Trios Valées, France, 8-15 March 2014

The week didn’t start well with a huge delay at Leeds Bradford airport. The plan was to transfer via helicopter as last year, then snowboard down to our chalet. 4 hours sitting on the plane and a diversion to Grenoble instead of Chambrey meant we didn’t arrive at the chalet till 11 at night. That was the last of the problems as we awoke to brilliant sunshine and all lifts operating across the three valleys. Our chalet in Meribel was central with a great bar (Barometer) across the road and access to the slopes not much further away. Conditions were very warm, with clear blue skies all week. Snow was generally firm in the mornings and softening through the day.

We picnicked most days as most restaurants would fleece you at first sight. Generally the afternoons would be short, especially after one of the best lunches ever and several drinks at the Folie Douce. This rather hedonistic lunch venue hosted dancing, cabaret acts and a very lively atmosphere with parapents flying overhead. One of the more exciting venues we lunched at was the departure point of the highest zip-wire in Europe, which we promptly did as soon as lunch was over.

You can check out the video here: