{"id":67250,"date":"2026-03-03T07:21:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-03T06:21:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.latania.co.uk\/blog\/?p=67250"},"modified":"2026-03-03T07:27:24","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T06:27:24","slug":"escapade-2026-nicolas-from-belgium-on-a-solo-mission-success-great-write-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.latania.co.uk\/blog\/2026\/03\/03\/escapade-2026-nicolas-from-belgium-on-a-solo-mission-success-great-write-up\/","title":{"rendered":"ESCAPADE 2026: Nicolas from Belgium on a solo mission success – great write up!"},"content":{"rendered":"
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26 February 2026<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The week before our arrival, the 3 Vall\u00e9es 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! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

My wife hadn\u2019t 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 Vall\u00e9es the day before. After being intrigued whether there wasn\u2019t an even more challenging route, I came across the latania.co.uk<\/a> site and read up on the history of the legendary 3 Vall\u00e9es Escapade! I had heard about this challenge when I was skiing in 3 Vall\u00e9es as a university student back in 2006! I had never tried it and needless to say, I was keen on making a successful attempt!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So on the morning of Thursday 26th<\/sup> 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! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2019t 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\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

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 \u00b110min. 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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

All was going swell, until I reached the Tortollet lift in Les Menuires at around 12h05: the lift was down for \u00b110min, 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!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2026 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 Vall\u00e9es at 3225m in Orelle without a cloud in the sky was another big highlight! I felt immensely lucky with the weather all day!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

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\u2019t feeling too tired afterwards. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

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 Vall\u00e9es Escapade community on latania.co.uk<\/a>. 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!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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