Big linked ski areas for a mixed ability group: where everyone is happy
The Ski Snug teamUpdated 12 October 20266 min read
We are a group with a beginner or two, some solid intermediates and one or two strong skiers. We want a big linked area, so nobody runs out of skiing. Where can we all be happy?
Espace Killy, and stay in Val d'Isère.
Tignes and Val d'Isère, which share its 300 kilometres, top our ranking of the big linked areas by how evenly the terrain is spread. Val d'Isère is the one for your group: the only resort of the 55 we cover that our terrain ratings put at the top for all four levels, first timers, improvers, intermediates and strong skiers. Measured, it is balanced too: 28 percent of its piste is gentler than 15 percent and 29 percent is steeper than one in four, with the intermediates' share in between.
How we ranked them
First, size: a lift linked area of 200 kilometres or more that we have classified, or Espace Killy, Paradiski or the Three Valleys. Fifteen of our 55 resorts pass, on eight areas.
Then spread: we score how evenly each resort's marked piste splits between easy, red and black, from 0 if it is all one colour to 1 if it is exactly a third of each. Colours differ by country, so we check each score against the gradient we measure on the runs.
Fifteen resorts, sorted by evenness. Click a heading to sort.
| Tignes | 300 km, Espace Killy | 58, 26, 16 | 30% | 25% | 0.870 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Val d'Isère | 300 km, Espace Killy | 57, 29, 14 | 28% | 29% | 0.868 |
| Les Arcs | 425 km, Paradiski | 58, 30, 12 | 48% | 26% | 0.846 |
| Sestriere | About 305 km, Via Lattea | 31, 58, 11 | 35% | 30% | 0.844 |
| Les Gets | 580 km, Portes du Soleil | 56, 35, 10 | 34% | 23% | 0.837 |
| Val Gardena | About 500 km, Sellaronda | 29, 60, 11 | 40% | 13% | 0.832 |
| Méribel | 600 km quoted, Three Valleys | 60, 29, 11 | 32% | 31% | 0.831 |
| Arosa | 225 km, Arosa Lenzerheide | 53, 39, 8 | 35% | 24% | 0.824 |
| Courchevel | 600 km quoted, Three Valleys | 60, 29, 11 | 35% | 26% | 0.823 |
| La Plagne | 425 km, Paradiski | 63, 23, 14 | 39% | 27% | 0.821 |
| Châtel | 580 km, Portes du Soleil | 55, 38, 7 | 35% | 26% | 0.796 |
| Val Thorens | 600 km quoted, Three Valleys | 64, 29, 8 | 37% | 25% | 0.765 |
| Alta Badia | About 500 km, Sellaronda | 61, 33, 6 | 40% | 15% | 0.760 |
| Saint-Martin-de-Belleville | 600 km quoted, Three Valleys | 67, 25, 8 | 36% | 20% | 0.746 |
| Cervinia | 322 km with Zermatt | 21, 72, 7 | 39% | 15% | 0.685 |
The catch: the biggest areas are built for cruising
The bigger the area, the more of it tends to be easy. Val Thorens is 64 percent green and blue, the third highest share we cover. Courchevel is 60 percent, La Plagne 63, and Alta Badia 61, with only 15 percent of its piste steeper than one in four. Of the fifteen qualifiers, only Val d'Isère gets our top rating for strong skiers.
The most even mountains are small, not joined up, or not yet classified by us. All 18 resorts that score higher than Tignes fail the size test, Chamonix, Kitzbühel, St Anton, Lech and Wengen among them.
In fairness, a small share of a big area is still a lot. Courchevel is 11 percent black, which is 32 kilometres, the second most we cover. It is just spread a long way.
1. Espace Killy: Val d'Isère, or Tignes
Tignes tops the table by a whisker, 0.870 to 0.868, but for a mixed group the whisker goes the other way. Val d'Isère has 90 kilometres of green and blue, 22 of black, and 29 of marked off piste itinerary, the most on this shortlist. Its Solaise and Bellevarde nursery areas are separate from the through routes, so beginners learn out of the way.
Our ratings mark Tignes lower for improvers, intermediates and strong skiers, and its blues average 17.6 percent, steeper than all but six of our 55 resorts: hard going for somebody fresh off the nursery slope. Stay in Val d'Isère and ski Tignes on the same pass.
2. Paradiski: Les Arcs, or La Plagne
Les Arcs is the kindest qualifier at the easy end. Forty eight percent of its piste is gentler than 15 percent, a share only Verbier matches, yet 26 percent is steeper than one in four. It is thinner in between, so on its shape it suits a group heavy on beginners with a strong skier or two, though our ratings are only middling at both ends. La Plagne ranks tenth because 63 percent of it is green or blue, but its 28 kilometres of black is the fourth most we measure. Our ratings mark both well for improvers and intermediates.
3. Sestriere, on the Via Lattea
Measured, Sestriere is split almost exactly in thirds: 35 percent gentle, 30 percent steep, the closest of the fifteen to an even spread. Our ratings mark it well for improvers and intermediates. The roughly 305 kilometres is our own figure for the Italian pass; the quoted 400 includes Montgenèvre, on a dearer pass.
5. The Sellaronda: Val Gardena, or Alta Badia
Val Gardena is 60 percent red, which makes its map look even, but only 13 percent of its piste is steeper than one in four, the second lowest of the 55, and its reds average 17.3 percent, gentler than a Tignes blue. Alta Badia measures 15 percent steep, and our ratings give it nothing for strong skiers. Lovely for improvers; your strong skier will be cruising with them.
6. The Three Valleys: Méribel, Courchevel or Val Thorens
The biggest area here, quoted at 600 kilometres, which we have not yet measured ourselves. Méribel is the village for a mixed group: 32 percent gentle and 31 percent steep, 30 kilometres of black, good ratings for first timers, improvers and intermediates, and an Altiport area that keeps beginners out of the way. Courchevel rates the same and is a touch gentler. Val Thorens has 134 kilometres of green and blue, wonderful for the less confident, and the same 25 percent steep share as Tignes. Our ratings give Saint-Martin-de-Belleville's own skiing little.
7. Arosa Lenzerheide
The smallest qualifying area, 225 kilometres joined by a single cable car. Gentle and sunny, and rated well for improvers and intermediates. A strong skier will find less.
If size matters less
St Anton and Lech
both score above 0.9, and fail the size test only because we have not classified the Arlberg yet. Our ratings put both at the top for improvers, intermediates and strong skiers. St Anton is the steeper, with 43 percent of its piste steeper than one in four and 70 kilometres of itinerary, the most we cover. Lech measures 31 percent gentle and 33 steep.
Kitzbühel
scores 0.965 and measures 29 percent gentle and 29 steep, with 34 kilometres of black, the most we cover. The trade is an 800 metre village.
Wengen
scores 0.932, is car free, and has our top rating for improvers, but its own area is 101 kilometres.
Chamonix
scores 0.973, but 39 percent of its piste is steep and our ratings favour strong skiers over first timers and intermediates. Next door, Argentière scores 0.997, the most even of all 55, yet 59 percent is steep and our ratings give first timers and intermediates nothing. An even split of colours is not a mountain that suits everyone.
Who should ignore this
Groups without a strong skier.
Evenness is the wrong thing to rank on. Go big and easy: Val Thorens and the Three Valleys, or the Sellaronda.
Groups whose strong skiers live for the off piste.
Val d'Isère's 29 kilometres of itinerary is the most on this shortlist. If that will not do, St Anton has 70.
It is the one place on a big linked area where our ratings say every level of your group will be happy.