Ex-La Tania band The Feeling announce UK Tour in October

Ex-La Tania resident band, The Feeling will head out on the road for eight UK dates in October, to play tracks from the new album, Together We Were Made (out June 20th!). This is in addition to the date at Kew Gardens on July 6th.

OCTOBER Mon 3rd BOURNEMOUTH, O2 Academy Tue 4th BRISTOL, O2 Academy Wed 5th NOTTINGHAM, Rock City Fri 7th BIRMINGHAM, HMV Institute Sat 8th LEEDS, O2 Academy Sun 9th NEWCASTLE, O2 Academy Tue 11th GLASGOW, ABC Wed 12th MANCHESTER, Academy 2

Tickets cost £16.50 each and there’s a special presale for Feeling fans via www.thefeeling.com/tickets beginning tomorrow morning (Wed June 1st) at 9am. Tickets then go on general sale on Friday (June 3rd).

Snow due on Wed as a cold blast come through! Ski Lodge open for Summer in 4 weeks…

The wigglies on all models showing the cold blast by Wednesday 1st June…

London Sisters. The Saisonnaire Reunion

Summer in La Tania and The Three Valleys etc. The What’s On Guide

What’s Happening in Summer 2011….

May 27 – Bring Your Sisters, 9pm, Thornhill Arms, Islington, UK
May 29 – Bring Your Sisters, from 2pm, Victoria Public House, Oxshott, UK

Jun 18 – Tignes Summer Skiing area opens for Summer

Every Week in July & August the following activities are organised by The La Tania Tourist Office:
Sun: Welcome Drink, Gondola open
Mon: Orienteering, Cinema
Tue: Water Aerobics, Gondola open
Wed: Nordic Walk, Moûtiers Day Trip, BBQ in the Forest
Thu: Aerobics, Cinema, Gondola open
Fri: Flora & Fauna outing, Kids show

Jul 01 – Ski Lodge opening party for Summer TBC
Jul 02 – Lifts open for Summer (La Tania Gondola Sun, Tue & Thu. Verdons & Vizelle daily except Sat)
Jul 02 to 03 – Les 3 Vallées Tout Terrain. Mountain Bike Competitions across The Three Valleys
Jul 07 – Courchevel X-Trail, 32km or 55km hike
Jul 09 to 16 – Kids Week, La Tania
Jul 11 to 13 – The 18th Drive des Gourmets, Méribel. Golf competitions while enjoying top local food
Jul 13 – Fireworks (usually pretty good and well worth seeing) by the lake in Le Praz
Jul 14 – Fireworks and Party, Bastille Day, La Tania
Jul 15 to 17 – French Mountain Bike Championships, Méribel
Jul 16 to 17 – ESF Teenag’ Games for kids, lots of sports activities, Courchevel 1850
Jul 16 to 23 – Pirate Week, St Martin de Belleville
Jul 23 to 30 – Environment Week, La Tania. Hikes, bike routes, check points, games, films & lectures.
Jul 23 to 24 – La Madelon Fair, Le Praz
Jul 24 – Fête au village de Villarabout
Jul 24 – Les Menuires & Val Thorens Mountain Bike Circuit Competition
Jul 25 to 31 – Outdoor Music Festival, Méribel.
Jul 27 – Forest Contest, La Tania
Jul 30 to 31 – European Cup Summer Ski Jumping, Le Praz Ski Jump
Jul 30 to 31 – Local Heritage Meeting, La Tania
Jul 31 to Aug 6 – Well-Being Week, La Tania. Massages, spa trips, aqua gym, fitness courses, etc.

Aug 06 to 07 – Fanfoué Fête, Les Allues
Aug 06 to 07 – Fête Notre Dame Des Neiges, Courchevel
Aug 07 – Bouc Blanc Race: Running race up to the Bouc Blanc restaurant, La Tania
Aug 07 – La Bourgui Cycling Road CLimb Races, Les Menuires
Aug 07 – Fishing Fête in Le Bettaix, near St Martin de Belleville
Aug 13 to 20 – Wood Week, La Tania
Aug 11 to 12 – Summer Ski Jumping World Cup 2011, Le Praz Ski Jump (our race UP the jump too!)
Aug 14 to 19 – Magic Week, Méribel. Top Magicians with live shows and displays
Aug 15 – Fête des Bûcherons, The Lumberjack Championships, La Tania
Aug 15 – Fête des Tovets et Braderie des Commercants, Courchevel
Aug 15 – Fête du 15 Août, St Martin de Belleville
Aug 20 to 21 – Summer Fete, Courchevel 1550
Aug 22 to 27 – Golf Week, Méribel. Including international Pro-Am tournaments.
Aug ?? – Ski Lodge Closing Party TBC
Aug 26 – Lifts close for Summer

Sep 04 – Tignes Summer Skiing area closes

New Tax Proposals on French 2nd homes

A couple of links here about the new holiday home French tax that is being proposed from 2012. Seems there could be an appeal through Euro courts as it may discriminate against non-French.

