3 Valleys Lifts & Pistes for w/b Sunday 21 December 2014

[Update 15:00 Sat 20 Dec 2014]

Sunday opening now includes the bottom of Creux and Roc Mugnier for access back to 1650 via Ariondaz Gondola.

Full Size Image Here

Provisional Openings for next week [Updated 11:00 Sat 20 Dec 2014]

La Masse area over in Les Menuires will open for skiing from Sunday and St Martin 1&2 will open for uploading and access to the rest of the ski area but return will be by shuttle bus from Les Menuires.

Provisional Openings for next week [Updated 11:00 Fri 19 Dec 2014]

Today sees 77 lifts and 112 pistes open across The 3 Valleys – the most skiing available in France (Tignes / Val d’Isere is next with 45 runs open). To date in the Savoie / Haute Savoie, only 6 resorts outside the 3 Valleys are open: La Plagne / Les Arcs / Tignes / Val d ‘ Isère / Valloire and Avoriaz.n

Provisional Openings for next week – Click here for the full size image

More is set to open next week including a link from 1650 via Ariondaz and the new Aiguille du Fruit to link to 1850 with Suisses chair also open to access Saulire summit and Meribel link. Return to 1650 will be via free shuttle bus. The Creux Noirs chair is planned to be open and it looks like access to Plantrey from Praz will be available.

Initially downloading (or return via skibus) will remain to Le Praz, 1550, and La Tania. Also, in Méribel Village the Golf chair will open to give access to the Meribel Altiport area although return will be via downloading or the Meribus shuttle. It doesn’t look like the Loze link to Meribel will open next week without new snow so access will be via Saulire.

Skiing down the Saulire side of Meribel will be possible via the Rhodos / Doron side although down to Mottaret on this side will be via the Pas du Lac 1 gondola. On the other (shaded) side the Tougnete lifts will give access to ski down to Mottaret and access the Les Menuires skiing via Granges chairlift.

Mottaret will have skiing via Plattierres lifts and Chatelet chair. Plan des Mains also open for return from Alouette piste. No skiing planned at this stage on Mont Vallon, Roc Merlet, La Masse or Roc de Fer / Cherferie area and down towards St Martin.

Val Thorens looks likely to be almost fully open with runs over to Orelle complete too – only their lowest lift, the new Plan de L’eau is planned to be closed at this stage although there’ll be some exposed, steeper and sun facing piste closures in place.

From Monday 22 December there will be Night Skiing every night on Verdons above Courchevel until 7pm while there is a partial opening of the ski area. Shared lift pass arrangements with local Tarantaise ski areas & ski clubs from other resorts will be suspended to focus on local customers.

3V passes stay at the normal rate (in part to discourage people being shipped in from other areas which could lead to overcrowding) but Courchevel will be €192 for 6 days and the day pass €39.30 instead of €49.

Note off piste skiing is strongly not advised and everyone needs to be aware of the conditions and adjust their speed accordingly so everyone can enjoy the mountains, the great air, the altitude and the bars & restaurants.

S3V stress that the situation can change very quickly if there is enough persistent cold weather to produce more snow lower down and any significant snow fall will lead to the opening of many more runs as soon as possible.

As can be seen from the photos below all teams are working flat out and massive efforts by S3V plus volunteers from the Club des Sports, ESF and the local communities have got us this far…

And if you’re into Piste Bashers…

Snow Report & La Tania Access Updated 11:00 Thu 18 Dec 2014

Around 15cm of fresh snow yesterday afternoon and overnight down to below St Bonn at 1100m has made things look a whole lot better this morning. Temperatures have risen though, maybe not as much as forecast but there is rain in resort this morning and temperatures remaining above freezing at resort level until Saturday – hopefully colder weather coming in and time for some consolidation of the groomed base up top and some more snowmaking can get going low down.

The Pralong chair to access Biollay-Verdons link and the new Foret lift from Le Praz opened for the first time today and there will be some more hard work for pisteurs in planning to get as much open as possible for next week. The main Biollay run and Suisses look complete for example but look like they are being saved for next week.

Access from La Tania is via the La Tania Gondola and the short path to the Lanches chairlift which leads to the Col de la Loze piste towards the top of Chenus – narrow at the start but ok for say a week 2 skier.

With Lac Bleu still closed a bit of skating and poling is required to get to the top of the Bouc Blanc chair (going left at the big rock on Loze Est) leading to the red Loze piste down to 1850 – note that the last section is a little steeper, so some skiers might prefer the short walk up to the Chenus Gondola to download to 1850 from the end of the Col de la Loze piste. Easy skiing is currently available on the Jardin Alpin / Bellecote piste and on Verdons.

The route back to La Tania is via Chenus or Plantrey lifts and the blue Arolles piste down to the La Tania gondola for downloading. Fairly good cover and almost full width down this run – our week 2 skiers managed this ok on Wednesday.

We’re hearing that if the forecasted 48 hours or so dip in temperatures from Saturday night goes as planned then La Tania and Le Praz may have priority on the snow making system to attempt to open up lower runs. More on this when it gets clarified over the next day or so.

Skiing down to Méribel on both sides of the valley is now possible but some narrow and sketchy spots low down as you approach La Chaudanne area. Top of Saulire down to the Folie Douce at the Saulire Express mid-station has good cover and not many people are on it this week at least. Remarkably even the green Truite run between Mottaret and Méribel at the bottom of the valley is now scheduled to open – again some great work by snow cannons and pisteurs here.

Finally, one of the best runs for snow we discovered this week was Grand Lac down below the Granges chairlift above Les Menuires – just great snow on a fast roller coaster blue run – so good that at the bottom everyone said – “let’s do that again”!

There could be some more snow due earlier on Saturday too but snow/rain level will still be critical. Off Piste Avalanche Risk is raised up to Considerable Risk 3/5 for the first time this morning although obviously this is not advised due to the overall snow depths.

So all in all things looking better and certainly we’re lucky compared to some resorts which may not even open at all this weekend. Suddenly that money spent on lift passes looks very good value when you consider the massive investment in infrastructure across The 3 Valleys…