Local ESF guide David filmed this video of the new lift in Val Thorens. Thanks Dave!

First there was one in Val d’Isere, then they spread over to Val Thorens, now the owners of one of the most famous bars in the Alps are opening up one in Meribel.

If you have not heard of these bars you clearly haven’t skied within 10 miles of one as they are not quiet!

The new bar will be just under the Saulire 1 lift replacing the restaurant Choucas. It is a good location but the run down is not the easiest Red piste I have skied, in particular if the conditions are not good. No doubt this is not welcome news to the owners of other bars in the area. In Val Thorens La Folie Douce is blamed on killing the real apres in the resort, lets hope it doesn’t do this in Meribel.

Sea France the channel crossing ferry company has been made bankrupt by French courts. Rival company DFDS is trying to buy the business for a reported £5m. However the French courts have rejected this figure.

We will report more as and when we hear something.

Please bare this in mind when purchasing your cross channel ferry this winter, this company may not be afloat (sorry about the pun).

If you would like to know of your options about getting over the Channel we have some great information on our Driving to the Alps page.

We have another new picture of the new ski area in Val Thorens this season. With this new ski lift it looks another good area to ski!

Click for larger image

Val Thorens have confirmed that they have enough snow canons to cover most of the resort for the opening this weekend on the 19th November. However as you can see by these photos it doesn’t look great at the moment.

But fear not there is some cold weather coming which will allow Val Thorens to use their snow machines and right before your eyes these slopes should be white. Fingers crossed!

If however you look up at the new ski area it looks a lot better, latest pictures of Val Thorens new Ski area.

Have a look at the Val Thorens Webcams for the up to minute snow conditions!

Click for larger image

Click for larger image

Jacques Villeneuve has signed up once more to race in the Andros Trophy which starts it’s season each year at Val Thorens. Racing their powerful beefed up road cars on ice is something to be seen. If you are in the area or staying in Val Thorens on the 3/4th December 2011 why not go and have a watch. It is completely free and great fun.

If you would like to go and see the ice driving we have accommodation in Val Thorens at discounted prices here.

The latest information on this years Andros Trophee in Val Thorens is here.

This summer the 3 valleys have spent a lot of money upgrading their lifts to offer one of the best connected ski areas in the world. Courchevel have replaced the Plantrey chairlift in 1850 by upgrading from a 4 seater chairlift to a 6 seater. This will increase the capacity by more than 20%.

Other additions to the 3 Valleys:

Val Thorens have added a new lift system.

Meribel have added the new Saulire Express.

***Update*** Val Thorens have decided to delay the opening of the resort by 1 week, therefore they will now open on 26th November 2011. This was due to low levels of snow and high temperature therefore they can not use snow canons.

Val Thorens have released a statement saying that the resort will be opened as planned on the 19th November 2011. Their statement is as follows:

To answer various questions concerning the opening of the resort, we want to inform you of the following: after a weekend that saw the troubled snow settling above 2500 m on average, Météo France announced a wave cooling for the next few nights, which should enable us to produce snow. To date, we have the capacity to produce enough snow to be completed by November 19 opening of the main pistes with the Funitel Peclet and Cascades chairlift. The opening will be placed under the sign of friendliness with the Ski Force Winter Tour.

At the end of next weekend, depending on the weather, we can estimate the number oftracks that can be opened, and we will issue a new press release Wednesday, November 16.

Follow SkiGB.com on Twitter for updates on this and other stories in the Alps.

After some heavy snow fall in September the Alps hasn’t seen much since. This has made several ski resorts delay their opening dates. The following resorts have been affected:

• Verbier
• Les Deux Alps

It doesn’t look like there is a lot of snow coming in the next few weeks, therefore if you intend skiing in December we suggest booking in a high resort like Tignes, Zermatt and Val Thorens.

ABS Airbag have released a recall for all bags with steel gas cartridges

between with dates between 1 September 2008 and 15 April 2010. These are for the ABS Twinbag and they need to be replaced. We recommend checking the date on your gas and if the date is between these dates take it to your local retailer for replacement.

