Destination Avoriaz
Avoriaz
Avoriaz is a French mountain resort in the heart of the Portes du Soleil. It is located in the territory of the commune of Morzine. It is easily accessible from either Thonon at Lake Geneva or Cluses station on the A40 motorway between Geneva and Chamonix. Either way one follows the D902, Route des Grandes Alpes, to Morzine and then the D338 running from Morzine to Avoriaz. Snow chains are often necessary. Avoriaz is built on a shelf high above the town of Morzine, which is among the pioneering towns of skiing with its first lifts dating back to the early 1930s. Today Avoriaz is one of the major French ski destinations catering for all standards of skiing and ranks among the top snowboarding destinations of the world. Apart from snow-based pursuits, Avoriaz is also a centre for trekking, golf, mountain biking and other outdoor activities during the summer. Cars are forbidden in Avoriaz. The resort is designed to be fully skiable. Other transport around the resort includes horse-drawn sleighs and snowcats during winter.
History
Around 1965, former French downhill olympic champion Jean Vuarnet was given the task of developing the skiing of Morzine and came up with the first plan of a new skiing area on the north side of the Hauts Fort mountain and the Fornet-bowl. Later, lift connections were made to the east and south, creating a vast linked skiing area covering France and Switzerland. Avoriaz as a resort is the brainchild of Gerard Bremont, the son of a leading French industrialist whom Jean Vuarnet asked to invest in the project. Gerard Bremont - at the time a notable member of the French jetset - engaged 3 newly educated and highly talented young architects to design the resort and within a few years Avoriaz and especially the Hotel Dromont and its restaurant and Discothèque was proclaimed the "Saint Tropez de Neige" - the centre of jet-set skiing. Today Avoriaz is no longer a fashionable destination as such but more of a mainstream winter-resort with predominantly self-catering guests staying under more modest conditions.
Architecture
Avoriaz is unique amongst the 1960s purpose built ski resorts. Gerard Bremont hired young architects Jacques Labro, Jean-Jacques Orzoni and Jean-Marc Roques to design the resort. Loosely inspired by some of the ideas of famous Swiss architect Le Corbusier, they went on to design a unique resort - high rise buildings (12- 16 floors) with acute angles and a close similarity to the mountains that surrounded them - the result being that seen from afar Avoriaz blends in very well with the mountains. The Dromonts hotel was designed by Labro and was the first building finished in March 1966. The buildings are almost entirely covered in red cedar wood. The 3 original architects of Avoriaz have all won awards for their work such as the Académie des Beaux Arts, the Equerre d'Argent and silver medal from the Architectural Académie.
/source: Wikipedia/
How to drive to Avoriaz
From Geneva to Avoiraz
Last 13 km stretch from Morzine up to Avoiraz
Video: Driving up to Avoiraz from Morzine (accelerated 1:50 min video)
