An interesting article came in my Ski Europe Newsletter today: Enjoy and
dream.

Leigh

The World's Biggest Ski Areas: 2005-06

By Patrick Thorne

An important thing to understand before you begin to consider the world's
largest ski areas is that the claims for the gargantuan dimensions of these
snowy Meccas tend to be made by marketers rather than cartographers. It's
also the case that some of these giants are virtual creations, born of a
marriage of ticketing computers rather than somewhere you can ski forever
without taking your skis off. Then there are factors like national pride to
consider and even the weather plays a part with some crucial links reliant
on adequate snow cover which may only happen for a few weeks of the season.
And of course there is the measuring system. Do we measure the length of the
trails or the area covered? Bear in mind that, on the whole, in Europe ski
areas are measured by trail length, in North America by terrain area, so
comparison is difficult. That's not stopped one super region in Europe
deciding to measure its terrain area rather than trail length in order to
claim the world number one spot.

All this being agreed we move on to the different types of giant ski area.
The most easily understood, of course, are those that are simply and
straight forwardly connected together by a well designed lift system where
you need not remove your skis except to ride a gondola. The second commonly
understood type is where a group of ski areas that are close together offer
a lift ticket valid at all sectors, with those sectors connected by short
bus rides, the cost of the bus included in the ticket.

But then we move in to the grey area. What of those regions which are
largely lift-linked, but have the odd sector where there's a kilometer or so
between a couple of parts. In recent years, particularly in Austria for some
reason, vast numbers of resorts have also signed up to create giant lift
ticket systems covering thousands of kilometers. But although the lifts may
all be in the same province there is no ski bus between them and there's
often restrictions on ticket validity (minimum duration 6 days, maximum 21).

A particular novelty is where two ski areas are physically joined by ski
lifts but choose not to offer a joint ticket so you need to buy two to ski
two halves of what to you is a seamlessly linked ski area. Most of these,
most famously Soldeu and Pas de la Casa in Andorra, have now kissed and made
up although Stowe and Smugglers Notch in Vermont, one of the few linked US
areas, no longer issue a joint ticket.

So Which are the Biggest?

Of the truly lift-linked ski areas the French Trois Vallees retains its long
standing number one position with 650 kilomters (406 miles) of trails. In
second place with 24 mountain areas and 50 summits is France again, this
time the cross border Portes du Soleil area shared with Switzerland. It also
claims 650 kilometers but doesn't shout quite so loudly, perhaps because
there are a few marked breaks in the circuit.

In third there's a new claimant for 2005-06 with the Ki-West link between
Austria's largest existing ski area, the SkiWelt, and Kitzbühel's ski area.
A new gondola links Westendorf in the SkiWelt with Kirchberg by Kitzbühel.
There's no official figure for the total kilometers of trails but it would
appear to be around 420 kilometers (263 miles) and there has been an
official claim that this is the world's third biggest ski area. The problem
is that you need a short bus trip to get from the new Kirchberg gondola
station to the rest of the Kitzbühel skiing and from Westendorf to get to
the rest of the SkiWelt.

The existing claimant to third place, perhaps now down in fourth is another
new area, Paradiski, which was created in 2003-04 with the spectacular
Vanoise Express double-decker gondola link between Les Arcs and La Plagne;
this has 412 kilometers (258 miles) of runs. It should be noted that
Paradiski is also a third claimant to the "Biggest in the World" title on
the grounds that they've measured out the area of terrain covered - 34,000
hectares, or twelve times the size of the largest ski area in North America
at Whistler.

At number five by a few kilometers, is the Swiss Four Valleys around
Verbier, with 410 kilomters (256 miles) of runs. The other lift-linked super
regions in the top ten are The French/Italian Milky Way, location for many
of the 2006 Winter Olympic Events with 400 kilometers (250 miles); the
International pass around the Matterhorn with Zermatt and Cervinia's skiing
at 392 kilometers (245 miles); The Swiss Top Card pass for Davos and
Klosters with 320 kilometers (200 miles); the new Les Seybelles region of
France with 310 kilometers (194 miles); In joint tenth it's the Espace Killy
joining Tignes and Val d'Isere and the Evasion Mont Blanc Pass which covers
440 kilometers (275 miles) but with only 300 kilometers (188 miles) lift
linked, the same as Espace Killy. Evasion Mont Blanc is one to watch for the
future, however, as it's part of a project to create the new Diamond Pass,
which is aiming for more than 600 kilometers (375 miles) and "World's
Biggest" status by 2008.

The Arlberg deserves mention as while it has 262 kilometers (164 miles) of
trails, it claims a further measured number of "off-trail" routes giving a
total of 440 kilometers (275 miles).

Computer Magic

Thanks to advances in technology, ski passes have been created that allow
skiers to visit dozens of resorts on one ticket. The pioneers more than
twenty years ago were the Italians with the Dolomiti Superski pass. This
still provides unrestricted access to over 1,200 kilometers (750 miles) of
runs in a dozen neighboring valleys in the Dolomites. Although recent
arrivals offer larger areas, it is still the only unrestricted, fully
interchangeable lift ticket from day one. The new breeds all have various
usage restrictions.

