 Poster: A snowHead
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I went to this wonderful place back in 2003. as I recall at the time, the complete space was officially divided up into 4 ski areas:
Méribel
Courchevel
Val Thorens
Les Menuires
It seems that now there are other official areas,all of which (except for one) had been considered part of the aforementioned areas:
La Tania
St Martin de Belleville
Brides-Les-Bains
Orelle (a new area)
Is this accurate? Did the region decide to break up from 4 to 8 official areas? Also, are there any runs for Brides-Les-Bains? It seems that it is only the gondola that gets you up to Méribel.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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swampwiz,
La Tania is another development in the Courchevel valley.
St Martin de Belleville is a village down the valley from Val Thorens and Les Menuires and was certainly skiable from there when I first went in 1990.
Orelle was also open as a 4th valley when I first went, although I believe there was only one lift back then, but there are now two more lifts up to the Pointe Du Bouchet, the highest point in the ski area.
You're right about Brides-Les-Bains in that there is a gondola up to Méribel. I believe that there is an off-piste run down to Brides-Les-Bains but it is only possible in good snow conditions and from what I have read on here would need someone with local knowledge to negotiate.
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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?
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But officially, there are only the 4 ski areas - Méribel, Courchevel, Les Menuires & Val Thorens, with the gondola for Brides-Les-Bains is part of Méribel, etc.?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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The 3v is broken down into 4 'areas' for ski passes -
- Orelle and VT are seen as one area even though they are two valleys
- Belleville which is the bottom of the VT valley and contains St Martin and Les Menuires
- Meribel which includes Brides-les-Bains
- Courchevel which includes La Tania
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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| swampwiz wrote: |
| But officially, there are only the 4 ski areas - Méribel, Courchevel, Les Menuires & Val Thorens, with the gondola for Brides-Les-Bains is part of Méribel, etc.? |
There is 1 ski area, it is all interconnected! The lifts are run by several different companies though, for instance the lifts in Meribel are run by Meribel Alpina but the lifts in Mottaret by S3V.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Exactly, the Brides gondola goes up into the Meribel La Chaudanne. There is an off piste itinerary down to Brides but as geepee says only for good conditions (and if you know the way!). In terms of ski areas they are all linked. Les Menuires, Val T and St Martin de Belleville are all in the Belleville valley and along the same road (I believe you can get a pass just for Les M or Val T but not sure). You can certainly get just Courchevel valley and just Meribel valley passes.
You could add Mottaret, Le Praz etc to the list of 'villages'. I don't think you'd really say that the region has broken up at all. If anything there is just some flexibility as to the extent of the ski pass that you can buy.
Does anyone know if all the lifts are now owned by S3V? As I recall Val T was a separate lift company. May be wrong.
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Val T lifts are still owned by SETAM.
From VT you can buy a pass for VT/Orelle, the Belleville Valley or the 3V's.
From Les Menuires, you can buy Les Men/St Martin, the Belleville Valley or the 3V's.
I think from Meribel you buy Meribel valley or 3'vs and similarly in Courchevel.
In the Courchevel valley you have a number of villages: Le Praz (1300m), Courchevel1550 (1550m), Courchevel1650 (1650m) and Courchevel1850 (1750m) <-no typo. Courchevel1850 is the 'posh' one full of Russians happy to pay 4€ for an espresso. You also have La Tania (1350m) which, though still technically in the Courchevel area, sits on the shoulder of the hill between Courchevel and Meribel. Occasionally you see some chancer selling St Bon as 'Courchevel'. It's not far from Le Praz but the lifts don't go there.
In the Meribel Valley there is Meribel Village (1400m), Meribel itself (1450m) and Mottaret (1700m).
Just bellow Meribel is Les Allues and way down in the valley, near Moutiers is Brides Les Bains (600m). These are technically on the 3V's (Meribel) lift system because the Olympe bubble was built to get people up the valley for the Albertville Olympics but I've never yet seen conditions allowing you to ski down to Brides - perhaps they happen a few days a season but probably not every season. Staying in either of these places involves upload/download on the Olympe to connect you with the rest of the lift system.
The Belleville Valley includes Val Thorens (2300m), Les Menuires (1800m), St. Martin de Belleville (1400m). Reberty which is sometimes mentioned is the upper end of Les Menuires. VT and Les Men are purpose built ski resorts amid the consummate spider's web of lifts and pistes while St Martin is a 'real' village and has just the one lift out and one run back.
The 4th valley in the 3 valleys is Orelle and is covered under the Val Thorens lift pass. It's actually quite different from the other 3 in that it's lies in the Maurienne valley while all the others are in the Tarentaise. This means it's weather/conditions often differ from the others and makes it quite popular with Italians driving in through the Frejus tunnel, parking up in Orelle and accessing the 3Valleys from there.
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