Tag Archives: Womens Down Hill

3 Valleys Season Preview

The 2016/17 winter season is here. Find out what to expect in Méribel &  The Three Valleys in our pre-season preview.

Skiing started in the Three Valleys on the the 19th of November when Val Thorens turned on its lifts and welcomed skiers and boarders earlier than expected due to some seriously heavy November snow. Courchevel was also able to open some of its runs early due to the 120cm of snow that fell across the Alps. All that happend before the season truly kicked off, so what has this winter got in store for the 3 valleys? Lets find out…

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Snow

As we said there has been loads of snow already and all that snow has laid down a great base for the season and the temperatures are staying low according to the long term forecast.  That coupled with the 3 Valleys’ amazing ability to make snow this could be a great season. Méribel opens its doors for skiing on the 10th of December opening up the whole of the 3 Valleys for skiing until late April.

We couldn’t wait to get up on mountain so we went hiking on the 17th of November.

Let us take care of you this Christmas – Ski and come home to a traditional meal with all the trimmings
Christmas holidays from only £549 for an adult and £466.65 for a child from Gatwick

What’s New In The Three Valleys

You can save €10 per lift pass if you are buying more than one as part of the new Duo Lift pass, you must be purchasing a 6 day pass for a valley or the whole area to get the discount.
Tubing in Mottaret is opening this winter meaning that you can spend your evening flying down the slopes in a rubber ring.
If you like to picnic on the slopes then there is good news as Méribel has opened some indoor lunch lounges complete with microwaves. These can be found in Méribel and Mottaret main lift stations.
There are also new lifts in Val Thorens, the Roc and Stades drag lifts are now a shiny new 6 seater chairlift and the Boismint has also been upgraded to take more passengers.

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8 THINGS WE ARE LOOKING FORWARD TO THIS WINTER

Events – What’s on on the Three Valleys 2016/17

There is lots to look forward to in the 3 Valleys this season from the Ski Cross world cup in Val Thorens on the 5th of December for 5 days to the end of the season mega party that is the 3 Valleys charity day. Here are few to look out for…

December

December is a busy month with opening parties as well as Christmas and New Year celebrations all going on. But there is also the the FIS Ladies Alpine World Cup being held in Courchevel from the the 20th December. lindsey-vonn-2015-audi-fis-alpine-ski-world-cup-womens-super-g-in-italy-02

January 

One of the best events to watch in January is the annual British Armed Forces Combined Services Alpine Championships which is held in Méribel and will be in its 11 the year.

February

This month the resorts will celebrate Valentines day with various activities to help show your love. There will also be loads of children’s activities across the 3 Valleys as during the majority of the month there will be a region of France that has a half term holiday as well as the UK Half Term week starting on the 11th.

March

The big event in March is the Ronnie Loves Music Festival, hosted at the original aprés ski destination The Rond Point. This year Norman Jay MBE will return and there will be a set from 6 Musics Craig Charles playing music from his trunk of funk. There will also be some of the worlds top riders showing off on a specially build park.  The event kicks of on the 20th of March.
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April 

As the season comes to a close there are a still some great events on. We have all ready mentioned the incredible 3 Valleys Charity day happening on the 12th of April and it will feature all the best Aprés ski bands. There is also the 3 Valleys Enduro event where you can take part in events across the ski area such as Giant Slalom and Ski Cross.

We Recommend

If your heading to the Three Valleys then you may want to tick of a few thing on the Méribel bucket list and you definitely don’t want to miss out on some of our favourite things…

You need to make sure you spend at least one afternoon dancing at the Folie Douce.

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Spend your evenings hanging out at Jacks Bar in Méribel where they have live music nearly every evening as well as comedy and great drinks offers.

If your in La Tania make sure you grab some lunch in at Pub Le Ski Lodge as well as enjoying the evening entertainment.

Also don’t forget to get your photo taken in one of the 3 valleys giant photo frames.

Check out all our latest offers to the Three Valleys

 

 

 

 


What Emily Sarsfield Loves About Méribel

Emily Sarsfield is the UK’s number 1 female Ski Cross athlete, has been ranked 20th on the World Cup circuit and is a member if the British Ski and Snowboard squad. For the last 10 years Emily has lived, worked and trained in Méribel and is a big fan of the Three Valleys.  Recently we had a chance to sit down with Emily and talk to her about what she loves about our Alpine home.

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Val Thorens World Cup, credit: Daniel Smye-Rumsby

Not only does Emily train in the Three Valleys she also runs a small ski school offering private lessons out of Méribel, this is obviously when she isn’t competing and is often during the school holidays. The reason she does this is because unlike many other athletes she doesn’t receive funding, so has to find ways to fund her own training and racing. As Emily bases herself in the Three Valleys and is always returning in Méribel, we started be asking her why she keeps coming back, her response was that the resort has a strong community, although she doesn’t behave like the usual seasonnaire and is likely to be found in the gym when everyone else is in the pub.

