La Plagne

 

Guides can be hired through ESF and will take you to some of the many off piste areas that are not accessible by lift. Most of these places involve some hiking so be prepared, and make sure you take all the necessary avalanche equipment and know how to use it. Just think size of ski area 10000 ha, with only 730 ha covered by mark pistes thats a lot of offpiste to discover. Overall La Plagne is not particulary steep but it is very open and easy to navigate with lots of fun riding to be had. Theres quite a lot of flats, but this just gives you the opportunity to tuck up those balls and straight line as fast as your nerves will let you. Make sure you pay attention because these flats creep up on you and if you dont start high enough you will be walking. Les Arc is much steeper and more challenging but if you are staying in La plagne it is a distance to keep travelling between the two resorts. So pick one that suits you best, board there, and visit the other once or twice if it suits.

The Capella snowpark right in the heart of La Plagne is well served by ski lifts and well maintained by six fulltime staff. The piste is 900m long, made up of a good selection of rails, boxes, waves and rainbows. There are hits of various sizes from scary to manageable, with a few small ones to start on before moving up to the bigger hits. A great sound system keeps the tunes booming out all day.

In all, this is a good park for advanced riders due to its length and range of objects, giving the rider a real opportunity to find a line that suits and hit various objects on the way down in true slope style.

It also has a good mix of smaller objects for beginners to find their freestyle legs.

Pistes. Good area, easy to navigate and nice and open. It's a well-maintained ski area with a good selection of pistes for people of all standards. But remember the figures don't lie - 60% of the resort is made up of blue runs.

This is a good resort to learn in, with 12 lifts free for beginners and a lot of good wide blues to get your teeth into once you have found your feet. But be prepared, if you pick the wrong run and you don't have the confidence to straightline, you will be walking. There are a good variety of board schools to choose from, so pick one, strap on your board and have fun.