EXTENSIVE AND CHALLENGING, WITH SOME OF THE FINEST OFF-PISTE POSSIBILITIES IN THE WORLD

Verbier is a part of the Four Valleys ski area which boasts 410 kilometres of pistes and 100 lifts. There is plenty here to amuse most grades of skier, but Verbier itself has a special appeal to advanced skiers on account of its enormous number of challenging off-piste routes. Those off-piste runs, such as Chassoure-Tortin and Col des Gentianes-Tortin, which are classified as "ski tour" on the piste map are generally safe to ski without a guide, but those marked as "high mountain tour", such as Vallon d'Arbi and Col des Mines, as well as unmarked routes like Stairway to Heaven and Hidden Valley, should be skied only with a qualified guide.

Verbier's principal lift station is at Medran at the top end of the village. From here a six-person telecabin runs up to Les Ruinettes (2,200m), the start of the Funispace, a state-of-the-art lift with 30-person stand-up telecabins (with extra cabins creating 25% extra capacity added in 2003) that runs up to Attelas (2,723m).

In 2007, a high-speed 6-seater opened the other side of Les Ruinettes up to Attelas. As well as improving speed of access, this new lift has enabled the removal of a couple of old lifts, which in turn has led to dramatic piste-widening work.

On the far side of Attelas there is some gentle cruising skiing around Lac des Vaux, as well as chair-lift access to the notorious Chassoure-Tortin run, which is always steep, often heavily mogulled but glorious in fresh powder. (The most difficult part is getting the nerve to stop traversing around the top of the bowl and start heading downhill - after the first two or three turns it gets much easier.)

On the other side of Attelas to Lac des Vaux, there are several other chair-lifts and runs leading to Les Ruinettes, Carrefour and on back down to resort level. A combined six-seater chair/gondola runs from Les Ruinettes to the bottom of La Chaux - but skiers have to disembark at the top of La Chaux. The La Chaux sector itself, offers a few gentle pistes as well as being the starting point for Le Jumbo, a 150-person cable car that runs up to Col des Gentianes (2,950m), from where a further, smaller cable car runs up to the top of Mont Fort (3,330m), the highest point in Verbier's ski area. In really good snow years it is technically possible to ski all the way from the top of Mont Fort right down to the valley village of Le Chable (821m) - one of the longest lift-served vertical drops in the Alps. It's a fun "been there, done that" thing to do, but the last part is somewhat tricky and involves negotiating terraces of vines and fruit trees. (Incidentally the telecabin from Le Chable via Medran to Les Ruinettes was renewed in 2002 and passenger capacity increased from 700 to 1,100 people per hour. This has further decreased the risk of peak hour queues at Medran.)

If you can get down to Tortin, then you connect into the Four Valleys circuit, which connects smaller resorts such as Siviez, Nendaz and Thyon-Veyssonaz. Despite sounding larger, it should be noted that that is not nearly as big or exciting as the Trois Vallees circuit in France. If you do chose to ski the Four Valleys area, be sure to allow adequate time to return to the Verbier sector — taking a taxi back home is very expensive.

Verbier's other main ski area is Savoleyres. A telecabin rises up to 2,354m and there are some easy pistes on the south-facing (Verbier) side, as well as runs on the north-facing side down to the village of La Tzoumaz. There is often good powder to be found on the north-facing side and it is a good place to ski on poor visibility days as there are plenty of trees to provide orientation points. New for 2008 was an 8-person gondola which connects Mayen de Riddes in La Tzoumaz with the top of Savolyeres and doubles the previous capacity. The back side of Savolyeres also boasts a 10km toboggan run.

Another possibility on powder days — or when the slopes of Verbier are particularly crowded — is the separate satellite ski area of Bruson, which is located just beyond Le Chable and is reached by bus or car from Verbier. Bruson has great on- and off-piste skiing, a good number of trees and is included in the Verbier lift pass. Big developments in the Bruson area are planned to begin before the end of the decade with a planned development by Intrawest in the pipeline.

Projects for 2009/10 include a connection from Les Esserts to Medran and also a new connection with a moving carpet from Carrefour to a lift above Le Rouge which will take you up to Savolyeres - a much needed new link.