A lift link to connect two of the biggest ski areas in the French alps will hopefully be built ahead of the 2022-23 ski season, it has been announced.
The two ski areas have a combined total of 450km of ski runs, both have glacier skiing and both are in the world top 20 for lift served vertical, so the combined ski area is set to become one of the world's top five.
A possible link has been discussed for many years but the publication of a timetable and details of the planned lift types and locations to make the connection is more recent.
The connection will be made between village ski areas on the nearest boundaries of the two areas - between the villages of Auris and Mont de Lans. Transport routes between Mont de Lans, the resort and Les 2 Alpes' summits will also be redesigned.
At the les 2 Alpes end the plan is for the Force 2-seater Mont de Lans chair lift to be replaced by a gondola lift to Village 1800 (resort) and Les Crêtes (2,100 metres).
However the link is one of several concurrent projects for Les 2 Alpes which will see the resort spend more than €500m over the next five years.
A number of these projects started work in May 2018 with a new 8-seater detachable chairlift due to open next winter in the La Toura sector (2,600 metres), replacing the Toura and Lac Noir chairlifts. This new lift will increase the number of skiers per hour.
Investment will be stepped up in 2019 with new chairlifts planned in the sectors of Les Crêtes, Le Thuit, Le Super Venosc and Pierre Grosse (La Fée sector / middle of the La Fée sector up to the top of Le Signal chair lift on the glacier).
"This will allow for the ski area to be rearranged, allowing clients to discover new snowsports areas and to clear crowds on themajor route of the Jandri Express blue run and gondola lift (2nd phase)," a resort spokesperson said.
Between 2019 and 2021 there'll also be a project to extend the artificial snow network with the construction of La Mura reservoir and associated pumping premises, as well as expanding the network between Les Crêtes (2,100 metres) and Le Grand Nord (2,600 metres). The goal is to eventually guarantee a minimum 30% coverage of the ski area surface in artificial snow.
Finally, the resort will also build a new 3S gondola lift to replace the Jandri Express. The transportation rate will be three times higher than the Jandri Express (4,000 people an hour versus 1,200 people an hour today).