Super Besse

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

Geography

The winter sports resort of Super Besse is located in the commune of Besse-et-Saint-Anastaise in the "Parc naturel régional des Volcans d'Auvergne" in the department of Puy de Dôme, in Auvergne. Situated approximately 50km from Clermont-Ferrand, it is located at an altitude of 1350 m on the slopes of Puy de Sancy, Puy de la Perdrix and Puy Ferrand.

Facilities

The on piste skiing represents 43km distributed on 27 tracks (5 green, 9 blue, 9 red and 4 black) between 1300 m and 1840 m altitude, on the south-eastern slope of Puy de Sancy, and is served by 21 ski lifts ensuring a maximum flow of 20,000 skiers per hour. There are also 125 km of cross-country skiing.

The resort has:
* 1 funitel with 20 places (new in 2008)
* 4 chair-lifts
* 16 ski-lifts.

The skiable field extends to "Grand Sancy" thanks to the connection to Mont-Dore, located on the northern slope of Puy de Sancy. However this connection is seldom open because of the difficult winter climate (strong winds, frozen snow, fog etc.).

Tour de France

Super-Besse hosted the first mountain finish of the 2008 Tour de France. The finish was at an altitude of 1289 m, whereas in previous years the finish was at 1350 m.

Tour de France stage finishes

Details of climb

Starting from Besse-et-Saint-Anastaise (1040 m.), the climb to Super Besse (1325 m.) is 7.2 km long. Over this distance, the climb is 285 m. (an average of 3.95%). The maximum gradient is 8.4%.

From the valley at Lomprat the total climb is 11 km at 4.7%.

External links

* [http://www.sancy.com/acc-com-a.php?ville=7 Super-Besse website]
* [http://mrambaul.club.fr/villes_etapes/villes_s/super_besse.htm Super-Besse dans le Tour de France (Fr)]