Lac Bleu & Jean Blanc absolutely mint this morning – could be January

Fantastic April Skiing continues…

Fresh April Snow!

Powder Rules Apply… On a Saturday changeover day of course…

Always worth a look – those out first Friday morning were rewarded with some fresh snow – and more on the way!

Some lovely powder first thing – not deep but surprisingly light!

Saulire Cable Car to be designated a “Premium Lift”

UPDATE: YES (of course) it was an April Fool…..

The Saulire Cable Car is to be designated a “Premium Lift” at additional cost when it reopens.

With a ski concierge service, luxury seating, free hot drinks, masseuse, glove & boot warmers, video screens, free internet access and phone charging facilities there will be an additional charge to use the lift when it reopens – this is expected to be around €50 extra on a 6 day pass (additional charges on season pass prices have not yet been discussed but is expected to be significant).

The 120 person capacity Saulire Cable Car was seriously damaged when undergoing bi-annual safety stress testing prior to this season and has remained closed ever since. 

Costs for the repair are estimated at €9m and re-opening is not expected until the Summer of 2023. 

In an effort to claw back some revenue Courchevel 1850 has decided on making this a “Premium Lift” with additional charges as it is used by pedestrians as well as skiers. 

Instructors, S3V staff, ski patrol & emergency services workers, club des sports members, elected officials, competitors, journalists, tourist office / commune employees and town  hall workers will be exempt from the charges. 

The cable car was turned into a luxury bedroom for an Airbnb prize back in 2015 so the winners could stay overnight suspended at 2700m. The story reported in the Daily Mail here

We understand opposing voices were heard at the consultation forum meeting last night but the overriding view was this would be good publicity for Courchevel 1850 and as they’ve done without this lift for a season, skiers are used to not using it. 

Well off clientele (especially those on foot) will benefit from the access to mountain restaurants and if successful the replacement Chenus lift is also expected to be branded as a “Premium Lift” with additional charges.

This is all despite promises that Courchevel would put more focus on sporting events and skiing rather than elite clients and palace type hotels (increasingly relevant with the impacts of war in Ukraine and the Russian clientele base).

On Wednesday this week Courchevel gained yet another Michelin Star restaurant as Chef Wahid Sylvestre was awarded a star after only 3 months of opening the Restaurant Sylvestre at the eye wateringly expensive (only 9 suites) Hôtel Les Grandes Alpes in 1850.

This is the 9th Michelin Star restaurant in the Courchevel ski area (including Le Farçon in La Tania and Azimut in Le Praz). 

Jean Blanc Perfect This Morning – Certainly Piste du Jour

Escapaders Continue – Tony, David, Wayne and Paddy

Tony, David, Wayne and Paddy from Sussex attempted the challenge for the first time in very mixed conditions on 20 March 2022. Freeze thaw meant awful ice in the morning and slush in the afternoon. Their comprehensive report below…

We started our skiing adventure in Courchevel so Foret was our first run. 

We had worked out that we needed to average around 22mph and ski top to bottom without stopping on most runs. We theorised that we should finish at about 4.20pm with forty minutes to spare… our last lift was forecast to close at 5pm.

However things never go as planned, the lifts opened 6 minutes late and Wayne’s ski binding came loose on the second run so we lost another precious few minutes.  

At 10.30am we stopped for a bathroom break in Meribel and slipped another 3 minutes behind. A water stop in Les Menuires made us doubt that we were ever going to complete this task in a day, putting us 15 minutes behind schedule.

The Chasse run was closed, and we ended up skiing down and coming back up and lost about 10 minutes tackling Bruyeres twice! We had to go all the way up Bruyeres 2 to VT and ski all the way through VT so this added 20 minutes to our route – a big deviation from the original plan.

If you can ski off piste from the back of La Massee its much quicker to get to Plan de L’Eau and would have saved 20 to 30 minutes of ski time but this is virtually impossible in March slush so added delays to our route.

Whilst in Orelle we encountered another issue as the Piste was closed for ten minutes whilst the Rescue Helicopter landed…. by this stage we had slipped further back and were now 34 minutes behind…. 

According to the times that we copied from the web site we had just six minutes to spare… we were really tight for time and there was no margin for any further errors or delays for the next three hours. We knew at this stage that only a faultless performance for the rest of the day would lead to success!

