SkiGB Ski Blog

The 3 Valleys in the Summer

Posted on: May 11th, 2014 by SkiGB

Just because most of the snow has left us for a while (the glacier will still have some snow on it but sadly not enough to ski on) the 3 valleys is still a wonderful place to visit. In fact in July the sun is out and it’s a beautiful place to be.

Many of the SkiGB.com staff visit Val Thorens and Meribel over the summer to get a tan (oh yes that’s possible!!), relax and take in the stunning views.

If this is something you would like to experience yourself here is a run down of the each of the resorts opening dates:

Val Thorens, Les Menuires and Courchevel

All three of these resorts will be opening their lifts from 6th July until 29th August 2014.

Meribel

Meribel will be opening their lifts from 29th June until 29th August 2014.

Details on links about lift passes can be found here on our Val Thorens Lift Pass page.

3 Valleys Enduro – Sunday 6th April

Posted on: April 4th, 2014 by SkiGB

This Sunday the 6th April the 3 valleys plays host to the annual 3 Valleys Enduro!

The What?

In case you haven’t heard about this fantastic day, the resorts of the 3 Valleys from Courchevel to Val Thorens plays host to individual events. Whether you would like to try Slalom skiing, have ago at producing shapes on the big air or feel inspired by the Olympics and want to try the Downhill, all are available.

It doesn’t matter what age you are, all are welcome!

How does it work?

Each of the resorts play host to one or more event, you register by this SATURDAY for the events you wish to enter.

It is a team event of 3 people and 3 categories, Pros, Amateurs and Families.

You can race in many of the events but do not need to race in all of them.

If you are interested go to your resorts Tourist office by Saturday (inc) and put your name down, you will love it!

More info found here on their website!

New Black Diamond Avalanche Airbag Doesn’t Use Gas!

Posted on: March 11th, 2014 by SkiGB

Black Diamond have released a new avalanche air bag which doesn’t use gas but batteries instead. This really sounds like a brilliant idea.
We all know how important it is to practice using new equipment, especially emergency equipment to ensure you are familiar with what you need to do when you REALLY need it.

In case you are not aware of avalanche air bags, they are essentially a large rucksack which has a packed away inflatable bag. If you are unlucky enough to be caught in an avalanche and you have time to do so you can pull a toggle and WOOSH!! the bag inflates faster than Matthias Mayer out of the starting gates. The idea is whilst you are being thrown all over the place by the avalanche the large amount of air attached to your back keeps you near the top which makes it easier to be rescued.

These bags all use a gas canisters with compressed air (we think air anyway, a gas of some kind) which empties when you use it. You can only use them once and they can be quite expensive to replace and in some resorts hard to find a replacement.

Using batteries instead of the expensive gas canisters it allows you to inflate the air bag and deflate it as many times as you like.

An interesting development with this bag is that because it is using a fan to inflate it, after 3 minutes of inflating and keeping the bag inflated (I think we have used the inflate word enough now) the fan is turned in reverse and sucks out all the air from the bag. This might sounds like a silly thing to do but there is a reason for this. The idea is if you are buried, by deflating the bag you all of sudden have room (200 litres) to move some of your body around. When the snow sets after the avalanche it is like concrete and you can hardly move at all so having this room should help considerably. Not only will it provide more room but there will be more air to breath.

Our only concern with this is we are not sure that 3 minutes is long enough, but I guess they have done the sums.

Each bag can deploy the air bag 3 times per charge so there isn’t any problem pulling the cord if you are concerned with the slope you are on. There is also a self-tester when you switch it on so you know all is well before you leave the apartment.

As you would expect there is a cost to this bag but it isn’t any more expensive than an ABS type bag, they will range from $1000 – $1200 with 11L, 28L and 40L sizes.

As with the probe, transceiver and other avalanche equipment you should practise as much as possible and this new bag could help save lives. Around 15 minutes buried in an avalanche and your life expectancy reduces considerably.

