Orcières Merlette 1850
Off season · opens 12 December 20261,850 mVillage altitude
2,725 mTop of the ski area
49 kmAlpine pistes
26Ski lifts
€48.50Adult day pass
Orcières-Merlette, also known as Orcières Merlette 1850, is a ski resort near to Orcières, Hautes-Alpes, in the French Alps. It has been a summit finish for Tour de France stages on multiple occasions, most notably in 1971, when Luis Ocaña beat Eddy Merckx by over eight minutes to take the yellow jersey as leader of the general classification.
Live webcams
All webcams (6) →La Favue · PanoramaSkaping
▶ Watch at the operator ↗
Orcières - Le Drouvetpanoramic
▶ Watch at the operator ↗
Orcières - Arrivée Ts Estarispanoramic
Each player is the camera operator’s own, loaded only when you ask for it — it may set its own trackers.
Official players of the resort, live image. 2 more cameras on the webcam page. Checked on 16 October 2026.
Snow, opening and weather
Snow report →The domain is due to open on 12 December 2026 and close on 11 April 2027. Open pistes and lifts will appear here as soon as the resort publishes its daily report.
Right now at the ORCIERES-NIVOSE station (2,280 m)
Source: Météo-France, ORCIERES-NIVOSE weather station, 2.6 km away. Hourly measurement — not the resort’s own snow report.
Avalanche danger
Good snow from mid-December to mid-April: a long, reliable season. 130 days a winter at 30 cm or more on average, measured over 17 winters at the Météo-France “ORCIERES-NIVOSE” station. Fortnight by fortnight, over 17 measured winters →
3-day forecast
Village 1,850 m · top 2,725 m
Forecast corrected for altitude; fresh snow = forecast total at the top; UV = peak of the day. Beyond 3 days, check the resort’s own report. Source:Open-Meteo.
Seven criteria rated from 1 to 5 stars, in half-stars, from this page's sourced data. A rating is a rank among the 315 French resorts we cover — 5 stars means “among the best in France on this point”, not “perfect”. Nobody types these in.
- SnowCan you count on the snow?4 / 5
Top of the ski area: 2,725 m · Bottom of the pistes: 1,850 m · Days above 30 cm per winter, measured: 130 days · Days above 30 cm, December to March, model: 95%
- Ski areaIs there enough to ski all week?4 / 5
Km of pistes at the resort: 49 km · Lifts: 26 · Balance between piste levels: 95%
- ValueIs the lift pass reasonable for what you get?3 / 5
Adult day pass: €48.50 · Day pass price per km of pistes: €0.99/km · Adult 6-day pass: €267
- Families and beginnersIs it right for children and beginners?3 / 5
Share of green and blue pistes: 52% · Magic carpets: 2 · Sledging runs: 0 · ESF ski school · Ice rink, pool, rail sledge…: 2 · Famille Plus label
- AccessIs it easy to get to?2.5 / 5
Average drive time from 20 major cities: 5 hr 10 · Nearest railway station: 44 min · Station-to-resort shuttles per day: 1 · Nearest airport: 2 hr 40
- Atmosphere and après-skiIs there life in the evening and off the slopes?3 / 5
Bars and pubs: 5 · Nightclubs: 0 · Restaurants: 26 · Upcoming events: 0 · Collective tourist beds: 3,316 — index: what the map and the listings publish
- Luxury and comfortHow upmarket is the resort?1 / 5
5-star hotels: 0 · 4-star hotels: 0 · Share of hotel rooms in 4 and 5 stars: 0% · Spas and saunas: 0 · Jewellers, watchmakers, fashion boutiques: 0 · Adult day pass: €48.50 — index: what the map and the listings publish
“Atmosphere” and “Luxury” are indexes: they count what OpenStreetMap and the event listings publish within 2.5 km (bars, nightclubs, rated hotels, spas, upcoming events), not what you experience there. A zero means “nothing mapped”, not “nothing there”. Sources per criterion: snow (altitudes declared by the resort (ANMSM, official website), STRMTG register, OpenStreetMap; snow depth observed at the Météo-France station, ERA5-Land model) ; ski area (figures declared by the resort (ANMSM, official website), national lift register (STRMTG), OpenStreetMap) ; value (the resort’s official price list) ; families and beginners (OpenStreetMap pistes, price list, ESF ski school, Famille Plus label, OpenStreetMap leisure) ; access (OSRM drive times from 20 cities, SNCF stations, GTFS shuttles, airports) ; atmosphere and après-ski (bars, nightclubs and restaurants within 2.5 km (OpenStreetMap), upcoming events (OpenAgenda), collective tourist beds (INSEE)) ; luxury and comfort (rated hotels within 2.5 km (OpenStreetMap) and by category across the commune (INSEE), spas and boutiques (OpenStreetMap), day pass price).
