Meribel Activity Review: 23rd August 2011
Good grief, it’s nearly the end of the summer already. Where did it go? The summer season in Méribel is short – only nine weeks compared with the twenty-one weeks of the winter season. The summer activities are much more varied and numerous than in winter so the time flies past and I find it’s impossible to fit everything in. I still haven’t walked to the Gebrolaz glacier with my new “everything you ever wanted to know about glaciers” guidebook; still haven’t learned to climb; still haven’t managed to get my golf handicap down (though I’m beginning to think that may be impossible given my lack of natural ability to hit golf balls).
Fortunately, Méribel remains open later than the other 3 Valleys resorts – our season ends on the weekend of 3-4 September whereas Courchevel and Les Menuires lifts close a week earlier. So we’ve still time to enjoy a few more walks from the top of the lifts and, with a bit of luck, a few more weeks of golden weather.
This week the weather has been unusually hot and gorgeous. The temperature on my terrace has reached the low thirties each afternoon and my dog walks are now confined to the cool early mornings. One of the nicest places to be on a hot afternoon in Meribel is the pool at the Olympic Centre. An outside sunbathing area is equipped with sunloungers so you can alternate between baking in the sun and cooling off in the pool. If wild swimming is your thing, there are various mountain lakes where you can dip in clean, cool water. Bozel’s swimming lake is just 20 minutes drive away is or, if you are feeling energetic, you can walk to the top of Col de la Loze and swim in the crystal-clear Lac Bleu. On a hot August afternoon it’s impossible to imagine that we will be skiing past this lake in just over three months….
Today’s photos show some of the current resort building work. Most important is the construction site for the mid-station building of the new Saulire Express. This super-fast, high capacity lift will whisk us to the summit of Saulire in just 12 minutes (it takes over 20 minutes at present). The 8 man gondola lift will arrive at the same point as the top of the Saulire cable car from Courchevel, improving the link between the two resorts for foot users as well as skiers.
For this coming winter, just the top section will be completed. We will still take the old Saulire 1 gondola from la Chaudanne to the mid-station, then ski down a hundred metres to the new mid-station and take the new Saulire Express 2 to the summit. The bulldozers have been at work below the new mid-station, creating a wider and easier run that leads to the existing Ski Cool beginner run.
In Méribel centre there are two major building sites. The 5-star hotel at la Chaudanne is behind schedule, and completion is now scheduled for Dec 2012 rather than 2011.
The 3-star Savoy Hotel opposite the Tourist Office is also undergoing major refurbishment and should be open for December this year. I’m hoping this will proved a new, chic apres-ski venue for the centre of town.
For now, however, our thoughts are still on making the most of the last weeks of summer. Tomorrow: white-water rafting and picnics. How I wish summer could last longer….
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