We then chatted about her missing out on the Winter Olympic Games and becoming a ski instructor but we soon ended up back on the subject of Méribel. One of the first thing Sarsfield mentioned was the fact that all of the resorts in America would fit into the Three Valleys before pulling out the usual but true clichés and declaring that Méribel is “postcard picture perfect”.

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Megeve World Cup, credit: Daniel Smye-Rumsby

In the 10 years of skiing in the Three Valleys she doesn’t think she has skied every run, which is probably very true, after all the years we have been working out there we probably haven’t either. If you live somewhere for a long time you will inevitably notice the changes, one of the big things Emily has noticed is how the access to cross the entire ski area has developed and even beginner skiers can now move from resort to resort on mainly green runs.

“There is always something different” – Emily Sarsfield on the Three Valleys

Of course one of the main reason Emily loves the Three Valleys is because of the Ski Cross park in Val Thorens, which is one of the best in Europe and regularly hosts World Cup Events. Over the years she has fallen in love with off piste skiing which the the 3Vs has plenty of when the conditions are right and Sarsfield top tip is to head up the Loze chair on a bluebird for some easy access powder.

We saved our “best” question until last, when we asked her in our serious interviewer voice, what is her favourite run in the resort and the answer was the Mauduit. The run is from the top of Saluire and goes all the way down to Méribel Center, or you can choose to head down to Méribel Village. She described the run as “long, open, well groomed and a thigh burner”.

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If you would like to keep up to date with Emily then check out her Facebook or Twitter.

To book a holiday to Méribel visit our website. 

 


A to Z of Meribel

A to Z of Meribel

A is for Après Ski – One of France’s finest destinations for after-skiing partying. Check out the Folie Douce and the mighty Ronnie for good times.

B is for British – Possibly the most British resort you can go to. There are numerous British-run bars and travel operators. You can even get a Full English if you get bored of the petit dejeuner. It was even founded by a Brit.

C is for Chalets – There are loads and loads of chalets in Meribel, which is one of the reasons that we have our chalets there.

D is for Dicks Tea Bar – If you like to drink and dance late into the night in a ski resort then you have probably been to Dicks. The name has no reflection on the sort of people who frequent the establishment.

E is for Ecureuil – One of our wonderful chalets that is located in Meribel Centre. The chalet comes complete with an outdoor hot tub as well as a sauna and steam room.

F is for Family – Meribel tries very hard to be a Family friendly resort and it succeeds very well.  It has excellent areas for all ages to learn to ski. It also holds regular free family events and offers free skiing for the under-fives.

G is for Golf – In the summer Meribel has a great high-altitude golf course and remains a buzzing alpine village. It also has two crazy golf courses open at the same time.

H is for Huge – Meribel is part of the Three Valleys which is probably the biggest ski area in the world.

I is for Independent – Meribel has one of the biggest collections of independent chalet companies, just like us.

J is for Jagerbombs – More Jagerbombs are sold in Meribel than in any other ski resort in France. This is a made up fact but is probably true.

K is for Knitted Beanie – If you aren’t wearing one then you aren’t cool.

L is for Long – The cable car from Brides Les Bain takes 25 minutes, this is a long time to spend on a cable car. You are better off staying in one of our chalets right in the centre.

M is for Moon Park – This is Méribel’s infamous freestyle park, there are jumps, rails, and boardercross areas for all abilities. You can have a go or watch the experts practice their stuff.

N is for Nightlife – I know we have mentioned après and nightclubs but one of the big attractions of Meribel is the great nightlife.

O is for Oligarch – Well, lack of them. Unlike neighboring Courchevel, Meribel has been left alone by the Russian billionaires. However, they do ski through from time to time.

P is for Patinoire – This is Meribel’s indoor ice rink that was built to host the 1992 Winter Olympic Ice Hockey Tournament. It is open every day from 5 pm to 7 pm for public skating and costs €7.5 per person

Q is for Queue – Meribel is often said to be full of lift queues, especially in the centre. We can’t deny that it can get quite busy in Meribel, but the rumours are much worse than the reality.

R is for Red Runs – In Meribel there are 93 miles of piste, and 30% of those runs are red. The other 70% is made up of 11% green, 12% black, and 47% blue.

S is for Seasonnaire – It could be said that Meribel is the spiritual home of the British Seasonnaire. It is defiantly in the top three favourite resorts to do a season in.

T is for Train – Meribel is one of the few major resorts easily accessed by train from the UK. You can get the Eurostar direct to Moutier and from there it is only a 20-minute transfer to the resort.

