Laax's population is 3,575.

Bruno Cathomas was born on October 11, 1965, in Laax, Switzerland.

Below is the answer for the question "What are the 50 largest ski resorts?" The answer is the same except that you take away Whistler-Blackcomb in position 33 (and Vail from position 71 in the bonus list in the bottom).

That's an increadibly hard question to answer picking the 50 largest ski resort but I think the list is more or less complete. The top 20 is most certainly the 20 biggest, in the positions after that there might be some resorts that I missed. There are so many of them in that size...

So here is the 50 (there's actually a draw in the positions around 50 so the list has more than 50 resorts) largest linked (piste or lift) ski areas in the world, their piste length in km and country. For the top 19 is also the number of lifts and transport capacity per hour shown.

1. Les 3 Vallées 600 196 242.000 France

2. Paradiski 425 187 210.000 France

3. Via Lattea 400 78 110.000 Italy & France

4. Sella ronda 330 155 240.000 Italy, which is a part of Dolomiti Superski

5. Les Sybelles 310 71 80.000 France

6. 4 Vallées 300 64 65.000 Switzerland

7. Matterhorn ski paradise 300 58 99.500 Switzerland & Italy

8. Espace Killy 300 94 136.000 France

9. Avoriaz 270, 79, 100.000 France & Switzerland, which is part of Portes du Soleil

10. Skiwelt 263 91 138.000 Austria

11. Alpe d´Huez 250 81 102.600 France

12. Serre Chevalier 250 68 71.000 France

13. Silvretta Arena 226 41 83.065 Austria & Switzerland

14. Megève 225 63 38.000 (without Combloux part) France

15. Le Grand Massif 220 63 75.000 France

16. Grand Valira 205 66 100.700 Andorra

17. Les Deux Alpes 203 54 66.000 France

18. Saalbach 200 55 75.000 Austria

19. Serfaus/Fiss/Ladis 196 40 87.250 Austria

20. Espace Diamant 185 France

21. Risoul/Vars 185 France

22. Val d'Allos 180 France

23. Hochfuegen/Hochzillertal 181 Austria

24. Laax 177 Switzerland

25. Espace San Bernardo 160 France & Italy

26. Lenzerheide 155 Switzerland

27. Silvretta Montafon 152 Austria

28. Valmorel 150 France

29. Valloire/Valmeinier 150 France

30. Morzine 150 (without the Avoriaz part) France

31. Zillertal arena 150 Austria

32. Madonna di Campiglio 150 Italy

33. Whistler-Blackcomb 150 Canada

34. Sölden 146 Austria

35. Mayrhofen 140 Austria

36. Kitzbühel 140 Austria

37. Davos/Klosters 140 Switzerland

38. Crans-Montana 140 Switzerland

39. Auron 135 France

40. La Clusaz 130 France

41. St Anton 130 Austria

42. Mondolé 130 Italy

43. Monterosa ski 130 Italy

44. Val Cenis 125 France

45. Espace Villard-Corrençon 125 France

46. Les Contamines 120 France

47. Isola2000 120 France

48. Obersaxen/Mundaun 120 Switzerland

49. Corvatsch 116 Switzerland

50. Schladming 110 Austria

51. Nassfeld 110 Austria

52. Obergurgl/Hochgurgl 110 Austria

53. Grossglockner resort 110 Austria

54. Lech/Zürs 110 Austria

55. Kleine Scheidegg 110 Switzerland

Ski routes are not included in the table above. If these are included are the piste lengths: 4 Vallées 370 (including the ski route connected La Tzoumaz sector), Matterhorn ski paradise 350, Skiwelt 279, Silvretta arena 238, Serfaus/Fiss/Ladis 204, Hochfuegen/Hochzillertal 188, Laax 220, Sölden 148, Kitzbühel 160, Davos/Klosters 150 and Schladming 117.

For some of these are the "standard" lift pass comprising a bigger area. This list shows the largest (or in some cases several) piste or lift interconnected parts of each ski resort. For most of these are the piste lengths only given for several systems together. In those cases are the piste lengths given calculated from the total piste lengths making them good estimates rather than exact measures. This is true for Sella ronda, 4 Vallées, Matterhorn ski paradise, Avoriaz, Megève, Le Grand Massif, Val d'Allos, Morzine, Zillertal arena, Mayrhofen, Kitzbühel, Davos/Klosters, St. Anton, Schladming and Lech/Zürs.

There is also a number of resorts where the "standard" lift pass give you access to a piste length fitting into this list, but they are actually divided into 2 or more separate systems where each subsystem is too small to fit into the list. Examples of this is Chamonix, Cortina, Zell am See/Kaprun, Gasteinertal and Salzburger Sportwelt.

One more problem associated with making a list of the 50 largest ski resort is that it's very hard to come across piste length data for northamerican resorts. Whistler-Blackcomb does certainly hit the top 50 list and perhaps also Vail. I've tried to figure out the piste lenght for Whistler Blackcomb in several ways:

1. I've gone through the Blackcomb piste map, piste by piste, and compared the piste with the length of the lift beside it and recalculated for the whole resorts giving 160 km.

