A world class champion freestyle skier's guide to La Plagne, France

Tess Ledeux grew up on the slopes of La Plagne and now she's a world-class freestyle champion. Here are her picks for her home slopes, from après-ski to otherworldly Alpine views.

The ski resort of La Plagne in Savoie, France, might be primarily known as a family-friendly Alpine destination, but it has serious Olympic cache: in 1992, it was a bobsledding venue for the Albertville Olympics, a feat it hopes to repeat in 2030 when the French Alps is in line to host the Winter Olympics. It's also the home of French ski prodigy Tess Ledeux; an Olympic medallist with a record 16 freestyle World Cup victories under her belt.

Ledeux took a break from her heavy training and competition schedule to chat with the BBC about the best spots to eat, drink and ski in La Plagne. "I grew up in La Plagne so for me it will always be unique," says Ledeux, fresh off a big air win at the FIS Freeski World Cup in Beijing and one of France’s biggest hopes for the Milano-Cortina 2026 Olympics. "I would get home from school and build little jumps for my skis or sledge in front on our apartment. The ski resort is really big, but it is the slopes that make it so important. They have everything: runs for beginners and professional skiers, a glacier, a forest…"

La Plagne, the concrete vision of French Brutalist architect Michel Bezançon, was designed very specifically for alpine skiing in 1961, hence the prevalence of functional ski-in-ski-out apartment blocks at snow-sure altitudes and an aggressively modern lift system. The resort might not be a place of obvious natural beauty, but families love it for its bounty of affordable, predominantly self-catering accommodation and flush of brilliant outdoor activities – for all ages and abilities, on and off the slopes.

Here are Ledeux's top ways to explore La Plagne.

Bezançon ensured that his resort in the then-untouched Tarantaise Valley scaled great heights; 11 interconnected villages in La Plagne spider spectacularly up the mountainside from the town of Aime on the valley floor to the resort-village of Aime 2000 at 2,100m, climaxing with a monumental zigzag of urban residences. Resembling ocean liners, the 50m-high, 250m-long, pyramid-shaped apartment blocks were spawned by the Pompidou government’s controversial Plan Neige (1964-77) that championed the construction of new, fully serviced mountain "towns" on virgin high-altitude sites.

Ledeux's favourite viewpoint across this utopian creation? "Grande Rochette – the 360-degree view from the summit is just amazing" she says. "You can see Courchevel, Méribel and most of the Les Trois Vallées, the Grande Motte [3,453m] peak, the glacier in Tignes and all the slopes in La Plagne." Ledeux recommends taking the Grande Rochette cable car from Plagne Centre any time of day. "It’s always beautiful". Early birds hungry for fresh corduroy can also join the ski patrol at sunrise for first track skiing from the 2,500m-high summit and panoramic views sans le ski crowd.

Website: www.skipass-laplagne.com/en/first-tracks

With 225km of downhill slopes in La Plagne, and another 200km in the neighbouring resorts of Les Arcs and Peisey-Vallandry to form the world’s second-largest interconnected ski area known as Paradiski, Ledeux is hard-pushed to single out just one slope.

"I really love Colorado," she says. "It's just so fun for everyone, beginner to advancer skier. It is fast and offers such a lot of options." From the top of the Colorado chairlift, a continuous 1.5km descent down to Plagne Centre reveals rousing views of Mont Blanc, Europe’s mightiest 4,805m peak and children squealing with delight on the sledge run through the Colorado Canyon. "Under the lift, next to the trees, there are lots of secret small spots with great views to discover," says Ledeux. "Mostly off-piste, but completely accessible and only known by local skiers." 

For advanced riders, Ledeux recommends the largely ungroomed red and black pistes on the partly mogul-pocked Bellecôte glacier. The legendary off-piste terrain on its north face must only be tackled with a guide. More off-piste opportunities and steep gnarly black runs preside in the Biolley ski sector above Aime 2000, where, explains Ledeux, high avalanche risk means slopes like Le Morbleu are only open on sunny, bluebird days. "Le Morbleu is a risk slope," she says. "It is normally just too scary for me, but when the weather and snow conditions are good, it is perfect."

In keeping with the resort’s retro spirit, many dining options are tucked away alongside sports shops, bars and other services in covered galeries or malls – 2.4km snake around Bezançon’s landmark 1971 residences up at Aime 2000.

