The La Tania Ski Blog

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All the latest news from around the 3 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

 


 

Final Escapade in a Day for Winter 2020

Jan Barnett:
Day Summary – We originally planned to do the 3VE on Saturday, but changing weather conditions and poor visibility put an end to that idea.  Mainly following the route posted by Andy Lee on 20 Jan 2020, we set off Sunday morning on the 2nd gondola out of La Tania at 9am making very good progress until we hit queues at Legends.  Again progress was good until a 10 minute wait at St Martin Express due to “problème technique”.

Changes to Andy’s route were taking Moutiers and Grand Fond instead of Cime Caron to get down to Orelle and we missed out Sunny Express, as were able to stay high to get to Becca.  There were no queues at Plan des Mains, so took the chair out of the Mont Vallon sector rather than taking the Ours piste.  Made it to Forêt at 16.33 and had a fantastic last run down Folyères for a well earned drink in Ski Lodge.

Such an enjoyable day and great challenge. Big thanks to LaTania.co.uk for keeping the unofficial challenge  going.

Jan⛷ Paul🏂 & Matthew⛷


What’s this all 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 plus 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. 

Certainly getting easier with the improvement in lift infrastructure and we will make it harder for 2021. But, it’s still a big, big day out with all the planning, chatting, moaning (and lunch) kept to the lifts…

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

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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 (and 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…..