Super Besse is a winter sports resort located in Massif Central, France.

Geography

Super Besse located in the commune of

Besse-et-Saint-Anastaise Besse-et-Saint-Anastaise (; ), also known as Besse-en-Chandesse (its official name from 2 April 1961 to 1 July 1973), or Besse (its name before 1961), is a Communes of France, commune in the Puy-de-Dôme Departments of France, department in Auverg ...

(''Parc naturel régional des volcans d'Auvergne'' in the department of

Puy-de-Dôme Puy-de-Dôme (; or ''lo Puèi Domat'') is a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in the centre of France. In 2021, it had a population of 662,285.Auvergne Auvergne (; ; or ) is a cultural region in central France. As of 2016 Auvergne is no longer an administrative division of France. It is generally regarded as conterminous with the land area of the historical Province of Auvergne, which was dis ...

). Situated approximately from

Clermont-Ferrand Clermont-Ferrand (, , ; or simply ; ) is a city and Communes of France, commune of France, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes regions of France, region, with a population of 147,284 (2020). Its metropolitan area () had 504,157 inhabitants at the 2018 ...

, it is located at an altitude of on the slopes of

Puy de Sancy Puy de Sancy (, ; , ) is the highest mountain in the Massif Central, in Puy-de-Dôme departement of south central France. It is part of an ancient stratovolcano which has been inactive for about 220,000 years. The northern and southe ...

, Puy de la Perdrix and Puy Ferrand.

Climate

History

Super Besse was opened on 21 December 1961, under the impetus of mayor Alfred Pipet. The idea for the ski resort came from Germain Gauthier, a cross-country skiing champion from Picherande.

Facilities

The on piste skiing consists of distributed on 27 tracks (5 green, 9 blue, 9 red and 4 black) between altitude, on the south-eastern slope of

. It contains 21 ski lifts. It also includes of cross-country skiing. The resort includes: * 1 funitel with 20 places (new in 2008) * 4 chair-lifts * 16 ski-lifts.

Other facilities

In July 2013, Super Besse opened the ''Fantasticable'', a

zip line A zip-line, zip line, zip-wire, flying fox, or death slide''Who Really Benefits from Tourism'', Publ. Equations, Karnataka, India, 2010. Working Papers Series. "Canopy Tourism"page 37/ref>Jacques Marais, Lisa De Speville, ''Adventure Racing'', ...

. By 2015, this attraction had been used by 30,000 people. The construction of a new adventure course began in April 2018. Named the ''X'Trem Aventure de la Biche'', it was scheduled to open for the Christmas holidays in 2018 and cost €350,000 to build. The course includes twenty zip lines along its length, as well as tunnels, jumps, suspension bridges and

via ferrata A via ferrata (Italian language, Italian for "iron path", plural ''vie ferrate'' or in English ''via ferratas'') is a protected climbing route found in the Alps and certain other Alpine locations. The protection includes steel fixtures such as ...

. The diversification of facilities is intended to attract more summer visitors.

Andros Trophy

Since 1994 and excepting 2021, Super Besse has hosted an annual race within the Andros Trophy championship, an international

ice racing Ice racing is a form of racing that uses cars, motorcycles, snowmobiles, all-terrain vehicles, or other motorized vehicles. Ice racing takes place on frozen lakes or rivers, or on groomed frozen lots. As cold weather is a requirement for natural ...

challenge run on frozen tracks.

Tour de France

Super Besse hosted the first mountain finish of the

2008 Tour de France The 2008 Tour de France was the 95th running of Tour de France, the race. The event took place from 5 to 27 July. Starting in the French city of Brest, France, Brest, the tour entered Italy on the 15th stage and returned to France during the 16t ...

. The finish was at an altitude of , whereas in previous years the finish was at .

Tour de France stage finishes

Details of climb

Starting from

(), the climb to Super Besse () is long. Over this distance, the climb is (an average of 3.95%). The maximum gradient is 8.4%. From the valley at Lomprat the total climb is at 4.7%.

Notes

References

External links

{{commonscat
Super-Besse website
Tourist attractions in Puy-de-Dôme Ski areas and resorts in France Skiing in the Massif Central Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region articles needing translation from French Wikipedia