However, the current biggest (excluding some season passes which offer still
more) is the Austrian Salzburg Super Ski Card with an incredible 2,200
kilomters (1,375 miles) of runs on the ticket and uplift provided by 700
lifts which together can carry nearly a million skiers per hour. There are
90 individual ski areas with 1000 ski runs included. It's not too expensive
either.

In second place, the French Savoy Olympic Pass brings together several ski
regions mentioned in the top ten linked areas to create a 1,500-kilomter
(938-mile), 600-lift ticket, with a minimum duration of six days. All
resorts are owned by one giant company, the Compagnie des Alpes, the world's
largest single lift operating company.

Dolomiti Superski is third with 1,220 kilometers (763 miles) and in fourth
the Swiss - French - Italian Aosta ticket, which has many variations, the
largest of which takes in a dozen ski areas in the Aosta Valley plus Zermatt
in Switzerland and La Rosiere in France - a total of 1,200 kilometers (750
miles). In fifth place is the Grand Galaxie - a combination of large areas
in the southern French Alps including Alpe d'Huez and Les 2 Alpes and the
Italian Milky Way resorts, together some 1,120 kilometers (700 miles). It
has many usage/duration restrictions.

A new entry at number six last season was the Corinthian and East Tyrolian
Top Ski Pass covering 962 kilomters (601 miles) of runs around areas little
known internationally but extending up to the 3,200-meter (10,400-foot)
summit of the Molltal glacier. At number seven it is Austria again with the
Skiverbund Amadé, the only other pass which, like Dolomiti Superski, has had
no usage restrictions or duration requirements from day one. It covers 860
kilometers (538 miles). At eight the Ski Pass Mont Blanc covers resorts
around Chamonix and 774 kilometers (484 miles) of runs. Ski Pass Lombardia,
in ninth place, covers most resorts in Lombardy, Italy, including Bormio and
Livigno, a total of 761 kilometers (476 miles). At ten it's The Kitbuhler
Alpen pass for six days only covers 661 kilometers (413 miles) of runs.
Knocked down to number eleven the 3 Täler Superpass, for Austria's Three
Valleys, covers 650 kilometers (406 miles). Just like the French one, they'r
e just not lift-linked together.

Out West

North America's ski areas tend to do battle by terrain area and vertical
drop although the "Highest Ski lift in North America" title has changed
hands several times in the past few years and will change again this winter
with Breckenridge taking "Top of the Peaks."

Whistler Blackcomb has claimed the "Biggest Ski Area" title for quite a few
years now while Vail holds "Biggest in the US" and "Biggest Single Mountain"
as Whistler's is divided on two. A new claimant for 2005-06 however is the
combined areas on Big Sky and Moonlight Basin in Montana, which may have a
few more acres between them than Vail. The areas have been joined for some
years but have only agreed a joint lift ticket this winter.

It is hard to compare the size of North American areas with European because
of the different measuring systems and because North American ski areas tend
to have boundaries, whereas often there are no real limits to the ends of
European resorts, you can just keep going until you hit the next one (albeit
there may be some big mountains in between). However, more dense settlement
of valleys and a willingness to join ski areas together means that Europe
tends to have far bigger ski areas.

Top 20 Largest Lift-Linked Areas (by combined trail length) Area Name
Country Length of Trails (KM) Skiable Area (Hectares) Uplift Per Hour Fully
Lift Linked

Trois Vallees France 650km 10,000 260,000 Yes
Portes du Soleil France / Switzerland 650km - 229,620 Not Fully *
Ki-West Austria 420km -215,000 Not Fully *
Paradiski France 412km 34,000 210,000 Yes
Four Valleys Switzerland 410km - 65,000 Yes
Milky Way Italy 400km - 100,000 Yes
Top Card Switzerland 320km - 62,831 Yes
Les Seybelles France 310km - 80,500 Yes
Espace Killy France 300km - 135615 Yes
Evasion Mont Blanc France 420km - - Not Fully **
Arlberg Austria 440km - 119,861 Yes ***
Whistler Canada - 2875 59,007 Yes

* Majority of the terrain is lift linked.
**300km of the pass are lift linked.
*** Off-trail route connects two sectors, includes 260 kilometers of trails,
180 kilometers of off-trail.

Top 20 Largest Multi Ski-Area Tickets
(Ski Areas Not Fully Linked By Lifts and Runs) Area Name Country Length of
Trails (KM) Skiable Area (Hectares) Uplift Per Hour Duration Restrictions

Salzburger Skicard Austria 2500km no data no data Minimum 3 days
Espace Olympique SavoieFrance 1500km no datano data6 days only
Dolomiti Superski Italy 1220km no data588,908 No restrictions.
Aosta Valley International Italy / France / Switzerland 1200km no datano
dataComplex
Grand GalaxieFrance / Italy1120kmno data320,180 Many usage restrictions
Top - Ski Austria 956km no datano dataMinimum one and a half days.
Skiverbund Amadé Austria 860km no data340,227 No restrictions.
Ski Pass Mont Blanc France 774km no data233,674 6 or 7 day tickets only.
Ski Pass Lombardia Italy 761km no data227,105 Minimum 6 days.
Kitsbühler Alpen Austria 661km no data310,000 6 days only.
Silver Passport USA no data 3460 96,000 Min 4 Days.  Not high season.

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