Courchevel - Col de la Loze

Hi everyone and welcome back to another summer post from your favourite Méribel blogging ski instructor. I'm trying this year to have a bit more of a skiing theme with my summer posts, in order to help those of you who love the 3 Valleys visualise where these photos have been taken. So let me continue with this theme. Many of you who enjoy visiting Méribel will also love the skiing in Courchevel. Quite right, there's some absolutely brilliant skiing there, it's often my next choice after the Méribel valley.

There are two ways of skiing over to Courchevel from Méribel. One is via the mighty Saulire route using the Creux or the Combe de Saulire pistes (others are available, but these seem to be the most popular). The second route over from Méribel is via the picturesque Col de la Loze. Just before the Covid period in 2020, both Méribel and Courchevel constructed a bike track up and over the Col de la Loze for summer visitors. This is open to the public for any cyclists who are brave enough, but certainly not for other road users ie cars.

This bike track has certainly proved popular with cyclists, and in fact I would say around half of them will be on e-bikes, some rented from resort. Some people might be sniffy about e-bikes, but I think this is a little harsh. If e-bikes make this iconic climb more accessible for people, then surely this is only a good thing. Cycling up this Col really isn't for the faint hearted without assistance, and I'll be honest in saying just a casual cyclist would find this experience as incredibly unpleasant even if they do manage to get to the top. I'm a keen road cyclist myself (my main sport in the summer) and also a mountain biker. Even some members of my club back in Warwickshire would find this route very tough indeed.

The most famous bike race in the world is the Tour de France, which has used this track three times in the last five years, including this year (about a month ago in July). And for me, every summer I come back to Méribel, I will ride up this Col at least once when I'm here. Why? I'm not sure I can answer this, other than the feeling of achievement, and of course the stunning views at the top.

Unfortunately the weather this year when the Tour de France visited was rubbish, with cold temps, cloud and rain on the race day. When I 'popped up' from the Courchevel side recently, it was a roasting hot day. But I did leave Méribel early in the morning before the real heat kicked in. My ride took me through Méribel Village, Courchevel La Tania, Courchevel Le Praz, underneath Courchevel Village (also known as 1550), through Courchevel Moriond (also known as 1650) and finally up through Courchevel 1850 before tackling the Col.

By the way, during this ride I made a point of looking out for a brand new bubble that's being installed in Courchevel 1850, and took some photos of the progression with the construction for this blog page. I'll report back on this at a later date as I believe many of you will be excited, as well as other ski lift improvements this coming winter in the Méribel valley.

Over the years I'm come to learn that 'canicule' in French translates as 'heat wave'. This summer I've noticed another way of saying the same thing, 'vague de chaleur', which directly translates as wave of heat!?! And I've now seen another interesting translation, there's a 'vague de froid', which means cold snap. Anyway, I digress. It looks as though the latest canicule/heat wave is thankfully fizzling out. At least I won't need to wake up at 6am in preparation for an early hike or bike ride, which is what I've been doing recently to avoid the real heat. High fives all round.

Right, that'll do for now. I hope you've enjoyed seeing more summer photos of Méribel and also Courchevel this time. My wife Harriet is here now, and we've a few things planned during her stay. Again, I hope your summer is going well. Do come back soon, I'll post again shortly. As ever, don't forget to Live With Passion. Martin.