Tignes
An eye-watering 300km of marked pistes, covering all abilities, and providing huge scope for freeriding in some of the most varied mountain terrain. Advanced skiers and boarders are particularly well served with loads of red and black runs, natural features and, conditions depending, some of the best powder runs to be found. Tignes also has the Grande Motte glacier, so year-round skiing is available and offers some great park riding throughout the summer months, backed up by plenty of afternoon activities in town. The resort is serviced very well by an efficient lift system and the five 'satellites' that make up the resort, all linked by free bus. With 129 slopes and 97 lifts in total and 2 well-maintained and varied snowparks complete with features ranging from fairly basic rails and small table kickers right through to gnarly combos, massive take-offs and obligatory superpipe, Tignes is a true shredders resort.

Les Deux Alpes
Boasting fantastic snow due to the height of the resort as well as having the largest glacier (3568m) in Europe, “Les Doosh” is another freerider’s paradise offering steeps, shoots, drops and every other natural feature imaginable. Or riders can head over to the ‘Nitro’ park where they will find a mammoth selection of well-placed, well-maintained graded kickers, booters, gaps and rail combos and which, being a glacier, offers unrivalled summer riding too. Beginners and intermediates have plenty of choice, but should be aware that the level of skiing sometimes isn't accurate on the piste map and this confusion can spill over to the grading of some of the park features too, so always look before you leap (literally!). “Les Doosh” has a great range of shops and restaurants, plus varied and lively nightlife (start off with a rodeo bull session in the saloon bar but make sure you get to Avalanche nightclub before the queue gets silly) and so its a good resort for those who want both good skiing and après-ski. Also, during the summer months when the sun gets too hot to ride anymore, activities range from Luging (highly recommended), archery, golf, swimming, white water rafting…you name it, it can be done and many activities are included in the lift pass you bought for riding!

Lake Louise
One word sums up Lake Louise – EPIC! Thousands of acres of terrain, some endless powder chutes and tree runs and hidden bowls waiting to surprise you when you come round the end of a ridge….and that’s just on the frontside. There’s a whole backside to this mountain as well! Louise has some of the finest freeriding powder shredding on offer anywhere in the world. Period. You can ride at this resort all week and not hit the same run twice, you can get lost in trees for hours, drop cliffs and rocks till the cows come home and, if you’re up for a little hike, can find untouched, thigh-deep powder runs with minimal effort. Particular favourites were any of the 7 (yes, 7) Eagle Ridges, the Rock Garden, Out of Bounds Bowl or, if just to wake up in the morning, a straight run down Speed Gully. Then, if all this jaw-dropping choice wasn’t getting you quite excited, the Telus Terrain Park is open from end-December right through to the end of season in May. Designed, built, shaped and maintained by a dedicated park team of pro- and semi-pro riders, this immaculately presented selection of straight, kinked, gapped and curved rails, kickers ranging from small rollers up to 50foot table-tops, step-ups, wall ride, huge superpipe…the list goes on. And unlike some European parks, this isn’t just a one-hit-run-through-then-sit-on-a-chairlift-for-5-minutes deal, oh no. Depending whether you take the beginner, intermediate or pro line through the park you are guaranteed at least a four or five hit run with the take-off and tables varying on each, challenging even the most fearless shredder. Lake Louise’s only downfall is that the town itself is very small with almost zero nightlife and only one shop, making nearby Banff THE place to stay. The only drawback there is the 45 minute bus ride both to and from the hill but hey, when the riding’s this good, who cares?

Les Arcs
One of the most extensive and varied ski areas of the world as Les Arcs and La Plagne are now linked by cable car to create the Paradiski. Well over 50% of the 120 or so runs are blue or red graded so intermediate skiers/boarders have plenty of choice but, if you know where to look, some fairly challenging freeride terrain can be found higher up. Boarders have much to thank Les Arcs for as it was one of the first European resorts to pick up on the sport in the '80s and now they have a dedicated park complete with half-pipe, various kickers and jumps, as well as a boardercross course and decent selection of rails. However, some of these aren’t maintained as thoroughly as they could be and its not unusual to find get-ons and take-offs changing in level and angle depending on what the weather was doing previously. There are several towns that make up Les Arcs, with Arc 1800 the biggest and most popular and having most of the shops, restaurants and clubs. With 58 lifts servicing 118 slopes and around 200km of piste, Les Arcs is probably the more family-orientated resort here but with lots of off-piste and challenging black runs will not disappoint the die-hard extremists too.


Val D Isere
The resort of Val is one of the most recognised names in Europe and, having linked up with Tignes, shares the latter’s awesome freeride opportunities. But if you get bored with all that high-speed powder cruising, check out Val’s Winterpark offering a variety of features all divided into 7 clearly coloured and marked zones. Designed and built by pro riders and serviced by 2 chairlifts, 2 draglifts and a ropetow, Winterpark has everything from a nice, easy blue line (up to 5m tables, “perfect for beginners”), harder red line, gnarly black line (6m to 10m table to hip to 14m table to wall ride) and right up to a very intimidating pro line. There is also a dedicated rail line with anything from small boxes, big boxes, kinked combos, C’s and a Rainbow, a Half Pipe and full Boardercross course. Just don’t ask about the Snowblade Bat. In fact, just don’t go in on snowblades at all.