The La Tania Ski Blog
Latest news, snow, pics, gossip and information from the locals in La Tania – latania.co.uk
All the latest news from around the Three Valleys from the La Tania locals. A real blog since 2006, not just endless re-posts for search engine optimisaton! Photos, gossip, snow reports, what's on and all the latest on the Apres Ski scene... Now fully optimised for iPhone, Touch and Android Mobiles - just go to latania.co.uk/blog and view on your phone. Our other past blogs & favourites here
3 Valleys Charity Day Wed 12/4 – All You need to Know…
The biggest and best party of the season is this Wednesday 12 April in Meribel Village kicking off at 1pm with all the best bands in The Alps plus Gentlemans Dub Club headlining around 6:15pm.
There will be outdoor bars, a giant BBQ, food stands, DJs, VIP area, raffle, auctions, fancy dress and The Kids Zone. Further information on 3 Valleys Charity Day here
Tickets are available from Pub Le Ski Lodge, Meribar, Lodge du Village, Jacks and Le Bubble Bar – €15 in advance, €20 on the day.
Don’t forget to buy your 2017 Charity Day T-Shirt 100% of the purchase price goes to our UK and French charities.
Other merchandise includes wrist bands, beanies, sunglasses and trilbys – plus get those raffle tickets too!
Remember there is no cash machine in Meribel Village and the event is cash only.
Transport from La Tania (you can ski down or bus it from the Courchevel Valley) is being provided by Le Praz transfers with shuttles from 1pm to 2pm from the La Tania bus stop with returns from 6:30 to 7:30pm.
The Provisional Line Up – All times approximate and all subject to change of course!
13:00 Sian Hayley Smith
13:30 MAPS
14:10 Livewire
14:50 The Slopes15:30 Mr Clean
16:10 The Killerbeez
16:50 Bring Your Sisters
17:20 Jo Whiley DJ Set
18:00 Gentlemans Dub Club
Plus DJs Les Deux Roux In between the bands.
The new 2017 Charity Day trilby – limited availability….
The End of Season Party for a Good Cause
Inspired by Dan Provost back in 2002 in memory of his Mother who died from cancer.
The locals, workers, businesses & visitors have now raised over quarter of a million euros for British and French Charities including Sebastian’s Action Trust and the Ligue Nationale Contre le Cancer
Contact Ralph at info@3vcharityday.org to get involved, offer assistance, donate raffle prizes, sponsorship enquiries, make a donation etc. etc…
La Tania Charity Fête des Familles – Pics and Thanks
A massive thank you to everyone involved in the La Tania Family Fun Day yesterday.
Great turn out, loads of stalls, plenty of kids & adults having fun and some amazing bids in the auction!
Looks like the auction alone raised around €3000 including €57 for some Cadbury’s (Easter) Cream Eggs and one of the cakes went for €160…
The total raised for our chosen charities was an incredible €10,000 – Congratulations everybody!
Thanks to Richard Roberts Photography for the pics – click on the images for larger view
Click on the images for full size pics
La Tania Charity Fête des Familles TODAY!
The 3rd annual La Tania Charity Family Fun Day takes place today, 5th April 2017.
Loads of stalls/activities including: a bouncy castle, children’s face painting, raffle, tombola, auction, fancy dress, guess the weight of the ham, tuck/sweet stall, cake competition, charity yoga, games & challenges including hook a duck and Nerfcamp, plus BBQs, outdoor bars, live music from The Killerbeez and much, much more.
Come along and join in the fun and help raise money for our fantastic charities – Sebastian’s Action Trust & Ligue Nationale Contre le Cancer.
AMAZING AUCTION PRIZES
We have been given the following prizes for our Charity auction which will take place at 17:15pm on the Pub Le Ski Lodge – La Tania terrace on Wednesday 5th April. Check the Facebook Page to bid if you’re not there!