If you are thinking of buying an air bag check this one out, video below with the guy from JetForce who can explain the benefits much better than me! We don’t think it is available quite yet in the UK or Europe but it won’t be long.

The Airbag in Development:

Chloé Trespeuch returns to Val Thorens

Posted on: February 27th, 2014 by SkiGB

At this years Sochi Olympic games Chloé Trespeuch battled and won to win bronze in the Snowboard Cross competition. Chloé is part of the Val Thorens Ski Club and trains in the resort. If you are in the resort and would like to meet or have a photo with Chloé then come down to the Place de Caron (by Tourist Office) this Friday 28th February at 17:15.

There will be:

A replay of Chloé winning the medal on the big TV screens
A guard of honour from the local ESF ski school instructors
Photo session and book signing

Later on around 18:15 there will be more activities at the bottom of Castor carpet which includes:

Another opportunity to meet Chloé and Jean-Frédéric Chapuis the Gold medal winner!
Showing of the RBS 6 nations Rugby

We will see you there!

Val Thorens’ Jean Fréderic Chapuis to Celebrate in resort

Posted on: February 24th, 2014 by SkiGB

This years Sochi Olympics saw Val Thorens ski club member Jean Fréderic Chapuis win Gold in the Ski Cross. This Wednesday (26th) the resort will be celebrating his win next to the Tourist Office in the resort.

The following will take place at 17:30:

Torchlight decent
Guard of Honour from our own ESF Ski Instructors
A Replay of the Gold medal winning race
An opportunity to have your photo taken with Jean on the Podium

If you are in Val Thorens why not pop down and have a photo with him!

Read our post about the Val Thorens Snow Park which is where Jean trains.

Val Thorens Snow Park Camera

Posted on: February 24th, 2014 by SkiGB

New for this season (2013/14) Val Thorens Snow Park has a camera which will film your tricks and possibly falls.
Simply go to the start gate to identify yourself, they will then film you over two jumps. You can view your ‘air time’ on a big screen at the bottom. If you like what you see you can also download onto your smartphone or if you prefer watch again online.

This is a nice touch from Val Thorens which will hopefully encourage more people to use the park, which is one of the best in the 3 valleys.

Festi Val Tho is back! March 25th 2014

Posted on: February 20th, 2014 by SkiGB

Date: March 25th until the 27th

Time: 18:30 – 20:30

Location: Place de Caron

What is it? Electro music from DJs from around the world

Why go? Something new to experiance

Will I find it ok? Oh yes you will find it, just follow your ears!

Is it ok for Kids? Yes it is very safe and children friendly

If you would like to book some accommodation for this event here is a good place to start: Apartments for rent in Val Thorens

If you would more here is a link to their website: Link to website (Beware their site plays music automatically, just in case you are at work not working)

How Val Thorens Clears Snow off the Roads

Posted on: February 20th, 2014 by SkiGB

Ever wondered how and when the roads are cleared to allow cars and buses up and down the mountain?

Well if you have this video should answer all of your questions. it’s quite interesting to see the amount of infrastructure invested in just to make sure we can actually get to the resort.

Val Thorens and Orelle’s NEW Zip Wire is here!

Posted on: February 20th, 2014 by SkiGB

Val Thorens have created a ZIP wire ride between two of it’s peaks!

Yes you have read this correctly, we are not talking down in the resort, oh know! This is right up the top!

For 50€ (ok a little steep – excuse the pun) you can travel at 105Km/h with 250 metres of “nothing” under you!

We have not see this in any other European ski resort so if you don’t mind heights, give it ago!

If you would like to know more about this, click on our Val Thorens Zip Wire page.

Val Thorens Ski Cross World Championship – January 2014

Posted on: January 9th, 2014 by SkiGB

Due to the cancellation of the two heats of the Ski Cross World Cup in Megeve and Bischofswiesen due to bad snow conditions the FIS have decided to host these in Val Thorens instead. Val Thorens is the highest resort in Europe and Guarntees snow therefore it made sense to mode it there.

