ESCAPADE 2026: Nicolas from Belgium on a solo mission success – great write up!

26 February 2026

The week before our arrival, the 3 Vallées saw some of the heaviest snowfall it had seen in a while. As luck would have it, during our week, the weather was absolutely lovely with hardly a cloud in the sky and excellent snow conditions! 

My wife hadn’t been feeling great the last 2 days and told me to go & enjoy some skiing by myself. I did a pretty random full day run of the 3 Vallées the day before. After being intrigued whether there wasn’t an even more challenging route, I came across the latania.co.uk site and read up on the history of the legendary 3 Vallées Escapade! I had heard about this challenge when I was skiing in 3 Vallées as a university student back in 2006! I had never tried it and needless to say, I was keen on making a successful attempt!

So on the morning of Thursday 26^th February 2026, I thought to give the Escapade a go by myself for the first time! I was a bit anxious as this was one of the busiest school holiday weeks and with the sun being out the entire week, I was sure to run into a couple of massive queues! 

After dropping off my 10 year old son for his full day ESF lessons, I started at the Ariondaz lift in Courchevel 1650 Moriond at 09h04. 

I set out a couple of principles: 1) I vowed I was going to take a selfie at every lift, to prove I had made it the whole way round as per the suggested route as a single runner (no shortcuts!) 2) I wasn’t going to race (with so many expected people around), yet 3) I was aiming to ski every run top to bottom in one go, i.e. not to take breaks on the slopes or stop for food/beverages, hoping that would secure me with enough time to complete the Escapade on my first attempt, even if it was a busy holiday week…

The first few lifts were bliss, with hardly a soul around. I was able to hit my top speed of the day (84.2km/h) on the completely empty Altiport slope going down to Courchevel 1850 (which is usually super crowded)! The addition of Grandes Combes for 2026 was ok for me. The lift is slow, but at the very beginning of the day, nobody was around.

As of La Tania, the crowds were really starting to amass on the slopes, but I was making nice progress doing the runs from Courchevel 1650 to the top of Col de la Loze in 1h15min. By the time I got to Meribel, waiting time for the Legends lift was up to ±10min. Also the Saint Martin Express lift had an epic queue of about 15min, but I had read from other Hall of Fame accounts that this was to be expected. 

All was going swell, until I reached the Tortollet lift in Les Menuires at around 12h05: the lift was down for ±10min, and when I got on, it was running really slow and stopped several times on my way to the top. I was just crossing fingers it would hold out. This was probably the stressiest time of the day, as I was really fearing my attempt was going to have to be cut short. But we eventually made it to the top and let out a sigh of relief!

I felt lucky starting from Courchevel 1650, as by lunchtime lifts such as Pointe de la Masse, Reberty, Bruyeres and the legendary Peclet Funitel in Val Thorens had very limited waiting times as everybody was enjoying lunch on this sunny beautiful day!

After having passed them the day before, I decided to use the lifts of Moraine and the newly installed (since 2026!) Face Nord lift on my way to the Col de Thorens, rather than the option Portette-Thorens as you can sometimes get stuck for 5-10min waiting for the Thorens lift… The Lory run from Col de Thorens to Orelle Plan Bouchet was probably my favourite piste of the day. Beautifully wide blue run, with only a few people of the slope! Reaching the top of 3 Vallées at 3225m in Orelle without a cloud in the sky was another big highlight! I felt immensely lucky with the weather all day!

Skiing back down to Val Thorens from Cime Caron 3200m, I decided to take a gamble and use the Plein Sud lift rather than Pionniers, as there was a massive queue at Pionniers and luckily only a few minutes waiting time at Plein Sud!

I reached Col de La Chambre around 15h00 and this was the first time I was thinking I might be able to pull off the remaining slopes and reach the contraining Chanrossa lift on time (closing 16:35) to be back on time at 17h00 to pickup my son from his ESF class at Courchevel 1650.

Then came the red slope at Mont Vallon which was probably the hardest of the day, with lots of people and even more heavy bumps, but I did it all in one go, without stopping and wasn’t feeling too tired afterwards. 

The final stretch home from Chanrossa to Courchevel 1650 was just bliss! Not a lot of people around, the sun was starting to set on Courchevel 1850 and I even took the time to take a few videos as I was completing the final slopes and the last of 32 lifts!

I made it back at 16:33 at the Ariondaz lift, with 30min to spare! Just enough time to have a Gin & Tonic under the setting sun, as I awaited the return of my son from his ESF lessons at 17:00.

Overall I just felt so blessed with such a beautiful sunny day with excellent snow conditions & no lifts breaking down (apart from that scare at Tortollet!) and no pistes being closed! It was a fabulously relaxing day of skiing, without distractions, business phone calls or urgent meetings. Very happy I came across the 3 Vallées Escapade community on latania.co.uk. And even more happy I was able to complete the Escapade on my first attempt! Hope to be able to do it a few more times with friends and hopefully one day with my son!

Top tip 1: Use the ‘single person’ queues at Pointe de la Masse in Les Menuires, Mont Vallon and Pas du Lac in Meribel, as they save you a lot of time if you are running as a single!

Top tip 2: I have a rather old iPhone, so took a USB battery charger with me, which came in handy as with all the GPS tracking & picture taking, my phone would probably not have lasted all day.

Last few stats (pls don’t approach this as a race, as the runs are just beautiful! Relax & just have a fun day out!)

• Duration: 7h29min
• Distance: 144.2km
• Avg speed: 19.3km/h
• Max elevation: 3225m
• Total elevation gain: 14,155m

Passing times at the bottom of each lift:
Ariondaz (Courchevel 1650) 09:04
Aiguille du Fruit 09:17
Grandes Combes 09:30
Tovets 09:38
Foret 09:47
Tania 10:01
Dou des Lanches 10:13
Golf (Meribel) 10:29
Legends 10:43
Olympic 10:55
St Martin 1 (St Martin de Belleville) 11:14
St Martin Express 11:26
Bettex (Les Menuires) 11:52
Tortollet 12:04
Pointe de la Masse 12:18
Reberty 12:38
Bruyeres 12:44
Peclet (Val Thorens) 13:08
Moraine 13:26
Face Nord 13:37
Peyron (Orelle) 13:49
Bouchet 13:57
Orelle Caron 14:16
Plein Sud (Val Thorens) 14:39
3 Vallees 14:50
Mont Vallon 15:07
Pas du Lac (Meribel Mottaret) 15:30
Chanrossa 15:57
Chapelets 16:14
Ariondaz (Courchevel 1650) 16:33

Wishing you all the best,
Nicolas

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