Ski Lift Upgrades For Winter 2025/26 - Part 2

Hi everyone and welcome to Part 2 in the blog series of upgraded ski lifts for this winter. Last time I wrote about, and displayed photos, of two upgrades in the Méribel; the awesome new Côte Brune bubble to take skiers over to Val Thorens and Les Menuires, and the part renovation of the Rhodos bubble. I hope you found it interesting, click here for the link if you missed it. This time upgrades in Val Thorens and Courchevel feature for those of you interested.

There's a brand new bubble (gondola/télécabine) over in Val Thorens for this winter. One area I love skiing in is around the Moraine bubble, there's some great skiing over there especially on a couple of pistes called Génépi and Moraine. The snow is normally in good condition due to being north facing, and being at high altitude. Back in the autumn I noticed on social media, that a new bubble was being built. At the time I couldn't quite figure out where it was going to be located, and any information was rather hard to come by. During my first slide of this winter on November 30th, I went sniffing around and found this bubble called Face Nord.

The base station is located next to the Caribou mountain restaurant in between the Génépi and Moraine pistes. It seats ten people, and skis are taken inside each cabin with holes in the floor where the skis sit. The top of the Face Nord comes out adjacent to the top of the Thorens funitel. This bubble gives access to some great pistes back towards the Moraine, but more importantly it also serves one of the liaisons over to the Orelle Valley, sometimes called the Fourth Valley.

At first I thought this was an unusual addition to the ski lift infrastructure, and wondered if it was needed. Over the last few weeks I've used this ski lift several times, and each time been surprised at how many skiers were using it. To me that confirms this lift is popular and is in fact a great new inclusion. Well done Val Thorens, I'm sure I'll use many it times this winter.

Now over to another sector of the Val Thorens ski area, La Cime Caron......

Last winter unfortunately the Cime Caron cable cars (téléphérique/trams) weren't running. For this winter they are back, with two new cabins to boot. This ski lift is very popular as it gives access to loads of terrain; several pistes which run underneath this lift, another liaison over to the Orelle Valley, and a large amount of off-piste terrain. This lift also takes skiers to one of the highest points of the 3 Valleys at 3,200 metres. Plus, there's a new (inaugurated last winter) mountain restaurant at the top, called the Caron 3200.

It's great having the Cime Caron bubble back again.

Right, let's change valleys now and head over to Courchevel 1850.

The bottom of the ski lift area in Courchevel 1850 has three main bubbles springing up: the Jardin Alpin, Verdons and the Chenus. Each of these bubbles has a ramp that you have to walk up in the Croisette building, and often have queues during the busy periods. The good news is that the old Chenus bubble has been taken out, and a lovely swanky replacement has been constructed on the piste in front of the Croisette.

The old Chenus bubble was originally constructed in 1969, so was certainly due an upgrade. Although functional, it was only a four seater, which wasn't the most efficient at moving the crowds. However come the winter of 2025/26 we have a new ten seater, which will of course make quite a difference. It took a while to open this winter, on the same day as the Women's World Cup race last week. A jolly nice upgrade which will help shift people up the mountain. Maybe even take any strain away from other lifts during the busy periods.

Right, that'll do for now with all the latest ski lift upgrades. I'll return back to my usual posts very soon in the theme that you will be used to from 'your favourite blogging Méribel Ski instructor'! France, Canada, Malta, Venezuela and Miami will all feature I'm sure. Confused? So was I when I started this week with a new lovely group of people. Merry Christmas everyone, and please come back soon. As ever, don't forget to Live With Passion. Martin.