Beginner
Les Gets has worked hard to improve its offer for beginners in recent years. For example for the 2010/11 season the Chavannes snow-front area was completely re-designed with lifts improved and the slopes made perfectly smooth for ease of learning and the Chavannes gondola was also upgraded at a cost of 4.5m Euros with access made easier for beginners as it is now all on one level.
The "Espace des Mappys” beginners’ ski area is a place where you can learn to ski safely protected from faster more confident skiers. Easily accessible from the top of the Chavannes bubble lift, this beginners’ zone has been set up in a calm safe area and has two gentle, moving carpets conveyor lifts, a rope tow lift and four gentle beginners’ ski-runs.
Les Gets also recently joined the "You Can Ski" concept offered throughout the Portes du Soleil region which is designed to offer a cheaper and easier way for adult beginners to learn to ski and snowboard with everything required by first timers thought of and included.
Intermediate
Intermediate skiers are fairly spoilt for choice with some 500km of piste in the Portes du Soleil graded green to red (easy to intermediate) beginning at your feet and stretching right over the Swiss border with trails up to 11km long. And there’s really every type of ski run and experience imaginable, Les Gets is good for a whole season, or many seasons - as those who return year after year will testify - not just a week. But if you’re just getting confident on the slopes there’s no need to be intimidated by the vastness of it all, the local slopes on Les Gets’ 'own' mountain Mont Chéry as well as the larger separate area linked to Morzine. With 110km of piste this alone may still be larger than many other ski resorts offer, but the lift ticket is extremely good value, about a quarter less than the full Portes du Soleil pass, which is good news too.
Advanced
Advanced skiers are well catered for at les gets with nine black slopes adding up to 13km of steep groomed terrain, the toughest run usually Mouflons at 1.23km long it pitches at up to 47%. 25 more black runs await in the full Portes du Soleil region. Back on the local slopes the ski schools will be happy to take you to try some of the off piste routes and the well-heeled can even go heli-skiing (+33 (0)6 83 90 22 73; http://www.portesdusoleil-outdoor.com) over the border in to Italy.
Snowboard / Freestyle Skiing
Les Gets is home to the Vancouver 2010 Olympic champion Déborah Anthonioz and the proud resort has recently created a boardercross course on the Chavannes slopes in her honour that’s open to all. Indeed you might well run in to (hopefully not literally) Déborah on it. The 523m long course was designed by David Ny, the official designer for the Winter Olympic course at Cypress mountain near Vancouver. Accessed via the Chavannes gondola and the Gentiane piste the course drops 124 vertical metres as it passes through six banks and over 17 whoops, 2 step downs, 1 step up, two 8m tables, a 10m and a 12m table as well as a jump and a step down to step up. Simple. The ski school proves boardercross lessons. Les Gets no longer has a terrain park but it does have has a ‘Jib District’ on the Piste 64, also on the Chavannes slopes with a variety of boxes and rails. Chairs and gondolas make getting about with your board easy and there’s plenty more to explore in the wider Portes du Soleil if you’re feeling adventurous.
Cross-Country Skiing
There are a total of 12km (in Les Gets) of cross country tracks winding around the two Alpine ski areas of Mont Chery and Les Chavannes with varied terrain across meadows, through woodlands and generally with wonderful views out towards the Mont Blanc Massif. There are easy blue, moderate red and tough black loops to try and the Ecole de Ski Francais offers cross country ski lessons and equipment rental available in the village ski shops if required.
Average Snow & Weather Conditions
Les Gets is a medium level resort with its ski area between 1172 and 2002 metres above sea level. Some slopes are north facing but others aren’t. The village has invested in snowmaking with more than 300 cannons pointed at a quarter of its terrain – those slopes most in need of cover. Most of the runs are on meadow grass so very little snow is required to provide adequate cover.