Cream Eggs from La Tania – latania.co.uk
2 course meal for 2 with wine from Rond Point Meribel
Amazon Fire tablet from La Tania – latania.co.uk
Adult and children’s group ski lessons from ESF LA TANIA
Diablo Panda Goggles from Parallel Lines Ski & Snowboard School
9 course dinner with wine for 2 at the Michelin starred Le Farçon – value 320€
2 x 3 Valley adult 6 day passes from S3V – value 588€
2 x Courchevel adult 6 day passes from S3V – value 500€
One week (Mon-Fri) adult half day “all terrain” course for 2 people with Snoworks Ski Courses worth £730.
Meal for 2 at La Boulotte
1 hour massage with Ski Physio
Hoodie from Snow Grenades
Congrats to Anna and Ruth Snow – In to the Escapade in a Day Hall of Fame
Congratulations to Anna and Ruth Snow (real names!) who completed the Escapade in a Day last Wednesday 29 March.
– A tough time to do it with the heavy afternoon snow, especially that last hour. They said it was much harder than last year.
A special shout out to Anna who was on a snowboard and carrying a knee injury – a huge accomplishment and they made the last lift with only 5 minutes to spare!
The 3 Valleys Escapade in a Day is our challenge of doing the Escapade Lifts (see them on the piste map) in a single, full on day out with around 34 lifts, 17000m of vertical (around twice the height of Everest) and about 100km in total distance.
You can get a certificate and a badge no matter how long you take or try the Selfies in a Day for an easier day out across The 3 Valleys with some great “selfie” footage uploaded to your phone.
The Escapade in a Day Hall of Fame
The 2017 lifts required and a possible route (PDF to download to your phone)
Scheduled lifts until the end of the season
S3V have released details of the planned lift openings for the rest of the season. La Tania and the Courchevel villages close on Easter Monday 17 April with only Verdons and Saulire open until 23 April for links to 3 Valleys via Mottaret.
Some snow did come down yesterday. This was Val Thorens at 5pm on Sunday – snow / rain level remained above 2000m however but a nice refresh of pistes high up.
The End for the Lift Pass? Smart Phones needed next season…
Along with confirmation of Winter 2018 Three Valleys Opening Dates & Lift Pass Prices the lift companies have confirmed that all passes of 6 days or more (including all season passes) next season will only be available via a Smart Phone.
Les 3 Vallées has always been a leader in technology from some of the very first avalanche control systems, the first 8 seater chairlift in France, state of the art Piste Grooming machines including hybrid / electric models with built in radar based snow depth measurement, free wifi, video tracking areas with automatic sharing on social media, 3D piste map apps and of course the new amazing “selfie machines” installed this season.
The new Lift Pass App seen here running in the Apple Wallet
With an estimation of over 90% of skier and snowboarders carrying compatible Android and Apple iPhones there are a whole host of benefits that this can bring including pay as you go options, the need to never stand in a lift pass queue again and a massive amount of data, usage and tracking statistics that can be used for safety, missing persons (although obviously not a replacement for an avalanche transceiver), fitness logging and help with the planning of new lifts and pistes improvements across the ski area.
The combination of NFC, Bluetooth and Wifi communications means that all skiers will be able to be tracked (GPS enablement is also mandatory to prevent lift pass fraud) – in fact skiers travelling too fast will automatically have their lift passes revoked immediately, fair enough if this is enforced in family/beginners areas only. No news yet of if a pass will be turned off if the skier has spent 5 hours in the Folie Douce however…
All turnstiles will need new reader modifications this Summer
Further developments planned have the use of contactless credit cards and SANEF motorway toll readers (watch out for transfer drivers getting “free” skiing!) – even Oyster Cards could be used if there is a demand for their use. Apple Watch 2 (the model 2 has GPS embedded) and Samsung Gear S3 Watches will also work at rollout in December 2017.
Some of the devices planned to be able to use the new technology
Obviously this news has raised plenty of questions including compatible phones (those without NFC for instance), battery life and the civil liberties issues.
Les 3 Vallées have sort to calm fears by assuring that all major lifts will have alternative QR Code readers similar to mobile phone boarding pass readers and that all gondolas will have the latest mobile phone wireless charging technology installed by the start of Winter 2019 – indeed the new Ariondaz Gondola will have this fitted for it’s opening in December 2017. Most phones from 2018 on are expected to have this technology incorporated in to them.
