3 Valleys – Day 3 – Meribel / Courchevelle
It was another perfect sunny day for skiing and despite being sore and nursing 2 bruised big toes, I was more confident skiing the runs without fear of stacking it.
I skied the blue runs mainly in the Meribel area and this by far is my favorite resort. My favorite run is the Pelozet from the top of Tougnette 2 all the way down to St Martin de Belleville. This run went on for about 20-30 minutes going at a moderate pace. I had to stop every 5 minutes just so my legs could rest especially the quads as the turns do really put immense pressure on it.
Meribel has many long Blue runs and there are plenty of lifts that operate this area connecting many runs together. My aim was to do every blue run before tackling any reds. But this wasn’t going to take more than 1 day so I did as much as I could before lunch.
It’s always a bit of a trek going from 1 resort to the other but thankfully the 3 valleys ski lifts are well connected to get you to whereever it is you need to go. From Meribel back to apartment in La Tania, it takes at least an hour depending on where you are.
Its good to come back to the apartment for lunch if your are in the vicinity or if the travel time back is about an hour. However if its more than an hour then its not worth traveling back. Pack a decent lunch and spend more time on the mountain, after all ski lifts are only opened between about 900-1630!
Food is definitely expensive on the mountain even in the local supermarket, so a healthy budget is required if you want some decent food.
Once lunch was devoured, I was back on the mountain trying to clear all the Blue runs on the Courchevel side. All runs are sign posted quite well with the name of the run and also a number. The lower you go down the mountain and down a particular run, the number decreases. This is a good system as its easy if you need to meet someone at a particular point or in case you have an accident and if you are still conscious, you can roughly give your location to emergency services (provided you can speak french or if they understand English).
The best part about skiing these runs is the peace and tranquility. I hardly saw anyone on the runs and some runs there weren’t anyone on it. I guess one of the reasons why no one is on the piste or mountain is because their planes have probably been cancelled just like us!
There isn’t much of things to do at night in La Tania. The only thing opened are the pubs and restaurants. Most shops close before 8pm and there isn’t really much that’s going on. I’m surprised there’s a Michelin star restaurant in the town and there’s only about 5 restaurants in total. You’re going to have to pay through the roof to eat at a restaurant and even more if its a Michelin star one. The best option for dinner that night was an adequate size pizza, with a bottle of wine (good wine and cheap) and watching the African’s Cup on tele.
Meanwhile the others arrived back later than usual and the reason being was that they missed the last ski lift back to La Tania. They waited around for the bus but it never came so they managed to hitch a ride back to the apartment!