Ski Resorts News
06/15/2019
Two new lifts in the Portes du Soleil connecting the French resort of Avoriaz with the Swiss resort of Champéry - Les Crosets. The faster and more efficient connection will be welcomed by skiers tired of the Mossettes and Léchère chairlifts being closed in bad weather — or suffering from lengthy queues.
A new six-man high-speed chairlift will replace the old three-person Léchère that runs from the Lindarets bowl, but continuing to an area just off the Abricotine blue piste, some 600m further uphill than its predecessor. The bottom station is also being moved forwards to allow more space for skiers to queue, From the new offload area of the Léchère, a new six-seater called TSD6 Cases is being built that will carry skiers to the top of the Cases pistes and create a new link over the border to Champéry-Les Crosets in Switzerland.
TSD6 Léchère will be able to transport around 2600 people per hour, while TSD6 Cases will be able to take 2700 people per hour. And not only will the new Léchère ski lift provide access to more of Abricotine for beginner and intermediate skiers and snowboarders, the two new lifts will provide an improved link between Avoriaz and Champéry – Les Crosets. Currently, the easiest option is Mossettes, which involves around ten full minutes of sitting and is frequently subject to high winds, closure and queues. Another option is the Swiss Wall! While we don’t want to speculate on how long it’ll take to get to Les Crosets using the new lifts, we have heard they’ll travel at 5m per second, and will be a bit more sheltered from high winds.
Technical data CLD6 La Léchère
Type of lift: detachable 6-seater chairlift
Valley station: 1’501 m. a.s.l.
Top station: 1’736 m. a.s.l. Altitude difference: 235 m
Inclined length: 1’714 m
Towers: 16
Number of vehicles: 84
Driving speed: 55 m/s
Driving time: 5 min 34 sec.
Capacity: 2’700 Pers./h
Drive: 404 kW
Rope: 46 mm
Valley station: 1’501 m. a.s.l.
Top station: 1’736 m. a.s.l. Altitude difference: 235 m
Inclined length: 1’714 m
Towers: 16
Number of vehicles: 84
Driving speed: 55 m/s
Driving time: 5 min 34 sec.
Capacity: 2’700 Pers./h
Drive: 404 kW
Rope: 46 mm
The Portes du Soleil is investing €15million on the new the connection, and increase the speed at which skiers can head from France to Switzerland. The new lifts are also expected to be less affected by wind and being purposefully built in a more sheltered situation. A new blue piste is also to be developed, in the hope that it will ease numbers using the Abricotine piste.
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