Lift passes
All prices (child, family, season) →€267 6 days
Price declared by the resort to ANMSM (the French ski resorts’ mayors association) — not the official price list, which prevails. Season not stated by the resort. ANMSM ↗
52 pistes, by level
10 green17 blue18 red7 black
- Skiable vertical
- 875 m
Ski-area figures — village, bottom, top, lifts, pistes by level: ANMSM — figures declared by the resort (16 Oct); km of pistes: OpenStreetMap (1 Oct) . The national register attributes 29 lifts to Orcières Merlette 1850 alone; the figure above comes from the most reliable source.
The ski area in figures
Measured on 7 October 20262 kmLongest piste — Camille Ricou (red), 523 m of vertical
523 mBiggest vertical without changing piste — 2,377 → 1,853 m, 2 km
2,725 mHighest lift top — Gnourou (chairlift), national lift register
27,509Total lift capacity, people per hour — 29 installations: 9 chairlifts, 18 drag lifts, 2 magic carpets
29 yrsAverage age of the lift fleet — oldest 1962, newest 2015
2,425Biggest lift, people per hour — Drouvet 1 (chair-and-gondola lift, 2008)
17 kmTotal length of lifts — 22 lifts mapped
1,215 haSki area boundary (OSM)
651Inhabitants — Orcières (INSEE 05096)
Measured on OpenStreetMap (altitudes: IGN RGE ALTI), not taken from the brochure. The vertical above is that of one piste, not of the whole ski area. Population: INSEE municipal population via geo.api.gouv.fr.
Source: national register of mechanical lifts (STRMTG, CAIRN), fleet as of 1 January 2025 — lifts attributed to Orcières Merlette 1850 only (“ORCIERES MERLETTE”), magic carpets included.
Staying and hiring gear in Orcières Merlette 1850
The partners covering this resort, shown side by side, and the shop to kit out before you leave. Some links earn us a commission — never at the expense of the price or of the data.
Collective accommodation
3,316 bed spaces in tourist residences, holiday villages and hostels
- 5 hotels · 80 rooms (1 × 3★, 2 × 2★)
- 1 holiday village or family centre · 588 bed spaces
- 5 tourist residences and apartment hotels · 2,728 bed spaces
- 1 campsite · 25 pitches
Commune: Orcières · INSEE tourist accommodation survey, 2026, read on 12 September 2026. Collective accommodation only — privately let flats and second homes are not counted. INSEE dataset ↗
Stay & accommodation
Holidu
Holiday-rental comparison site.
Ski Planet
Self-catering flats and all-inclusive ski holidays at the foot of the slopes, since 1999.
Montagne Vacances
Flats and chalets in the resort, at direct prices.
Ski hire
Skiset UK
Skiset’s UK site: ski hire in the resort shops, booked in English, paid in pounds.
Gear & equipment
Absolute Snow
UK ski and snowboard shop — delivers to UK addresses only.
Hardloop
Mountain gear shop: ski touring, avalanche safety, winter clothing.
Beyond skiing at Orcières Merlette 1850
Ice rink
- Patinoire - Orcières Arena 1850 · Orcières · 0.1 km away
- Patinoire d'Orcières Merlette 1850 · OpenStreetMap
Swimming pool
- Piscine - Orcières Arena 1850 · Orcières · 0.1 km away
Paragliding
- JP Parapente 05 · Saint-Jean-Saint-Nicolas · 9 km away
Museum
- Musée de la Casse · Orcières · 3.8 km away
- Musée du moulin - visite de l'annexe · Saint-Jean-Saint-Nicolas · 8.1 km away
Cinema
- Le Poom · OpenStreetMap
Source: DATAtourisme (open data), within 10 km of the resort; places in a large town of the valley are left out. Checked on 12 September 2026. Lines marked OpenStreetMap come from the map, within 3 km — opening times on site. Opening times and prices are the operator’s — check before you go.
