Snowboarding in Le Grand Bornand

Guide to snowboarding in Grand Bornand Le Grand Bornand may not be the best known resort in the French Alps, but for snowboarders of all ability levels this is far from a downside. Quiet slopes are a benefit for all ability levels, whilst the resort also boasts one of France’s top five snowparks.

Beginners or improvers will appreciate the space on rolling, well groomed pistes; intermediates and advanced boarders will find a wealth of challenging terrain up high and off-piste, without the usual crowds rapidly tracking out all the fresh snow in sight.

Grand Bornand’s lift infrastructure has been regularly upgraded over the past decade, and snowboarders will be pleased to hear that you can easily make your way around all of the resort on chairlifts rather than drags.

Read on to discover our favorite places to board. Fancy joining us? We offer 4 day weekends , 3 day midweeks and week long holidays. La Clusaz is also part of the Aravis ski pass we include in all holidays, so in total there is 220km of boarding to be had here.

Beginner Snowboarding in Le Grand Bornand

Beginners and improvers will find several compact sectors of the resort with a range of runs on which to progress. Take your first steps (and tumbles) on a board on the nursery slope and green runs of the Rosay sector, before progressing to your first chairlifts over the short wide blue runs of Getiers, onto the longer, rolling blues of the Maroly Valley. This sector of piste is over a kilometre wide, which given that the resort is quiet by any standards, makes it a perfect place to practice turns with plenty of space and leeway!

Intermediate Snowboarding in
Le Grand Bornand

Intermediate snowboarding in Grand Bornand For intermediates the blues of Maroly are great fun to speed down whilst practicing carving turns, and one edge of the sector accessed by a fast 6 man lift has some great flowing reds to progress onto. From the top of the resort the steep, fast red runs of Piste 2000 and Tolar can be accessed, which give an impressively long, and thigh-burning challenge, when combined into one descent.

Advanced Snowboarding in Le Grand Bornand

Advanced and off-piste snowboarders can also find a huge amount to keep them happy. Several valleys and tree lined areas in the mid-mountain give better visibility on heavy snow days, whilst the top of the resort gives access to great descents on bluebird days on almost every side of the mountain.

A dedicated black-rated, secured but ungroomed bowl called the Espace Freeride is one of the biggest draws – a narrow traverse at one side is the ’normal’ way in, or for the truly confident the expert entry drops straight into the steepest part of the face, and in high snow years can involve several metres of freefall to kick off your descent through the wide open bowl!

Snow park in Le Grand Bornand

Snowboarding in the snowpark Grand Bornand Le Grand Bornand boasts one of the top five rated snow parks in France. A dedicated double line drag lift gives access to a huge area of well maintained kickers, from tiny to massive, a range of jibs, rails and box features, quarter pipes, barrels, hip jumps, a large half pipe and a fast boardercross run. The snow park is very well laid out, with different ability level areas clearly separated with well defined routes to flow down.