Val Thorens/Mottaret, France, March 28, 2022

[Tony Crocker]

The Club Med plan for ski groups is to meet at 9AM, ski until noon, have lunch and go out again 2:00-4:15. On the first day it takes some time to get organized. Perhaps 30 of us signed up for the highest Level 4 off piste and we all headed up the Plein Sud and 3 Vallées chairs. Up there I was distracted by the view into the next valley, Meribel-Mottaret.

We skied down a little bit and then off to the side where the instructors watched us ski one at a time.

It’s an intermediate pitch, but it’s 9:30AM on daylight time, west facing with no new snow for a month. So it was a logical way to determine who really wanted to ski off piste this week.

Groups were further divided into French vs. English speaking. I was with guide Xavier and two Belgians Weem and Philip (Flemish is their primary language), Val (French but now living in NYC), Mike from Chicago and two young women Lucy and Emma from Calgary.

After the hour spent in organizing, we had time for just one run up the Cime Caron tram (FYI largest I’ve been on at 150 capacity, reduced to 120 for COVID) to Val Thorens’ 10,500 foot high point. Zoomed view of Mont Blanc from there:

As from Val d’Isere, this view is of the steeper Italian side, top spire measure in the Alps at 1001. The Matterhorn and Eiger are next at 975.

View down the piste with next tram coming up:

Xavier diverted us off piste into chalky windbuff for the middle third of Cime Caron’s 2,950 vertical feet.

I had read the reports that weather might start to deteriorate as soon as Tuesday afternoon. So I was definitely not taking a 2 hour lunch break. Liz agreed and joined me from her 3A group and we skied over to the Meribel Valley and rode the Mont Vallon gondola to Meribel’s 9,700 foot high point.

Liz and I there:

Yes that’s a helmet, required for level 3 and 4 groups by Club Med. Mine is a mountaineering helmet I was required to buy for Mt. Shasta and the Antarctic cruise in 2011.

View of backside of Tignes' Grand Motte:

Glaciers behind Mont Vallon:

View of Meribel Valley from Combe de Vallon

Liz skiing Combe de Vallon:

We made the error of slogging along the flat Ours catwalk to Mottaret instead of exiting via the Mures Rouge and Plan des Mains chairs. We took the Plattieres gondola out of Mottaret and then the Bouquetin chair, from which we had this view of the Mont Vallon gondola.

The Alouette run from Bouquetin to Cote Brune had smooth groomer corn. The Cote Brune lift takes you back the ridgeline where you can ski back to Val Thorens.

This chair is direct north facing, so I took a lap here, upper part of it off piste in chalky moguls and windpack.

We got back to Club Med at 2PM and headed out with our groups. My group skied down to Les Menuires at 6,000 feet, the lower part being a slushy catwalk fortunately not quite as tedious as the one to Mottaret.

We rode the new Pointe de la Masse gondola up to 9,200 feet. View of now threadbare Les Menuires from the gondola:

We now had a lengthy traverse west that would make Altaholics feel right at home.

Now we are ready to ski down to Le Bettex, which is below Les Menuires about 5,500 feet. Xavier and Val here:

Nearing the bottom we run out of snow for a bit.

We had a short walk at the bottom to the lift at Le Bettex. View back up from above Bettex with approximate route marked:

The snow was variable though timed as well as possible, with some of it too soft and some of it with firm chunks. It skied best if you stayed in Xavier’s tracks. I certainly understood why we were out there. It was possibly the last chance to ski that sector with the upcoming weather forecast. With good coverage the off piste accessible from Pointe de la Masse is huge, and Garry Klassen skied lots of powder here in 2019.

We rode two more lifts out of Les Menuires to gain the same access point to Val Thorens as Liz and I had reached during lunchtime. View down to the Folie Douce in full après ski swing at 4PM:

Coming down the home stretch into Val Thorens:

The top tower of the Cime Caron tram is at center distance.

Liz and I skied 9,700 vertical in Meribel/Mottaret during lunch. I skied another 18,500 in Val Thorens.

 

[jamesdeluxe]

The Club Med plan for ski groups is to meet at 9AM (...) Perhaps 30 of us signed up for the highest Level 4 off piste

Wow, that's a lot of people. What's the capacity of that Club Med?