Here is the schedule for these heats of the Audi Ski Cross World Cup now hosted in Val Thorens (Times are local time):

Tuesday 14th January 2014
10:45 – 13:45 Training

Wednesday 15th January 2014
Women
08:15 – 08:45 Inspection
09:00 – 09:30 Training
09:45 – 10:25 Qualification

Men
10:40 – 11:10 Inspection
11:25 – 11:55 Training
12:15 – 13:30 Qualification

Thursday 16th January 2014
10:15 – 10:45 Inspection
11:00 – 11:30 Training
12:00 – 13:40 Final races for Women and Men
13:45 Prize Giving Ceremony

Friday 17th January 2014
Women
08:00 – 08:30 Inspection
08:45 – 09:15 Training
09:30 – 10:10 Qualification

Men
08:00 – 08:30 Inspection
10:35 – 11:05 Training
11:20 – 12:35 Qualification
12:45 – 13:00 Training
13:30 – 15:11 Final races for Women and Men
15:15 Prize Giving Ceremony

Val Thorens Club Med Village (Hotel)

Posted on: January 8th, 2014 by SkiGB

Val Thorens is lucky enough to have a Club Med Hotel in the resort. It is located at the lower end of Val Thorens and boasts one of the nicest balcony’s in the resort. However this will all change very soon as Club Med are now building a brand new Hotel. It will be located just behind the current one and is well on the way as you can see by these recent photos. The Hotel is due to open its doors to the 750 beds in December 2014, as you can see by these photos they have a long way to go!

The new Val Thorens Club Med Hotel will be called “Club Med Village”.

Val Thorens New Year Celebrations

Posted on: January 2nd, 2014 by SkiGB

Once again Val Thorens didn’t disappoint with their fireworks, light show and DJ set on the Place de Caron in the centre of the resort. If you were unable to attend, here is the official Val Thorens highlight video, enjoy!

SkiGB year of 2013 from Val Thorens in the 3 Valleys

Posted on: December 31st, 2013 by SkiGB

Every where you look on the internet at the moment is “Top 10 of 2013” and “Best buys of 2013”. Not one to miss out on jumping on the bandwagon we have jotted down our best bits of 2013:

2013 saw SkiGB hit the age of 10 years old, a big milestone and I think we are more surprised than anyone else. 🙂
SkiGB is based in Val Thorens in the 3 valleys therefore a lot of our chit chat is about this area. Val Thorens picked up many awards including “The Best Ski Resort in the World”.
We launched our new website. Completely responsive to all devices and actually changes what it displays to make it easier to use depending what device you are using.
The 2012/13 season was one of the best in recent history, it was great!

So what now?

We have a huge amount planned for 2014 in fact a lot more than we managed in 2013, including:

We are going to help you find your way around the pistes, not with a map but something very different!
We will be expanding our area of the 3 Valleys, I won’t say where yet as it is a surprise!
We will be launching at least 4 (maybe 5) new services.

So a lot to look forward to, don’t forget to follow us on Twitter, Facebook, RSS feed or our Blog to be kept up to date.

We hope you all have a great New Year, we will see you in 2014!

Val Thorens New Years Party!

Posted on: December 31st, 2013 by SkiGB

Once again Val Thorens will be celebrating the New Year in style! After having probably the best year they have had after picking up awards and transforming the resort, they have a lot to celebrate.

Last year we saw DJs, big flashing boxes, fireworks and lots of dancing!

This year we think we will see something even bigger. They have been setting up the resort for the last couple of days and planning for months.

HAPPY NEW YEAR everyone!!

Avalanches – Val Thorens, Courchevel, Serre Chevalier

Posted on: December 29th, 2013 by SkiGB

The Alps have seen several avalanches over the last few days in several resorts from France to Switzerland. Sadly many people have been caught up including five people who have died and two people who were seriously injured.

For the last week we have had warnings of very unstable conditions when this dump finally appeared. If you would like to be kept up to date with future warnings follow SkiGB on Twitter, Facebook or our RSS feed from our blog.