The wireless charging technology being introduced to Gondolas next season
Finally, an independent trusted third party will manage all tracking data and ensure it will only be used for safety and anti-fraud purposes. They will also be responsible for the secure destruction of this data which will be made following the end of the ski season and no personal, identifiable data will be archived.
The new Ariondaz Gondola in Courchevel 1650 going in this Summer & opening in December 2017
So? Is this a step too far in technology terms or do we embrace the future? We’ll feed back any comments to the local Mairies and the relevant ski area management companies.
The new “selfie machines” – Another example of leading edge technology in The 3 Valleys
Bring Your Sisters playing outside on the terrace at Après today…
A sure sign that it’s getting to the end of the season now when it’s warm enough to play outside at Après Ski… but there’s always one last blast of Winter around the corner, and it’s looking like some snow at the weekend – at least higher up, but we may just miss out at resort level.
They did have more than one fan by the way!
3 Valleys Escapade in a Day – Congrats to Adam Wade
Congratulations to Adam Wade who completed the 3 Valleys Escapade in a Day on 17 March 2017.
Looks like he went a long way round, 148km is some distance in a day!
The 3 Valleys Escapade in a Day is our challenge of doing the Escapade Lifts (see them on the piste map) in a single, full on day out with around 34 lifts, 17000m of vertical (around twice the height of Everest) and about 100km in total distance.
You can get a certificate and a badge no matter how long you take or try the Selfies in a Day for an easier day out across The 3 Valleys with some great “selfie” footage uploaded to your phone.
The Escapade in a Day Hall of Fame
The 2017 lifts required and a possible route (PDF to download to your phone)
Another Escapade in a Day Completed!
Congratulations to Jane Bradley and her friend Claire who completed all the lifts on the 3 Valley Escapade on 21st March 2017 in 7 hours 30 minutes – a real full on day!
Babysitting duties meant their third member missed out on a couple of lifts at the end and interestingly it was one year to the day, that Paul and Jane completed the challenge for the first time (old age and dodgy knees meant that he had to sit this one out – Jane’s words not mine!).
The 3 Valleys Escapade in a Day is our challenge of doing the Escapade Lifts (see them on the piste map) in a single, full on day out with around 34 lifts, 17000m of vertical (around twice the height of Everest) and near to 100km in total distance.
You can get a certificate and a badge no matter how long you take or try the Selfies in a Day for an easier day out across The 3 Valleys with great “selfie” footage uploaded to your phone.
The Escapade in a Day Hall of Fame
The 2017 lifts required and a possible route (PDF to download to your phone)
Winter 2018 Opening Dates & Lift Pass Prices
La Tania opens for Winter 2018 on Saturday 16 December 2017.
A change from this season which had all the Courchevel villages opening on the same day
(a week earlier than this on 10/12/16).
Courchevel 1850, Courchevel Village (1550), Le Praz & Meribel Mottaret will open on Saturday 9 December 2017.
La Tania & Courchevel Moriond (1650) will open on Saturday 16 December 2017.
Lower villages are all scheduled to close on 15 April 2018 with Courchevel 1850 and Meribel Mottaret closing on 22 April 2018.
Key Price Highlights for the 3 Valleys below (individual valley prices have not been finalised yet):
6 Day 3 Valley Pass for Winter 2018 main season up to €300 from €294 (a 2% increase).
1 Day is now €61 up from €60 (up 1.7%).
Cheaper prices for the 2 weeks before Christmas with a 6 day 3 Valleys Adult Pass priced at:
€245 for 9 to 15 Dec
€260 for 16 to 22 Dec
Full price from 23 Dec at €300
The morning / afternoon or 3 hour pass is replaced with a 4 hour pass starting anytime at €54.50
The Duo and Tribu offers continue with discounts for 2 or 3 passes of exactly the same type bought at the same time.
The family pass price (where kids are under 18 rather than under 13 on normal passes) can save a family of 2 Adults and 3 Kids of 13, 15 & 17 years old some €300. You don’t have to ski together!
Finally, the 3 Valleys Snow Guarantee continues – we’ll have more runs open than anyone else!
