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Season Diary - Day 24

Henry
Mar 14
2 min read

Friday 14th March 2025 – Flaine, France

So what of Flaine?

Very good question. This is a resort you mayh not have heard of before, but it is one you need to add to your list of places to visit.

In the 1950s, a pair of French geographers hiked and skied their way up into the bowl in which the village now sits. They were astounded by the quality and quantity of snow that they found here, and decided to build a ski resort.

What follows is the most French of French ski resorts, a utopia built in Brutalist/Bauhaus style that perfectly encapsulates the era and mode of the day.

The two main halves of the village are Flaine Foret and Flaine Forum; the latter situated a hundred metres elevation below the former. They dog-leg around following the northern edge of the Flaine bowl creating this feeling of a longitudinal town more than anything else.

The accommodation here is overwhelmingly apartments; the community that I had the pleasure of skiing with this week are almost all Flaine regulars, either owning property here or visiting so regularly they might as well have.

At the Forum level, there is a sweep of bars and restaurants, ranging from the pub-vibe of the White Pub to the more French brasserie style of Les Brasserie des Cimes. Any one of the outlets along the front will be more than accommodating for a beer or two at apres

So what of Flaine’s skiing?

Quite simply, and factually so, Flaine is the snowiest place in the Alps. It nestles in the elbow of Mont Blanc, usually visible from the top slopes but hiding behind cloud the week I was here. Therefore, the cold and snowy air forced to rise to get above Western Europe’s highest mountain brings snow to Flaine as well.

At the same time, Flaine sits on the edge of the French Alps. There are no or few foothills to the west; you can see all the way back to Geneva Airport and the Jura Alps beyond. This means that warm and wet air flowing in from the west hits Flaine first, where it rises over the mountains, cools, turns to snow and falls. This creates the unique microclimate that brings so much snow to Flaine.

The skiing itself is almost all positioned on the north facing bowl that looks down over resort. This means that the snow stays cold and firm throughout the day, bringing excellent skiing across the mountain.

The off piste is excellent here, but you have to be careful. You can dive off the side of the piste as much as you like, but Flaine’s unique geography means crevasses and sinkholes can open up in the mildest of terrain. An experienced guide is a necessity to push out into the unknown well beyond the pistes.

A view up Lapiaz drag lift in Flaine, France.

I’ve really loved my week here. I’ve been skiing with an exceptional group of people, enjoying an incredible ski area, and revelling in the brutalist-Bauhaus utopia that is Flaine.