ESCAPADE 2025: Neil, Ross and Jonny

06 March 2025

Conquering the Three Valleys Escapade: A Decade in the Making

Following an unsuccessful attempt almost exactly 10 years ago (just one week short of the anniversary), Neil was determined to give the legendary Three Valleys Escapade another shot. This time, Ross and Jonny were eager to join the adventure, and on Thursday, March 6th, we set off from Val Thorens with high hopes and nervous energy.

A Brutal Beginning

Our challenge began ominously at the top of the Peclet gondola, where we encountered ferocious winds that literally stopped the two snowboarders in our group mid-run. The gusts had stripped away the top layer of snow, leaving us with a treacherous mixture of ice and moguls for our opening descent. Our tentative start felt like a bad omen for the mammoth day ahead.

The relentless wind continued to batter us throughout Val Thorens and Orelle, but we pushed through with grim determination. Relief came only when we reached Méribel-Motteret, where the winds finally eased.

Racing Against Time

By noon, we’d only managed 11 lifts – we were one-third of the way through the route but nearly halfway through our available time. Sitting on the Pas Du Lac gondola, we did the math and realized completion would be a serious stretch. However, we’d been fortunate with lift queues so far, giving us a glimmer of hope.

Our original plan included a proper lunch stop in Courchevel, but that luxury went out the window as soon as we did the maths. Instead, we powered through on just the snacks we’d packed, knowing every minute counted.

Finding Our Rhythm

We flew through Courchevel with renewed energy, calculating that if we could hit a new lift every 15 minutes, we might just pull this off. The strategy was working beautifully until the weather turned against us once more. After a week of brilliant blue skies, clouds rolled in at the top of Méribel, creating challenging low-light conditions. Two of us hadn’t thought to bring spare lenses – a rookie mistake that would cost us precious time and confidence.

Slushy runs in St Martin and Bettex, combined with a frustrating lift queue, saw our goal beginning to slip away. We knew the critical checkpoint: we had to make the Bruyères chairlift by 4:50 PM to have any chance of success.

The Final Push

Arriving at La Masse around 4:20 PM, we knew it would be extremely tight, but maybe – just maybe – doable if we laser-focused on the final two runs. Our legs were screaming with fatigue, and at this point, it felt like we were skiing on pure willpower and muscle memory. I’m not sure I’ve ever descended a run so quickly as we did at La Masse.

We reached Reberty and sprinted to the front of the queue. It was 4:45 PM!! My heart pounded as I watched the chairlift crawl upward at what felt like the slowest pace imaginable. I was sitting there trying to figure out how long the lift would take and then how quickly we could get to the Bruyères chairlift, knowing it was a very short descent down. We crested the top at 4:49 PM – cutting it impossibly fine. The one enduring thought that kept running through my mind was that if we didn’t do it today I knew it would annoy me so much that I’d have to go through this all again until we did!

Victory by Seconds

Jonny raced down first on his skis while Ross and I followed as fast as our exhausted legs could carry us, and with bindings barely clipped in properly. We knew we were on a knife’s edge. As we approached the final gondola, we could see the lift operator beginning to close the barrier across the entrance gates.

Our desperate faces must have told the whole story because after a few pleading faces and some mumbled French from Jonny she immediately ushered us through with urgency. Ross and I sprinted to the gondola while Jonny clattered behind in his rigid ski boots, doing his best to catch up in what looked like a scene from RoboCop.

We made it. By seconds. We were the absolute last passengers on the final gondola of the day.

The lift operators probably thought we’d lost our minds when they saw us screaming, hugging, and throwing out the crispest high-fives as the doors closed behind us. But we had done it – conquered the Three Valleys Escapade exactly 10 years after the first attempt, with literally no time to spare.

It also meant that we didn’t have to attempt it again next year. Those were indeed the crispest of high-fives.

ESCAPADE 2025 – 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 – doing it in a day was a bit tricky though!

It all started out as a late night “is it possible?” discussion – the history and our original route from 2006 are here

Originally punch cards had to be stamped at each check point until electronic passes arrived and then the use of a lift was recorded – now we use Apps such as Ski Tracks or Relive to prove our route.

Note that the Escapade is no longer officially promoted by Les 3 Vallees from Winter 2017 but we still record successful tracks for anyone who is interested in being in the sought after La Tania Escapade Hall of Fame

Send a pic of yourselves on the day with your successful tracker data & screenshot plus a story of your day to toffa@latania.co.uk and you’ll get your place in the HoF.

The original Escapade took 30 lifts, around 13000m vertical with 70km length and by 2016 reached 34 lifts, 17000m vertical (twice the height of Everest) and around 80km skiing (140km total distance). With the newer, longer, faster lifts we’re back down to 30 lifts and the age range for successful completion is from 8 to 76 years old! The latest ESCAPADE route

This is NOT a race

ALWAYS CONTROL YOUR SPEED. 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, think of other people, take care, don’t wreck things for others & don’t even think of blaming anyone else if it all goes wrong…..

Changes through the years
2006 – First year and cards with hole punches stationed at lifties huts are used.
2008 – Electronic lift analysis is now used – no use hiking out the 4th Valley now!
2010 – The piste map did not include the top of the 4th Valley and the Col lift in Val Thorens.
2011 – The X-Wing Discovery was launched but only had 10 check points and doesn’t count!
2012 – Peclet included and Biollay / Vizelle used for Saulire access.
2015 – Foret used instead of La Tania gondola.
2016 – Mont Vallon is included for the first time plus the Montaulever drag lift.
2017 – Chapelets replaced by Petite Boss drag and La Tania’s Bouc Blanc chair replaces Tovets.
2018 – The new Roc de Tougne chair replaces the drag lift of the same name.
2019 – Legends replaces Roc de Fer and the Montaulever drag in Les Menuires has been removed.
2020 – Cime Caron now back in use.
2022 – New Pointe de la Masse and Orelle-Caron Gondolas (for example) could be used.
2023 – Using the new lifts, we ski all the resorts, all the perimeters and classic peaks – ESCAPADE 2023
2024 – No changes to 2023 route!
2025 – No changes to 2024 route!