La Tania veteran Andy Lee does the Escapade in a Day

Andy & Kyle completed the Escapade in a Day on Saturday 11th January in perfect conditions with blue skies, quiet lifts and perfect pistes throughout the 3 Valleys. We see they skied back down La Masse rather than an unpleasant cruddy, crusty off piste run down via Lac du Lou to Plan de L’eau.

From Andy:
Got to La Tania Gondola at 9am and didn’t stop all day, no need to ski at break neck pace, just get the route right and don’t stop between lifts. Tiring but great fun! I have listed the lifts we took and the times we got on them, it may help people to see how they’re getting on time wise, we arrived at Foret with 16 minutes to spare.

Congratulations Andy & Kyle and thanks for the timings, very useful – you’re now in the Hall of Fame

1, 9.00 Tania
2, 9.11 Bouc Blanc
3, 9.23 Rocher
4, 9.31 Saulire
5, 9.48 Dent De Burgin
6, 10.03 Golf
7, 10.09 Tow rope
8, 10.17 Legends
9, 10.27 Olympic
10,10.42 St Martin 1
11, 10.49 St Martin 2
12, 11.01 Roc de Tougne
13, 11.17 Masse 1
14, 11.26 Masse 2
15, 11.44 Reberty
16, 11.49 Bruyeres 1 (get off at first station)
17, 12.01 Plan de L’eau
18, 12.13 Cime caron
19, 12.35 Peyron
20, 12.42 Bouchet
21, 12.59 Rosael
22, 1.14 Moraine
23, 1.26 Col
24, 1.44 Peclet
25, 2.00 Pioneers
26, 2.07 3V Funitel
27, 2.22 Sunny Express
28, 2.34 Becca
29, 2.48 Mont Vallon
30, 3.14 Pas Du Lac 1
31, 3.25 Pas Du Lac 2
32, 3.36 Roc Mugnier
33, 3.45 Petite Bosses
34, 3.50 Aiguille du Fruit
35, 4.09 Forêt

The “Escapade Lifts” in bold

This route as a PDF to download and save on a smartphone

What’s all this 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 saw the use of the Roc de Tougne fast new chair instead of the drag and we lost the Montaulever drag altogether. In 2019 we gained the new faster Legends chair out of Méribel and then an improvement in speed on the Mont Vallon lift too.

It’s still a big, big day out though with all talking (and lunch) kept to the lifts…

Updated 2020 PDF route with the 19 “Escapade Lifts” in bold

You do this entirely at your own risk, act responsibly, take full ownership for your own actions and all of those with you, respect other people (& the mountain), ski & ride within your limits, always obey the skiers & snowboarders code, observe all signs, pay attention to all notices, advice & instructions from Pisteurs, only ski off piste if fully equipped & knowledgeable, it’s not a race (you won’t be insured), think about the safety of others as well as yourself but above all, take care, don’t wreck things for others & don’t even think of blaming anyone else if it all goes horribly wrong…..