2. If you take the average of the ratios between the piste length and the number of lifts for the 18 largest resorts and multiply it with the number of lifts at Whistler-Blackcomb you get a piste length of 137 km.

4. The data for Whistler-Blackcomb (area, vertical, no of lifts and transport capacity) is almost identical to Espace San Bernardo with it's 150 km of piste.

Concluding from this Whistler-Blackcomb is estimated to 150 km and by just comparing the Whistler-Blackcomb area with the Vail area, Vail would then be 100 km of piste and not hitting the top 50-list.

An even harder question is the Japanese resorts. The largest linked resort is Mt Naeba which do have 47 lifts (quite a number of systems with fewer lifts are in the list) but the area is much smaller than for example Whistler-Blackcomb so I doubt that it will hit the list. I have not been able to find sufficient information (at least in non-Japanese) to make even a rough estimate of the piste length.

Of course a country comparison would be nice after seeing the list. It looks like this:

1. France 22,5

2. Austria 15,5

3. Switzerland 9,5

4. Italy 5,5

5. Andorra 1

6. Canada 1

Noteworthy is that Andorra beats all countries in the world except the "big four". The Grand Valira system actually extends from Pas de la Casa at the French border in the east to Encamp which is situated in the middle of the country!

If you have read this far, here comes a bonus with some additional resorts:

56. Damüls/Mellau/Faschina 109 Austria

57. Kronplatz 109 Italy

58. Saanenmöser/St. Stephan 105 Switzerland

59. Bad Kleinkirchheim 103 Austria

60. Domaine de Tourmalet 100 France

61. Saint Lary 100 France

62. Dévoluy 100 France

63. Orciéres 100 France

64. Les Orres 100 France

65. Obertauern 100 Austria

66. Villars/Gryon/Diablerets 100 Switzerland

67. St. Moritz 100 Switzerland

68. Saas-Fee 100 Switzerland

69. Courmayeur 100 Italy

70. Passo Tonale 100 Italy

71. Vail 100 USA

72. Aletsch Arena 99 Switzerland

73. Torgon 90 Switzerland & France

74. Chamrousse 90 France

75. Le Grand Bornand 90 France

76. Valberg/Beuil 90 France

77. Badgastein 90 Austria

78. Flachau 90 Austria

79. Dienten 90 Austria

80. Stubaier Gletscher 90 Austria

81. Adelboden 90 Switzerland

That's an increadibly hard question to answer picking the 50 largest ski resort but I think the list is more or less complete. The top 20 is most certainly the 20 biggest, in the positions after that there might be some resorts that I missed. There are so many of them in that size...

So here is the 50 (there's actually a draw in the positions around 50 so the list has more than 50 resorts) largest linked (piste or lift) ski areas in the world, their piste length in km and country. For the top 19 is also the number of lifts and transport capacity per hour shown.

