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Villages / Valais / Monthey district / Les Crosets

Les Crosets

Canton of Valais · District: Monthey · No published figure for the locality; the municipality of Val-d'Illiez has 2'149 inhabitants (31.12.2025, provisional FSO figure)
Part of the municipality of Val-d'Illiez
Origin of the name Founding Historical timeline Must-see historical sites Sources and references Nearby villages

Origin of the name Les Crosets

The name of this resort at 1'668 m is also borne by several localities in French-speaking Switzerland, including one on the territory of Vouvry. Its meaning has not been established.[4][7]

Founding of Les Crosets

Les Crosets is one of the two resorts of the municipality of Val-d'Illiez, together with Champoussin. The place opens to skiing with a first ski tow linked to the Champéry-Planachaux cable car. The lifts built in the 1960s, with the link to Avoriaz over the Pas de Chavanette, complete the Champéry network and launch winter tourism in the municipality.[1][2][3][4]

History of Les Crosets

1959. First ski tow, « Crosets 1 », linked to the Champéry-Planachaux cable car.[1][2]

1962. The foehn storms of 1959 and 1962 upset the life of the municipality. Over the following fifteen years about 50 km of forest roads are built, among them the road to Les Crosets.[2]

1962-1967. Construction of the Les Crosets lifts and opening of the link with Avoriaz over the Pas de Chavanette.[2]

1965. The ski area takes the name « Portes du Soleil », borrowed from the pass above Les Crosets.[5]

1967. In June the company Installations Mécaniques Crosets - Portes du Soleil SA starts work on the Mossettes gondola, a first stage towards a link with Morzine-Avoriaz. It is inaugurated in December and replaced in 1994 by a detachable four-seat chairlift.[2][5]

1968. In December the first international ski pass, valid in Champéry, Les Crosets and Avoriaz, goes on sale.[5]

1977. Chairlifts reach the Pointe de l'Au and link Les Crosets with Champoussin.[5]

1998. In October Installations Mécaniques des Crosets Portes du Soleil SA merges with Téléphérique Champéry-Planachaux SA. The new company, Télé Champéry-Crosets Portes du Soleil SA, is based in Val-d'Illiez.[2]

2008. On 6 December an 8-seat chairlift replaces Crosets II and the Crosets I ski tow.[5]

Historic sites in Les Crosets

Col des Portes du Soleil. Pass above Les Crosets whose name the Franco-Swiss ski area adopted.[5]

Sources

  1. Dictionnaire historique de la Suisse, « Val-d'Illiez » (Pascal Dubey, version du 05.03.2014)
  2. Commune de Val-d'Illiez, « Histoire »
  3. Commune de Val-d'Illiez, « Economie »
  4. Commune de Val-d'Illiez, « Géographie »
  5. Passion Portes du Soleil, « Histoire des Portes du Soleil »
  6. Office fédéral de la statistique (OFS), STATPOP, chiffres provisoires au 31.12.2025, via citypopulation.de
  7. geo.admin.ch, recherche de lieux (coordonnées de la station et lieux-dits homonymes)

Other villages near Les Crosets

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