Resort news

Whilst being a well-known winter ski resort, Les Carroz has a thriving village community all year round. Sitting on a mountain plateau at 1140m, surrounded by majestic mountains, this typical Savoyard village with many cosy bars and restaurants offers a really warm welcome to its many visitors


Geographical position
Les Carroz (1140m- 2500m) is an authentic skiing village, part of the Grand Massif in the heart of the Haute Savoie Alps, 55km from Chamonix and 40 km from Geneva.  At 2 hrs from Lyon and 5 hrs from Paris you have access to the 265 km of ski slopes that make up the Grand Massif with Mont-Blanc providing the backdrop!



Les Carroz : its history

The nomenclature of Les Carroz is a source of much intrigue and controversy, two possible meanings are that it may signify stony place (from celtis:  kaer) or stone; rock (from pre-Indo-European Mediterranean:  kal/kar).  Equally strange are the origins of the nicknames which have been given to the inhabitants of the community: "Catelus" for those in Arâches; "Angorins" for those in la Frasse.

The ski resort of Les Carroz first existed in 1936, but it was in Arâches, the administrative centre, where the earliest signs of village life are to be found and where the inhabitants earned a living off the land by raising animals (many of the pastures being situated around Les Carroz), from forestry as well as several periods of anthracite mining.  
Before the advent of quartz watches, clock and watch-making also contributed to the growth of Arâches.  The small workshops hitherto involved in the manufacture of little clockwork parts then turned their sights on precision engineering (the manufacture of parts of varying sizes and materials used in all sectors of industry) until transport became uneconomical and the workshops moved down to the valley.  
The Arve valley thus evolved into an important area of innovative industrial and technological knowledge.

The inauguration of the first draglift in Les Carroz was celebrated on 29th January 1939 linking les Moulins to la Kédeuse in 14 minutes.  It ran through a "wide corridor carved in the middle of the forest sheltering it from the winds" and was 1700 m long, 600m difference in altitude and transported 180 people per hour!  
In 1980, the number of lifts increased to 13.
  
1980 also saw the creation of the Grand Massif: the first link having opened between Flaine and Samoens in 1977, followed in 1978 between Les Carroz and Morillon and finally in 1980 joining up Flaine, Les Carroz and Morillon, although it wasn't until the following year that the first Grand Massif lift pass was issued.  
1994 saw the advent of the first man-made snow in Les Carroz.