Ski Area Count 2023-2026 Updates

[Tony Crocker]

Brévent/Flègère became 2 areas as at the time, both areas we separate and had separate lift passes.

They were combined when I skied there about 4 hours. I count as one even though they fit the Skitistics no-piste connection as two.

Counted separate at the time:
Mannlichen-Kl. Scheidegg and Schilthorn-Murren

Obvious, as they are 45 minutes and 3 lifts apart. Grindelwald-First, which Jimk skied but Liz and I did not, is a third area a half hour train ride separated.

I might have skied a separate area when in Flaine, but still counting it as 1.

The "4 Villages" are a separate lift ticket so I count as two. ChrisC counted three with Les Carroz separate. Jimmy Petterson counts 4 with Samoens and Morillon being separate also. Jimmy does not count Sixt, which has a piste going to it but no lift out of it.

Tony counted Zermatt and Klein Matterhorn as 2 separate areas.

I suppose this is my most controversial call, but geographically it looks a lot like Whistler and Blackcomb, two vast areas rising out of the same base. Just this year I looked more closely on the map of the two gondolas out of Furi. There is no piste into Furi from the Gornergrat side. There is yellow ski route, which I suspect is rarely skiable at that elevation without grooming and snowmaking. So I believe it fits the Skitistics no-piste connection definition.

 

[jamesdeluxe]

Counting as 4. Val Thorens, Meribel, Courchevel and Les Menuires.

Then you should also count Orelle, which has 1,000m of vertical with lots of varied offpiste from very gentle to spicy hike-to lines.

 

[Tony Crocker]

Goegraphy says Orelle is the 4th area, but lift ticket boundaries, the vast majority of skiers and history (Les Menuires was built first, then Val Thorens, and last Orelle) say Les Menuires is the 4th area. I decided to yield to consensus on this one.

 

[Patrick]

Then you should also count Orelle, which has 1,000m of vertical with lots of varied offpiste from very gentle to spicy hike-to lines.

Add +1 as I skied down to Plan Bouchet. I don’t think, but I might be mistaken, it was an independent area as we skied w our VT pass without an extra back in March 2003.

 

[jamesdeluxe]

I might be mistaken, it was an independent area as we skied w our VT pass without an extra back in March 2003.

Which VT pass was that?

According to Orelle's website:
Prior to the 1996 connection, Orelle was primarily a quiet, agrarian community consisting of scattered, traditional hamlets in the Maurienne Valley. It did not have its own self-contained ski resort. Its transition to a ski destination happened simultaneously with the opening of the 3 Vallées Express gondola in January 1996. This 15-minute gondola ride transformed the village into a "secret fourth valley" of the massive ski domain, allowing skiers to cross over into the Val Thorens ski area and the rest of the 3 Vallées network.

Since I was there in March 2023:

• In November 2024, Orelle took another bold step with the opening of HOB Orelle, a warm and modern concept just a few meters from the gondola. Part hotel, part hostel, and part restaurant, it’s a vibrant and friendly space designed for every kind of traveler — from families to solo adventurers.
• In 2025, the village continues its evolution: a covered car park with 740 new spaces (in addition to the existing 300) makes access easier, while a new shuttle service from Saint-Michel-de-Maurienne train station connects Orelle effortlessly to the rest of the valley.

Operations-wise, you can understand the construction of a huge parking garage but they're such a visual buzzkill.

 

[Patrick]

Which VT pass was that?

The regular Val Thorens pass which only gave you access to that VT « domaine » hence didnt count it as separate area.

 

[Tony Crocker]

The regular Val Thorens pass which only gave you access to that VT « domaine » hence didnt count it as separate area.

AFAIK that has always been true, and thus the reason almost no one counts Orelle separate. To me the "right number" of areas of that massive complex is four, but I defer to the consensus of defining the boundaries by lift ticket domain.

Lift ticket domain is also useful for sorting out the Dolomites, though in that case there are several isolated terrain pods (e.g. Civetta, Cinque Torii/Falzarego) connected to larger sectors sometimes on the same lift ticket. There are also Aspen-like places with geographically separate areas on the same lift ticket: Chamonix, Davos, ChrisC's recent trip to Gstaad.

 

[Patrick]

AFAIK that has always been true, and thus the reason almost no one counts Orelle separate. To me the "right number" of areas of that massive complex is four, but I defer to the consensus of defining the boundaries by lift ticket domain.

