First Pints of the Season…

Richard’s group in there first followed by a man with his own corner – Willy…

And introducing two new Barman, Dan & Fernando

More preparation of Folyères & Troika Pistes

The resort runs are now being groomed and prepared with the snow cannoned mounds being flattened along with the new fresh snow.

See the size of those mounds compared to a Piste Basher and the new massive hi-tec cannon at the top of La Troika working hard this morning. The buttons have been fitted to the drag – not long now and The Ski Lodge opens tomorrow!

New Logo for Courchevel

The new logo for Winter 2018 from Courchevel. The last change was twelve years ago back in 2005 yet this looks a bit retro doesn’t it?

Remember the fuss (and cost) when La Tania changed their logo?
A lot of people don’t like the new pound coin – some hate all change…

The old logo below…

Compare…

Courchevel Lifts & Piste opening for 9th & 16th December

S3V have announced the provisional lift and piste openings for the Courchevel opening weekend of 9 December and for the following pre-Christmas week of 16 December when La Tania (and the rest of the Courchevel area) opens.

Lots more than the past few years that’s for sure and just about full opening for 16 December including the Col de la Loze link over to Meribel as well as the Saulire link planned.

Temperatures remain cold and as well as the recent snowfalls a record amount of cannoned snow has been created. Preparation of the pistes is well underway and all is looking good for opening in 12 days time.

Week Beginning 9 December

Full Size Image

Week Beginning 16 Dec

Full Size Image

Summary

Full Size Image

PDF Files
9 December 2017
16 December
Summary

More Snow on the way from Saturday and during next week

Just as it looked like the high pressure system was set to dominate the weather over the Alps along comes another couple of storms to blow it all away.

An impressive set of wigglies for the next few days with significant snow and low temperatures.

The GFS ensembles show weather models predicting much lower than average temperatures for the time of year (the top lines with red the 30 year average) and the precipitation forecasts are the bottom lines.

More on the La Tania Weather Page

The storm set to come in early Saturday.

France Météo local forecast – out of the reliable time frame but looking good…

Latest “Mountain Art” installations & half a million m³ of snow made…

The latest mountain art installations are being lowered in to place around the Courchevel mountains – remember when the bear blew over on Saulire in that storm? See the video report from 5 March 2017 below.

S3V have just announced they’ve produced a record half a million cubic metres of snow in Courchevel and La Tania this Winter already…. (that’s on top of the real stuff!).

Imagine 1,235 football pitches covered in 10cm of snow and you’ll get the idea of how incredible that is! No wonder The 3 Valleys can guarantee more skiing open than anywhere else…

and from 5 March 2017…

Preview Day in Val Thorens today…

Another belter of a day for free preview day skiing – this time in Val Thorens before more lifts open tomorrow.
Plenty of free snacks (and Beaujolais) on offer as VT rewarded it’s Club Val members. Pretty quiet though, felt like only around 80 people on the mountain.

Some cheeky bits of powder on the sides of the piste with harder snow on the pistes as they continue to build that base.

Saturday 18 November should see the following lifts open
Funitel de Péclet
Télésiège des Cascades
Télésiège Portette
Télécabine Moraine
Funitel Grand Fond
Téléski des Plateaux
Télésiège Moutière
Télécabines Cairn/Caron
Télésiège Plein Sud
Tapis Castor
Pollux
Campagnol
Musaraigne

The official opening weekend is on 25/26 November where at least 70% of the whole Val Thorens ski area will be open.

Thanks to Freeride Republic Ralph and Natalie for the Pics

Beaujolais Nouveau Night… It really is the start of Winter!

Drop Inn in Le Praz never needs an excuse for a party – but Beaujolais Nouveau night is one of them. Always means Winter is near and with Courchevel already giving a taster and Val Thorens opening at the weekend (with a preview day for Club Val members tomorrow) the ski season has started!

Courchevel Preview & Val Thorens Lifts Opening

Courchevel free preview day on Wed 15 Nov. Stunning pic from the Tourist Office – was that today?

Verdons and Biollay lifts open (plus Tovets from 1550 for access). Free parking, snacks, lessons for kids, music etc.

Officially pistes open are Biollay, Bellecote and Verdons.

Still some nice drop offs the side of Biollay to be had and plenty of people have skinned up higher.

Meanwhile Val Thorens has a free preview day for Club Val members on Fri 17 Nov with some limited skiing and then opens the following lifts on Sat 18 Nov.

(The official opening weekend with load of test kit and live music takes place on 25/26 Nov).

Val Thorens from 18 Nov:
Funitel de Péclet
Télésiège des Cascades
Télésiège Portette
Télécabine Moraine
Funitel Grand Fond
Téléski des Plateaux
Télésiège Moutière
Télécabines Cairn/Caron
Télésiège Plein Sud
Tapis Castor
Pollux
Campagnol
Musaraigne

&nnsp;

Folyères Groomed and Cannons Blowing down to La Tania

Great photos from Daphnée walking Burleigh up Folyères this morning…

Piste grooming has begun and huge mounds of cannoned snow has already been created with the cannons still going during the day in the bright sunshine as the temperatures remain low.

A low of -8.1ºC last night as La Tania at resort level remained below freezing for 24 hours (the weather station sensors to warm up in the sun during the morning to some degree).

Live Cams & Weather at: latania.co.uk/resort/LIVE.html