Love
it or loathe it, Meribel remains the most popular
resort for both British workers and holidaymakers
and this winter regulars will notice several changes.
The Bars
Le Pub and Scotts have been closed through the summer
for a major refit following their
review in the winter. Les
Allues residents will be interested to learn that
La Tsaretta is now under British ownership - hopefully
this won't overpopulate this gem of a bar, which has
been a great place for saisonniers to escape to.
Meribel Village
dwellers will not be as fortunate, with the proposed
tabac/bar still to find someone who can afford it.
Mark Warner have taken over the Tarentaise in Mottaret,
so expect this to liven up as a lunch/evening venue
as well.
The Shops
The big news is the opening of Freeride.fr, a new
ski hire shop opening at the Tremplin. The new British
owned venture plans to bring American standards of
service to Meribel and will stock Patagonia, Salomon
and K2.
Tuck In has given in to local pressures and will not
open at all next winter, leaving a whole new generation
of season workers deprived of a genuine late-night
munchie location.
The Politics
Regular visitors to Natives
will already know about Meribel's charming mayor,
M Front, and his unsubstantiated paranoia about the
British. In case you missed it, this is our favourite
quote of his from last year:
'Some of these people
are really ghastly. They sleep rough in apartments
and on the floor of chalets and roam the streets at
night with dustbin liners instead of anoraks. During
one end of season party louts gave the village donkey
a pail full of alcohol which the donkey drank and
then dropped dead.'
Two great pieces of news
about M Front - he's moving from his current residence
next to Scotts and he's not standing for re-election
in the mayoral elections next year. Late night licences
all round then?
The Mountain
The Three Valleys
already has one of the best lift systems in the world,
but this winter a few of the remaining anomalies will
be tidied up. A new fast detachable chair will go
from Rhododendrons restaurant to above the boulevard
and replace the Dent de Burgin chair and the La Frasse
drag. There's also piste improvements around
La Renarde and the top of the Altiport; further work
around the boardpark at L'Arpasson/Grives; widening
of the Les Tetras piste down from Col de la Loze,
the top of Saulire and mid-station of Pas du Lac.
The Marmottes chair over by Les Creux in Courchevel
is also going to be replaced. Still no sign of a lift
from Raffort to Olympic though.
The Developments
There's a new
200 place underground car park underway at Le Rond
Point. We're still waiting to see how the piste will
look once it's completed. The road through the centre
of town has been resurfaced and should last to...February
maybe? Building is going ahead full steam at
Dou de Pont (above the Ravines car park), building
Meribel up on the other side of the valley for the
first time.
And finally, Natives
is reliably ensured that a new
underground heating system is being put below the
paving outside the Tourist office and around the centre
of town. The bad news is that it's designed to stop
ice forming and is unlikely to keep you warm if you're
hugging it after too many Mutzigs from the Cap.