Ski schools and practical information
Ski school
ESF Orcieres Merlette
128 instructors
🇬🇧 80 English-speaking instructors — lessons in English available
🗓️ This school sells its lessons online — book ↗
Source: esf.net
Resort contacts and documents
- Tourist office
- Office de Tourisme d'Orcières · 1 rue des Écrins, 05170 · 04 92 55 89 89 · info@orcieres.com (declared by the resort, ANMSM)
- Resort app
- Android (declared by the resort, ANMSM)
In case of accident
112 — the European emergency number, free of charge, triggers mountain rescue. On the pistes, the ski patrol number is printed on the piste map and at lift ticket offices. Piste rescue is charged: check your insurance or take the option sold with the lift pass.
Resort data: declared by Office de Tourisme d'Orcières and distributed by ANMSM · read on 16 October
Off the pistes: off-piste and ski touring
The resorts for off-piste skiing →Ski touring routes described
12 ski touring routes documented within 10 km of Orcières Merlette 1850 — up to 1,558 m of climb.
| Summit and route | Ski grade | Climb | Altitude | Aspect | From resort |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Orcières-Merlette · Roc des Hommes | n/a · PD | n/a | 2,775 m | n/a | 0.2 km |
| Sommet Drouvet · face S par les pistes | 2.1 · E1 · PD- | 830 m | 1,820 → 2,655 m | S | 1.3 km |
| Les Pélissons / Crête des Dents · par le Lac de Jujal, depuis Orcières Merlette | 1.3 · E1 · F | 620 m | 1,850 → 2,468 m | SW | 1.7 km |
| Col de Freissinières · Versant SW | 2.1 · E1 · PD | 1,000 m | 1,850 → 2,787 m | SW | 2.6 km |
The other 8 routes, with grades and vertical →
Not a piste. Neither marked, nor patrolled, nor secured: transceiver, shovel, probe, the day’s avalanche bulletin and, better still, a guide. Ski grade (1.1–5.6) = steepness and commitment; exposure (E1–E4) = consequence of a fall.
Source: Camptocamp.org topo guide (CC BY-SA), routes starting within 10 km, read on 13 October 2026. Descriptions and photos are on Camptocamp; an empty cell is a field nobody has filled in. Camptocamp ski touring routes ↗
Piste map
Open on OpenSnowMap ↗Official piste map
Open the piste map (image, 3.3 MB) ↗
Link to the resort’s own file — a piste map is a copyrighted artwork, we host no copy.
Pistes coloured by level, lifts as lines. The resort’s official map is the reference in season.
Base map © OpenTopoMap (CC-BY-SA) · pistes © OpenSnowMap (CC-BY-SA) · data ©OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).
Getting to Orcières Merlette 1850
From Paris: 8 hr 02 (692 km) by road.
By road
- From Grenoble: 2 hr 14 · 119 km
- From Chambéry: 2 hr 52 · 178 km
- From Marseille: 2 hr 53 · 220 km
- From Valence: 3 hr 10 · 208 km
- From Annecy: 3 hr 22 · 225 km
From other major cities (15)
- From Lyon: 3 hr 26 · 222 km
- From Genève: 3 hr 51 · 263 km
- From Saint-Étienne: 3 hr 59 · 270 km
- From Montpellier: 4 hr 11 · 343 km
- From Nice: 4 hr 12 · 329 km
- From Dijon: 5 hr 18 · 422 km
- From Clermont-Ferrand: 5 hr 19 · 387 km
- From Perpignan: 5 hr 33 · 491 km
- From Besançon: 5 hr 37 · 452 km
- From Toulouse: 6 hr 29 · 577 km
- From Nancy: 7 hr 25 · 633 km
- From Strasbourg: 8 hr 00 · 690 km
- From Paris: 8 hr 02 · 692 km
- From Pau: 8 hr 24 · 767 km
- From Bordeaux: 8 hr 53 · 819 km
Excluding traffic and winter conditions; passes closed in winter are avoided.
By train
Gap station
regional station · then 44 min drive (39 km)
Nearest main station: Grenoble, 2 hr 13 by road.
- From Gap station (stop “IUT - Pôle d'Échanges Reynier”): line 524 — 524 _ ORCIERES-GAP (ZOU ! Proximité), 45 min to the “Orcières Village Mairie” stop — 1 departure a day on weekdays, 1 a day at weekends · first 12:30, last 18:15 · timetable from 15 December 2026 to 31 December 2026 · official timetable ↗
Direct journeys read from the official timetable files published on transport.data.gouv.fr — no connections.
By plane
- Grenoble-Alpes-Isère (GNB): 2 hr 40 by road · 161 km
- Chambéry-Savoie (CMF): 3 hr 04 by road · 186 km
Take me there
These links open the app with Orcières Merlette 1850 as the destination. Your starting point is never sent by us — the app asks you for it, if you agree.
