Webcam Update – New ones include La Tania, Courchevel & St Martin

Some more 360º webcams have been added across the 3 Valleys for this Winter including new ones on the Bouc Blanc restaurant, at the Vizelle summit and in St Martin de Belleville. All the 3 Valleys webcams can be viewed at www.latania.co.uk/webcam

All the 3 Valleys webcams at www.latania.co.uk/webcam

Thanks to Neil B for the heads up on these

Another Top Day!

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The Perfect Day… La Tania 4/2/19

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The 3 Valleys Escapade in a Day – still going!

The first attempts of Winter 2019 have taken place with a success from Dougie B and a close call from  Henry and Ross (not Ade!) who missed Foret (the last lift) by 3 minutes!

From Dougie:
I completed L’Escapade on Tuesday 22 January (just). Start time 0905, just made it to the Foret lift at 1627 (the last chair up!). Route and ski data attached (only switched on the app on Saulire, but hit La Tania, Bouc Blanc and Rocher De L’Ombre to get there). Data attached is from Saulire onwards.

Much harder than I’d expected! Didn’t stop all day except to get a snickers bar at Pointe De La Masse and only just made it. Made a navigation error on the way to Meribel Village (missed the right on to Lapin and ended up at Morel) and Cime Caron was closed so had to find an alternative route to Bouchet – but otherwise skied pretty hard.

A PDF of their route here to download to your phone (updated from the 2017 version with notes)

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 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 Tourist Office Update: Next Week’s Guide, Thursday Movies, Grand Bois Lift & Ski Lift/Pistes Bulletin

Next Week’s Tourist Office What’s On Guide for 26 Jan to 02 Feb is now out – note that there is no Verdons By Night (night skiing on the Verdons floodlit piste) this week or next – it usually starts once the half term holidays begin.

The complete weekly guide to What’s On in La Tania is updated every weekend throughout the season.

On Thursday, there are the Jeudi Movies at the La Tania Cinema with La La Land at 21:00. The film will be shown in VO (Original Version) with French subtitles or VF (French Version) with English subtitles, depending on the number of French and English people attending and what they prefer.

The public lift (Grand Bois) has been down a few times during this month. It’s reported that this is due to the fact that people do not respect the maximum number / weight allowed and this has caused the problem – please observe the limits.

Finally Les 3 Vallees Official Smartphone App is not showing the correct closed and open pistes/lifts. For on-line infomation follow this link:
https://www.skiplan.com/bulletin/bulletin.php?station=la-tania&region=alpes&pays=france&lang=en

Links to the interactive maps and listings for all the valleys are at:
https://www.latania.co.uk/skiing/lifts.html

Hiking up the Borgne Glacier and Jockeys now open

Great conditions last week for some classic off piste itineraries and Jockeys (to be the Works Cup downhill) is now open, although a bit sketchy at the bottom but hazards are well marked.

Smartphone Apps – Errors on Les 3 Vallees App & the demise of others

After a number of emails we’ve just been checking through the “official’ Apps for The 3 Valleys. Unfortunately the main Les 3 Vallees App does not report piste opening accurately in the Slopes section – the 3D Fat Map section is correct but a bit slow and cumbersome to use especially on a cold day up the mountain.

In addition it would appear that this is becoming the main App to use as La Tania, Courchevel and Val Thorens Apps appear to have dissapeared from the App Store – we haven’t checked Android yet be we’d guess it’s the same. Méribel and Les Menuires Apps are still available and do correctly list pistes that are closed and open.

This could be be temporary though as the Courchevel App is still being advertised and Les 3 Vallees App was unavailable for the start of the season with a new version launched as soon as we highlighted this.

This above is from today and Folyères is most definitely OPEN. In addition Brigues, Vizzelle to Creux, Creux, Dou du Midi, Jean Blanc, Cretes – Col de la Loze and Rochers are all showing as closed THEY ARE ALL OPEN!

There are further errors like Bosses in Méribel listed under Courchevel and links from pistes to show on the map don’t work (Tétras in Courchevel 1650 goes to the map of Tétras in Val Thorens for example).

Méribel and Les Menuires Apps are still available and correctly show piste opening.

Until Les 3 Vallees App is fixed (and we’ve escalated it) we suggest you go direct to the list of open & closed slopes and lifts in the Courchevel (& La Tania) ski area:
https://www.skiplan.com/bulletin/bulletin.php?station=courchevel&region=alpes&pays=france&lang=en

The other valleys ski area listing are available from:
https://www.latania.co.uk/skiing/lifts.html

There is also an on-line map with the open & closed lifts and pistes marked:
https://www.latania.co.uk/resort/LiveConditions.html

Courchevel News: Gondolas for sale, Le Praz lake dredging, Luge open, Plantrey lift this Summer, Creux Noirs replacement & Pilates…

Gondolas For Sale!
This Spring the Gondolas from the Praz lift will go on sale and there are still some of the old 1970 gondolas from the Fôret lift (also in Le Praz) on sale at €4800 including tax.
All the Grangettes gondolas have now been sold.
For further information contact Sophie Pautot at s.pautot@s3v.com

Summer in Le Praz
The lake in Le Praz will be dredged this Summer from 23rd April as work continues on the Alpinium site for opening in December 2019.
With the Praz gondola being replaced there will be no lift in Le Praz open this Summer but the Plantrey lift will be open (great news for bikers to get back to La Tania with no uphill required!).

1850 – 1550 Luge
The toboggan track from Courchevel 1850 to Courchevel 1550 is now open (just rent a sled and it’s free to use as many time as you like).

Creux Noirs Lift
Due to cracks in the base of a pylon this lift has been closed for Winter 2019 but confirmation that there will be a lift in place for next season. Interestingly the runs from the top of the lift (Creux Noirs and Roches Grisses) are still being groomed for those hiking / racing up – or is it to maintain the slopes and keep them safe?

Pilates
Pilates Classes every Tuesday from Alpine Pilates are taking place throughout the season.

• La Tania de 9h30 à 10h30 (Imm Grandzeta)
• Moriond de 11h30 à 12h30 (Maison de Moriond)

€15 for 1 session or €60 for 6 sessions. Reservations are mandatory and places are limited – call +33 610 97 78 18 info@alpinetherapies.com

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Alex the dog at Pralong Chair – The cuddly toy dog and his family are now at Châtelet chairlift above Mottaret – having a little holiday!

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The Dominos – Bumped in to Alex the drummer last week – he confirmed gigs at Taiga and Ski Lodge in March!

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And the Folie Douce has a new guitar player – who’s not a massive AC/DC fan and does eat…

Two Vehicle Accident on La Tania to Méribel Road.

No one hurt but take care, roads only going to get worse as darkness falls.

La Tania Green Run, Plan Fontaine now open to resort

Great work by S3V in getting the green Plan Fontaine piste open right down to La Tania again today. Snow Cannons have been creating enough snow and the track has now been completed with the best cover its had all season.

Note that some of the on-line interactive maps, piste listing and Smart Phone Apps are not showing it open yet – should be rectified tomorrow.

Off Piste Avalanche Risk was reduced from 2 to 1 out of 5 (Low Risk) at 16:00 this afternoon as the sun and high pressure system continues to be in control.