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What’s New in La Tania & The 3 Valleys 2022 – The Definitive Guide (Part 1 of 3)
La Tania / Courchevel
The 20th edition of What’s New in La Tana & The 3 Valleys – The Definitive Guide
Part 3: Val Thorens / Orelle / Les Menuires / St Martin
2022 Lift Pass Prices (new under 30 and flexible season passes, but no workers or residents discounts)
2022 Piste Maps (still waiting for some individual valley maps)
Accommodation, Self-Catering / Apartments, Special Offers, Travel, Transfers, Flying
Part 1: La Tania / Courchevel
New Last Season (but new for most people this season)
With most people not skiing last season all the developments from last year will be new to most. In La Tania and Courchevel that means all the new World Cup Piste L’Eclipse developments around Jockeys down to Le Praz including the new snow cannon reservoir at the top of Col de Loze and the massive work on the new Stade and Racing HQ / Club House in Courchevel 1850.
All Last Season’s What’s New Here
Blog Post – First Time Skiing L’Eclipse with Martin Hemsley
Also last year the magic carpet beginners lifts were move in Le Praz and at the top of the La Tania gondola where a new bridge and tunnel were created to allow skiers access across the race piste when competitions / training sessions are taking place.
New protected areas for Black Grouse, The Freeride area enhanced where Creux Noirs chair used to be, modifications around Suisses chair base station, new stairs and plants in La Tania plus the extension work at the Chrome Bar (now Bistro Machet). Also in La Tania the Ski Lodge now boasts a new outside bar, there was a new roof on Les Charmes apartments and The Tourist Office was closed (but news on that for this season below).
Elsewhere the Drop Inn in Le Praz became Le Jardin – but the same great crew in charge and it won’t be long until La Tania descends for another Beaujolais Nouveau night in November! More building work took place at the Le Praz Ski Jump and is still continuing plus Les Peupliers had another annexe built by the Lake (and the hotel may have been sold now too).
Over in Courchevel 1650 Moriond a new relaxation and picnic area was created with giant deckchairs on a plateau with great views.
New for Winter 2022
Lifts & Pistes
This Winter the major work in the Courchevel Valley has taken place in La Tania with a whole new beginners area and the re-shaping and moving of the Folyeres piste as it comes in to the resort to divert it around the first time skiers allowing them to learn the sport in a protected, safe environment.
Work started in July 2021 (not May, much to the annoyance of many!) and the main earth works, snow cannons, drainage and electricity cabling have all been completed by October with the new magic carpet / travelator covered lifts being installed in November for the 11 December opening.
The 2023 World Cup being held in Courchevel and Méribel has seen lots of work in preparation not least the snow canon reservoir and piping system involved to cover the new L’Eclipse competition piste.
L’Eclipse also has a lot of permanent netting structure – who knows what speed downhill skiers could hit as they approach the first steep drop in to the old Jockeys piste so netting is essential with all those trees about…
The Col de Loze sign for the Courchevel Valley at the top of Dou des Lanches chair on Col de Loze is now a lot more subtle!
The beginners magic carpet at the top of the La Tania gondola has been moved to the right of the station (as you look at it in the pic below) – they moved the Giraffe too!
The top of the Moretta Blanche red piste from the Bouc Blanc has been re-profiled slightly providing easier access to the green piste (note the Stade piste has swapped sides too).
Down the new Eclipse piste there are 3 very smart huts – not sure if they’re to with race timing / monitoring or are connected to the snow cannons and are pumping stations. The Cold de Loze reservoir is used to store water from other reservoirs as well – water can be pumped up from the reservoir near the bottom of Biollay for example.
The photo below shows the incredible amount of work that has now been completed on the Courchevel Stade including re-shaping of the piste, snow cannons, flood lighting, the new Race HQ, clubhouse, viewing area and underground car parking.
It’s been confirmed that the Saulire cable car will be out of action this Winter after an accident when performing an annual stress safety test (that’s why they do it – to prevent issues when in use, safety is always paramount).
There are still another 3 fast lifts to get up Saulire and across to Méribel (Vizelle Gondola, Suisses and Marmottes chairlifts), although the highest point to access Grand Couloir and the Panoramic Restaurant – if it opens – is a bit of a hike up but of course you can access via the Saulire Express 2 Gondola from the Méribel side).
Plenty more work is going on across the ski area with additional drainage, anti-corrosion work, new signage, snow cannon maintenance etc. Some improvement to Mountain Biking Tracks in the Courchevel Valley this Summer too…
More Building Work…
In Le Praz further work at the Ski Jump is taking place with a very posh new reception building going up.
Courchevel Moriond 1650 still had serious construction / refurbishment work going on right along the main road…
Bar and Restaurant News
In La Tania the Ski Lodge will finally open its outside bar for a real Winter season in December – drinks and snacks without leaving the terrace! Tim, Deb, Harriet, Connor, Luke and the gang will be welcoming you back from the start of December…
We hear La Taiga has some internal alterations being completed and a nice round table option upstairs now. Luke’s done a great job – more soon..
