Les Portes du Soleil (French pronunciation: [le pɔʁt dy sɔlɛj], literally "The Doors of the Sun") is a major skisports destination in the Alps, encompassing twelve resorts between Mont Blanc in France and Lake Geneva in Switzerland.

With more than 650 km of marked pistes (claimed by the lift companies; an independent expert measured about 426 km [3]) and about 200 lifts in total,[4] spread over 14 valleys and about 1,036 square kilometres (400 sq mi), Portes du Soleil ranks among the two largest ski areas in the world (the other being Les Trois Vallées).

Almost all of the pistes are connected by lifts – a few marginal towns can be reached only by the free bus services in the area.

1958 – This year saw the construction of the 1-seater chairlift 'Follieuse' in Morgins which offered skiing on the Savolaire plateau which allowed skiers to enjoy the view of the Dents du Midi.

The world's first international lift pass was used after the opening of this link (Access for Avoriaz - Les Crosets - Champery).

1973 – Construction of a two-seater chairlift with bubbles in St Jean d'Aulps which allowed for skiing to start on the Grande Terche area.

1975 – Construction of the chairlift 'Plan de Croix - Le Trochey' which allows access to the Abondance Valley from Torgon.

1999 – The Portes du Soleil is one of the first ski areas in the world to use hands-free lift pass recognition turnstiles.

To this day, it is the most efficient ski lift in the Portes du Soleil with a capacity of 4,000 people per hour.

Most of the resorts have grown around traditional valley villages - only Avoriaz and the very small Les Crosets and Torgon were purposely built during the mid-sixties.

Morzine is the most northern of the French Alpine resorts and benefits from the regional microclimate between Mont Blanc and Lake Geneva.

During the 2014–2015 season new lifts were opened linking Super Chatel with the Linga / Pré La Joux area.

Above Pré la Joux lies the small mountain village of Plaine Dranse in which almost all the houses are turned into restaurants.

The resort of Chatel lies at 1200 m and the highest point of skiing is about 2200 m. Les Gets is an alpine village situated on the Col des Gets between Morzine and Taninges at an altitude of 1172m with a year-round population of around 1,300 people.

Morgins forms part of the Swiss section of Portes du Soleil and is not as crowded as the larger resorts in France.

As one of the lower resorts with shallow runs, Morgins is among the first to close connections to other areas when the snow melts in spring.

It is a 150 years old village which was among the initiating towns when the Portes du Soleil ski area was established in the late Sixties.

There are no pistes leading all the way down to Champery due in part to the fact that the mountainside above the town is heavily exposed to snow.

The Champéry – Planachaux cable-car (125 passengers) and the 6-seater chairlift in Grand-Paradis are fast connections into the Portes du Soleil system.

[citation needed] It provides the connection on skis from La Chapelle d'Abondance to most other Portes du Soleil resorts.

Situated at an altitude of 1600m, the village and resort of Champoussin is on a plateau facing the Dents du Midi.

Champoussin is located between the Swiss ski resorts of Les Crosets and Morgins which are also in the Portes du Soleil.

The ski area of the town is named 'l’Espace Roc d'Enfer', after the nearby mountain that dominates the landscape, and is linked with the neighbouring resort of La Chèvrerie (Bellevaux).