Skiing – APASSION

Les Cascades – Whats it really like?

robin.tarr — Sat, 31 Jan 2026 16:40:45 +0000

Does one of the longest pistes in Europe live up to all the hype?

At 14km, Les Cascades piste, in the Grand Massif ski domain, is the 3rd longest run in France and has to rank as one of the most beautiful of any piste, regardless of length or colour!

Exiting the Grandes Platières gondola at 2,480m you might just think the views can’t get much better as the Mont Blanc massif dominates the views. With just the Arve valley between the top of Flaine and Mont Blanc you can even see the sun glinting off the Aiguille du Midi lift station, which at 3,842, is the highest lift station in Europe.

After a quick photo session and the obligatory selfie you are very quickly at the start of your 14 kilometre journey as the Les Cascades piste leaves the resort of Flaine behind.

The run, recently upgraded to a red piste (graded blue until winter 2025-26), skirts along the edge of the Sixt Passy National Reserve and takes you completely away from any other runs or lift infrastructure, so all you are left with are the stunning views and the tranquility of the mountains.

The run itself descends a total of 1,800m and can take as little as 30 minutes but you’d be missing the point if you didn’t take considerably longer to make your way down to the village of Sixt.

Pause and take in the views or, even better, take a picnic, find a suitable spot and relax and enjoy the scenery; You might even get luck enough to spot some of the local wildlife.

So, with so much to love, why is there some negativity about the infamous 14km run called Les Cascades? Well, in order to offer a balanced opinion . . . there are are some ‘issues’ that people should be aware of before setting off for themselves.

Firstly, given the piste drops down to just 760m, the bottom section of the run can often be a little short of snow and in some instances it might be necessary to flip-off your skis and walk a small section ahead of continuing on skis to the finish in Sixt.

Secondly, there are some flat and even slightly up-hill sections along the route that will require even the speediest of skiers to do a bit of poling.

Thirdly, the final section of the piste takes a number of narrower, sharp turns as it descends down the side of the frozen waterfall from which the run takes it’s name.

And lastly, you’ll need to take a 20 minute bus ride from Sixt to get back the Grand Massif Express lift station in Samoëns.

So, what are the local tips to avoiding the pitfalls to ensure you get the best out of Les Cascades?

Mindset: Set out with the view thats its an adventure into nature as opposed to just another piste!
Take a picnic (or even just a flask of tea) as well as lots of pictures
Give yourself time to relax and enjoy it . . . which means our top tip is to do the run as early in the day as possible; Don’t make the mistake made by many of leaving it until the last run of the day and being faced with a deadline and slushy snow!
Enjoy a refreshing (and well deserved) beer at the snack bar before just jumping on the bus!

The Grand Massif tops the Sunweb Powder Ranking!

robin.tarr — Wed, 15 Jan 2025 20:22:12 +0000

Sunweb, one of Europe’s largest on-line travel agents, recently published analysis to highlight which of Europe’s ski resorts have, over the last 17 years, benefitted from the most snowfall. The Grand Massif tops the charts with Flaine ranking 1^st with an average of 59cm of fresh snow in the first week of March and Samoëns ranking 2^nd with 56cm of fresh snow in the same week.

So, if you are either a powder hound looking to make fresh track in the off-piste or just looking for assurance of great piste conditions in the second half of the season, then Samoëns in the Grand Massif is the destination for you!

See the full article on the Sunweb website (published in French).

Early season randonnée!

robin.tarr — Wed, 29 Nov 2023 16:59:17 +0000

After the heavy snowfall of the last couple of weeks it was time to check out the conditions!

Preparation of the slopes is well underway and the pistes are starting to take shape. Whilst ski randonnée isn’t for the faint hearted it’s a great all round work-out and enables you to get off the beaten track to places as yet unexplored!

On this occasion we hiked from Samoëns 1600m up to the top of Tête de Saix. We certainly didn’t make first tracks but it was a magical walk up and an amazing ski down on a beautiful sunny afternoon!

A fabulous end to Winter Season 2022-23

robin.tarr — Sat, 15 Apr 2023 17:01:34 +0000

With just one more day before the lifts close for another winter season we couldn’t believe our luck today; 50cm of fresh powder on the pistes! We were skiing in snow above our knees for most of the day! Much fun was had by all with a fair few tumbles in the soft fluffy stuff!!

An early winter season wonderland

robin.tarr — Tue, 21 Dec 2021 15:47:00 +0000

What a fabulous start to the season!

