Flaine
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Flaine is the name of a ski area located in the Haute Savoie region of the French Alps, and part of linked Grand Massif domain. Flaine is linked to Samöens, Morillon, Les Carroz and Sixt, with 267km of piste in total. It featured the first 8 seater high speed chairlift, called GRAND VANS, and snow cannons to be installed in France.
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[edit] History
The site was discovered by two Swiss friends who ski toured in the area. They contacted Éric Boissonnas, part of the wealthy Schlumberger banking family with a view to developing a ski resort.
In the summer of 1959 planning started under the direction of town planner Laurent Chappis and Denis Pradelle, both of whom had worked on Courchevel. Flaine was to form part of a third generation of French ski areas constructed ex nihilo. Impressed by the modernist school of architecture, Eric Boissonnas asked former Bauhaus architect Marcel Breuer to give an original look to the station. The result are striking, modern concrete buildings that still manages to blend into the stark cliffs of the Flaine bowl. The buildings are interspersed with sculptures by Jean Dubuffet, Véra Cardot, Pablo Picasso and Victor Vasarely. The architecture at Flaine divides opinion amongst winter sports fans but the site has been classed by the French government as being of significant architectural interest.
The construction of the resort was not without difficulty. Chappis and Pradelle left after Breuer joined the team, Boissonnas fell out with the government official in charge with planning France's winter sports industry and when local landowners found out that Boissonnas was a billionaire they threatened to block the building of the access road to the resort until they received adequate compensation. The result was a three year delay and huge cost overruns and lead to greater state involvement in French ski resort development. By the time the resort was opened on the 17th January 1969 it had probably cost Boissonnas around $250 million from his personal fortune at 2005 prices.
[edit] Skiing
There is skiing for most in Flaine, although the resort enjoys a particular reputation as a beginner's paradise.
Classic runs include Gers (Black); le Diamant Noir (black); Serpentine (red) and L'Aujon (blue). The liaisons ski runs which take you out of Flaine, take you to Samöens, Morillon and Les Carroz via the run Dolomie (blue) and to the smaller ski resort Sixt via the long, and quite flat run, Les Cascades (blue).
The predominantly north-facing runs are very reliable: package companies offering "snow guarantees" often import punters from other French resorts when their pistes are all-a-melting.
[edit] Evolution and environmental issues
Since summer 2004, the exploitation company started heavy earth work. As many french ski resorts, they are reprofiling the slopes, grinding the limestone pavement and filling the clefts, on the border of a natural reserve of "Désert de Platé"[1]. These activities demonstrate that 40 years after the creation of this resort, the environmental and aesthetic concerns that prevailed at that time are overceeded by financial considerations
[edit] Night Life
The two most popular bars in Flaine are perhaps "le Diamant Noir" and "le White" - known as "the White Grouse" before being bought out by a pair of French entrepreneurs in 2004. The Diamant Noir, in the Foret, attracts a young, European crowd, while the bottom-level White retains a British flavour, sometimes attracting package tour groups on benders.
Also popular is the more upmarket Perdrix Noir - run by the husband-and-wife partnership which used to manage the White Grouse. And the new bowling alley bar is increasingly popular with its late opening hours.
[edit] Crime
The crime associated with larger resorts was notable by its absence in Flaine until recently. Over the last few years however there have been increasing reports of burglaries, muggings and minor assaults. After repeated appeals to the local government by business owners, there now appears to be a daily police presence in the resort.
