The dates and line-up for the 2024 festival will be announced online here. Entry to Rock The Pistes is free to lift pass holders. James Forrest was a guest of the Portes du Soleil and Morzine tourist boards, staying at Hotel Le Soly in Morzine. My helmet was noddin’, my ski boots were tappin’ and the pistes of Portes du Soleil were most definitely rockin’. I can’t really pretend I liked the music and I certainly didn’t know any of the songs, but somehow I was still having an epic time. Behind the stage was the imposing form of the Dents du Midi massif-a razor-sharp, seven-pronged spine of alpine brutality and verticality-and all the while the charismatic band built their sound into an ethereal, energetic frenzy. The crowd was eclectic, moving as one, pulsing up and down-a sea of technicolour onesies and snow goggles shimmering in the afternoon sun. Maybe Im just out of touch with todays music, but music from the 80s and 90s was an amazing melting pot of styles and artists. Nenahs song sampled this song thats not very well known but was pretty influential at the time. I wondered whether the lead singer had stumbled across a music shop with a ‘buy one didgeridoo get a free flute’ offer.ĭespite my scathing internal monologue, I couldn’t help but be swept along in the sheer drama of it all. Both songs were an unforgettable part of the zeitgeist at the time, its unfortunate that neither of them went much beyond a one-hit wonder. Described somewhat confusingly as a mix of psytrance and cyberpunk, it was an otherworldly fusion of tribal didgeridoos, metronomic bass, pounding drums, high-octane lyrics and (most absurdly) classical flute solos. The music at my next gig was less of a sing along. In the nick of time I hurtled down Rochassons at full tilt, threw off my skis and elbowed my way into the crowd to belt out “ save tonight, a nd fight the break of dawn, c ome tomorrow, t omorrow I'll be gone ” with the nostalgic fervour of an ageing Millennial who remembers the song’s release back in 1997.7 I got so involved in the exploring myself, carving the beautifully-groomed blues and dreamy reds of Les Crosets, Les Brochaux and Les Lindarets, that I almost missed Swedish crooner Eagle Eye Cherry’s headline set from Plaine Dranse. From Morzine-Avoriaz in French Chablais to Champéry in the Swiss canton of Valais, you can catch two gigs in two countries in one day, exploring large swathes of Portes du Soleil’s sprawling 600km of pistes as you go. This unifies the skiing and the music beautifully. Acts perform on pop-up stages high in the mountains, ranging in altitude from 1,600m to 1,950m. Party-goers can almost-but-not-quite ski straight into the mosh pit, head-bopping and arm-waving before their boots are even unclipped. Back for its 11 th year in 2023, the festival sees 28,000 festival-goers soaking up the atmosphere at seven on-piste concerts and more than 40 après gigs. With its clever mix of succulent ingredients – billed in the brash, pink-coloured marketing blurb as “ pure snow + pure mountain views + pure sound” – the organisation has cooked-up something quite special. The master-chef behind this culinary triumph is the Portes du Soleil tourist board.
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