A total of 6 avalanches have happened (update: more since writing this), 4 in the French Alps and 1 in Switzerland.

We know this is a morbid subject and can scare holiday skiers and boarders, but it is a fact of life if you go off piste skiing. As far as we can tell (from early reports) all the skiers were off piste and had been warned of dangers by signs put up by the resorts.

It is VERY rare to be caught up in an avalanche skiing on-piste, so for non off piste skiers please don’t worry and obey the signs.

We can’t help to think though that a sign is not enough. After all how many times do drivers on the UK roads ignore warning signs. I think there needs to be more pro-active safety messages from the pisters or/and ski resorts. Something that people don’t take as a challenge or young lads use as a badge of ‘extreme skiing’. Some resorts in America take away your lift pass if found off piste, this looks to do the job and certainly stopped the skiers we have met. European resorts please take note, it’s not right to just say ‘We put up warning signs’ and wash their hands of it. We are not saying that off piste skiing should be banned (far from it), just enforce when in times of danger.

We just think better policing by the resorts may help reduce the number of deaths on our slopes.

Until that happens we urge off piste skiers and snowboarders to follow reputable websites that cover the area you will be skiing. Many ski resorts own websites are completely useless (unlike Val Thorens and the 3 Valleys which are very good) so find local based sites and follow their posts.

We of course will be on the case for the 3 Valleys as per our tweets for the last week have been reporting. If you would like more in depth information please let us know and we will add in future reports.

So back to the recent avalanches, the 3 Valleys have had two areas which have been affected, Courchevel have sadly reported a death of an experienced local man who had been skiing with his son. Fortunately the son managed to survive. The other area was in Val Thorens in the Bosmint area where several people were buried waste deep. Fortunately all survived, we have spoken to several people who have been buried waste deep in other avalanches and it can take many hours to dig yourself out. Then there are the injuries, broken bones to being mentally effected.

One thing we have learnt over the years is that you can never be too experienced, it doesn’t matter if you have skied all your life and skied off piste safely many times, respect the mountain and keep learning.

The best thing is not to be caught up in the first place.

Our condolences go out to the families effected by these deaths.

Michael Schumacher in Ski Accident in Meribel

Posted on: December 29th, 2013 by SkiGB

Seven times Formula 1 champion Michael Schumacher was involved in a skiing accident in Meribel this Sunday 29th December around 11am. He was skiing with his 14 year old son off piste and hit his head on a rock. Fortunately he was wearing a helmet otherwise the injuries would have been worse.
They were skiing in the La Dent de Burgin ski area.
He was airlifted to the local hospital in Moutiers but was discharged fairly quickly afterwards.
This is the latest incident this week with the recent avalanches and highlights the importance of wearing a helmet when skiing or snowboarding.

* Update 30th December 2013
Since the initial accident and check up at Moutiers hospital Michael has been moved to Grenoble Hospital, which is the main hospital on the area. They have now induced Michael into a coma they have concerns with his brain and is in ‘critical condition’.
Are thought are with him and his family. We will update this post as and when we have more news.
* Update 30th December 2013 11am

Latest news from the doctors in Grenoble Hospital where Michael Schumacher is being treated. They are saying it is too early to say what condition Michael is in until the swelling around his brain has gone down. This is normal practice for brain trauma. They also said that he is still in critical condition and is fighting for his life. Michael is extremely fit for a man in his 20s let alone 40s. We should not under estimate the job the helmet did, without it Michael would not be with us now.
We are not expecting to hear too much now for a day or so until the swelling has gone down. The good news is Michael is in the right place, Grenoble Hospital look after skiers who hurt themselves every day and know what they are doing.

* Update 31st December 2013

Last night the Doctors ran a new scan which showed an improved situation, therefore they offered a new operation to the family which was completed last night. Another scan was taken this morning (31st) which showed a slight improvement. The operation last night reduced the pressure on the brain which allowed them to run another scan without putting Michael in danger. This scan showed that the injury has not got worse but a slight improvement, “The situation is better controlled since yesterday” says the Doctor.

