ESCAPADE 2026: Nick & Ross

07 February 2026

After nearly 20 years of skiing in the 3 Valleys and years of saying “we should do the Escapade”, we finally stopped talking and committed.

Starting from Courchevel 1650, we clipped into the Ariondaz at 09:04 and set off fully fueled by a carefully curated pre-race diet of Belgian beer and pizza the night before. Early progress across Courchevel and La Tania was swift on fresh, firm pistes and everything felt under control.

That was until an unexpectedly long queue on the Olympic in Méribel and the classic missed turn down to St Martin cost us valuable minutes. Things got properly serious when we realised Chanrossa closed at 16:35, not 17:00. From that point on, it was heads down.

No stops apart from a quick comfort break, lunch consisted of a pain au chocolat each, eaten on the move. Up through Val Thorens and across to Orelle the weather closed in, visibility dropped and chopped-up pistes slowed the legs, but we kept pushing. A final charge off Mont Vallon and a fair bit of skating along Ours confirmed we were still in the game.

We made the last lift with 12 minutes to spare, completing the Escapade in 7 hours 52 minutes. For good measure, we added an extra trip up Chapelets to push the total distance beyond 90km.

Escapade completed. Celebrated appropriately that evening with several cold beers.

P.S. Not huge fans of the extremely slow Grande Combes and Tortollet lifts…

ESCAPADE 2026 – 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 now at 32 lifts (depending on the route) ESCAPADE 2026 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….. Note that setting of record times and max speeds WILL NOT BE PUBLISHED.

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!
2026 – Grandes Combs and Tortollet are added – ESCAPADE 2026