To make matters worse, the cloud came in and we lost the Sun….. we were skiing in flat light and were very worried that our attempt was over….

Fortunately, although we had lost the sun at this point, the cloud base was still high so we were still able to maintain a constant speed. We switched from sunglasses to goggles and pressed on with our quest!

It was a huge relief to make it back into the Courchevel Valley, at about 3.50pm we hit Pas Du Lac with zero queues. A few lifts to go and an hour before lift closures it was looking like we would be successful so we dropped the pace to avoid any injuries or accidents and finished at 4.38pm with 22 minutes to spare so we went up Swiss and did a final run from the top back into Courchevel.

I know tradition says to have a pint in the Ski Lodge to celebrate but we were so hungry and dehydrated that we waited until lunch time the next day to have that celebratory pint in the Ski Lodge. 

It was a tough challenge, we didn’t stop for food; minimising down time by eating and drinking on lifts, skiing top to bottom. We were blessed with quiet March slopes and the later lift closing.  However, the Spring slush on the low runs really slows the pace down.  The icy mornings  and the afternoon slush meant that conditions weren’t optimal but lift queues were kind so there were pros and cons. 

Anybody else thinking of doing this, what did we learn? If we had carried water, we could have saved ten minutes.  We should have checked run closures on the online apps as we could have saved another ten minutes.  You really burn a lot of calories and need to carry more food than we did as we were all starving by the end of the day. Another helpful hint would be to learn the route as there isn’t any time for map reading or stopping at junctions. Whilst we made it with 22 minutes to spare over 34 lifts/runs that is about 40 seconds a lift slower and we would have failed….  

Also 4.38pm at the last up lift works in March but if this was January again we would have failed. This is an extremely hard challenge;  it takes fitness, stamina, and sheer determination to finish. We were averaging ski speeds of approximately 25 mph in the morning and this, of course, drops with tiredness and Spring lush at the end of the day. I think I came in at 21mph as my average speed for the day which was a little behind my target of 22mph. 

Saulire lift  was closed for the season  and we took Vizelle instead. 

Col lift was closed, however we did three extra lifts; Swiss, Plan de Mains, and Brynne Two to make up for this lift closure. 

Good luck to anybody else that tries it.

Tony, Paddy, David and Wayne.

What’s this all about?

The 3 Valleys Escapade was the lift company promotion of visiting (originally in 2006) 14 points across the Three Valleys and gaining a certificate & badge over the period of your holiday – then we had the idea of doing it in a day…

It’s probably the toughest day skiing ever for a recreational skier but lots of people have got involved over the years so we feature them in our Escapade in a Day Hall of Fame

This is no longer being promoted by The 3 Valleys but we’ll still stick you in the Hall of Fame if you complete it – send a Ski Tracks or similar trace in plus a pic of your group.

What started out as a late night “is it possible?” discussion became a challenge the following week – the history and our original route are here

Originally punch cards had to be stamped at each check point until electronic passes arrived – they could then be checked by the lift company. The original Escapade was 30 lifts, 13000m vertical and 70km and 2016 peaked with 34 lifts, 17000m vertical (twice the height of Everest) and around 100km total distance. It became a little less for 2017 and 2018 saw the use of the Roc de Tougne fast new chair instead of the drag plus we lost the Montaulever drag altogether. In 2019 we gained the new faster Legends chair out of Méribel and then an improvement in speed on the Mont Vallon lift too. 

It’s certainly getting easier with the improvement in lift infrastructure and we should make it harder for 2023 – there’s now the new Pointe de La Masse and Orelle-Caron Gondolas too! However, it’s still a big, big day out with every run top to bottom and all the planning, chatting, moaning (and lunch) kept for the time on the lifts…

The 2020 PDF route with the 19 “Escapade Lifts” in bold

REMEMBER: You do this entirely at your own risk, act responsibly, take full ownership for your own actions and all of those with you, respect other people (& the mountain), ski & ride within your limits, always obey the skiers & snowboarders code, observe all signs, pay attention to all notices, advice & instructions from Pisteurs, only ski off piste if fully equipped & knowledgeable, it’s not a race (and you won’t be insured), think about the safety of others as well as yourself but above all, take care, don’t wreck things for others & don’t even think of blaming anyone else if it all goes horribly wrong…..

