St Jean de Sixt is situated 1 mile from the popular ski resorts of La Clusaz and Le Grand Bornand . The area is a popular skiing destination for French and Swiss visitors and more so the British, who are discovering the delights of and excellent skiing in the Aravis.
Both of these ski towns have become top ski resorts, due to consistently good snow records and variety of terrain in the surrounding mountains, with skiing possible from an altitude of 1600m to 2600m.
St Jean de Sixt sits at an altitude of 1000m and has a micro-climate of its own, with snow falling throughout the winter, allowing guests to enjoy snow shoeing in the forest trails around the chalet.
La Clusaz and Le Grand Bornand Skiers have a number of interlinked ski areas with modernized lifts and well-groomed pistes ranging from beautiful tree-lined slopes, wide undulating pistes dotted with farms and churches and challenging black and red runs for skiers and snowboarders alike.
The pistes are generally quiet outside of high season, making January, March and April a perfect time to visit. Both resorts hold their snow very well and provide good conditions all season until April.
Beginners are well served with nursery slopes at La Clusaz, just in the village and at the top of Beauregard. Lessons are available from a number of ski schools including ESF
Grand Bornand has an extensive nursery slope area at the top of the Rosay cable car and play areas for children. There are also some very good gently- sloped blue runs.
For the intermediate skier, there are some lovely blue runs from Beauregard into La Clusaz, with L’Aguille a great run. La Balme , especially with fresh snow, offers great off-piste skiing together with blue and red runs.
Advanced skiers/boarders can chose L’Etale, which has a steep red or La Balme which is said to have the best snow, not to mention its amazing views in the resort due to its altitude (2600m) and orientation.
Grand Bornand has a couple of challenging black runs at the top of Lachat providing access to Piste 2000, a long winding red.
The villages of La Clusaz, Grand Bornand and St Jean de Sixt offer a fabulous location for cross-country (ski de fond) skiing. There is a strong heritage of cross country in this region, with 2 biathlon stadiums. The region has some of the premium resorts for cross country with 70kms of marked trails in La Clusaz where most of the cross country skiing takes place at Lac des Confins (1450m) on a wide mountain col and the Beauregard plateau (1650m).
Le Grand Bornand has 2 main ski de fond areas – the vallee du Bouchet where you can ski alongside a mountain stream and Le Chinaillon with steeper slopes.
There are dedicated cross country ski schools with individual and group lessons in the various disciplines of ski de fond, ski randonee and telemark.
For those not wishing to ski or snowboard, snow shoeing is a must. The Beauregard plateau offers a flat sector of some 8kms of walks with beautiful views over the Aravis mountains.
For the more energetic, the walk over Danay (steep in some bits) is easy to access with the 360 degree view over the mountains one of the best in the area and well worth the effort.
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