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What’s New 2018 #5 of 5 – Summary, Other Stuff & Future Plans

Posted Fri 13 Oct 2017

Following on from…

What’s New in La Tania & 3 Valleys 2018. #1 of 5 – The New Lifts

What’s New in La Tania & 3 Valleys 2018. #2 of 5 – New Pistes & Ski Area Work

What’s New in La Tania & 3 Valleys 2018. #3 of 5 – New building work, chalets, new experiences etc.

What’s New in La Tania & 3 Valleys 2018. #4 of 5 – Travel & Transfer News

This post gives a summary of all the new stuff plus some other new bits of information and the future plans and developments (including new lifts) for La Tania & The 3 Valleys.

The planned new Moretta Village development at the entrance to La Tania

What’s New 2018 – The Summary

In case you missed it…
new ariondaz 8 seater gondola courchevel 1650, new roc de tougne 6 seater chair mottaret, new beginners covered magic carpet rond point meribel, new moraine 10 seater heated gondola val thorens, new western park courchevel 1650 beginners facilities, new 3km luge 1650, 115 new snow cannons in courchevel & la tania valleys, 2 selfie machines relocated, lac de la chambre piste from val thorens to meribel regraded blue, meribel altiport snow cannon reservoir massively extended, turn & run, elements & yeti parks in meribel all upgraded, couloir tournier renamed gopro couloir with automated video recording, 2 new picnic cabins & rest points with new furniture in meribel, new corniche piste in val thorens, new croix d’Antide piste on orelle side, new les menuire premium pass, new 3 valleys 4 hour pass, new roc 1 & snow park les men picnic areas, more new snow cannons in meribel and les menuires, new lac de lou refuge, new val thorens ski touring area la camille, new lift pass facial recognition software, new steamboat lodge piste side chalet construction in la tania, new lift pass office in la tania, road at the back of kalinka in la tania up to saboia tarmaced at last, alpine action 25th birthday, alpine escape new self catered chalet in 1650, snow chateaux new chalet in la tania, ski-dazzle refrued chalet juliette, freeride republic new ski in/out chalet in 1550, aman le melezin hotel in courchevel 1850 reopens 15 dec for £3k a night, new aerials slope for display at la croisette 1850, new residence l’ecrin blanc under construction opposite aquamotion, l’havana apartment complex in central meribel now under construction, hameau des cimes chalets going up in meribel village, new montana lodge in val thorens, new igloo pod on the pashmina hotel in val thorens, new designer hostel in les menuires, new italian restaurant at Oxalys vt, free wifi across brides les bains, 3v gormet skiing trip with ski cool, les menuires holding a geek fest, new moutain refuge near st martin, new 80s cars on the ise circuit val thorens, new 3 valleys cafe in moutiers, new supernova store in val thorens, parallel slalom coming to world cup in courchevel, courchevel and meribel bidding for world cup 2023 and meribel bidding for 2018 tour de france, new easyjet southampton geneva flights, new jet2 stansted grenoble & geneva, plus glasgow geneva flights, new ba heathrow grenoble & manchester chambery flights, lots of new scheduled shared transfers including mid-week ones, new clean air windscreen stickers required for city centre driving in paris, lyon & grenoble, new speed bumps in la perierre, only one sunday eurostar operating, no booze allowed on any overnight eurostar ski trains, monarch cease trading, saboia ‘b’ block out of action for winter 2018, car park in la croisette to get 4 electric parking points, new le praz gondola station, ticket office and underground car park announced, new grangettes gondola and aquamotion gondola plans revealed, refurb of reception and bar area at hotel montana la tania, new floor and deck alterations and new beers at pub le ski lodge, new tarmac near hotel montana, public lift and bridge in la tania, new cash machine in la tania, new piste shaping from aiguille du fruit to chanrossa/marmotte area, anyone still reading?anyone still reading?

Other Stuff We Missed Out

La Boulotte (aka Katies) in 1650 is still up & running and looking forward to welcoming you all with a big smile and special hospitality this Winter – fantastic community spirit and friends rallying around at the end of last season – good work everybody.

Parallel Lines Snow Sports School will have more instructors in La Tania this Winter – they’re becoming more & more popular and focusing a lot of their marketing on La Tania. They’ve taken on more British and International instructors again for this winter which will keep their team really strong in teaching and technical ability. And what a classic album to name themselves after by the way…

We’ve noticed a lot of ground work around the top of Aiguille du Fruit towards Chanrossa (Rama piste) – probably re-shaping to avoid such direct sun contact which does make this run suffer in late season.

Magic or Magic Ski Academy or Magic in Motion etc who got together with a joint marketing approach last Winter with Oxygène Ski & Snowboard School have now merged in to Oxygène completely. The Oxygène brand has been running for 25 years and have over 20 staff and 200 ski instructors spread across 8 resorts in the Tarentaise. Look out for them in La Tania this Winter with their distinctive blue uniforms (but now with a splash of Orange as an ode to Magic).

