New replacement for Peyon in Val Thoren
The Lift company S3V have been busy recently and this season there are new lifts, new pistes, new passes and even piste bashers.
Across the Three Valleys this season you will be able to use the new Duo Pass. Save €10 per person when you buy two passes for the same date and duration. You can then use your saved €20 to take your beau out for a drink. Lovely.
You can then use your Duo Passes on a number on new lifts.
The new Bouc Blanc six seater chairlift will replace the old and slow Bouc Blanc draglift in La Tania. At a cost of seven Million Euros the new lift will move 2700 skiers a total of 1853m at five and a half metres a second.
The path for the new Foret chiarlift from Le Praz has been cleared and work has begun on this lift which is scheduled to open next winter in December 2014.
Also ready for Christmas 2014 will be the new Aiguille de fruit six man lift which will replace the old three man lift. There are actually plans for a whole host of new lifts in the Courchevel area with €140 Million Euros being spent over the next eight years and by 2019 there will be seven new lifts running from all the lower Courchevel resorts.
Meribel will install four new lifts by 2022.
In Val Thorens there is a new high speed chairlift called Pionniers that will replace the old Three Vallees Chairlift.
As this will be open to pedestrians it means you can take the ski out of Apres Ski and go for a drink at the Folie Deuce without even needing to put your boots on.
Over in Orelle the Peyron lift has been upgraded and now takes just four mins instead of 15.
So we can expect to see some significant changes on the hill in the Three Vallees and this season there will be some big changes to the pistes as well as the lifts.
In Meribel The Doron Piste is wider and the new Roc de Fer piste is finished and will be the official World Cup Downhill slope that will be used in the 2015 Ski Word Cup .
Innuit Village and Moon Wild Piste will be favourites for younger skiers this season where there will be Innuit themed games and a chance to learn about mountain animals.
The famous Meribel Moon Park has been upgraded with new modules and the Vertical Experience is now up and running. Here you can scan your lift pass and have your run down the infamously steep 37 degree couloir filmed.
Not for the faint of heart but as you can have your bravery posted on line for the world to see it's worth it.
In Courchevel there has been a new piste added under the Chapeltets chairlift in 1650 called Tetras and the pistes around the altiport have been renamed, reclassified, added and in some cases removed all together.
Over in Val Thorens & Les Meniuers there are some exciting new piste changes too.Two new freeride areas have been created under the St Martin 2 and Masses2 chairlifts. These areas are secured but unpisted making safe powder zones for those who want to try off piste skiing in relative safety.
At the top of the Sunny Express there will be a new Speed skiing area and there is also a new 1200m long luge track that runs on rails.
To keep all these lovely pistes....lovely there are some new Eco-friendl-ish piste bashers. S3V are using new hybrid Pistebashers from Pistenbully. Sort of like big Prius's these run on a combination of diesel engines electric motors which should cut emissions by 20%. So there's plenty to look forward to this winter.