And yet another Escapade in a Day – Elie and Ron on a bad vis day…

Poor conditions but mission accomplished!

Hey, my name is Elie and me and my friend Ron completed today the escapade challenge.

We had very bad conditions and bad visibility but completed it in 8 hours and 8 minutes!

What’s this all about?

The 3 Valleys Escapade was the lift company promotion of visiting (originally in 2006) 14 points across the Three Valleys and gaining a certificate & badge over the period of your holiday – then we had the idea of doing it in a day…

It’s probably the toughest day skiing ever for a recreational skier but lots of people have got involved over the years so we feature them in our Escapade in a Day Hall of Fame

This is no longer being promoted by The 3 Valleys but we’ll still stick you in the Hall of Fame if you complete it – send a Ski Tracks or similar trace in plus a pic of your group.

What started out as a late night “is it possible?” discussion became a challenge the following week – the history and our original route are here

Originally punch cards had to be stamped at each check point until electronic passes arrived – they could then be checked by the lift company. The original Escapade was 30 lifts, 13000m vertical and 70km and 2016 peaked with 34 lifts, 17000m vertical (twice the height of Everest) and around 100km total distance. It became a little less for 2017 and 2018 saw the use of the Roc de Tougne fast new chair instead of the drag plus we lost the Montaulever drag altogether. In 2019 we gained the new faster Legends chair out of Méribel and then an improvement in speed on the Mont Vallon lift too. 

It’s certainly getting easier with the improvement in lift infrastructure and we should make it harder for 2023 – there’s now the new Pointe de La Masse and Orelle-Caron Gondolas too! However, it’s still a big, big day out with every run top to bottom and all the planning, chatting, moaning (and lunch) kept for the time on the lifts…

The 2020 PDF route with the 19 “Escapade Lifts” in bold

REMEMBER: You do this entirely at your own risk, act responsibly, take full ownership for your own actions and all of those with you, respect other people (& the mountain), ski & ride within your limits, always obey the skiers & snowboarders code, observe all signs, pay attention to all notices, advice & instructions from Pisteurs, only ski off piste if fully equipped & knowledgeable, it’s not a race (and you won’t be insured), think about the safety of others as well as yourself but above all, take care, don’t wreck things for others & don’t even think of blaming anyone else if it all goes horribly wrong…..

Nick, Lorna and Cormac nail the Escapade in a Day

Despite some queues they were back for 4pm!

 I wanted to get in touch to let you know that my team completed the 3 Valleys escapade last week and would love to be added to the Hall of Fame on the website.

Nick Spearing, Lorna Simmonds and Cormac Shine completed the escapade on Tuesday 8 March, a very sunny day on the mountain that led to the perfect conditions for blasting around the mountain.

Despite some queues at La Masse and Cime Caron, the team went through the gates at La Forêt at 3:57pm… after a victory beer at Bouc Blanc restaurant, we went back up for a couple of laps of the Dou des lanches chairlift and black run.

What’s this all about?

The 3 Valleys Escapade was the lift company promotion of visiting (originally in 2006) 14 points across the Three Valleys and gaining a certificate & badge over the period of your holiday – then we had the idea of doing it in a day…

It’s probably the toughest day skiing ever for a recreational skier but lots of people have got involved over the years so we feature them in our Escapade in a Day Hall of Fame

This is no longer being promoted by The 3 Valleys but we’ll still stick you in the Hall of Fame if you complete it – send a Ski Tracks or similar trace in plus a pic of your group.

What started out as a late night “is it possible?” discussion became a challenge the following week – the history and our original route are here

Originally punch cards had to be stamped at each check point until electronic passes arrived – they could then be checked by the lift company. The original Escapade was 30 lifts, 13000m vertical and 70km and 2016 peaked with 34 lifts, 17000m vertical (twice the height of Everest) and around 100km total distance. It became a little less for 2017 and 2018 saw the use of the Roc de Tougne fast new chair instead of the drag plus we lost the Montaulever drag altogether. In 2019 we gained the new faster Legends chair out of Méribel and then an improvement in speed on the Mont Vallon lift too. 

