SLIDE ZONES

Sectors:  Glacier/Toura
An inspired & laudable project by Les 2 Alpes' piste management team, harnessing the steep chutes & gullies in the rocky narrow strip of sub-glacial terrain just below the Glacier 3200 level, opening them up as in-bounds freeride features.

These unique ‘Slide Zones’ features are great fun, and all visitors of good intermediate standard and above should definitely add them to their ‘must-do’ list!

The zones are accessed via the Serre Pallas and the Brêche pistes, and are lift-served by the Jandri Express 2 cable car (56) and the Glaciers chairlift (42) based at the Toura 2600 sector interchange; the chairlift facilitates the quickest possible ‘gear-on’ circuits.

All of the zones exit on to the Jandri piste, which leads to Toura 2600.

The four distinct zones are: Couloir; Canyons; Cascades; and Corniches.

Couloir
The first of the Slide Zones, accessed via the Serre Pallas run.  Sited at an altitude of 3100 m (10,168 ft) and consisting of a single straight chute with a 35-degree slope angle, 150 m (164 yd) in length; designed to be tackled at full tilt.

Canyons
Accessed from the Serre Pallas run, and sited just past the entrance for the ‘Couloir’, at an altitude of 3000 m (9840 ft).  Formed of two parallel freeform Border/SkierCross courses: the skier's lefthand one being the steepest; the other to the skier's right has a couple of meandering variations and also contains a ‘Corniche’ module (see below).

Cascades
Accessed from the Brêche run, reached via the Serre Pallas route.  Sited at an altitude of 2800 m (9184 ft), and consisting of two parallel runs with at least five in-line drop-offs; great for duels with a buddy.

Corniches
There are two Corniche modules: the first is incorporated into the ‘Canyons’ Zone, off the upper Serre Pallas run;  the second is a separate zone in its own right, sited at an altitude of 2800 m (9184 ft) and accessed via the Brêche run.
The Corniches are basically big wedge-shaped ledges, presenting riders with transverse-sloping drop-offs ranging from 1–5 m (3¼–16½ ft) in height.