It was cancelled in 2020 and 2021, and Covid rules put a (slight) dampener on the 2022 party, but this year the Rock The Pistes festival - one of the Alps' premier music-ski crossovers - was back to its no-holds-barred best. With 28,000 festival-goers soaking up the atmosphere at seven on-piste concerts and more than 40 après gigs, featuring the likes of Swedish crooner Eagle Eye Cherry and French DJ Martin Solveig, the pistes of the Portes du Soleil ski area were well and truly rockin’.
I headed to the party for four days this March, eager to sample what is confidently billed as “a unique sensory experience, where pure snow plus pure mountain views plus pure sound equals 100% pure pleasure”. Would this dizzying mêlée of ski hedonism and live music prove to be the perfect combo? Or would the blaring speakers jar excruciatingly against the backdrop of alpine majesty and mountain tranquillity?
There was only one way to find out. I dived headfirst into the ski’n’music mêlée with a whistle-stop, 48-hour itinerary, skiing two resorts (Morzine and Avoriaz) and catching two live performances from Eagle Eye Cherry at Châtel and La P'tite Fumée at Morgins. By first-lift I was carving beautifully-groomed blues and sending it down dreamy reds, the crisp morning alpine air flowing in my hair; by afternoon it was all helmet-nodding, ski-boot-tapping, hands-in-the-air vibing to live music, all played out in front of an ethereal backdrop of jagged, snow-capped peaks.
My favourite gig was Eagle Eye Cherry’s headline set from the main-stage at Plaine Dranse, with the shapely profile of Mont de Grange’s forested lower slopes and snow-brushed summit on the horizon. I almost missed his one big hit Save Tonight, such was the allure of the morning’s skiing on Les Crosets, Les Brochaux and Les Lindarets – a few hours of unadulterated, undiluted, let’s-keep-going-to-the-final-lift kind of fun. But I finally glided long, sweeping turns over the red run at Rochassons and skied straight down to the concert, fashionably late yet just in time to sing “save tonight, and fight the break of dawn, come tomorrow, tomorrow I'll be gone” at the top of my lungs.
The crowd was eclectic and lively, a technicolour sea of vivid ski onesies and glistening googles. Teenagers at the front jumped up and down, moshing like they were at Glastonbury, full of youthful zest and thrill. Older millennials like myself – who remembered the Top 10 hit single from its 1997 release – head-bopped in a haze of nostalgia, half-enjoying the music, half-secretly-grateful for an hour’s respite for our aching quads. And everyone else in-between was loving life too. Parents danced in little circles with their toddles, groups of skiers laughed and joked together, and too-cool-for-school boarders queued at the Jägermeister bar.
In a fleeting moment, this was a distillation of everything special about the Rock The Pistes festival. The raw ingredients in the melting pot were healthy and wholesome: good skiing, good music and beautiful mountains. But, best of all, you could enjoy it in a way that suited you, whether that was chilling out at the back with a plate of gooey Raclette cheese or raving at the front with the party animals. Or, in other words, the Rock The Pistes festival can be whatever you want it to be.
Everything You Need To Know About Rock The Pistes
What is Rock The Pistes?
Rock The Pistes is an annual music festival in the Portes du Soleil ski area on the French-Swiss border. It is the largest music festival in the Alps, with big-name artists, iconic DJs and niche bands performing daytime concerts and après gigs across multiple resorts in both France and Switzerland, at altitudes of 1,600m to 1,950m. Festival-goers can literally ski from one performance to the next, or – if you’re not a skier – you can simply take a gondola or chair lift to each concert.
Originally named Festival des Concerts Sauvages before a rebranding in 2012, the festival first took place in 2011, attended by just 100 fans, but over the past decade has built a loyal following. The 2023 festival, the 11th year of Rock The Pistes, attracted more than 5,000 people at each stage. Previous performers have included Rag ‘n’ Bone Man and Babyshambles.
What type of music is Rock The Pistes?
Rock The Pistes is officially described as a ‘pop-rock’ festival, but in truth the musical offerings are very varied and broad. From electronica and dance to pop acts and rock artists, the line-up is usually diverse with something to suit all tastes. For example, the 2023 festival featured dance DJ Martin Solveig, electro-pop singer Suzane, rock-punk band Giufà and folk act Martin Boyer to name but a few.
Where is Rock The Pistes located?
The Rock The Pistes festival takes place annually in the Portes du Soleil (Gateway to the Sun) ski area, which is located between Lake Geneva and Mont Blanc. Billed as the world’s oldest cross-border ski destination, this humongous ski area has more than 600km of pistes and 196 lifts. It spreads across the neighbouring alpine regions of French Chablais and Swiss Valais, and encompasses two countries and 12 resorts including Avoriaz, Champéry, Les Gets and Morzine.
Each year, one Portes du Soleil resort is named the ‘festival village’ and will host the opening night and various special events. In 2023 this was Morzine. But every year concerts take place across several resorts of the Portes du Soleil ski area, providing an excellent motivation to explore beyond your chalet doorstep.
How to get to Portes du Soleil and Rock The Pistes?
All 12 resorts in the Portes du Soleil ski area can be easily accessed from Geneva Airport, which benefits from low cost, direct flight access from London, Aberdeen, Belfast, Birmingham, Bristol, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool and Manchester. Return flights from London Gatwick or Manchester during the 2023 ski season cost from £43 pp with easyJet.
Once at Geneva Airport, you can take a private transfer to your resort – a return journey to Morzine with Skiidy Gonzales is priced from €110 / £97 pp. Or you can stick to public transport. For Les Gets you can take a train from Geneva Airport to Thonon-les-Bains and then the Y91 bus to the resort, for example, or for Champéry the resort is accessible without the need for a bus – take the train from Geneva Airport to Aigle and then change for Champéry.
When does Rock The Pistes take place?
The Rock The Pistes festival takes place annually in March, lasting one week. The 2023 festival took place from place from 12-18 March. The dates and line-up for the 2024 festival will be announced on the Rock The Pistes website here.
How to buy Rock The Pistes ticket and how much does Rock The Pistes cost?
You don’t need to buy special tickets. Entry to the concerts is 100% free to lift pass holders, meaning revellers can enjoy the freedom to dip in and dip out of the festival as they desire. Fancy a full day of skiing with no music? No problem. Want to rock out to as many gigs as possible? Go for it.
A six-day lift pass for the whole Portes du Soleil area is priced from €292.50 / £256 for adults, €219.40 / £192 for children and €263.30 / £231 for seniors.
Where to stay, where to eat and where to hire ski equipment in Portes du Soleil?
Accommodation, dining and ski hire options are plentiful in all of the Portes du Soleil resorts, so wherever you choose to stay you will be well catered for.
On my trip to Rock The Pistes, I used Morzine as a base and enjoyed a three-night stay at Hotel Le Soly, priced from €165 / £144pp based on two sharing a double room. I hired ski equipment from Mathias Sport, priced from €49 / £43 for one day, for skis, poles and boots (or €135 / £118 for six days), and dined at Le Vaffieu, Bec Jaune Brewery and La Chamade.
All images © Matthieu Vitre RTP 2023 Petite Fumee Presse