Fact or fiction? Just before dawn on a moonless winter night sometime in the 1940’s, a group of smugglers carrying a shipment of apricot brandy from the Valais were on the run from French border patrol officers. During the chase, the smugglers overturned their sledge, spilling their precious cargo into the snow! Today, the busy ski slope between Les Crosets and Les Lindarets is called ‘Abricotine’, and legend has it that every now and then you can even catch a tempting whiff of the alcohol that soaked into the hillsides on that fateful night.

Land of character and home of champions… In the foothills of the Dents du Midi, winter sports are a way of life, which may be why we’ve raised more than our fair share of elite athletes – like Didier Défago, downhill gold medallist at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics; Yannick Ecoeur, ski mountaineering champion and winner of the legendary Patrouille des Glaciers ski race in 2010; and Camillia Berra who represented Switzerland in the slopestyle ski events at the Sochi Olympics. A new generation of talented young athletes are poised to continue the winning tradition and keep Les Portes du Soleil at the vanguard of sports and leisure destinations! 

The Indomitable Turche of Les Gets… The Turche drag lift is 75 years old and one-of-a-kind! All the lifts in Les Gets-Morzine belong to the SaGets lift company, except for the charmingly vintage Turche, which has been privately owned and operated since Georges Combépine built it in 1946. Today, Christelle, Georges’ granddaughter, faithfully soldiers on, keeping the lift running, the music playing, and this famous Haute-Savoie institution open for business.

A 250 year-old chapel… Near the Auberge de La Bourri sits a tiny, unassuming structure with a long and illustrious history. Built more than 250 years ago, the Chapelle de Recon has been a refuge for countless generations of weary pilgrims and faithful locals seeking shelter or solace from the harsh conditions of alpine life. Even Abbé Pierre, founder of the Emmaus Community, stopped here for a moment of quiet meditation and prayer. His visit, on September 2^nd, 2003, spurred a movement to renovate the chapel and host an annual mass every July.

The Swiss Wall… Don’t let the French flags flying at the top of the run fool you! Lest anyone be mistaken, the Swiss Wall is indisputably Swiss. The Chavanette Pass marks the border between the two countries, but the Wall itself, one of the world’s most challenging black slopes – thanks to its unforgiving, ungroomed 70% pitch of massive moguls – is pure Swiss alpine adrenaline.

As the crow flies… Did you know that the first Franco-Swiss lifts were named for birds? In 1956, a whole nine years before the creation of Les Portes du Soleil ski area, the Coq (Rooster) and Corbeau (Crow) ski lifts from Châtel were already winging skiers across the border. The Coq lift was truly international, with its departure station in France and its arrival station in Switzerland! Quite a feat, when you think that just 15 years earlier, border crossings were strictly controlled on both sides!

The Swiss pass that became a legend… The inspired project to create the world’s first international ski area was dreamed up in the early 1960’s by the famous skier Jean Vuarnet, who was in charge of creating the resort of Avoriaz at the time. In 1964, a model of the ‘Haute Route des Familles’ was presented at the Swiss National Exhibition in Lausanne. The following year, in a brainstorming session in Grand Paradis, Gustave Trombert proposed a more media-friendly name inspired by a pass near Les Crosets and Les Portes du Soleil was born.