That was my impression back in 2003. 4 big resorts that eventually connected.

 

[ChrisC]

Then you should also count Orelle, which has 1,000m of vertical with lots of varied offpiste from very gentle to spicy hike-to lines.

Orelle added another gondola to the Cime Caron summit
The Orelle-Caron and Orelle 1+2 gondola additions transformed Orelle into a direct, "secret gateway" to Les 3 Vallées. The system features two high-speed Doppelmayr 10-person D-Line gondolas, transporting up to 2,500 people per hour and whisking skiers from the Orelle base to the Cime Caron peak in under 20 minutes

Also, for EMSC's visit, I thought it would act as a backdoor to Cime Caron 3200m when the VT Cime Caron tram went down for the 2024/25 season, and enhance snow/powder preservation in Val Thorens' steepest section (balancing a multi-lift (but high-speed) ride). However, there were weather issues.

AFAIK that has always been true, and thus the reason almost no one counts Orelle separate.

I visited the 3 Vallees - Val Thorens, specifically in April 2018. Sunday - all 4 Vallees open! Monday, Meribel and Courchevel shut down. Therefore, I bought a VT-only pass. However, Les Menuires remained open for another week. I could only ski the upper portions of Les Menuires and retreat back to the Val Thorens lift system. (Les Menuires is just a mess of a piste system; I did not care for it. However, the exception is the La Masse area, which has great terrain and off-piste access.)

Val Thorens is a solid ski choice for April/May. Lower Les Menuires was melting out. Val Thorens/Orelle was 100% covered.

 

[ChrisC]

Goegraphy says Orelle is the 4th area, but lift ticket boundaries, the vast majority of skiers and history (Les Menuires was built first, then Val Thorens, and last Orelle) say Les Menuires is the 4th area. I decided to yield to consensus on this one.

The 3 Vallees has a branding problem, if they became the 4 Vallees...

The "4 Vallées" (Four Valleys) is Switzerland's largest interconnected ski area, spanning over 410 km of slopes across 6 interconnected resort villages. It gets its name from the four main mountain valleys it traverses: Val de Bagnes, Valaisanne (Printze), Val d'Hérémence, and the Rhone Valley

However, as much as I like Verbier, I really have no idea which valleys they are referring to or how they add up to 4 valleys.

So many different resort tickets, see sectors below. Overall, I find the following resorts legitimate:

• Verbier
• Bruson
• La Tzoumaz/Savoleyres
• Nendaz
• Mont Fort

And Veysonnaz-Thyon (the Printse sector) is still in the Stone Age, with lots of surface lifts and basically low-altitude snow-making runs. Until a few high-speed lifts are added, not worth the effort to visit. Nendaz has completely modernized, and I would recommend it.

 

[ChrisC]

Zermatt was still a bit of a mess in the mid 2000s. Three disjoint ski areas that are not well-connected. When visiting/skiing in the summer, and looking at all the rocky terrain, my thoughts were: this is like Big Sky or Telluride - coverage will always be a bit weak.

However, I could not see the Gant-Hohtalli / Stockhorn area from the Klein Matterhorn/Glacier zone. The map below captures that better.

But until recently, Zermatt did function as 3 mountains: Rothorn, Stockhorn, and Klein Matterhorn. And I think there were 3 separate lift companies, each owned by a different family, in Zermatt.

 

[ChrisC]

If one really wants to count lots of areas, the East Coast USA also has had a lot of mergers:

• Vernon Valley and Great Gorge were separate mountains - merged into VV/GG or Mountain Creek
• Mount Snow and Carinthia
• Magic Mountain and Timberline (backside now killed off)
• Crotched East and West
• Cannon and Mittersill
• Maybe Stowe: Mansfield, and Spruce

 

[Tony Crocker]

I really have no idea which valleys they are referring to or how they add up to 4 valleys.

Me neither. I divided by lift ticket domain, Verbier proper plus Nendaz-Veysonnaz. I have a vague recollection that you have to have a combined ticket to go up Mont Fort.

Veysonnaz-Thyon (the Printse sector) is still in the Stone Age, with lots of surface lifts and basically low-altitude snow-making runs. Until a few high-speed lifts are added, not worth the effort to visit.

Staying in Sierre in April 2002, we drove to the Nendaz base, skied to Veysonnaz and still had time for one run up Mont Fort. This of course is our compulsion to seek out places we have not been before. Veysonnaz had ideal groomer corn when we skied there midday. Nendaz has varied exposures and some of it was beaten up a lot from a warm spell in March. I downloaded its lowest gondola at 4:30PM as the piste was likely slop and we were skiing Verbier from Le Chable the next day. Yes the connection between Nendaz and Veysonnaz involves long and slow surface lifts.

