{"id":67011,"date":"2026-01-22T21:10:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-22T20:10:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.latania.co.uk\/blog\/?p=67011"},"modified":"2026-01-22T21:13:42","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T20:13:42","slug":"escapade-2026-wayne-clinton-david-and-tony","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.latania.co.uk\/blog\/2026\/01\/22\/escapade-2026-wayne-clinton-david-and-tony\/","title":{"rendered":"ESCAPADE 2026: Wayne, Clinton, David and Tony"},"content":{"rendered":"
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20 January 2026<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first successful ESCAPADE of 2026?<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Tuesday 20th January dawned bright and sunny, which was clearly all the encouragement needed for Wayne, Clinton, David and Tony to decide it was the perfect day to attempt the new 2026 Escapade route. Sensible people would have had a relaxed ski. We, however, chose adventure.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Starting from St Martin, the route looks considerably harder on paper. The last Olympic lift now shuts at 4:15pm in January and, thanks to two additional lifts being added to the route this year, we reckoned the route would be about 15 minutes longer. That estimate turned out to be\u2026 optimistic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The two new lifts are great additions. But . . . they are also glacially slow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Tortellette lift in Les Menuires was rammed with beginners and seemed to stop every few minutes, generously donating about ten minutes to our day all on its own. The Grandes Combes section also caused me a moment of concern \u2014 I genuinely wondered if \u201cGrandes Combes\u201d was a typo and Toffa had actually meant the Grand Couloir. In fairness, the Grandes Combes lift isn\u2019t exactly inspiring\u2026 but the Grand Couloir is utterly brutal and we absolutely hate skiing it, so on reflection we were quite relieved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The run down towards Aquamotion had very little snow and, despite the lift only being a couple of years old, it\u2019s a surprisingly leisurely affair \u2014 another ten minutes gone. But that was kind of the point: make the route longer, slower, and more character-building. Mission very much accomplished.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So\u2026 did we make it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes. Just.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We hit the final lift at 3:56pm, leaving a very respectable 19 minutes to spare. Around lunchtime in Orelle, the lift queues were so big it looked like the whole thing was about to unravel dramatically. But as the afternoon wore on, the sun dropped, the queues disappeared, the pistes emptied, and we were able to move properly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not a perfect ski day \u2014 around 90% of the slopes appeared to be ungroomed \u2014 but with short (or non-existent) lift queues later on and beautifully quiet pistes, we successfully completed the new 2026 Escapade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Would we do it again?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Absolutely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Would we leave earlier next time?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unless we invent a time machine, no \u2014 we were already on the first lift at 9am.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next attempt will be in March when the lifts stay open later, or on a Saturday transfer day, when half the resort is packing suitcases, the roads are jammed, and the slopes are blissfully empty.<\/p>\n\n\n

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ESCAPADE 2026 \u2013 What\u2019s this all about\u2026<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

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 \u2013 doing it in a day was a bit tricky though!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It all started out as a late night \u201cis it possible?<\/em>\u201d discussion \u2013 the history and our original route from 2006 are here<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Originally punch cards had to be stamped at each check point until electronic passes arrived and then the use of a lift was recorded \u2013 now we use Apps such as Ski Tracks or Relive to prove our route.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/a> and you’ll get your place in the HoF.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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