I remember during our Pistegate thread eight years ago, the German cartographer claimed that 3V had 493km of trails as opposed to its brochure quote of 600+. I don't really care (the circuit is mindboggingly huge by any measure) but I'm curious if the marketing department addressed the discrepancy or do they still claim the larger number? Like most Americans, I'd love to know our key gauge of size: skiable acreage.

Les Menuires (aka Les Manures) blends a bit more into the landscape with no snow. Still, a pretty hideous eyesore -- the hotels look like something you'd see in Las Vegas. IIRC, the Where To Ski/Snowboard Worldwide book claims that if you can deal with the optics, it's a convenient place to be based.

 

[Tony Crocker]

Club Med Val Thorens is full to its 600 guest capacity this week. High marks go to ski-in ski-out convenience, food quality and the guide service. Day by day Xavier has pieced together a quite complete overview of Trois Vallées despite challenges of conditions the first two days and weather thereafter. Liz was happy with her guide Francois also.

it's a convenient place to be based.

Access to Meribel-Mottaret from Les Menuires is the same as from Val Thorens. Access to Orelle takes longer.

 

[Sbooker]

They obviously grade skiers first day to determine suitability to guides? Or do you nominate a ‘level’ prior to the trip?

Our week of instruction in Tignes required us to nominate a level which was difficult as we have never had any instruction prior. It worked out well for Kylie as she was pushed out of her comfort zone to a degree but I would have preferred some more challenge at times.
I guess in future I will be a bit ambitious on my nominated level and if out of my depth the instructor can push me down a group if possible. The problem is one could end up being a ‘handbrake’ for the rest of the group.

 

[Tony Crocker]

Before the trip they asked us to self select. I didn’t see anyone ski that frozen test slope who looked out of place and got downgraded by the guides. I think a handful of people after skiing longer off piste runs in variable conditions Monday chose to move to level 3. Val did that even though she wasn’t holding us up. I noted she was the only one in our group on skinny skis and needed to switch to wider ones. But she also tweaked an ankle Monday and a knee Tuesday. She sat out the next two days and skied blue pistes Friday with a knee brace.

Liz’ group had more people moving in and out. She was late getting out Monday found a mass of 3s and ended in a 3B group. She liked the instructor and stayed with it. Had off piste conditions been better early or visibility been better later she would have asked to move to 3A.

My guess is that sbooker is a 3B. But if conditions are favorable it would be better to push the rating a notch. Our week was certainly more challenging than average for weather/conditions.

 

[ChrisC]

That's a shame about Pointe de La Masse. The valleys/off-piste on either side are quite good. Oh well - that's skiing. Looks like things are improving.

Just an observation - but the photos snow cover looks similar to late April 2018 (April 23-25). What a sunny dry March can do.

 

[Tony Crocker]

2018 was a stellar season in the Alps. We were in Val d'Isere April 5-15 and it was still loaded with snow. The snow in town was on its way out but there were still some places where it had been stockpiled.

Garry Klassen was in Val Thorens March 2019 and from his comments it was clear that the Pointe de La Masse area was where he was scoring lots of powder.

 

[EMSC]

Thumbs up for not taking a two hour lunch break. Food over there is above North America quality in nearly all cases, but 2 full hours?

 

[jamesdeluxe]

2 full hours?

I can't say I've ever done that; however, I've definitely gone 90 minutes like at Morzine eight years ago.

 

[Tony Crocker]

I'm guessing that our gourmet lunches at Chalet Etoile in Cervinia were about 90 minutes. The late lunches in Zermatt in inclement weather and another one after an off piste marathon in bad conditions in Courmayeur probably did last two hours because we didn't want to ski much more in those circumstances. On the Courmayeur day we had so much grappa at the end of that lunch that we rode the tram down.

French guide services in 2018 at Val d'Isere were 9AM - 1PM. The Club Med guides were more like 5 hours. The issue with the break is not how long it is but that you can't get very far in a place like Trois Vallees if you have to come in to where you started at noon. So it's not a surprise that some guides offer the option of 9-2 instead, and we did that 3 days and Liz' group one day.

The Club Med lunch closes at 2PM but they generally got in a few minutes early so you could get some of the included lunch. Liz' group took a short break in Courchevel and she got some coffee.