U is for Underground – That’s right Meribel has lots of underground parking. Which is great should you want to drive and then not have to dig your car out of all the snow at the end of the week.

V is for Vallon – Mont Vallon is Meribel’s highest ski area and opened 25 years ago.

W is for Women – This year Meribel is hosting a stage of the Audi FIS Women’s Downhill World Cup.

X is for X-Games – How great would it be if the X-Games came to Meribel?

Y is for Youtube – Not been to Meribel? Then check out its awesomeness by having a look on Youtube. Click here for videos.

Z is for zzz – All our chalets are so comfy and you will ski so hard that you will sleep like a chalet host on their day off.


What’s On Guide – Meribel and La Tania

Hello, Salute, Bonjour and welcome to the Alpine Action blog. We have dabbled in the past, but this time we are serious. Serious about blogging, but not always serious blogs. What you can expect is a mixture of info about the Three Valleys, comment, ski news, useful articles, interviews with a good dose of humour. If you like the sound of that then add us to your RSS feed or follow the blog. Most important of all, join in by posting your comments.

Below you will find the first of our monthly ‘ What’s On Guide’ that will tell you all you need to know about the big events in the Three Valleys, as well as smaller events going on in Meribel and La Tania. Make sure you have a look at what is going on before you head out to the mountains to make sure don’t miss out!

February – What’s On Guide

It is worth mentioning for those that don’t have children and can’t remember that much about school that February is half term for most UK schools. This year it starts on the 16th for one week. There are also some schools having half term the week before but so few it’s really not worth worrying about. Also during these weeks many French schools will also be on holiday. You can expect busy resorts during the middle of the month. To avoid the crowds ski early and over lunch time,  also ask your chalet host where the quietest runs are.

7th Feb – MeribelMeribel Center

After  5pm during Après hour, just outside the Méribel  tourist office, the resort is throwing a street party.  There will be free mulled wine and a DJ playing the distorted euro pop out of tinny speakers! Not much to get excited about, I hear you say, but there is also a live band called Willie and the Bandits who are a UK Blues Band. They are not your usual Après band and are well worth checking out. We have seen them many times in the West Country, as they are regulars in many pubs during the summer season.

8th Feb – Meribel

It has been 25 years since the Mont-Vallon ski area opened to the skiing public. Many a guest has spent a joyous time on the Mont-Vallon slopes. Many a guest has also spent a lot of time on the old Plattieres gondola, although the time was not so joyous. Fortunately the Plattieres has been replaced, saving skiers lots of time. To celebrate both the 25th anniversary and the demise of one of the most torturous lift journeys in the Three Valleys, the resort of Meribel will be holding a celebration in Méribel-Mottaret from 7- 8pm. Highlights include free hot chocolate, (with or without popular local nun juice, Chartreuse) and a torchlight descent.

Feb 12th – La Tania

This winter the world’s most culturally diverse festival, Mardi Gras, has teamed up with ultra conservative batter flipping day, Shrove Tuesday, to provide the earth’s population with what may become known as Triple –entendre day. Not one to miss an opportunity to throw a party, The Ski Lodge is holding a fancy dress “Carnival Party”. So dust of your non-stick outfit/frying pan and get ready to toss a few pancakes. Free toffee vodka, one would assume!

14th Feb – Three Valley

St Valentines Day. So you have taken her on a ski holiday, that should cover it. Probably not. Giving her a heart shaped cookie the chalet host knocked up for afternoon tea  probably won’t cover it either.  A vat of melted cheese with bread on a stick, in a traditional mountain restaurant?  You are now on to a winner. Ask your chalet host to recommend the best venue. Treat this as a reminder and a warning!

Feb 21st – Courchevel Courchevel Fireworks

It has been 4 months since you stared at the sky and shouted “Oooooo, Ahhhhh, Weeeee”. If you find yourself in Courchevel from the 21st February, then get ready to say it all again. Only this time you will mean it, as Courchevel hosts the International Firework Festival.  Guaranteed to be better than Granddad’s  back garden display where only  50% of the fireworks leave the plant pot! No sparklers allowed…ok, they are, but it’s strictly BYO!

Feb 23rd – Meribel

Finally your chance to appear on Ski Sunday has come. The Audi FIS Ski World Cup Womens downhill event rolls into town. Dust of your most flamboyant bobble hat, set the Sky + and go and find where Graham Bell does his piece to the camera.  Our tip is to head to the Chaudanne area as this is where the competition takes place. If anyone does get on Ski Sunday please send us the evidence so we can share it on our Facebook page, Chemmy Alcott need not apply!

Whatever you end up doing, whenever you are on your ski trip, please get in touch and tell us about your holiday.