It’s certainly getting easier with the improvement in lift infrastructure and we should make it harder for 2023 – there’s now the new Pointe de La Masse and Orelle-Caron Gondolas too! However, it’s still a big, big day out with every run top to bottom and all the planning, chatting, moaning (and lunch) kept for the time on the lifts…

The 2020 PDF route with the 19 “Escapade Lifts” in bold

REMEMBER: You do this entirely at your own risk, act responsibly, take full ownership for your own actions and all of those with you, respect other people (& the mountain), ski & ride within your limits, always obey the skiers & snowboarders code, observe all signs, pay attention to all notices, advice & instructions from Pisteurs, only ski off piste if fully equipped & knowledgeable, it’s not a race (and you won’t be insured), think about the safety of others as well as yourself but above all, take care, don’t wreck things for others & don’t even think of blaming anyone else if it all goes horribly wrong…..

Jason and Jordan complete the Escapade on Snowboards

The Escapade in a Day continues with a father and son team on snowboards.

After a few failed attempts over the last few seasons with larger groups, my son and I decided to see if we could do it with just the 2 of us, on snowboards.( everyone on skis telling us it would take to long having to strap in after every run !)

We have always tried this from La Tania but this trip we were staying in Val Thorens so started out there.

Our first lift was Pioneers at 9am and we got back round to finish at Funitel Peclet at 3:35. We then did a few more runs and lifts to get back to the hotel, get our stuff and get back to Geneva for 7pm for our flight home !

We followed the 2020 route and lifts but added in the new Pointe de Le Masse and Orelle-Caron Gondolas. Mount Vallon was shut for technical reasons when we got there so we went up Plan Des Mains to make up for it.

We had a good day of quiet lifts and runs, conditions where good for it apart from Chasse down to Plan de l’eu which was rocks and dirt for most of it !

Be great if you could put us into the hall of fame, we don’t see too many boarders on there!

What’s this all about?

The 3 Valleys Escapade was the lift company promotion of visiting (originally in 2006) 14 points across the Three Valleys and gaining a certificate & badge over the period of your holiday – then we had the idea of doing it in a day…

It’s probably the toughest day skiing ever for a recreational skier but lots of people have got involved over the years so we feature them in our Escapade in a Day Hall of Fame

This is no longer being promoted by The 3 Valleys but we’ll still stick you in the Hall of Fame if you complete it – send a Ski Tracks or similar trace in plus a pic of your group.

What started out as a late night “is it possible?” discussion became a challenge the following week – the history and our original route are here

Originally punch cards had to be stamped at each check point until electronic passes arrived – they could then be checked by the lift company. The original Escapade was 30 lifts, 13000m vertical and 70km and 2016 peaked with 34 lifts, 17000m vertical (twice the height of Everest) and around 100km total distance. It became a little less for 2017 and 2018 saw the use of the Roc de Tougne fast new chair instead of the drag plus we lost the Montaulever drag altogether. In 2019 we gained the new faster Legends chair out of Méribel and then an improvement in speed on the Mont Vallon lift too. 

It’s certainly getting easier with the improvement in lift infrastructure and we should make it harder for 2023 – there’s now the new Pointe de La Masse and Orelle-Caron Gondolas too! However, it’s still a big, big day out with every run top to bottom and all the planning, chatting, moaning (and lunch) kept for the time on the lifts…

The 2020 PDF route with the 19 “Escapade Lifts” in bold

REMEMBER: You do this entirely at your own risk, act responsibly, take full ownership for your own actions and all of those with you, respect other people (& the mountain), ski & ride within your limits, always obey the skiers & snowboarders code, observe all signs, pay attention to all notices, advice & instructions from Pisteurs, only ski off piste if fully equipped & knowledgeable, it’s not a race (and you won’t be insured), think about the safety of others as well as yourself but above all, take care, don’t wreck things for others & don’t even think of blaming anyone else if it all goes horribly wrong…..

Still Absolutely Brilliant Piste Skiing Available

Lac Bleu perfect at 09:15 this morning, pure velvet corduroy and Combe des Pylons was definitely Piste du Jour… Get the timing, aspect & altitude right and there’s still terrific skiing to be had.