As the daughter of restauranteurs from the south of France, Ledeux is accustomed to dining well and Chez Marie is a longstanding favourite. Inside the main galerie in Plagne Centre, rustic wooden tables, a toasty wood burner and the occasional vintage ice axe or sheepskin as wall decoration transport hungry skiers into a cosy Alpine "chalet". Alongside pots of fondue Savoyard (mixing equal parts of Beaufort, Gruyère and Comté) tangy raclette melted on burners at the table and other traditional cheese dishes from the region, Marie’s kitchen cooks up sweet crepes and savoury galettes (savoury crepes)made with Breton buckwheat flour.

"I suggest the classic complète with ham, Gruyère cheese, mushrooms and an egg," she says. "For dessert it can only be a crepe with caramel beurre salé (salted butter caramel)."

Website: https://chez-marie-la-plagne.eatbu.com/

Address: Rue de la Gaité, Plagne Centre

Phone: +33 4 79 00 22 12

The sensational speeds that freestyle skiers hit while executing their feather-light tricks is incomparable to the extreme g-force experienced on La Plagne’s adrenalin-charged bobsled track, Piste de Bobsleigh de La Plagne. ‘It’s completely different – the feeling is incredible!" says Ledeux. "It’s definitely the activity to do in La Plagne. It is like being in a very fast car."

A thrilling legacy of the 1992 Albertville Winter Olympics, the 1.5km-long descent in La Roche remains the only bobsled track in France. In the early 19th Century, off-duty miners from the local silver- lead mine – operational from 1810 until 1973 – raced down the mountain on sleds and later created a bobsled club in the hamlet, leading to the site being selected as an Olympic venue.

Outside of high-level competition periods, visitors can rollercoaster down the ice tunnel with 124.5m vertical drop, either alone in a custom-made self-braking bob or in a four-seater bob with a professional driver. The ride lasts little more than one minute. Speed peaks at 120km/h on bend No 10, one of 19 numbered curves crafted to gravity-defying precision by a small team of specialists who water, plane and care for the extraordinary 6,800 sq m of ice.

Website: https://en.la-plagne.com/

Address: Piste de Bobsleigh, La Roche

Ledeux whisks friends visiting La Plagne for the first time straight to Riders Nation, the resort’s superlative snow park accessed by the Arpette chairlift from Plagne Bellecôte then the blue Replat piste. Jumps, rails, kickers and walls of varying difficulty beneath the Bellecôte peak are marked XS to XL, while a "spectator route" allows those watching to move safely between the 36 modules and freestylers flipping in the air.

"I don’t train in the snow park because it's too small for me," explains Ledeux, who was the first female athlete to ever execute her now-signature "double cork 1620" aerial trick and actually spends 60-70% of her intensive training time off the snow, in gyms, on airbags, dry slopes, bikes and hiking trails. "But just for fun? Yeah! It's a really new thing in La Plagne and it has everything. There is a fun slope and a chill zone with sun loungers and big poofs."

For locals, the chill zone is clearly the indisputable crème de la crème of La Plagne picnic spots. "If the weather is good, there is often a barbecue in the chill zone," says Ledeux. "You have a great view from here too, of all the snow park and the surrounding mountains."

Website: https://www.skipass-laplagne.com/en/riders-nation

Address: Le Bijolin 2200 73210 Montchavin-les-Coches

Traditional après-ski drinking, dancing and merrymaking spills across all 11 villages, making the infamous post-ski party in La Plagne something of a diluted, fragmented affair. In her native Plagne Centre, Ledeux recommends Le Brix for its notably chill, laidback vibe.

"Le Brix is a beer bar with a real freestyle spirit," she says. "There is always some freestyle skiing on the TV and everyone is very friendly, supportive of each other." With eight beers on tap and 120-odd bottled labels, the bar is as much about tasting artisan beers brewed by local microbreweries as wolfing down mixed platters of Savoyard charcuterie and cheesefrom farms and dairies in the surrounding Tarantaise Valley. Beers to look out for include the award-winning Lost in the Woods IPA brewed by Sapaudia in Aime, and the aptly named Free Rider bohemian-styled pilsner from Brasserie du Petit St Bernard in Bourg Saint Maurice. Hardcore craft-beer aficionados may also enjoy a fiery shot of eau de vie de bière (beer "brandy"), distilled locally at the artisanal Distillerie de Chantemouche.

Website: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100037207910669

Address: 118 Rue de Refuge, Plagne Centre

Phone: +33 9 52 55 24 47

Instagram: @le_brix_bar

BBC Travel's The SpeciaList is a series of guides to popular and emerging destinations around the world, as seen through the eyes of local experts and tastemakers.

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