Basically they say they will work out a years rental charge on your property and tax you 20% whether you rent out your property or not! Yearly rentals may be excluded though.

http://bit.ly/lj9x5u

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/property/propertyinfrance/8529230/British-holiday-homeowners-in-France-to-be-hit-by-new-tax.html

Congratulation to LT veterans Gaz and Bish on their Wedding today

Work has started on resurfacing the chalet access road at last

Thanks to Cath at Avid Eaters http://www.avideaters.co.uk/ for the pic

Nick Ski season snow review – someone who skis just about every day of the season

See the full article and photos at http://bit.ly/k7O8gc

How good was the skiing this season? With France Meteo saying the least snow in a generation andHAT http://www.henrysavalanchetalk.com/ saying the least snow since 1949. Well from the 11th December until the beginning of April the 3 Valleys had at least 90% of pistes open but generally 95%. What really happened? As always we started to ski in November in Val Thorens and finished as planned on the 8th May. This season the snow and cold weather had arrived about a month ahead of average and by the opening day of Courchevel on 4th December and the 3 Valleys links, there was far more snow than normal and what a great first day we had skiing back home to La Tania.

Then a huge temperature change with rain and very warm weather,you could almost see the snow melting in resort. However things picked up and the week of the 11th December was fabulous with around 50cms at mid station and a few classic powder days. 15 December 2010 near the Bouc Blanc Then on New Year week after some more snow the Grande Couloir opened the earliest I remember in 10 years. This indicated that we had a huge amount of snow base higher up as the steepest marked run in Europe is very rocky and normally opens at the end of January. We then had a medium powder day on Wednesday 12th January followed by rain up to around 2300 metres which put a crust on almost all the off piste. The pistes were pisted and we started to enjoy some fabulous piste skiing but the off piste was impossible to ski below around 2700m then very cold and sunny days for week after week until the week of the 19th February when the snow returned

By this time the pistes were becoming very hard not icy but the best skiing was in the first couple of hours. The sunny slopes like Mur and the bottom of Marmottes started to close even though it was very cold the sun was melting these and similar direct sun-facing pistes throughout the 3 Valleys. The season then seemed to be more normal with a few medium snowfalls which freshened the pistes and made the off piste much better but extremely dangerous on steeper slopes because the layers of snow had not and were not bonding.

So March progressed and the final sting in the tail happened with temperatures reaching heights that had not been seen since the late 1800s. The snow then started to melt rapidly and many pistes were closing by the start of April. Folyeres kept going until the 8th April and after then we were basically 2 weeks ahead of normal which would mean everywhere except Val Thorens would normally be closed.

However the amazing work by the piste bashers continued to astound us and the Three Valleys links were kept open until Easter Monday with some downloading in to Mottaret for the last week . So to sum it all up a season of extremes, generally a cold and sunny season until the end of March and then very warm. Only a few snow falls after December but by then the base was well above average and helped tremendously by the snow making facilities and the skills of the piste basher drivers who took snow from everywhere possible at the sides of the pistes.

Did we have fun? Of course what could be better than being in the mountains with lots and lots of sunny weeks. How about our guests? On a number of occasions when ski hosting the guests said it was one of their best days skiing ever. It was especially important to pick the best routes and pistes this season but there was lots and lots of fabulous skiing to be had.

See you next season,

Nick – Nick Ski

www.nickskithreevalleys.co.uk

Snow (as predicted on Thursday). Bouc Blanc Terrace just about covered

New Lifts, Improvements, Building Work etc going on this Summer

New Lifts, Improvements, Building Work etc going on this Summer

Thanks to Nick Ski for the pics

Work is beginning on a new 8 seater gondola to replace the Saulire Bubble from Meribel (the one that used to be called Burgin Saulire) up to the Saulire Summit. This will give access to The Grand Couloir in 12 minutes from Meribel and first tracks down to Courchevel long before anyone else coming up from that side.

 The top section is due to be completed for December 2011 and the lower section the year after.

This concrete post/base was spotted at the beginning of this season and they’ve now put up a sign at the top of the Portettes lifts regarding a new Funitel in Val Thorens being built this summer ready for Winter 2011/12.

Meanwhile S3V who cover the Courchevel Valley (including La Tania) and Meribel Mottaret areas are to begin construction of a new 8 seater Plattieres gondola to replacing the old small bubble type first and second sections with a single lift. This will give fast access up to the Cote Brun lift and over to Val Thornes.

We also hear that the Plantrey lift (a favourite chair to get back to La Tania) out of 1850 is to be upgraded to a 6 seater – a strange one this as there’s not usually big queues here, upgrading Biollay would probably a better option in our opinion.

More snow cannons are going in down to Le Praz via the Murette piste as we spotted last summer and lots more Magnestick safety devices are being installed on chairs across the Courchevel Valley.

Meanwhile in La Tania discussions continue regarding the refurbishment of the La Tania gondola and the possibilities of a chairlift being installed to replace the drag lift, nothing confirmed yet though – there was a serious breakdown for a couple of days this season with the gondola not working and insufficient snow for the drag lift to operate. Improvements for beginners pistes down back to La Tania are also on the agenda.

The public building and chalets opposite should be completed this Summer but the proposed development “Village Moretta” on the car park near the Gondola (new hotel & apartments plus commercial units etc) is still on hold.

A huge new “Aqua Centre” is to be built near the tennis courts and go-kart track in Courchevel 1550. Work is supposed to be starting this summer with an opening date in 2014. A video on the development below…

Finally news on the French Hotel Classification – a new “Palace” grade has been added for top, luxury hotels. There are so far 8 in France with 4 in Paris (although not the Ritz or George V), one in Biarritz, one in Cap Ferrat and 2 in Courchevel 1850! – The Cheval Blanc and The Airelles make it to “Palace” grade.  As ever we’ll be on the lookout this Summer and have news of all the developments with a What’s New Page for next Winter.