Super Besse is a winter sports resort located in

Massif Central The (; oc, Massís Central, ; literally ''"Central Massif"'') is a highland region in south-central France, consisting of mountains and plateaus. It covers about 15% of mainland France. Subject to volcanism that has subsided in the last 10,00 ...

, France.

Geography

Super Besse located in the commune of

Besse-et-Saint-Anastaise Besse-et-Saint-Anastaise (; oc, Bèssa), also known as Besse-en-Chandesse (its official name from April 2, 1961 to July 1, 1973), or Besse (its name before 1961), is a commune in the Puy-de-Dôme department in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes in central F ...

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

Puy-de-Dôme Puy-de-Dôme (; oc, label=Auvergnat, lo Puèi de Doma or ''lo Puèi Domat'') is a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in the centre of France. In 2019, it had a population of 662,152.Auvergne Auvergne (; ; oc, label=Occitan, Auvèrnhe or ) is a former administrative region in central France, comprising the four departments of Allier, Puy-de-Dôme, Cantal and Haute-Loire. Since 1 January 2016, it has been part of the new region Auverg ...

). Situated approximately 50 km from

Clermont-Ferrand Clermont-Ferrand (, ; ; oc, label=Auvergnat (dialect), Auvergnat, Clarmont-Ferrand or Clharmou ; la, Augustonemetum) is a city and Communes of France, commune of France, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes regions of France, region, with a population ...

, it is located at an altitude of 1350 m on the slopes of

Puy de Sancy Puy de Sancy (, ; oc, label=Auvergnat, Puèi de la Crotz , ) is the highest mountain in the Massif Central. It is part of an ancient stratovolcano which has been inactive for about 220,000 years. The northern and southern slopes are used f ...

, Puy de la Perdrix and Puy Ferrand.

Facilities

The on piste skiing consists of 43 km 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

. It contains 21 ski lifts. It also includes 125 km of cross-country skiing. The resort includes: * 1

funitel A funitel is a type of cableway, generally used to transport skiers, although at least one is used to transport finished cars between different areas of a factory. It differs from a standard gondola lift through the use of two arms attached to tw ...

with 20 places (new in 2008) * 4 chair-lifts * 16 ski-lifts.

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

Alejandro Valverde is listed as the winner for the 2008 stage as original stage winner

Riccardo Riccò Riccardo Riccò (born 1 September 1983) is an Italian professional road bicycle racer, who is suspended from all competition until 2024. He was previously ejected from the 2008 Tour de France for doping violations and suspended. Riccò returned ...

was removed from the classification after testing positive for the banned performance enhancer CERA.

Details of climb

Starting from

(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

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