The secret to Verbier’s world-class skiing is the three large mountains overlooking the resort – Attelas, Mont Gelé and the 3,330-metre Mont Fort.
The result is the 4 Valleys, an extensive ski area with 95 lifts, over 400km of marked pistes, as well as numerous off-piste itinerary runs like Gentianes, Vallon d’Arbi and the infamous Tortin, “one of the world’s top ten ski runs” according to the Daily Telegraph. Much of the skiing in the 4 Valleys is through beautiful ancient pine and larch forests. In good snow conditions, it’s possible to ski all the way from the top of Mont Fort down to the bottom lift at 820 metres at Le Chable, a thigh-burning vertical descent of more than 2,500 metres!
Verbier’s lift system has been transformed in recent years, with heavy investment in state-of-the-art high-speed lift instalations banishing the queues into history. The latest additions include a new 8-man telecabine which for the first time links Verbier to the beautiful tree-lined resort of Bruson on the opposite side of the Val de Bagnes. And at the bottom of Tortin, a new high-speed gondola has been installed taking skiers from Siviez to the top of Plan de Fou in six minutes, giving rapid access to the countless cruisy pistes over in Nendaz.
Children and beginners are well catered for on the dedicated nursery slopes, whilst intermediate skiers have a choice of endless blue and red runs to perfect their carving technique or simply cruise from one mountain restaurant to the next. For those looking to push themselves, Verbier has enough mogul fields, powder-choked couloirs and backcountry terrain to keep the adrenaline flowing for weeks.
And with the majority of the skiing lying above 2,000 metres, Verbier is one of the most snow-sure resorts in the Alps with the lifts running from late November through to the beginning of May. In some years, the lifts open up for summer skiing on the Mont Fort Glacier!
“The best lift-accessible off piste skiing in Europe”
The Daily Telegraph
“Heaven on earth”
The Times
