The Best of Both Worlds

Hi, 

Well glad to say no more earthquakes that we know of this week, the snow has begun to fall slowly and about time too as there is only so much walking/hiking you can do but before it arrived we ventured out to some more different places to do a few fantastic walks.  The first one was up to Lac De Tueda which is just over an hours walk from camp, we then we continued up towards Refuge du plan above Lac De Tueda with some simply stunning views into the nature reserve surrounding us.  The last time we were here everything was covered in a blanket of snow and ice so you didn’t actually get to see the Lac so it was lovely to see the whole place in its unfrozen state.  The weather was a bit damp but we said we should carry on and walk back down one of the ski runs back to Meribel-Mottaret to make it a bit easier as it had been a hard climb to get up to the top of the valley.   

Lac De Tueda when we arrived this season

Lac De Tueda just before we left last season

There is a run called “OURS” that runs parallel along the valley up above and overlooking Lac De Tueda but first we had to climb up to it which was very difficult and when we looked on our trail map it was marked as a black trail.  We eventually reached “OURS” which on a snowboard is awful because although it does descend down, in places it’s dead flat for some distance so you have to unclip and shuffle or walk until you can get going again, it’s not too bad on skis as you can pole yourself along but it’s still not fun, we normally avoid this run like the plague, Julie absolutely hates it and it often comes up in conversations when discussing the best way back to camp and everybody normally says NO WAY and finds another route home and with the amount of runs it’s not difficult to avoid it.   

So once we climbed up and joined the "OURS" run we began our walk back down and as it’s so flat it was a pleasant stroll stopping for lunch under a pine tree and just taking in the scenery and then taking a few pictures including the run marker with Julie giving it a big thumbs down!

The next day was Julie’s Birthday so we had a well earned day off from all the walking/hiking and booked ourselves a table for lunch at Le Martagon to celebrate.  It was so so nice to go out for lunch and treat ourselves to a few glasses of wine and a lovely meal as it’s one of our favourite places so it was great to spend Julie’s birthday there and the big surprise was that when we came to pay Francoise said it was her treat and hoped we had had a lovely lunch which we thought was really nice of her. 

Next on the list of our walks/hikes was from camp up to the altiport at 1800m via Meribel Village which is about an hour and a half walk/hike but it’s really hard going following the Golf ski lift and Lapin run up.  

When we reached the top and the altiport area where we took off in that little red plane all those months ago back in March we couldn’t quite believe our eyes as there is an 18 hole golf course laid out across the mountain working its way through the pine trees complete with sand filled bunkers and immaculate greens and tee’s, the main green run down throughout the altiport, Blanchot, is actually the fairway and the lumps and bumps which we play around on when snowboarding/skiing are the contour of the bunkers dotted all over.  

We found a bench at the side of the fairway and sat and had our lunch in the winter sun, it was so quiet you could have heard a pin drop.  

After our lunch we carried on walking up towards the new Loze Express lift which takes you up to the Col De La Loze which is at 2274m, from there you can drop down in the valleys of Courchevel & La Tania.  There are many snowshoe/walking trails around the altiport area up through the beautiful pine forests and we spotted a sign up to the Col De La Loze which said about 2.5 hours so we decided to save that for another day so just carried on walking a bit further up past the Dent De Burgin & Rhodos lift stations before heading back down to the altiport and then down into Meribel itself via the Foret & Doron runs and then back to camp.  It was yet another  great day and 4+ hour walk/hike and our legs did start to feel a bit stiff by the time we got back.

After a few less strenuous days doing some chores around the van and getting some shopping and giving our legs a rest we  decided to take the XT up to altiport and park it up so we could do the trail up to the Col De La Loze.  It was another clear, sunny day so perfect conditions.  We headed off through the pine forest and were chatting away when I noticed a small group of deer scuttle off through the trees, we often see footprints but it’s rare to actually see them so it was nice to at least catch a brief glimpse of them, what a lovely & tranquil place they live in.  We carried on through the forest until the trail started to zig zag up and rapidly became much steeper, rockier and full of tree roots.  Once out of the trees the trail just carried on up and along the edge of the mountainside and up towards the ridge of the Col De La Loze.  We found ourselves looking down across into the valley of La Tania and at some points were perched between the two valleys.  The trail continued up into the snow line past the side of the Pic Bleu run which takes you back down to the altiport, near the top at one point there’s a very sturdy fence on a bend to stop you heading straight on into a huge rock garden which we were now clambering over which you can’t normally see as it’s blanketed in snow….again so amazing to see and definitely somewhere you wouldn’t want to venture off-piste!!! 

Finally we reached the summit and had our lunch in the fresh clean air on the deck of the restaurant at the top with views across the whole of the 3 valleys.  We decided to try and get a picture of us jumping in the snow but it was a lot harder in walking gear rather than bikinis & board shorts, so this is the best we could do for now!!!

We headed back down via the Boulevard De La Loze which traverses along the side of the mountain and from here we got more views looking down over the golf course below and the runs on the opposite side of the valley.  

The final leg was down through Piste De Animals, a trail which is set out to educate children about the animals that live in these surroundings, we found a couple of marmots and an ibex along route before walking back down the fairway and back to the XT parked up at the altiport.  It was great to jump on the XT back to camp as after another 4+ hour hike our legs were again feeling it.  The XT has done us proud all year taking us to many stunning places off the beaten track and been great for our many shopping trips but she is now tucked up for the winter and our last few weeks on the road.

The free bus service is now running and as we said there has been some snow so fingers crossed our days of walking everywhere and hiking up to the summits will become less and less and it won’t be long until we will be flying down the runs on our snowboards where everything will look completely different again but at least we will know what is hidden beneath!

We love the snow, being in the mountains and walking so Meribel really does give us the THE BEST OF BOTH WORLDS.

Until next week au revoir for now.

J&J

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