Meribel, Saint Martin de Belleville and the three valleys
What
can we say? Méribel,
Courchevel, La Tania and Val Thorens/Les Menuires/Saint-Martin are
to be found in probably the most loved skiing area in the Alps. Collectively
this fabulous region is called Les Trois Vallées. Linked together
in the 1960s they owe much of their success to the vision of a Scotsman
- Peter Lindsay. He discovered Méribel just before the Second
World War when feeling unwelcome in Austria, which together with Switzerland
was the
only acceptable area for British Skiers. Peter was very taken with the
Les Allues valley
and would have stayed longer hadn't a certain Adolf Hitler made it imperative
that he left at short notice.
Like
all Scotsman he was tenacious and loyal and returned after the war
and set up Méribel Alpina. The name still seen on many of
the lifts in the
Valley to this day. He founded and ran the only “British” Ski
Lift company
in France. (If you've had dealings with French bureaucracy this was
no
mean feat).
Lindsay
managed to negotiate the purchase of large tracts of land above what
is now the village of Méribel,
then just summer grazing pastures. He gave much of it back to the
locals
for free (surprisingly un-Scottish) so they could build the hotels
and
shops required to run the venture (surprisingly Scottish). With his
Architect friend, Christian Durupt, everything was to be designed in
a bespoke chalet style and clad in local materials of wood & stone.
His
vision was not misplaced. In the early eighties Tour Operators like
Snowtime discovered Méribel for themselves and brought a load
of well
healed English youth to the Valley. Almost all of them to a man now
bring their families year-after-year - such is the variety of
scenery and slopes to be had. Amongst them was a rather adept tour
guide
called Colin Mathews.
The
resort had actually become popular with the French in the late 1960s
when Brigitte Bardot used to stay in a Chalet each winter and befriended
the local ski instructors (Les Pulls Rouges). Legend has it that the
first chalet to sell for over £1,000,000 was in the mid-1980s.
It can still be found in an exclusive quartier near the bottom of the
Georges Mauduit piste. Georges himself was a World Ski Champion of
the 1960s and was frequently head-to-head with a certain Jean-Claude
Killy, hailing from nearby Val D'Isère.
Méribel
now boasts at least 6 ski schools alone - several of which have a
strong
English bias. This is down in no small way to David Lindsay, Peter's
son, who apart from
being an amazing skier and patient teacher, persuaded the locals that
variety was the spice of life. David inspired the setting up of the
International Section of the local ESF. Also in the 1980s, what they
thought was a Frenchman in
the shape of the charismatic Jean-Yves started up the first alternative
ski school, Ski Cocktail. Famous for his outrageous stetson and flock
of sumptuous ladies clamoring after him, little did the
French authorities know what they had let themselves in for! When the
local ski school tried to oust Ski Cocktail they found that they had
a battle on their hands. .To cut a long legal case short Jean-Yves
won a number of legal actions, which in no small way has opened the
door for many other similar ski schools and many an English, German,
Spanish and Italian tourist has benefited as a result. And to celebrate
Jean-Yves became tea-total!!
Méribel
has always been blessed with characters. Like Manu, France's
answer to Basil Fawlty, who ran the Capricorn bar, where Le Poste now
stands. Le Capricorn was an odd mixture of Canadian timber, Barbarella
curves, Mützig and Pin Ball machines. The walls were full of pictures
of
French supersonic aircraft and pilots. Was Manu a pilot they asked?
A myth he did
nothing to dismiss. His partner was his rotund squaw of a wife who
regularly appeared serving Lager in full north American head dress.
Lower
down she'd wear wild purple bodices, which proved that Lycra can
stretch. Not only were they extremely courteous to the English, always
giving them the first beer of the holiday free (knowing they'd be in
profit within milliseconds) they also performed such public services
like employing the only gay in the village.
Méribel
really changed in 1992 when the winter Olympics were held here.
The French Government poured, literally millions of francs into the
area. The road to Moûtiers was turned from a 20km traffic jam
into a
motorway. Before you could easily spend all Saturday stuck on it just
a
few miles away from the resorts. They also paid for the gondola up
from the Valley.
On
the back of this investment Les Trois Vallées
began to invest heavily
in their infrastructure. Snow cannons that had just been sited
strategically began to proliferate ensuring snow throughout the seasons.
New lifts began to appear to even the flow of skiers between the
different
parts of the ski area. The
resorts of Les Trois Vallées have
very different temperaments. Courchevel is used by the
French elite as a place to see and be seen. Méribel is an
English
enclave where irrespective of your wealth you turn up, ski, enjoy
yourself and keep a low profile. And Val Thorens is the concrete
apartment bock resort now slowly being overhauled into a more pleasant
vista.
Things
change, but the magic lingers on. The important thing is to make
up your own mind.
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