March 2012 Ski holiday

La Tania is a ski resort in the Courchevel area of Les Trois Vallees at 1,400m above sea level. We have been here a few times and are looking forward to the 2012 season

Coordinates 45°25′54″N 6°35′43″E
Top elevation 2,732m
Base elevation 1,400m
Skiable area 46 ha of marked pistes (3V has 600km of pistes)
Runs 8
Lift system 7 (3 Valleys has 186)
Terrain parks 1
Snowmaking 83 cannons (3V has over 2,000)

It's connected beautifully to the Three Valleys.


It was developed for the Albertville Olympics of 1992. The village is served by a 12 person Gondola which links to high speed quad chair from where you can ski down to either the Courchevel or Meribel ski areas. There is a series of 2 drag lifts that can also take you from the village to the Courchevel side of the mountain. There are three pistes that wind down through the forest into the village from the top of the gondola - red, blue and green; with the blue and green benefiting from snow cannons for all season access.

We had a fully catered chalet just above the main village in a private wooded location close to the piste, the gondola lift and the village centre and we should be able ski back to the chalet through the trees.

Chalet Elliot is the ultimate chocolate-box chalet, constructed in La Tania in 1998 with reclaimed timbers taken from an old Russian farmhouse and lovingly rebuilt in the Alps. The chalet has an incredible ambience with warm, cosy rooms, old beams and traditional features. This is where out family ski holiday was going to be taken from March 3rd 2012. Rory & Sophie with Gemma and Martin respectively were coming with Margaret & I. We sorted a private transfer out - to and from Geneva.

The chalet itself is divided into two wings (East and West) which can be individually booked (for groups of up to 8 people). Each wing has four twin en-suite bedrooms, a dining area with balcony and living room with vaulted ceilings and a cosy log burner as well as it's own ski room with electric boot warmers / ski racks and outside a delightful hot-tub. Just right for relaxing in privacy and gazing at the stars. We had private dining too ... six of our seven nights - wine included! Often Cal (Callum Jones, our Michelin trained chef) would eat with us and once, Matt, the Resort Director joined us too. Cal normally works in summer at 'The Black Swan' in Helmsley - under Paul Peters - the Aussie Chef there, http://www.blackswan-helmsley.co.uk/ (we'll try it in May!). We all got on well with the 27 year old Yorkshireman, (even if he supported Norwich!). He admired Martin's skill with the guitar, Rory's videoing and skateboarding and Margaret's culinary skills. Probably didn't think about the rest of us!



On the first full day I managed to fall close to the end of the blue run into the village - too fast, too confident and, as I claimed, uneven snow thanks to a Piste Bullen track cutting across into the woods. My nose seemed to suffer the worst as I hit the piste face flat. I bled a bit rather dramatically, onto the snow but my protuberance wasn't broken. I booked a dentist inspection for the Monday when we returned, as Sophie told me that it looked as if I chipped an incisor and got a crack in it. (Turned out it was a tiny crack in the enamel only - quite common - and no one close to me had ever noticed before!).

March 6th I stupidly agreed to go over to Val Thorens with Sophie! We set off and used the drags to get into the link to Courchevel and then went higher to get over to Meribel. I was bushed by the time we got back!