M (for Magic, Magnificent, Marvellous etc) is the Piste du Jour this morning

MMMMmmmmmmmmm….

Opening Dates & 3 Valleys Lift Pass Prices Confirmed For Winter 2020

La Tania scheduled opening dates for Winter 2020 confirmed as 14 Dec 2019 to 19 Apr 2020. Opening dates are always subject to snow conditions, maintenance issues, staff resources, bad weather etc.

A 6-day adult 3 Valleys Pass in main season rises €6 to €312 (1.96% increase) next season.

Looking like the increase is just under 2% across the board with a 3 Valleys Season Pass similarly increasing from €1310 to €1336 for example.

Still waiting for the Courchevel single valley prices, wellness options (to include Aquamotion etc) and workers / residents discounts to be announced.

Worth remembering you can ski from 23 Nov 2019 to 03 May 2020 (and Val Thorens will open earlier if there’s decent snow), with over 600km of piste and 180 lifts. At least 3 new lifts are going in to the Courchevel Valley alone for next season too – full details coming soon!

La Tania Saboia B Apartments to Reopen

The Saboia B apartment block in La Tania is due to reopen after the Arrêt de Peril has been lifted.

The official closure due to structural issues around land slip / subsidence was announced on 19 October 2017 – reported here

Remedial work has been completed and the building is safe and secure. Nexity will get the place up and running over the next month or so and additional monitoring systems are in place to detect any further movements that may require additional work beyond 2020.

Great news for owners and guests alike as the uncertainty has ended and bookings will now be taken for next Winter.

3 Network now providing 4G Roaming in France (at last)

The UK Three Mobile Provider has long been used by British Saisonniers as it was the first to allow free roaming in France (and loads of places around the World) long before any EU rules came in.

We also never heard of any “fair use” restrictions being applied with plenty of people using their phones over in France for 6 months at a time.

However Three only roamed on 3G in France and elsewhere and in recent months the service has become worse and worse as telecom providers concentrate on 4G (and above).

So it was great to switch on the phone on Monday and see the 4G signal come through – immediately getting a 25MB download and 5MB upload, better than plenty of Broadband connections out here!

Poor Visibility and the Piste Markers with the highlighted tips

Sharing this information again after skiing in fairly poor visibility yesterday and amazed how many people don’t know this…

All the pistes in The 3 Valleys have orange tipped piste markers on the RIGHT HAND SIDE as you ski down – so if you can only see one piste market you know which side is the piste.

Escapade in a Day Success – Congratulations to Oliver

From Oliver:
A successful attempt of the challenge on Monday 1st April.
Had some problems with the route from runs/lifts being closed so a few extra lifts.
Non stop all day apart from 1 dash to the loo.
After Foret I was on 95k so though I had to do a few more to bring the total up to 100k.
Route and ski tracks below.

What’s all this 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 sees the use of Roc de Tougne fast new lift instead of the drag – still a big, big day out though with all talking (and lunch) kept to the lifts…

PDF list of lifts here for downloading to a smart phone – this needs a 2019 update as Roc de Tougne chair is not a drag now, Legends replaces Roc de Fer and the drag in Les Menuirs, Montaulever is no longer there.

La Tania Piste du Jour & Lift Opening from 6 April to end of season (most of them!)

Our own Dou des Lanches simply magnificent this morning – as good as it gets – or possibly even better…

With the new snow S3V have updated their schedule of lift openings for the last 2 weeks of the season – loads of great skiing offered right until the last day of the season. S3V have kept their commitment to open runs down to resort level to the last day.

Piste du Jour today – Suisses magnificent once again this morning

Still some superb skiing on offer and plenty more snow due tonight…

IMPORTANT! easyJet Flights released next week for nearly the whole of Winter 2020

Exclusive! Unusually easyJet are putting nearly all next Winter’s flights on sale next week – normally that do it in 2 stages with the first batch only until February.

easyJet lights will be released on Thursday 11 April 2019 for flights right through until 28 March 2020 – so covers Opening Weekends, Christmas, New Year, all of Half Term and even St Patrick’s day!

Usually they go on sale between 6am and 7am. Get in quick for the best deals – in the unlikely event there is a sale and flights become cheaper you can claim the difference back.

There were over 76 flights on a peak Saturday from the UK to Geneva, Lyon and Grenoble (plus from all over Europe) this Winter.

All the flights, all the options at: https://www.latania.co.uk/resort/Flying.htm

€50 per day French Congestion Charge coming to La Tania & Courchevel for Winter 2020.

This was an April Fool!
Confirmation over the weekend that the planned Congestion Charges will come in to play from December 2019. In La Tania & Le Praz this is expected to be €50 a day / €300 a week for Class 1 vehicles (height less than 2 metres & total weight less than 3.5 tonnes). The charges will rise traveling up to 1550 & 1650 with charges in 1850 expected to be €100 a day / €600 a week.

Free parking and a continual 24/7 bus service will be provided from Bozel using driverless, electric vehicles similar to the shuttles that started running in Val Thorens this Winter pictured below. These will be fitted with snow ploughs during bad weather to aid road clearance although French Unions are in dispute regarding safety issues and a threat to members jobs.

All car parks in the resorts will be free of charge including the new underground multi-story car park in Le Praz opening in December 2019 (part of the Alpinium Building – more details here).

A congestion disc (which will look similar to the CRIT’ Air discs required in certain French cities) will be available to purchase on-line from 1st September 2019. How hire cars from airports will get discs is still unclear.

The Pay-As-You-Go payment system will utilise Number Plate Recoginition technology similar to the Dartford Crossings rather than Transponder Tags as used on the Autoroutes – pity you couldn’t use one system for both…

The aim of these measures is to reduce the huge amount of traffic entering the resorts, improve air quality, reduce road accidents and improve the sustainability image of Courchevel. In addition, all vehicles with a congestion charge disc must have Winter Tyres fitted – snow chains or snow socks are not a substitute – so traffic delays are kept to a minimum.

In La Tania season passes will be available for €875 for Class 1 vehicles and all mini buses, vans and pickups will be regarded as commercial vehicles and pay at least twice the private car charge depending on size / capacity. Camper Vans will not be entitled to season passes and must pay a daily charge.

Note that parking a car in La Tania (or a camping van) will require a charge each day (or week) even if it hasn’t been moved. A resolution for increased charges on Saturdays was not approved.

Pure battery electric vehicles (BEVs) will be exempt from all charges and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) will benefit from a 50% reduction in the charge. So that’s why a certain business man in La Tania has a Range Rover PHEV on order…