Les Sybelles Ski Area – France
The 6 ski areas of St Sorlin, Le Corbier, La Toussuire, Les Bottières, St Colomban des Villards and St Jean d’Arves combine to create Les Sybelles, the 4th largest ski resort in France and one of the top 10 largest ski regions in the world. Les Sybelles actually means the six “belle” villages in the Val D’Arves. We skied the entire region, however the lower elevation Bottieres area was not open during our visit, due to lack of snow. Elevation is so important in the Alps these days. St Sorlin is the highest in Les Sybelles with the best terrain and best snow with a summit elevation of 2620-meters.
Les Sybelles is not as well known as France’s Courchevel, Chamonix, or Val d’Isère, in a good way! The lifts at Les Sybelles are a mix of older chairs, a few six-pack high speeds, pomas, and one modern gondola from Le Corbier.
Les Sybelles is a vast ski domain, with 135 ski slopes and 68 lifts connecting the expansive terrain on several mountain peaks, with varying trails, plus some great free ride terrain between the prepared routes, especially in the St Sorlin area! Its also a very scenic ski region, as you stare out at Aiguille D’Arves which resembles a Bear and Dog Ears, prominent peaks in the distance. Geographically the terrain is very close to Alpe d’Huez and Les 2 Alpes, which you can see in the distance but its a 2+ hour drive around the mountains to actually get there.
The skiing in L’Ouillon, Toussiere and Corbier is much “busier” as these villages have some hideous high-rise, high-capacity French architecture from the 70-80’s. But it was fun to explore the entire vast ski region. Here we found more terrain parks, and ski schools. Be sure to ski the Panorama trail from L’Ouillon to Col de la Crois de Fer (iron cross pass) to St Sorlin, but be warned – Panorama is more like “Escargot” – a rather flat trail, but scenic.
The prettiest alpine village by far is St Sorlin at 1600 meters, with the highest summit elevation skiing at 2620 meters. St Sorlin is charming, where skiing first started at Les Sybelles, with lifts in 1948. Pretty alpine chalets line a walkable downtown with shops and cafes, this valley is small but has everything you need. The other ski towns of Le Corbier and La Toussiere are full of big mid-century apartments and huge stark hotel buildings, like France’s Les Arc and Tignes – not the alpine charm you’d hope, instead its unfortunate (but efficient) architecture.
We loved our on mountain chalet lunches at Alpes 2000 and Le Saint S’O, above St Sorlin d’Arves. Our favorite ski lunch plates in this region include Croque Monsieur, French onion soup, and fresh salads with local (award-winning) Beaufort Cheese Tarte. Both these restaurants have a spectacular view from the sun terrace or you can dine inside the cozy interior by the fire. At La Toussiere, we loved our raclette lunch at the summit Rooftop Des Anges in a cozy fireplace restaurant, absolutely delicious with local cheese, meats, and potatoes. The Cote de Bouef, literally a side of beef, looked amazing too!
The ski pistes of Les Sybelles are relatively long, crossing valleys and peaks, you can ski for miles from St Sorlin to Saint Colomban on the other side, connecting the entire ski region of Les Sybelles which merged into one resort in 2003. We loved the milk run “Le Lait” all the way down to St Jean.
Les Sybelles has lots of easy-to-reach off-piste terrain, big open bowls and snow fields, to steep chutes on the upper mountain of St Sorlin which gets the most natural snow. Hire a guide, to explore the freeride terrain. We had a fun ski day with Xavier Sambius, a local ski guide who grew up in St Sorlin D’Arves, he takes small groups for an off-piste 4-hour adventure, including tracking chamois and marmottes in secret stashes.
For families, fun weekly St Sorlin events include avalanche dog demonstrations, a Big Air show at night, sledding, fireworks and a torchlight parade. The mascot is a friendly cow named Sorlinette.
This beautiful French ski region is famed for Savoyard fondue and raclette made with their local Beaufort cheese, which won the coveted Paris cheese gold medal the past two years! Les Sybelles makes a fun stop for a few days on a ski safari to nearby ski resorts of Valloire/Valmeinier, and the Haute Maurienne valley with 5 ski areas including Val Cenis and Bonneval sur Arc.
Les Sybelles Ski Resort Ski Stats:
Elevation: 1100 – 2620 meters, 8,595′
Vertical Drop: 1520 meters – 4,987′
Lifts: 68
Trails: 310 kilometers
