiet is the point, someone in the family is on skis for the very first time and needs green runs, or you want a little more black.
You are in the same area either way, so the village and the doorstep decide it, and La Clusaz's doorstep is kinder to more of a family once the first days are done: gentler blues, a bigger share of gentle piste, and more of it. Le Grand-Bornand is the right answer when the week has to be quiet, or when your beginner is starting from nothing.