There’s a new cash machine in La Tania…

Note that it will try and persuade you to take the “guaranteed exchange rate” which is nearly always a rip off – select the amount in Euros which will convert at International Bank Rates not the rate of the cash machine manufacturers / installers / agents / town hall etc. It’s going to be particularly hard to work out which option to take after an Après session at Pub Le Ski Lodge opposite.

ESF Courchevel 1650 are offering new Off Piste Packages for Winter 2018. Starting with the 2 Day Discovery Pack as an introduction to off piste skiing with local classics such as “Little Canada”, “Les Arolles”, “The Petit Canyon,” “Pyramids”, “The Canyon des Avals” included. The ESF 1650 will provide Safety equipment including shovel, probe, avalanche transceiver and bag. Prices start from €199 per person for groups of 4.

We must mention Sam Burrows of Snowlimits Ski School (and of Pat n Sam who play at La Taiga) who’s just opened a new Wood Fired Pizza Restaurant in Wilmslow, Chesire. Wood.Fire.Smoke opened on 2nd October but we’re sure we’ll see Sam in the Alps during Winter…

La Tania Swimming Pool & Beginners Area

No definitive news on the upgrade to the beginners area (a single long, covered magic carpet lift was rumoured with an easier winding beginner piste). Currently this is managed by the ESF and there are rumours the the Swimming Pool may go – whether this is due to the new beginners area or for cost savings (and to encourage use of the €63m Aquamotion Centre) is not known. Certainly it would kill La Tania in Summer without that pool – it’s our one USP in Summer. With no Tourist Office Director and Courchevel running things it will be interesting to see how all this pans out…

Future Developments in La Tania and The 3 Valleys

La Tania
Apart from the issues above around the beginners area, the main future development in La Tania is the Moretta Village that has been talked about for years. Plans are getting more detailed every year and even the new chair lift has already been designed with a commitment from S3V the lift company to go ahead with a 6 seater high speed detachable chair to link with the Bouc Blanc chair once the proposed “village” building goes ahead. It may be the route as far as possible from the gondola station though – encouraging a split of the village as many fear.

The latest plans we’ve seen have the construction consisting of:
– 990 Tourist Beds
– 60 Seasonnaire Beds
– 175 Private Parking Places
– 100 Public Parking Places
– 2 Restaurants (one with 450 covers)
– Bar / lounge with 250 seats
– Ski Shop
– Crèche
– 650 m² Fitness Centre

Remember North is at the top (unlike a piste map)

Lift Stats: Length 921m, Vertical 346m, Top station 1703m, Pylons 10, Chairs 45, Speed 5.5 m/s, 2400 skiers/hour

Currently we have not heard of any final commitment to a start date on this project. There have been impact reports and planning discussions – but none have dealt with where the parking will be during the construction phase, that is already an issue on peak weeks. No mention of pedestrian access to the chalet quarter or general update of the resort centre infrastructure including the pavement and lighting either – just the grand plans – is this what the merger to Courchevel has brought us (plus buses in the Summer!).

A meeting is planned on 25 Oct 2017 to discuss the future of the La Tania Tourist Office – held in inter-season when no one is about of course…

New Gondolas in Courchevel 1550 and AquaMotion

The Grangettes gondola from 1550 to 1850 is due for replacement with work scheduled to start next Summer in order to open for December 2018.

Also revealed are plans for a gondola from Aquamotion to join a mid station on Grangettes (remember map is North at the top unlike the piste maps).

Pistes from 1650 and 1850 down to Aquamotion are also planned and a large new apartment complex down there is now under construction

New main lift building and car park in Le Praz

Work will start in Spring 2018 on a new main gondola building and underground car park in Le Praz – a solution aimed at day skiers to reduce traffic to higher levels.

The new building will have:
– 500 parking spaces on 2 levels
– A new gondola station
– S3V Lift Pass Office
– Tourist Office
– A children’s playground;
– Public toilets and ski storage;
– Multipurpose room of 245 m2 amd a terrace
– A medical centre with piste and ambulance access
– There will also be sports facilities on the roof and a reception area
– Landscaping around the building and lake.

The total cost of the project is estimated at €27m and is scheduled for completion by December 2019. Not sure if the new Praz gondola right up to 1850 Croisette (longer than the current one) is included in this timescale.

Other Rumours and Expected Developments

In Val Thorens a new blue piste from Cime de Caron is to be built – this will be needed in future to carry bulldozers etc for the construction of the new gondola from Orelle to Cime de Caron.

Mont Vallon is to get new gondola cabins – lets hope they have seats eh?

A new La Masse snow cannon reservoir at altitude is expected to be constructed next Summer.

No news on the possible Val Thorens (Plan de l’Eau base area) to La Masse lift we reported on last year or anything else towards Monte du Borgne either.

A Bozel lift has been discussed in various planning meetings once again this year – the preferred option was via St Bon to Aquamotion but this still seems a long way away with numerous planning, political and technical difficulties to overcome.

Rumours of a new 6 seater chair in the Meribel Valley – whether this will replace Roc de Fer, Cherferie, Olympic, Cote Brune or something else is not confirmed yet.