The 21st annual Trophée Andros will once again start the season of ice driving at the highest ski resort in Europe, Val Thorens. This is a great opportunity to get up close and personal with your heroes including Alain Prost, Olivier Panis to name a couple. If you are not sure what the Trophée Andros is we have a video of last years event below. This year the race will be on 2nd to 4th December 2011. It’s free to watch but wrap up warm as it gets very cold!

 You can buy tickets for entry to the pitlane, prices are:

18€ for 1 day

30€ for 2 days

To buy tickets you will need to go to the side of the foot bridge.

There is a free bus from the car parking of P0, P1 and P2. Information on Parking in Val Thorens.

The new lifts in Val Thorens are coming along nicely, looks like they will be ready for when Val Thorens season starts.

As you can see by these photos you will now be able to ski down to Orelle from the top of these lifts by Boucher or Genepi as well as the two new pistes. The new area resembles the Plain Sud ski area with big rollers, it is looking like a great addition to the ski area with several off-piste routes expected.

Val Thorens new lift system

Val Thorens: Terminal Area

Val Thorens New lift: length

Val Thorens new lift pilons

Val Thorens: This shows how far from resort

Top two American ski resorts decide to link up their ski passes to offer a better selection to the visitors.
Squaw Valley and Alpine Meadow from Lake Tahoe have merged the ownership of the ski area. They will now offer ski passes to cover both ski resorts.
A new Tahoe Super Pass will start from $439 (Adults) for 6 days or $799 for a season pass.
You can buy these passes right away from the Squaw Valley website.

Meribel have released a new promo video for this season (2011/2012) showing off all their facilities. Nice to get you in the mood!

Why not see this view for yourself! Courchevel apartments for rent.

On the 17th and 18th of December Courchevel will hosted the FIS Ladies Alpine Ski World Cup including the giant slalom on the Saturday and a Slalom on the Sunday. Tens of thousands are expected to watch the competition and cheer on the local stars. Entries included: Lindsey Vonn, Maria Riesch, Marlies Schild and Tanja Poutiainen as well as Courchevel Sports Club’s Taïna Barioz and Anne-Sophie Barthet.

As like last year we are sure this will be a big hit.
Why not come and watch! Courchevel Apartments for rent.

This season Meribel has invested lots of money in new snow canons. With 13 additional snow machines having been installed on the Murettes slope which provides the second point of access to La Praz with guaranteed snow.

The 3 Valleys has now got 2,100 snow canons and like all the others the new canons will run on renewable energy.

80% of the water used in these canons are from the reservoirs located through-out the 3 valleys. The reservoirs collect the melted snow and rain from the summer.

Back in 1994 Val Thorens became the location for one of the Tour de France end of stages. It was stage 17 which saw the cyclists climb the very challenging steep hair-pined road up to the highest ski resort in Europe. As you can see in this video the mist comes in which can change the temperature quite dramatically. Because of the altitude the cyclists couldn’t sleep in Val Thorens but instead stayed lower down in St Martin de Belleville for the night and took a car back up to Val Thorens for the decent the following day. Val Thorens has not since hosted the Tour de France which we think is mainly due to the road, over the years of hard weather and 6 months coaches driving up and down the road it has got quite bumpy. They re-tarmac the road most years but it seems it is a quick fix. There is talk that they will host the Tour de France again, but, it is only talk at the moment. If you would like to see these super-fit guys climb up to Val Thorens we have added this video to this page.

Val Thorens host Tour de France.

Meribel is located in the centre valley of the 3 Valleys and therefore a vital place to ski in and ski through to get to other ski resorts in the area. For years some of the lifts in the valley have seen better days. Well things are changing…

Meribel have finally decided to upgrade some of their lifts, in the summer of 2011 they started work on building a new Saulire Express lift. This replaces the ageing two station lift.