What's a snow “interconnect”?

It's simply a network of ski towns that are linked together to immerse skiers and snowboarders into a full mountain experience and a deep sense of adventure.

With modern gear and snow grooming, it becomes possible for most winter visitors to venture for long distances into the mountains, appreciate all of their beauty with minimum impact on nature and capture memories that will last a lifetime.

It's a re-invention of winter sports for our times, in perfect harmony with nature and its wonders. It offers visitors one convenient single lift ticket using RFID technology.

Les Portes du Soleil - Click on image to enlarge

For those who have never experienced skiing or riding from village to village, it can be very hard to imagine. It's a bit like describing the latest iPhone to someone who only knows a 1950 transistor radio; both can play music, but the former does it better and can handle a host of extra functions...

Interconnects have existed in the Alps since the 70's and have now become the standard of the European winter experience, with France offering the most networked mountain resorts. That's right, just like with high-speed trains, France leads the way with snow interconnects; consider this:

• There are 30 interconnects in the French Alps, including over 100 ski resorts, 1,845 lifts (almost half of what's available in the country)

• They cater to 40 million skier days compared to a 2008 total of 59 million (we had 60.5 million that same year in the USA)

• The offer 875,000 visitor "pillows" (vs. 1.5 million for all French ski resorts)

The largest interconnect is Les Trois Vallées found in the Savoy region of France. Totally seamless (no shuttle required) it regroups 8 resorts, has 205 lifts and covers 55,000 acres. Slope sameness might be the weak point of that large network anchored by Courchevel's fame and luxury. Designed to be linked from the get go, these connected resorts have grown organically over the years and have set the standard.

Just behind the largest seamless interconnect, stands Paradiski, a 45,000 acre behemoth that is the sum of two gigantic clusters of villages constituting the resorts of Les Arcs and La Plagne. One valley-crossing tram links the two areas, but requires visitors to take off their boards during the ride...

Boasting 40,000 acres, Les Portes du Soleil is another network of resorts that straddles the French-Swiss border, equipped with 195 lifts and that unites 7 French and 4 Swiss resorts. Scenic variety and borderless flair is the hallmark of Les Portes du Soleil. Access to one of the villages requires shuttle access, which makes the interconnect not quite as seamless as Les Trois Vallées.

To date, the only linkage inspired from these European behemoths is the Big Sky Resort-Moonlight Basin interconnect, near Bozeman, Montana, that offers 5,512 acres of lift-served skiing and snowboarding.

Although not an interconnect, Dolomiti Superski is a large collection of ski villages using a common lift ticket. Located in Northern Italy, it includes 12 resorts, and 450 lifts. This association of resorts requires road travel between them.