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Huge Investment in the Les Arcs Ski Area

€36.2 million in new projects, ski lifts & inter-resort links

featured in Video reports Author Ellie Mahoney, Les Arcs Editor Updated

A huge investment of 36.2 million euros has been spent in Les Arcs making the resort more family friendly, more modern and with lots more activities for you to enjoy.

The highlight of the investment is a new high tech Snow and leisure Zone called 'Mille 8'. Those of you that may have visited Arc 1800 last winter will recall the opening of Mille 8 and enjoyed some of its facilities.

This year more has been added to the zone including the new Lodge Restaurant and a new footpath for winter walkers called Les Sapins. There will also be a new chair lift (Le Carreley) to add to the 2 new gondolas from last year - an inter-urban link (Le Dahu) to the upper residences of Arc 1800 from the resort centre and Les Villards gondola which gives access to the majority of the Mille 8 area. There is also a footbridge linking to the aqua-leisure centre making access easier.

What's on off this year at Mille 8 I hear you ask? Well the whole area has been designed to offer modern and technologically advanced facilities for families, skiers and snowboarders, all with great links by ski lift and on foot. During the day and for apres-ski or early evening, you can choose from a whole range of activities on the slopes or opt for a more leisurely trip to the pool and spa area.

From the terrace of the new Lodge restaurant, parents can watch their children having fun in the beginners areas or see them honing their skills in the freestyle zone. The freestyle zone includes a boarder-cross style course and various modules to practise on with cameras and a multi-media centre where you can watch your exploits played back at the end of each run. Challenge your friends on the tobaggan run which is lit up in different colours and has music and sound along its course.

Les Cabanes is an easy, winding piste works its way down through the forest in the centre of Mille 8. In the evenings it also has soft lighting to guide you along and there's a large wooden xylophone for the kids to play on with their ski poles.

If you like a spot of winter walking, a new addition for this winter is Les Sapins, which starts from the Lodge restaurant and winds its way through the forest. There are places to stop and watch the toboggan run and the freestyle areas, and the views are pretty good from here too.

If taking things at a more leisurely pace is more your cup of tea, then the new Aqua-leisure centre called 'La Piscine' is a 3800m2 area dedicated to relaxation and wellbeing. It includes whirlpools, bubble massage beds, a waterfall, turkish baths, saunas, water slides and a gym. This facility is also open during the summer season.

The high tech aspect of this project is the connectivity you'll experience as well as the various sounds and light systems throughout the area. Mille 8 has its own smartphone app where you will be able check out the weather forecast, see what events are going in the area that week and what the pool temperature is currently. Anyone tagging posts and photos with #Mille8 will be shared on the big screens dotted around the area and on their social media channels. Various section of pistes, the toboggan run and walking trails have had light and sound systems installed to add to your experience.

Talking of events, if the above list of things to do simply isn't enough (?!) then you can take part in some of the additional activities that will be happening on a weekly basis. Try running or Nordic walking with a guide, 'Snowga' - yoga on the snow (mats provided!), tea and toasted marshmallows in one of the cabins in the woods, tea with penguins for the little ones (not real penguins, but a friendly mascot), zumba, team toboggan challenges, Japanese style snowball fights, ski or boarder cross relay races, 'astro-hikes' where you can watch shooting stars above the resort and various concerts and light shows at key times like New Year.

Improving further on the current lift and access system, another new lift will be completed for this winter. Le Carreley chair lift is being installed at the time of writing and it will give users faster access to the Col des Frettes and from then on, the other villages of Les Arcs. The video below shows how they've installed 10 new pylons for the lift in a record setting time of just 2 hours 45 minutes! Not only that but they've also been taking away parts of the old Grand Renard chairlift at the same time.

This enormous investment has been made jointly by the ski lift operator ADS (part of the Compagnie des Alpes) and the local commune of Les Arcs / Bourg St Maurice. It demonstrates the resort's positive response to visitor feedback and holidaymakers needs, and their understanding of the need to continually develop their ski area. It's going to be a great draw for families and people wanting that little bit extra to do on their ski holiday.

The official inauguration of Mille 8 is going to take place on 16th February 2016. So if you're here at that time, expect a lot of fireworks!

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Location

Map of the surrounding area