Thanks to a massive dump of snow over the weekend, Méribel’s two lift
companies have agreed to start running lifts on December 6th - the earlier
of the two possible resort opening dates.
With 70cm of snow on the upper runs, 45cm in the resort, and more snow
being created by snowcanons, conditions look very good already. More snow
is forecast from Sunday onwards raising hopes that we will enjoy the same
excellent snow conditions as last December.
The provisional list of Méribel valley lift opening dates is as follows:
10% discount if you pre book lifts passes before 15 December 2008.
http://ski.chatel.com/forfait-ski-chatel-portes-soleil.html
25% discount on season lift passes bought before 14 December 2008
Accommodation in Chatel click here
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Exhibition and trials of off-road and mountain leisure vehicles
Val d’Isère reinvents the 4-wheel drive and off-road motor show created in 1984.
A new name, new organisation and a new concept are all planned for one of the main events of the alpine summer season.
Car manufacturers and retailers will be housed in a 9000sq m village on the wide plain of La Daille. The latest models will be displayed and numerous innovations presented.
Two test areas: one near the village for SUV vehicles and one at the top of Bellevarde for off-road vehicles.
Every summer Tignes hosts the annual Fete de Vin de France - Festival of the Wines of France. The main street, usually home to the market on Thursdays and Sundays, will be populated with white wine tasting tents as far as the eye can see. Well…at least as far as the end of the road anyway. Vinyards from all over France will be represented offering everything from big reds to pink Champagne and everything in between. This is a great chance to try a variety of wines and to stock up your wine cellar. The festival runs for 5 days in the centre of Le Lac.
France has pipped Switzerland to the post in a ranking of winter resorts according to holiday homes rental specialist Interhome. The accommodation provider saw Tignes take the number one resort slot for the winter season, up three places from last year and, knocking Nendaz in Switzerland off the top slot for the first time in a number of years.
Tignes experienced a 61% increase in bookings year-on-year. Madeleine Winship, Director, Interhome Ltd said: “Tignes is high up and offers glacier skiing – an added bonus in a season when snow conditions have been unpredictable.” Chatel in France has also seen an increase in bookings year-on-year. Overall, the accommodation specialist has recorded a 1% increase in winter bookings year-on-year while turnover has increased 2.5%. Booking durations have not changed : the majority still opting for the traditional one-week stay even though Interhome offers flexible stays from three to six nights at many properties. However, short breaks have increased for the company - 19.5% with most short break bookings for three and four nights. Chamonix emerged as the resort with the highest number of short break bookings – possibly because it is within such easy reach of Geneva. Val Thorens fared less well, despite it being the highest ski resort in Europe, probably because most apartments offer less flexibility with stays from Saturday to Saturday only, thus cutting off the short break market.
The “Passportes du Soleil VTT” is first of all a convivial ‘rendez-vous’ for mountainbikers who want to ride for fun! It’s a moutain bike excursion based on the descovering of a territory landing over two countries. The lifts making this mountain circuit accessible.
Remember that the Passportes is :
- 3 circuits of 35, 50 and 75 km
- 7 resorts with simultaneous starts in France and Switzerland
- 13 ski-lifts
- 6000 metres of total vertical descent
- Different routes for cycling uphill on bikes for the more courageous,
- Optional downhill race tracks …
from Friday 29 August 2008 to Sunday 31 August 2008
Unique in its kind, this event crosses 3 countries on foot (France, Italy and Switzerland), covers 158 kilometres and 8,500 metres climb in one fell swoop. A race with a time limit of 45 hours, the current held record being 21 hours and 6 minutes.
The enthusiasm for this challenge has led to the creation of a second race, from Courmayeur in Italy to Champex in Switzerland and on to Chamonix - a mere 86 kilometres, 4500 metres climb with a time limit of 24 hours. 1500 participants are expected for this race.
From Friday 11 July 2008 to Sunday 13 July 2008
The best international climbers gather in the heart of Chamonix to challenge each other in this World Cup competition judged on both skill and speed…
Championships to select France’s best up and coming young climbers are also held at the same time.
Club des sports de Chamonix
Phone +33 (0)4 50 53 11 57
For accommodation check out Independent Mountain
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After a great couple of years building up a detailed list of properties and information on our mountain resorts, we are about to launch our summer operation - Independent Summer. We will be starting by offering beach properties on the east coast of Australia, and will then be looking at covering the south coast of France so that we will have a year round summer industry for you to choose from.
We’ll keep you posted with everything that goes on, and if you have any particular areas of the world that you would like us to start looking into, then just email me directly on james@independentmountain.com and i’ll be happy to look into what we can add onto the website.
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