Also new to many will be Bistro Machet (from Michelin Star chef Julien Machet of Le Farçon) – again this time open for a proper Winter season. We loved the Broccoli pizza this Summer!
Le Jardin (formerly The Drop Inn) in Le Praz is already a year old – but will be a new spot (with familier faces) for many.
More construction work in Courchevel 1850 with a new terrace on La Cantine (will always be the Kalico to many!).
Other Stuff…
Some fancy new street lights have been installed in La Tania
The waste disposal points behind the Hotel Montana have been closed due to the retaining wall becoming unstable – temporary bins have been put in place but hopefully sorted for Winter.
A new temporary road to the chalet area next to the La Tania Gondola station has been put in place as work has finally started on the Village Moretta Project. We’re not sure if this is for use this Winter (it goes over the red piste) or not.
More on the Moretta Village development that is being built on the car park near the La Tania gondola in our Latest on New Developments in La Tania Blog Post
The road is being cleared over at Krab’s old place on the road to Méribel Village – must be some further development work going on here.
The Bus Stops in Le Praz appeared to have moved along the road near the entrance to the Alpinium and so nearer to the Le Praz lifts (which makes sense) but a detour for buses that don’t go via La Tania (unless they all are now?).
The La Tania Tourist Office will return this Winter – albeit on a much smaller scale. Some public toilets and a commercial unit are also planned in the current premises but at least there is a presence and focal point for visitors in La Tania this season.
A new photo frame / selfie spot with expanded relaxation area (giant deck chairs) has been installed the top of the Signal lift in Courchevel 1650 – expect some upgrades to the Mountain Art installations around The 3 Valleys too.
Bring Your Sisters gigs – nothing confirmed yet, but surely they’ll be out for at least a holiday and a few shows this Winter? Won’t they?
We’ll add to this page as things firm up for Winter, more people arrive and we see what else is new.
No news on the proposed alternative green run down to La Tania and the Creux Noirs drag lift appears to be a broken promise – expansion of the Freeride facilities and Transceiver training (after the hike across) are being made in this area as safe off piste skiing is promoted.
Hotel Pomme (formerly Pomme de Pin) above 1850 which was taken over by the Maison Tournier group before the pandemic needs a bit of work – there was no sign of life there this Summer, the place looking derelict.
A new bar area around La Croisette area in 1850 is being created as the Mairie desperately tries to inject some life (and Aprés Ski) in to the centre of Courchevel between the 5 star palaces – The Maison Tournier group are probably a favourite to get this, they run the 5 star hotels Saint Roch & Saint Joseph as well as the Cap Horn, La Casserole, San Marco, L’Èquipe, La Cantine and L’Aventure (get the picture?) .
New re-charge points for mobile phones will be available across Courchevel and Mottaret – you will leave your phone in a locker with a charging point while you do a few runs .
There are private minibus Transfers staffing issues for those arriving at Geneva and a consolidation of minibus fleets is going to happen compared to previous years so book early! This is due to new discriminatory employment regulations being introduced by the Canton of Geneva – good news for Lyon, Grenoble and Chambéry Airports though!
The price of hire cars from Geneva Airport (especially on the Swiss side) seems to have shot up for this Winter – not sure if this is purely due to the increased demand, but checking a few dates they seem twice the price of Lyon for example.
There’s been a few changes in the chalet industry too – some new chalets, new self-catering options and new locations for some too. Check out all the options on the La Tania Accommodation Page.
New Chalets from Ski First Tracks, Freeride Republic and Chalet La Tania plus new self-catering options at Ski Dazzle & Alpine Escape (who now offer a self-catering/catered best of both worlds option for maximum flexibility and convenience) are now listed in our Self-Catering / Apartments Availability Page.
As for Travel, we’ll complete our updates of our Fly/Drive/Train/Coach/Transfers guides very soon including full details of the new Winter Tyre (or Snow Chains!) laws, UK country stickers (instead of GB ones) and the different options for flying and travelling by train from the UK this Winter.
The next lifts rumoured to be upgraded are the Chenus & La Tania gondolas (lus the re-vamped Croisette building probably means that Jardin Alpin and Verdons are due refurbs too). The planned lift from Bozel is supposed to be going ahead but no dates of when work on this may start are available yet.
Les 3 Valleys has a shiny new website for this Winter (but it still had the old 2021 piste map on a the time of launch!).
The Covid Travel Blog is always up to date with the latest travel restrictions & regulations – not a lot at the moment, let’s hope it stays that way.
The What’s On Dairy will be fully up to date by mid-November and we should have some gig schedules too.
As always, thanks for all the contributions and photos including from Freeride Republic, Snow Retreat, Tim Wall, Snowbound Transfers, Charlie Gorman, Pub Le Ski Lodge, MH2Ski, Jason Baker, Nick & Joey, Le Jardin & Harriet Graham.
Part 3: Val Thorens / Orelle / Les Menuires / St Martin
