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The Escapade in a Day – Congratulations to Eric and Felix
The Escapade in a Day continues…
An awesome day!
We didnt start until 915am when the Funitel Peclet started, finished at 445pm. The Saulire cable car is closed for the year so we used the Vizelle lift to get to Pas Du Lac. The Chasse run was closed so we took Bruyere 1 to Bruyere 2 to the top, to get to Plan D Leau. Also, we used the Pointe De La Masse new cable car instead of Masse 1 & 2.
There was one wrong turn in Courchevel 1850 and ended up in 1550 so took the Tovets lift to make it over to the Foret lift instead of going straight to Foret from the top of Aiguille Du Fruit. Col is closed for the year so unable to do that one, but made up for it with taking Bruyere 2.
Felix’s Strava data below, my 2 ski trackers cut out part of the route for some reason.
Names – Eric Ahlstedt , Felix De Clercq from Atlanta, Georgia and St.Louis, Missouri. They’ll be in the Hall of Fame soon…
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.
It’s certainly getting easier with the improvement in lift infrastructure and we should make it harder for 2023 – there’s now the new Pointe de La Masse and Orelle-Caron Gondolas too! However, it’s still a big, big day out with every run top to bottom and all the planning, chatting, moaning (and lunch) kept for the time on the lifts…
The 2020 PDF route with the 19 “Escapade Lifts” in bold
REMEMBER: 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…..