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French ski resorts lie about size of their pistes

February 10, 2016

Many ski resorts in France exaggerated the length of their slopes. According to a study, some ski resorts in Switzerland also inflated their piste length.

https://p.dw.com/p/1HsdG
The Three Valleys ski resort in Courchevel. Copyright: picture-alliance/dpa/RIA Nowosti/V. Levitin
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/RIA Nowosti/V. Levitin

Of the 56 biggest ski areas in France, 38 exaggerated the length of their pistes by more than 30 percent, while three resorts said their slopes were more than double their actual size, the study found.

According to the annual study into the world's largest ski areas by German consulting firm Montenius Consult, of 62 Swiss resorts, 33 amplified their piste length.

Still, France's Alpine Savoie region is home to the world's two biggest skiing domains: The Trois Vallees area is the biggest, with a combined 542 kilometers (337 miles) of ski slopes, while the Paradiski zone comes in at 402 kilometers.

Third on the list was the American ski area of Park City/Deer Valley in Utah. A new gondola connection gives it 360 kilometers of slopes.

Montenius Consult spent hundreds of hours measuring pistes to compile the report.

le/eg (afp)