Charging an electric car
4 charging stations within 2 km
9 charging points · up to 25 kW
- Parking Rte des grands Prés_ Mairie Orcières · STATIONS-E · 3 points · 25 kW · 0.1 km
- Brochier Place du Queyrelet · STATIONS-E · 2 points · 24 kW · 0.4 km
- ORCIERES - Merlette, Casse Blanche · EASYCHARGE · 2 points · 22 kW · 0.4 km
- ORCIERES - Parking de la Poste · EASYCHARGE · 2 points · 22 kW · 1.4 km
Freely accessible charge points read from the French national EV charging database (data.gouv.fr ↗, operators’ own declarations), checked on 9 October 2026. Check availability before you leave: the database says what is installed, not what is free tonight.
Road conditions
From 1 November to 31 March, snow chains or winter tyres are compulsory in most mountain areas (French “Loi Montagne II”).
Driving times computed on the OpenStreetMap road network (OSRM), SNCF stations (open data), airports (Wikidata). Indicative, not a timetable: allow extra time in snow.
Introduction from the English Wikipedia article (CC BY-SA).
Frequently asked questions
How high is Orcières Merlette 1850?
Orcières Merlette 1850 sits at 1,850 m at village level, and its ski area rises to 2,725 m.
How many kilometres of pistes does Orcières Merlette 1850 have?
Orcières Merlette 1850 has 49 km of slopes, 26 lifts.
What is the longest piste in Orcières Merlette 1850?
The longest piste is Camille Ricou: 2 km (red run), for 523 m of vertical. Measured on the OpenStreetMap map, segments of the same name and level joined end to end, altitudes from the IGN RGE ALTI terrain model — a resort sometimes advertises a longer run by chaining several pistes.
How high do the lifts go in Orcières Merlette 1850?
The highest lift, Gnourou (chairlift), tops out at 2,725 m. Source: STRMTG, French national register of mechanical lifts (CAIRN database), file dated 1 January 2025.
How many lifts does Orcières Merlette 1850 have, and what is their capacity?
The French national register of mechanical lifts records 29 installations at Orcières Merlette 1850 (9 chairlifts, 18 drag lifts, 2 magic carpets), for an authorised capacity of 27,509 people per hour, of which 2,425 for Drouvet 1 alone. The fleet spans 1962 to 2015, an average age of 29 years. This count covers the resort itself, magic carpets included, not the whole linked ski area — a resort brochure often announces a different number. Source: STRMTG, French national register of mechanical lifts (CAIRN database), file dated 1 January 2025.
How much is a lift pass in Orcières Merlette 1850?
The adult day pass costs €48.50 and the 6-day pass €267 (season not stated by the resort, declared by the resort to ANMSM (the French ski resorts’ mayors association)).
How do I get to Orcières Merlette 1850?
By road, Orcières Merlette 1850 is 2 hr 14 from Grenoble (119 km), excluding traffic and winter conditions. By train, the nearest station is Gap, 44 min by road from the resort. From Gap station, line 524 — 524 _ ORCIERES-GAP (ZOU ! Proximité) reaches the “Orcières Village Mairie” stop in 45 min, 1 departure a day on weekdays, 1 a day at weekends. The nearest airport is Grenoble-Alpes-Isère, 2 hr 40 away.
How long is the drive from Paris to Orcières Merlette 1850?
8 hr 02 for 692 km from central Paris, excluding traffic and winter conditions. Computed on the real road network (OpenStreetMap): allow more on a school-holiday Saturday.
When does Orcières Merlette 1850 open?
According to the dates declared by the resort (ANMSM feed), the resort opens on 12 December 2026 and closes on 11 April 2027 (2026-2027 season).
Is the snow reliable in Orcières Merlette 1850?
Good snow from mid-December to mid-April: a long, reliable season. 130 days a winter at 30 cm or more on average, measured over 17 winters at the Météo-France “ORCIERES-NIVOSE” station. This verdict rests on 17 winters of Météo-France measurements (2007-2026); in season the daily report prevails.
Is Orcières Merlette 1850 good for beginners and families?
52% of the pistes are green or blue: a rather technical area. The resort holds the Famille Plus family label.
Nearby resorts
Full page in French. The French page carries the editorial guides and a few extra readings; every figure, webcam and price on this page is the same one. Orcières Merlette 1850 in French →
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