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The 3 Valleys Spend on Snowmaking

The 3 Valleys Spend on Snowmaking

Published : 06-Oct-2012 05:23



The 3 Valleys, the world's largest ski area, which already has more than 2,00 snow cannons pointing at a third of its 600km of slopes, has been spending more on snowmaking over the spring and summer ready for this winter.

Last autumn, alas, it was too warm in November for Val Thorens' mighty snow making arsenal to work and it had to postpone opening for a few days, but hopefully this autumn it will be colder sooner.

In the 3 Valleys the minimum altitude level for skiing is 1300 metres and the maximum 3230 metres, and 85% of the ski area is located above 1800 metres. There are 25 accessible summits, 10 of which are in excess of 2500 metres.

There's new artificial snow cover on Les Creux run (installation of 46 snowmaking machines) and on the Cospillot run (installation of 12 snowmaking machines) in Courchevel.

Above Méribel there's skiing back to La Chaudanne via the Bourbon Busset run which has been made more accessible to skiers of all levels, particularly around the area where it meets the bottom of the Mauduit run and there's a new blue run from Le Bettex to Les Menuires to improve access to the Preyerand area and improvements to the Walibi Gliss fun zone there.

There's also been a reshaping la Martre blue run, making it easier for beginners and intermediate skiers to ski back from the bottom of the Méribel Valley (connections to Les Menuires and Val Thorens).

At Val Thorens the Plein Sud run has been widened as much as possible and 15 new silent snow making machines have been installed at the foot of the resort to provide easier access to Val Thorens' ski area.

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