It is never good to speculate what happened and we do not want to do so here, Michael is a very good skier and to split his helmet he would have needed to be travelling quite fast. There is a lot of rocks about as the snowfall hasn’t provided the deepest of bases in places. It would be very easy to catch a rock and propel you into the air therefore increasing speed.
Whatever happened I’m sure we will learn more in the coming days. It has now been 48 hours since the accident which is normally the most important and he has a slight improvement, we now need him to keep improving.

NEWS on the recent Avalanches in Europe…

The Winner of the Best Ski Resort for 2014 is…

Posted on: December 22nd, 2013 by SkiGB

Every year the Ski industry creates a top 10 Ski resort list and the latest one is out for 2014 (I know it is still 2013, I never understood that).

Once again the 3 Valleys is included TWICE into the list which surely means it is the best place to ski, doesn’t it? 🙂

We were thinking of creating some kind of suspense like X Factor or Strictly, but we thought nah forget it, here are the results:

The Best Ski Resort for 2014

10 Solden 4.2% of votes
9 Courchevel 5.9% of votes
8 Ischgl 7.2% of votes
7 SkiWelt Wilder Kaiser-Brixental 7.5% of votes
6 La Plagne 8.6% of votes
5 Saalbach 8.4% of votes
4 Are 10.3% of votes
3 Alpe d’Huez 13.1% of votes
2 Baqueira Beret 13.9% of votes
1 Val Thorens with 16.4% of votes

Well done Courchevel and Val Thorens who keep on picking up awards (Val Thorens Ski Awards this year).

Val Thorens Ski Cross World Cup Freestyle – The Winners

Posted on: December 15th, 2013 by SkiGB

The Ladies:

Today we saw the end of the Val Thorens ski cross where we saw Katrin Mueller beat her countryman and friend Sanna Luedi from Switzerland.

Mueller said “The course wasn’t difficult. Yes, it was really fun, it was huge jumps, and like this but not difficult that it’s impossible. But with all the girls it’s always difficult; it’s not always easy to pass or something like this. So, finals is every time is a roulette and yes it was nice.”, easy or not she certainly showed the way.

Full Results:

1 – Katrin Mueller (Switzerland)

2 – Sanna Luedi (Switzerland)

3 – Ophelie David (France)

4 – Marte Hoeie Gjefsen (Norway)

The Men:

Austrian skier Andreas Matt managed to keep the rest of the pack behind him to take the win, but only just as it was a photo finish. Matt said “I feel very good. It was hard, I must fight a little bit but I’m very happy that I could win this race.”

Full Results:

1 – Andreas Matt (Austria)

2 – Victor Oehling Norberg (Sweden)

3 – Jean-Frederic Chapuis (France)

4 – Franz Promok (Austria)

Matt thought the course was hard but Mueller thought it was easy, I guess the ladies are more hard core.

The Ski Cross is part of the Freestyle competition which includes several disciplines, these are:

Ski Cross

Moguls

Aerials

Halfpipe

Slopestyle

Freestyle skiing is still quite new as a championship only starting in 1950’s, but already it is one of the most exciting spectator sports on the snow.

Ski Cross became an Olympic sport in Vancouver 2010 however not all the disciplines joined at the same time, here is the run down:

Moguls – Albertville 1992

Aerials – Lillehammer 1994

Halfpipe – To be added in 2014

Slopestyle – To be added in 2014

Ski or Snowboard Carriage Prices When Flying

Posted on: December 9th, 2013 by SkiGB

So the 2013/14 ski season is among us and some are looking to book their next trip out to the white stuff. Whether you are heading out to Val Thorens, the 3 Valleys or any European ski resort taking your Skis or Snowboard on holiday can add quite a bit to your holiday expenses, after all not all airlines provide free carriage for Skis or Snowboards. So before booking your flight have a look down our little list of airlines and what they charge for your beloved equipment.

