Whats happening in there Meribel valley? I've been skiing there very year for the last 35 years or so and I am alarmed at the disappearing lifts. First they took out the Ramees chairlift and closed the Aiglon piste. Then they took out the Grande Rosiere chairlift thus removing a great alternative route to the ridge above Creux and the associated pistes leading down to Courchevel, Mottaret and Meribel. Then we loose the Combe drag lift above Meribel that deprived us of a whole lot of fun on George Mauduit and Chamios. This is to say nothing of the drag lift from just below L'Arpasson above Meribel that provided an excellent alternative route to the ridge on Tougnete. Now I understand they are planning to remove the Arolles and Table Verte chairlifts and replace them both with one new chairlift. The queues are going to get really bad at the bottom of the hill. Why are they depriving this fantastic resort of the flexibility in the methods of ascent?
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Newer, faster lifts with higher capacity are replacing older, slower lifts, which are becoming increasing difficult to maintain and expensive to run. Total uplift capacity is actually increasing, despite there being fewer lifts
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well that may be official line but, for example, the Tougnete 2 chairlift now has significant queues in the middle of the morning. The old drag lift may have been a little inefficient but it was an alternative way to the ridge. Similarly the removal of the Ramees and Grande Rosiere chairlifts took away an alternative route to the Saulier ridge leading to queues at the Saulire bubble in Mottaret. Clearly you are a local as Villarlurin is just down the hill, but these lift removals worry a grizzly old git like me. The revisions do not seem to be making things better from a skiing perspective. God help me I love the place and the people, but I am not sure these alterations are all for the better.
I'm with Patch on this and think the improvements have helped a lot. The Chatelet 6 man, the new plattieres gondola are brilliant. The Ramees lift was painfully slow... Tougnette 2 has reduced the Chaudanne queues markedly and kept skiers higher.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Well I note your comments and I am not saying that the Plattieres new gondola is a problem, I think that is great. Sit in L'Arpasson and watch the queues on the chairlift up to the top. It was January when I was there and the queue built up from around 10.30am and, I would guess, lasted until around 12.00am. The lift queue gets well stocked up with aggressive people cynically pushing and standing on your skis which is all a bit sad to me. A long time ago when I used to stay in La Hameau the fast way up the hill was via the Table Verte chair rather than skiing down to the bottom and joining the throng. Maybe it is that I am getting too old and hankering after the good old days and a time when the skiing seemed to me to be a whole lot more fun. No rat-tracks, no pisted and groomed pistes etc. If you couldn't ski properly you didn't get very far. Hey ho.
@Howard James, as drag lifts become old they will disappear. If over a certain gradient I was told they have to be replaced by a chairlift. Many of the steeper drags in Serre Chevalier have gone the same way.
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Well there you go. There were some really steep drags around the Three Valleys not that long ago. The double Roc de Tougne drag is still pretty steep I would have thought. It sounds as if the Health and Safety brigade have reached into France too. On the plus side, steep drags tend to discourage the less experienced skier which is sometimes a good thing I would have thought as it tends to discourage the run collectors from taking on pistes they are not really ready for.
FAQ
Poster: A snowHead