It couldn’t have been a better time to experience the Cascades piste. Fourteen kilometres of uninterrupted skiing whilst enjoying the incredible scenery of the Sixt-Passy National Park. The run commences in Flaine at 2480 m and heads down to the beautiful small village of Sixt at 760 m, at the end of the Giffre Valley. It was simply stunning!

Make sure its on your tick-list when you are next in the Grand Massif.

All Change in Vercland – After 40 Years!

robin.tarr — Mon, 12 Jul 2021 15:14:54 +0000

After a ‘lost’ winter season due to Covid restrictions, the new high speed 10-person gondola in Vercland opens for the first time this weekend as does the new restaurant/bar just off the Grand Cret piste on your descent to Vercland – Grand Crêt 17. We’re sad to wave goodbye to the iconic old ‘red eggs’ but are super excited to experience the new gondolas that await! The new lift will take just 7 minutes to whisk you from Vercland to Samoëns 1600m where the Grand Massif ski domain commences.

The new restaurant, Grand Cret 17, is a great addition to the existing La Reposette bar and restaurant which is based at the foot of the Grand Cret piste and the new Vercland gondola! A huge outside terrace with stunning views is the perfect spot for lunch or a drink whether on skis or foot. The interior is beautifully decorated in old wood with a long bar, large log fireplace, cosy corners and massive picture windows over the Giffre Valley.

2020/21: A Very Different Winter Season

robin.tarr — Sun, 18 Apr 2021 14:14:19 +0000

Much has been written about the impacts Covid-19 has had on the travel and tourism industry and on the rights and wrongs of the varying strategies for managing what, at the end of the day, has been a huge and continually changing playing field. We just consider ourselves fortunate that from both from a personal, and a business perspective, we’re still in good health and readying ourselves for the brighter days ahead.

The 2020/21 winter season marked the 10th anniversary of the opening of APASSION with our first guests the Pilbos, the O’Briens and the Rogers arriving to a very newly (or maybe that should be “nearly”) finished Chalet APASSION on the 17th February 2021. In the 10 years since we’ve welcomed literally thousands of excited guests through the doors of firstly Chalet APASSION and then of Chalet ALLURE from December 2014 and most recently of Apartment ACCORD from December 2018. We’ve met so many amazing people in the last 10 years with a continually growing number of returning guests who really are more like friends than clients and with some groups even having stayed with us more times than years we’ve been running!

So, it has certainly has been strange to experience a year with no guests but the resultant extra time has allowed us to discover, probably truly for the first time, why we love winter in the mountains so much. With all the ski infrastructure closed for the season we’ve been ‘forced’ into trying out winter season activities that we’ve never really had the time to try before and I’d have to say, we’ve loved it.

As a devout snowboarder of over 25 years never before did I think I’d be skiing, let alone uphill. I always considered that ski randonnée was only for the super fit and for those too tight to buy a lift-pass, but how wrong could I be? To experience the tranquility of the mountains on the way up; To relax in the warm winter sunshine and enjoy a picnic on a snowy peak; To grin so widely that your face aches on the off-piste run home; Whats not too love? Am I believer? Totally!

As though uphill skiing wasn’t enough, we achieved another first this season . . . . . Nordic State Skiing! A totally different but no less exhilarating experience to ski randonnée. A far more technical ski challenge even for those regular downhillers and certainly more of a full body workout! With the benefit of great snow coverage again this season we’ve be able to enjoy honing our skills in a variety of locations, and with the nordic ski areas typically being located away from the main ski infrastructure we’ve had some truly beautiful backdrops in which to practice.

With so many new skills to practice and locations to discover we’ve almost struggled to find the time to enjoy our regular snowshoe treks this season and with the on-set of an early Spring we even found ourselves dusting off our road bikes at the end February and our tennis rackets as early as mid-March!

So 2020/21 was certainly a very different winter season in so many ways but one that has left us feeling refreshed and ready to face an exciting future . . . . . . but more on that to come . . . . .

Samoëns ski season ends with 30cm of fresh snow!

robin.tarr — Sat, 20 Apr 2013 07:36:05 +0000

Opened the curtains this morning to find 10cm of fresh snow outside the chalet! Quite a shock given we’ve been basking in sunshine and temperatures in their 20s only earlier in the week!

With the Grand Massif reporting 25cm of fresh snow at Samoëns 1600m and 34cm in Flaine there was plenty to be excited about but we certainly weren’t prepared for what we found at the top of Grand Platières; An Alpine Pipe Band at 2500 metres . . . now thats not something you see everyday and we’re still wondering how they got there!

It is going to be another fantastic end to the winter season!