Les Arcs off-piste & powder guide

Savoie, France · 1200m to 3226m · 4 documented zones

Finding powder at Les Arcs

Les Arcs mixes high open bowls above 2,500m with genuinely good forest skiing down towards Arc 1600 and Peisey-Vallandry, which makes it a strong all-weather choice. The traps here are flat run-outs and hidden streams rather than big cliffs.

Lift-accessed zones — no walking

Ride up, drop in. These 4 zones need no hiking, which also means they are the first to get tracked out after a storm.

Grand Col

Grand Col sector

Backcountry - no patrolAdvanced

High terrain above 2,500m served by a small, slow lift, with a red and a black piste alongside for reference.

Outside the ski area boundary. No avalanche control, no patrol and no rescue service. Full avalanche equipment, training and a partner are the minimum, and a guide is strongly advised.

Lift access
Grand Col lift
Walk in
No hiking — Lift-accessed.
Getting back
Down the red run, which is very flat and slightly uphill near the bottom.
Known hazards
  • Flat, slightly uphill run-out that catches snowboarders out

Vagere

Arc 1800 sector

Backcountry - no patrolIntermediate

Accessible powder between the Golf and Vagere red runs above Arc 1800.

Outside the ski area boundary. No avalanche control, no patrol and no rescue service. Full avalanche equipment, training and a partner are the minimum, and a guide is strongly advised.

Lift access
Vagere lift
Walk in
No hiking — Lift-accessed.
Getting back
Rejoins the Golf and Vagere red runs.
Known hazards
  • Hidden streams towards the end of the Golf run

Derby forest

Arc 1600 sector

Backcountry - no patrolAdvanced

Tree skiing off the Derby lift running down to Arc 1600, and the best bad-light option here.

Outside the ski area boundary. No avalanche control, no patrol and no rescue service. Full avalanche equipment, training and a partner are the minimum, and a guide is strongly advised.

Lift access
Derby lift
Walk in
No hiking — Lift-accessed.
Getting back
Descends to Arc 1600.
Known hazards
  • Dense trees requiring confident navigation

Peisey-Vallandry

Peisey-Vallandry sector

Backcountry - no patrolIntermediate

Largely groomed terrain with unpisted patches alongside, which makes it a gentle place to try powder for the first time.

Outside the ski area boundary. No avalanche control, no patrol and no rescue service. Full avalanche equipment, training and a partner are the minimum, and a guide is strongly advised.

Lift access
2300 lift
Walk in
No hiking — Lift-accessed.
Getting back
Rejoins the Peisey-Vallandry pistes.

The avalanche danger scale

Every European bulletin uses this five-level scale. The column that matters most is the last one: around half of all avalanche deaths happen at level 3, not at the extremes, because that is when the snow still looks worth skiing.

1. Low

about 5% of fatalities

Generally stable snowpack. Triggering is only possible with high additional loads, and only in extreme terrain. Natural avalanches are small at most.

The most favourable conditions of the season. Terrain choice still matters in isolated extreme spots.

Forecast on about 20% of the season

2. Moderate

about 30% of fatalities

The snowpack is only moderately well bonded on some steep slopes. Triggering is mainly possible with high additional loads. Very large natural avalanches are unlikely.

Conditions look benign and catch people out. Roughly a third of fatalities happen at this level.

Forecast on about 50% of the season

3. Considerable

about 50% of fatalities

The snowpack is moderately to poorly bonded on many steep slopes. Triggering is possible even from a single skier. Large avalanches are possible.

The most dangerous level in practice. It carries about half of all avalanche deaths, because the skiing still looks good and the snowpack no longer needs much provocation.

Forecast on about 30% of the season

4. High

about 10% of fatalities

The snowpack is poorly bonded on most steep slopes. Triggering is likely even from a single skier, and numerous large natural avalanches are expected.

Off-piste travel should be limited to low-angle terrain well away from anything steep above you.

Forecast on only a few days a year

5. Very High

rare enough that no share is published

An extraordinarily unstable snowpack. Numerous very large and often extremely large natural avalanches are expected, even on moderately steep terrain.

Do not go off-piste. Roads and parts of the resort itself may be closed.

Forecast on very rarely forecast

Scale and statistics from European Avalanche Warning Services - Avalanche Danger Scale.

What you need to carry

Transceiver

Worn on your body, not in your pack, and switched to transmit before you leave the lift. Every member of the group needs one; a single person without makes the whole group less safe.

Probe

Pinpoints the burial once the transceiver has brought you close, so you dig in the right place first time rather than in a hole beside them.

Shovel

A real collapsible avalanche shovel. Digging is the slowest part of a rescue, and it is what actually gets your partner out.

Airbag pack (optional)

Helps keep you nearer the surface in a moving slide. It supplements the three items above and never replaces them.

How to ski it

Read the bulletin before you go, every day

The danger level, the problem type and the aspects and altitudes it applies to matter more than anything on this page. Conditions change overnight.

Practise with your kit until the search is instinctive

Owning a transceiver is not the same as being able to use one under pressure. Run search drills at the start of every season.

Never ski off-piste alone

Companion rescue is the only rescue fast enough to matter. Burial survival drops sharply after about fifteen minutes.

Ski steep slopes one at a time

Exposing one person at a time keeps the rest of the group free to dig, and reduces the load on the slope.

Hire a guide for terrain you do not know

Local guides know which aspects have loaded, which lines cliff out and where this season's weak layer sits. Every resort guide on this page says the same thing.

Plan the exit before you drop in

Several classic routes finish in a different valley or a long way from a lift. Know how you are getting home, and what time the last lift and last bus run.

Keep planning

Les Arcs snow report & forecastSnow history & depthMore resorts in France