Let’s start with the best out there, the airlines that provide FREE carriage for your Skis or Snowboard.

Swiss Airlines and Austrian Airlines will not charge for carriage.

Low cost airlines will charge but I guess you would expect that if you aren’t paying much for the flight itself.

EasyJet charge £30

Jet2 charge £30

Flybe charge £16.50 each way

Ryanair charge a whopping £50!

There is another option and to be honest it’s the best way to get out to the Alps, travel by Eurostar. There isn’t any weight limit, it is very relaxed and takes you almost to the door of your resort. We have timed ourselves from London to Val Thorens going by Eurostar and again taking the normal flight option to Chambery. We found that the two trips almost took the same time from door to door, but going by train was a lot less stressful.

The best bit though is that Eurostar do not charge anything for carriage.

We have more information about travelling to the Alps including helpful tips:

Travelling to the Alps by Train

Travelling to the Alps by Plane

Travelling to the Alps by Car

Top 5 Non Ski things to do in Val Thorens

Posted on: December 8th, 2013 by SkiGB

Val Thorens is not a resort where the only thing to do is to ski or snowboard, there are lots of other non Ski activities. But with so much to choose from we have created the Official SkiGB.com…

Top 5 NON Ski things to do in

Val Thorens

5 EAT – Starting at number five. Eat at a Michelin Starred restaurant in the Mountains. Val Thorens is one of the very few ski resorts that have a Michelin Starred restaurant. But to have 2 Michelin stars as the L’Oxalys Hotel has is VERY rare!

4 ICE DRIVING – Val Thorens has its very own ice rally driving track and hosts the first round of the World Ice Rally Championship. It’s not however just for professional drivers, we ‘the public’ can also take to the track too. More info here about using Val Thorens Ice Driving Track.

3 ZIP WIRE – For 2013 Val Thorens has introduced a new zip wire ride, in fact the highest zip wire in Europe. It starts at 3230m and falls 250 virtical metres, a must even just for the view!

More info here about the Val Thorens Zip Wire.

2 TOBOGGAN – Val Thorens has the longest toboggan run in Europe and is so much fun. We highly recommend everyone to try this out when in the resort, if possible try and go down the run with a group of friends as it makes it even more fun. If you want to know more about the Val Thorens Toboggan here is the link!

1 PARTY – And at number 1 it has to be PARTY! Val Thorens has a great nightlife right from the Apres ski at the Folie Douce or 360 bar through to the underground nightclub Malaysia. Here is a link to our run down of each of the Val Thorens Bars.

There you go, it’s not all just Ski Ski Ski!

(however there is some great skiing here too!)

SkiGB Ski Blog

The 3 Valleys in the Summer

3 Valleys Enduro – Sunday 6th April

New Black Diamond Avalanche Airbag Doesn’t Use Gas!

Chloé Trespeuch returns to Val Thorens

Val Thorens’ Jean Fréderic Chapuis to Celebrate in resort

Val Thorens Snow Park Camera

Festi Val Tho is back! March 25th 2014

How Val Thorens Clears Snow off the Roads

Val Thorens and Orelle’s NEW Zip Wire is here!

Val Thorens Ski Cross World Championship – January 2014

Val Thorens Club Med Village (Hotel)

Val Thorens New Year Celebrations

SkiGB year of 2013 from Val Thorens in the 3 Valleys

Val Thorens New Years Party!

Avalanches – Val Thorens, Courchevel, Serre Chevalier

Michael Schumacher in Ski Accident in Meribel

The Winner of the Best Ski Resort for 2014 is…

The Best Ski Resort for 2014

Val Thorens Ski Cross World Cup Freestyle – The Winners

Ski or Snowboard Carriage Prices When Flying

Top 5 Non Ski things to do in Val Thorens

Top 5 NON Ski things to do in

Val Thorens

Snow Subjects

Ski Resort Accommodation

General Information

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