1. Les 3 Vallées 600 196 242.000 France

2. Paradiski 425 187 210.000 France

3. Via Lattea 400 78 110.000 Italy & France

4. Sella ronda 330 155 240.000 Italy, which is a part of Dolomiti Superski

5. Les Sybelles 310 71 80.000 France

6. 4 Vallées 300 64 65.000 Switzerland

7. Matterhorn ski paradise 300 58 99.500 Switzerland & Italy

8. Espace Killy 300 94 136.000 France

9. Avoriaz 270, 79, 100.000 France & Switzerland, which is part of Portes du Soleil

10. Skiwelt 263 91 138.000 Austria

11. Alpe d´Huez 250 81 102.600 France

12. Serre Chevalier 250 68 71.000 France

13. Silvretta Arena 226 41 83.065 Austria & Switzerland

14. Megève 225 63 38.000 (without Combloux part) France

15. Le Grand Massif 220 63 75.000 France

16. Grand Valira 205 66 100.700 Andorra

17. Les Deux Alpes 203 54 66.000 France

18. Saalbach 200 55 75.000 Austria

19. Serfaus/Fiss/Ladis 196 40 87.250 Austria

20. Espace Diamant 185 France

21. Risoul/Vars 185 France

22. Val d'Allos 180 France

23. Hochfuegen/Hochzillertal 181 Austria

24. Laax 177 Switzerland

25. Espace San Bernardo 160 France & Italy

26. Lenzerheide 155 Switzerland

27. Silvretta Montafon 152 Austria

28. Valmorel 150 France

29. Valloire/Valmeinier 150 France

30. Morzine 150 (without the Avoriaz part) France

31. Zillertal arena 150 Austria

32. Madonna di Campiglio 150 Italy

33. Whistler-Blackcomb 150 Canada

34. Sölden 146 Austria

35. Mayrhofen 140 Austria

36. Kitzbühel 140 Austria

37. Davos/Klosters 140 Switzerland

38. Crans-Montana 140 Switzerland

39. Auron 135 France

40. La Clusaz 130 France

41. St Anton 130 Austria

42. Mondolé 130 Italy

43. Monterosa ski 130 Italy

44. Val Cenis 125 France

45. Espace Villard-Corrençon 125 France

46. Les Contamines 120 France

47. Isola2000 120 France

48. Obersaxen/Mundaun 120 Switzerland

49. Corvatsch 116 Switzerland

50. Schladming 110 Austria

51. Nassfeld 110 Austria

52. Obergurgl/Hochgurgl 110 Austria

53. Grossglockner resort 110 Austria

54. Lech/Zürs 110 Austria

55. Kleine Scheidegg 110 Switzerland

Ski routes are not included in the table above. If these are included are the piste lengths: 4 Vallées 370 (including the ski route connected La Tzoumaz sector), Matterhorn ski paradise 350, Skiwelt 279, Silvretta arena 238, Serfaus/Fiss/Ladis 204, Hochfuegen/Hochzillertal 188, Laax 220, Sölden 148, Kitzbühel 160, Davos/Klosters 150 and Schladming 117.

For some of these are the "standard" lift pass comprising a bigger area. This list shows the largest (or in some cases several) piste or lift interconnected parts of each ski resort. For most of these are the piste lengths only given for several systems together. In those cases are the piste lengths given calculated from the total piste lengths making them good estimates rather than exact measures. This is true for Sella ronda, 4 Vallées, Matterhorn ski paradise, Avoriaz, Megève, Le Grand Massif, Val d'Allos, Morzine, Zillertal arena, Mayrhofen, Kitzbühel, Davos/Klosters, St. Anton, Schladming and Lech/Zürs.

There is also a number of resorts where the "standard" lift pass give you access to a piste length fitting into this list, but they are actually divided into 2 or more separate systems where each subsystem is too small to fit into the list. Examples of this is Chamonix, Cortina, Zell am See/Kaprun, Gasteinertal and Salzburger Sportwelt.

One more problem associated with making a list of the 50 largest ski resort is that it's very hard to come across piste length data for northamerican resorts. Whistler-Blackcomb does certainly hit the top 50 list and perhaps also Vail. I've tried to figure out the piste lenght for Whistler Blackcomb in several ways:

1. I've gone through the Blackcomb piste map, piste by piste, and compared the piste with the length of the lift beside it and recalculated for the whole resorts giving 160 km.

2. If you take the average of the ratios between the piste length and the number of lifts for the 18 largest resorts and multiply it with the number of lifts at Whistler-Blackcomb you get a piste length of 137 km.

4. The data for Whistler-Blackcomb (area, vertical, no of lifts and transport capacity) is almost identical to Espace San Bernardo with it's 150 km of piste.

Concluding from this Whistler-Blackcomb is estimated to 150 km and by just comparing the Whistler-Blackcomb area with the Vail area, Vail would then be 100 km of piste and not hitting the top 50-list.

An even harder question is the Japanese resorts. The largest linked resort is Mt Naeba which do have 47 lifts (quite a number of systems with fewer lifts are in the list) but the area is much smaller than for example Whistler-Blackcomb so I doubt that it will hit the list. I have not been able to find sufficient information (at least in non-Japanese) to make even a rough estimate of the piste length.

Of course a country comparison would be nice after seeing the list. It looks like this:

1. France 22,5

2. Austria 15,5

3. Switzerland 9,5

4. Italy 5,5

5. Andorra 1

6. Canada 1

Noteworthy is that Andorra beats all countries in the world except the "big four". The Grand Valira system actually extends from Pas de la Casa at the French border in the east to Encamp which is situated in the middle of the country!

If you have read this far, here comes a bonus with some additional resorts:

56. Damüls/Mellau/Faschina 109 Austria

57. Kronplatz 109 Italy

58. Saanenmöser/St. Stephan 105 Switzerland

59. Bad Kleinkirchheim 103 Austria

60. Domaine de Tourmalet 100 France

61. Saint Lary 100 France

62. Dévoluy 100 France

63. Orciéres 100 France

64. Les Orres 100 France

65. Obertauern 100 Austria

66. Villars/Gryon/Diablerets 100 Switzerland

67. St. Moritz 100 Switzerland

68. Saas-Fee 100 Switzerland

69. Courmayeur 100 Italy

70. Passo Tonale 100 Italy

71. Vail 100 USA

72. Aletsch Arena 99 Switzerland

73. Torgon 90 Switzerland & France

74. Chamrousse 90 France

75. Le Grand Bornand 90 France

76. Valberg/Beuil 90 France

77. Badgastein 90 Austria

78. Flachau 90 Austria

79. Dienten 90 Austria

80. Stubaier Gletscher 90 Austria

81. Adelboden 90 Switzerland

If I missed some resorts please improve or post me a message.