Mountain Upgrades For This Coming Winter - Part 1

Hi everyone and welcome to the latest post from your favourite blogging Méribel ski instructor. This time I have some photos for you of mountain upgrades I noticed whilst on holiday in July. Late spring, summer and autumn are of course the only opportunity for improvements when the ground isn't covered by snow, with mid-summer being the ideal time to spot what is happening.

Last winter we welcomed several big ski lift upgrades, and even a new gondola in Val Thorens. For example in Courchevel there was the new swanky ten person gondola called Chenus; Méribel had the new brilliant Côte Brun gondola, and Val Thorens added the Face Nord ski lift its ski area. All three of these were pretty big projects costing serious amounts of money running at around ten million euros upwards. This summer I've seen no evidence of any such huge projects, unless something is going on in Val Thorens that I haven't heard about.

However the two year renovation project of the Rhodos ski lift is well into its second year. Last summer the base station, and the mid-station were renovated along with the cabins themselves being replaced by nice new seated versions. This summer the top station up at the Altiport (officially known as the Blanchot) is being given a face lift. It looks like it is being given a nice refresh, with new toilets which are much more visible. There were toilets here before but they were hidden around the corner and were a little tired. So this is a nice touch from the ski lift company.

Let's stay up at the Altiport and move just 100 metres or so down the piste to the Rhodos mountain restaurant, previously called the Rhododendrons..... Although this mountain restaurant isn't anything to do with ski lifts or pistes, it is a very popular restaurant due to its location. In fact it has a bit of a monopoly of the area with few other restaurants nearby.

It remains one of the few self-service restaurants in the Méribel Valley, and has been upgraded and improved the last couple of years. This time the outside is being worked on, with the information plaque saying that the terrace is being refurbed, and a covered area is being created. I'm not sure what type of covering it will have, so it will be interesting to see the result of the work in a few months' time. When I was visiting back in July, there was a great big hole being dug where the wooden terrace used to be.

Right, let's pop down to Chaudanne from where the main ski lifts start. There is a new building being constructed at the beginning of the main ski lift area, next to the entrance to the Rhodos underground car park. According to the information board it is described as a new Chalet Sanitaire, providing new toilets and what looks like a couple of the ski lift pass ticket machines.

There were toilets close by before, but again a little out of sight and also rather tired. This is another nice addition to the service provided for visitors. Adding the lift pass vending machine makes sense, taking any strain during the busy period away from the main lift pass office.

Now for something different. The full length of the Truite (us Brits call it the Trout) piste has been dug up and worked on. This is the green piste that links the Mottaret village down to Chaudanne and its lifts.

It looks as though all of the ski cannons and associated plumbing has been replaced and upgraded. I'm guessing snow making technology has been improved since the previous cannons were installed many years ago. Whatever the reason, a serious investment has been made here, to help ensure snow-sure snow cover between Mottaret and Méribel.

I know that the ski pass is expensive these days, but hopefully you can appreciate that quite a lot of improvements happen,funded by the passes, yet out of sight of winter visitors. I'll do a 'Part 2' with this same theme in a couple of weeks' time with further observations up the mountain. I hope you found this post interesting? Right, credo time... don't forget to Live With Passion. Martin.