Tag Archives: chairlift

new in meribel 2018/19

What’s new in Meribel this winter 2018/19

Find out what is new in Meribel

There are some exciting changes and including 2 chairlifts and a handful of runs all new in Meribel.

In a video released by Meribel Alpina, the company responsible for the lift system and pistes,  details of some of the changes for this winter has been revealed.

Legends: New Chairlift

There will be a new faster 6 man detachable chairlift replacing the Plan de l’Homme and the Roc de Fer lifts called Legends. It will run from the Chaudanne area up to the top of the Elements park.

The new lift can move 3600 people an hour. It is 1650m long, carries skiers up to 2017m above sea level over 580 vertical meters. More importantly, the seats are heated and covered!

You will still be able to access the Olympic and Cherferie chair easily so access to Saint-Martin-de-Belleville will not be affected.

Cherferie: Chair Lift relocation

As previously mentioned this lift is easy to access from the Legends chair and is a great link if you want to drop down into Saint-Martin-de-Belleville. And up until now has been a drag lift that many people choose to avoid.

The lift stations won’t move but the route and the method will. When the resort opens in December there will be a brand new that will take just 4 minutes.

Mont Vallon Refurb

There will be a more comfortable journey up to Meribel’s highest peak this winter. The cars are part of the refurb and will have better seating for the long journey up.

new in meribel 2018/19

New Runs in Meribel

Along with the changes to the lift system on the western slopes above Meribel, there are new additions to the piste map.  The connections between the new lifts are improved along with the creation of two new red runs.

There is a new red piste called the Gypaete flanking the existing Choucas blue run that followed the original route of the Cherferie lift.

Close by and located just under the Olympic Express chair is the new red run called Daguet. This piste will start midway down the black Face run, cut under the chairlift and merge into the meeting point of the Gelinotte and Raffort runs that link Meribel Centre and Les Allues respectively.


If you are planning a Meribel trip this winter take a look at our catered chalets that are located throughout the resort with great access to the slopes.


When Will They Ban Smoking in the Alps?

When Will They Ban Smoking in the Alps?

It has been announced by a ski area in New Zealand that there will be a complete ban on smoking. The area is called the Remarkables and this is no minor ban. In order to promote healthy living the ski area has taken the step of a complete ban. This means the whole Mountain is smoke free, this includes bars, lift queues, the slopes, chairlifts and even carparks. The company that runs the ski field says that there will be no designated areas for smoking at all.
cigarette-butt-snow-winter

This is a big move, but will it ever reach the French ski resorts. I have to confess that in my younger years I was a smoker. This coincided with the early part of my ski career when I worked in the Alps. This was when smoking was still allowed in pubs bars and resturants. I have since given up smoking and I am pleased to say that it was one of the best things I have ever done.

During my time in the Alps at the beginning of the century as previously mentioned, I used to smoke. As this is an honest blog I will confess, with much embarrassment, to my smoking behaviour in ski resorts. The mild confession is that I smoked in the bars in the evening. But it really is shameful to admit that I smoked in other places too. I would smoke in lift queues, on lifts and sometimes in cable cars. I now don’t smoke, although I am not a non-smoking evangelist, I do now understand and sympathise with the non-smokers that were around me.

Back then I, naively, took the when in Rome attitude. It seemed that everyone in France smoked. I even convinced myself that the attitude in France was that where there was a sign saying No Smoking it meant smoke more. Even though my smoking was clearly misguided, I still had a respect for the environment I was in and never chucked a but from a lift or dropped one in the mountains, but that is a different issue.

So what is the future of smoking in France’s ski resorts. Will there ever be an outright ban in French ski resorts and where there are no-smoking signs in queues and on lifts, will it ever be enforced? It would be great if it was! As a decommissioned chimney myself I can see how it is an antisocial activity. Who wants to be in a beautiful mountain setting, sun on face, enjoying the view from a chair lift, when you suddenly hear, click, click, shortly followed by a waft of smoke in your face.

My guess is that we are long way from witnessing a ban in the French Alps as it has been in the Remarkables in New Zealand. I doubt we would ever see a resort wide ban as it still is a popular habit in the country. There has been a noticeable decrease in antisocial smoking in ski resorts since the smoking ban was made Law. I am not suggesting that British people don’t smoke, but we are less culturally linked to modern smoking like the French appear to be. Although let us be honest it is much better to be a non-smoker in France than in an Austrian or Swiss ski resort. In Austria, smoking is allowed in pub and bars all the time. And in many Swiss night clubs, smoking is banned until 10 pm when smoking is allowed inside as they prefer cancer caused by passive smoking to noise pollution.

It could be argued that smoking is part of the romance of a holiday in France, the image of the ski instructor with a glass of wine and pack of Gauloises is still an associated part of the zeitgeist of ski lessons, true or not. We also still imagine that all French butchers are stood around with an apron caked in blood and a cigarette hanging from their bottom lip while the ash slowly burning slowly builds up. And it is hard to imagine a coffee shop in France without an army of smokers enjoying an espresso and a Marlborough. I am sure this isn’t a very good argument for smoking and is more of a digression than an impassioned plea for it to remain.

I would like to see a better plan for the stamping out of smoking in French ski resorts and I am pleased to see that resorts in New Zealand are making a stand and leading the way. Maybe the European resorts will take notice and start to clamp down on lift smoking and other forms of antisocial smoking. I am sure there will be many people that have stronger opinions in both camps and we would encourage you to post your views below.

While we await your opinions, we will leave you with one last fact from the New Zealand ban. The resort has no plans to enforce the smoking ban with fines and simply hopes that people will respect the initiative.