La Tzoumaz/Savoleyres

That's where we skied the next morning and had lunch with Jimmy Petterson and Bob Mazarei.

That sector is tenuously connected to Verbier via 2 low surface lifts that had burned off so we had to take a bus. Supposedly the vintage Savoleyres gondola will eventually get a modern replacement with a dogleg that improves the Verbier connection. The light got flat after lunch so we only made it as far up as Attelas.

But until recently, Zermatt did function as 3 mountains: Rothorn, Stockhorn, and Klein Matterhorn.

I had that impression too, though the middle area is ususually called Gornergrat. I consider Rothorn and Gornergrat as one area because they are well integrated. The Hohtalli tram was the only Rothorn to Gornergrat lift connection in the old map ChrisC posted above. Even on our first visit in 2014 there was a high speed chair below Findeln up to Breitboden, making that connection much easier for intermediates.

Logistically as well as geographically, Klein Matterhorn is very separate. If you start your day there, you are more likely to spend ski time in Cervinia than in Rothorn/Gornergrat.

 

[Patrick]

Val Thorens is a solid ski choice for April/May. Lower Les Menuires was melting out. Val Thorens/Orelle was 100% covered.

Friend told me that Val Thorens used to have summer skiing in the 1980s.

Logistically as well as geographically, Klein Matterhorn is very separate. If you start your day there, you are more likely to spend ski time in Cervinia than in Rothorn/Gornergrat.

Although I only counted as 1 (although counted Cervinia and Valtounenche separately) that was the impression in the last 2 late Fall visits I had in nov-dec 2024 and dec 2025.

That being said, probably a lot of French speaking near Big Snow this afternoon. 80,500 at MetLife for the France vs Sénégal game. Game almost over.

 

[ChrisC]

Friend told me that Val Thorens used to have summer skiing in the 1980s.

When I previously visited Val Thorens / 3 Vallees in April 2018, these 2 glacier lifts were still in place:

• Glacier (Glacier de Peclet): The primary summer ski zone.
• Col (Glacier de Thorens). Open mostly in winter?

I was looking at the Val Thorens piste map last night, and the resort has now removed 2 glacier chairlifts. They tried to offset the loss of terrain with a new Gondola

Both the Glacier chairlift and the Col chairlift were victims of shrinking glaciers, low usage, and changing ski priorities.

Glacier Chairlift (above Péclet)​

The old Glacier chairlift continued above the Péclet funitel to around 3,100 m, giving access to glacier skiing and summer skiing terrain. Over time:

• The Péclet glacier shrank dramatically.
• Summer skiing became uneconomic.
• Visitor numbers on the upper lift declined.
• Maintenance costs for a high-alpine lift became hard to justify.

As a result, the Glacier chairlift was removed in 2019. Today the Funitel de Péclet remains the primary access lift, but skiing ends at the top station around 2,945 m rather than continuing higher.

Col Chairlift (Col de Thorens)​

This is the more interesting story.

The Col chairlift climbed from the Moraine sector to the Col de Thorens at roughly 3,095 m. It originally existed to connect skiers to the now-vanished Chavière glacier ski area and summer ski operations. When glacier skiing disappeared, the chairlift remained as a way to access a few pistes and high-alpine views.

However:

• The Chavière glacier ski area closed decades ago.
• The chairlift sat far from the resort's main traffic flow.
• Most skiers preferred the Péclet, Grand Fond, 3 Vallées, and Caron sectors.
• The lift became increasingly underutilized.

The Col chairlift was closed in 2020 and has not been replaced. The structures reportedly remain standing, but it no longer operates.

 

[jamesdeluxe]

The regular Val Thorens pass which only gave you access to that VT « domaine » hence didnt count it as separate area.

AFAIK that has always been true, and thus the reason almost no one counts Orelle separate. To me the "right number" of areas of that massive complex is four, but I defer to the consensus of defining the boundaries by lift ticket domain.

But this map with the two now-decommissioned glacier lifts appears to indicate a separate ski sector by giving Orelle its own logo that's the same size as Val Thorens. Of course, I'm fighting against my own list which refers to 3 Vallées as one ski area instead of counting the four (or is it five?) major sectors.