The Grand Massif area was born in 1980 by the combination of the Massif and the Flaine bowl resort; the first combined ski passes were sold for the 1981 season. The area provides a tremendous variety of on piste runs, off piste and between piste skiing, scenery and height, providing good skiing in all types of weather and conditions. The area consists of a ridgeline running between the valleys of the River Arve, and the River Giffre, with spurs running off the ridgeline to form the Flaine bowl and the high valleys and ridges of the Massif. In the bestsnow conditions it is possible to ski from the Tete des Saix down to Morillon village at 700m on a choice of runs, and from the top of Flaine down to Sixt at 800m on the classic picturesque 14 km Cascades run.
Resort Development
The resort of les Carroz is administered by the commune of Arâches-La Frasse and the resort of Flaine has been jointly managed by the commune and by Magland, a small town situated in the valley. Compagnie des Alpes, the world's largest ski operator, acquired four resorts in the Grand Massif in mid-December 1997, and in 1998 formed a global alliance with Canadian developer Intrawest. For Flaine this means the addition of 2,700 beds and investments in new lifts, services and infrastructure. Les Carroz remains independent of the Flaine resort management.
For the 2019–2020 season, all Grand Massif resorts are open from Saturday, December 15th 2019 to Sunday, April 12th 2020. Sixt is permanently closed as of December 2018
2018-2020 Development
As of 2018, Sixt has been permanently closed due to lack of snow and lack of profitability to replace the 3 aging 50 year old lifts. The resort announced for a new 6 seater chairlift called Coulouvrier in 2018. This would link 1100m to 2100m, add 4 new pistes, as well as replace the aging 40 year old lifts: Gouilles De Rouge & Lanche. The lift was completed for the 2018 - 2019 ski season. In 2019, the resort has announced for a new 10 seater gondala to replace the current Vercland lift which was built over 45 years ago. The lift is scheduled for the 2020 - 2021 ski season.
Les Carroz
Until the 1930s the village of Les Carroz was a simple farming hamlet with just a few houses. At 1100m altitude, it sits on a large sunny plateau overlooking the Arve Valleysouth east of the town of Cluses, on the road to Flaine. The village is part of the commune of Arâches-La Frasse. Whilst the busy periods are during the ski season and during the French summer holidays, it has a permanent population and is open all year round.
Classic cascades run
This run goes across high mountain, down through the forests and past the cascade waterfalls to Sixt; in good weather and snow conditions it is considered to be a special day trip for those that enjoy the scenery and tranquillity of the mountains. Good access to Cascades is from the top of the long Gers drag lift, but to reach this the black Styx run must be skied first; Styx is open when avalanche conditions permit, but is variable in condition. Otherwise one can reach Cascades via the blue piste off the top of Flaine, but there is some poling to do. At the bottom at Sixt Fer à Cheval, a bus meets skiers to take them back to the cabin lift at Samoëns. There are some quiet and surprisingly interesting runs in Sixt, but as of 2018, is only accessible via ski-touring as the 3 1970 chairlifts were permanetly closed due to aging status and lack of profitability to replace them.
