VERBIER
THE RESORT
Verbier, is located just an hour and a half east of Geneva by car and lies in Canton of Valais in Switzerland. It occupies a sunny shelf above the Rhône at the centre of the vast Four Valleys ski area.
Switzerland is the home of the chalet and Verbier has plenty of ‘chocolate boxes’ strewn across its exclusive mountainside. making it a very picturesque resort indeed.
The resort is renowned as being a snow sure resort, and just in case not quite enough natural snow falls, there is a vast snowmaking operation that certainly helps out during lean times to enable you to ski right into the village. Further up there is certainly no shortage of snow, especially on the steep slopes of the Mont Fort glacier at 3,330m.
There are no fewer than 94 lifts in the Four Valleys, all of which are accessed via an electronic hands-free pass system. If however you want to show your love for all things Swiss, you can buy a Swatch Snowpass watch and we will charge it up with your lift pass so no need to even carry a card around with you.
There is an extensive range of over 410km of pistes, spread far and wide and an even greater amount of mouth watering off-piste terrain awaits you here.
Verbier has an excellent snowpark at Les Chaux, with all the rails, jumps and kickers you need to get pretty high. What makes this area legendary however is the freeriding - skiing/boarding with access in places to near-vertical slope’s.
The world's best gather every year on the north face of the Bec des Rosses to compete on the world famous world freeride tour ‘ The O'Neill Xtreme’.
At the end of the day, our gap year students can enjoy the Verbier Sports Centre which is the perfect place to soothe all those minor aches and pains acquired from a good day n the slopes. With a heated pool, sauna, turkish bath, and solarium, you will soon forget all those aches and be ready for the challenges of the next day.
Verbier's nightlife is almost as famous as its skiing. You can't miss Offshore, and Pete’s pink VW parked inside the restaurant, this is certainly a favourite for a quick bite to eat or beer. From here it's a short walk to the legendary Pub Mont Fort, before descending into town to the Casbah nightclub.
Many excursions will be organised as optional trips for our gap year students, including Lavey out door health spa which is a must for everybody who wants to enjoy an evening off the mountain, along with trips to neighbouring resorts, an excursion go-karting or a shopping trip to Geneva followed by a live ice hockey match watching one of Switzerlands leading teams ‘Geneva Servette’, or if we are fortunate, maybe even a match watching the national squad of Switzerland in action.
VERBIER KEYFACTS
Average snowfall – 3.5m
Village height – 1500m
Terrain – 400km
Lifts – 95
Terrain parks 2
Distance to and from the Airport – 1.5 hours drive from Geneva