Super Besse

Super Besse is a winter sports resort located in Massif Central, France.
Image:Puy sancy sud.png|360px|thumb|right|Puy de Sancy from the south

Geography

Super Besse located in the commune of Besse-et-Saint-Anastaise. Situated approximately from Clermont-Ferrand, it is located at an altitude of on the slopes of Puy de Sancy, Puy de la Perdrix and Puy Ferrand.

Climate

History

Super Besse was opened on 21 December 1961, under the impetus of mayor Alfred Pipet. The idea for the ski resort came from Germain Gauthier, a cross-country skiing champion from Picherande.

Facilities

The on piste skiing consists of distributed on 27 tracks between altitude, on the south-eastern slope of Puy de Sancy. It contains 21 ski lifts. It also includes of cross-country skiing.
The resort includes:

1 funitel with 20 places
4 chair-lifts
16 ski-lifts.
Other facilities

In July 2013, Super Besse opened the Fantasticable, a zip line. By 2015, this attraction had been used by 30,000 people. The construction of a new adventure course began in April 2018. Named the X'Trem Aventure de la Biche, it was scheduled to open for the Christmas holidays in 2018 and cost €350,000 to build. The course includes twenty zip lines along its length, as well as tunnels, jumps, suspension bridges and via ferrata. The diversification of facilities is intended to attract more summer visitors.

Andros Trophy

Since 1994 and excepting 2021, Super Besse has hosted an annual race within the Andros Trophy championship, an international ice racing challenge run on frozen tracks.

Tour de France

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

Tour de France stage finishes

Details of climb

Starting from Besse-et-Saint-Anastaise, the climb to Super Besse is long. Over this distance, the climb is . The maximum gradient is 8.4%.
From the valley at Lomprat the total climb is at 4.7%.