History of Les Trois Vallées

Les Trois Vallées or The Three Valleys is the largest interconnect in the world, situated in Savoie, above the town of Moûtiers and near the Vanoise National Park. The history and development of Les Trois Vallées' interconnect is more a randomly orchestrated confluence of events combined with organic development than a sudden decision to “link a bunch of resorts together.”

This huge network of ski areas came to being in 1937 when Scottish Major Peter Lindsay approached Sir Arnold Lunn, an earlier ski pionneer, to get his opinion on skiing opportunities in Vanoise and Tarentaise. Sir Arnold Lunn introduced him to Emile Allais (a 1936 Olympic medal winner) and André Tournier (a local skier and mountaineer) who would guide Lindsay through the three valleys and plan a ski resort in the valley of Les Allues. The alpine valleys of St Bon, Les Allues and Les Belleville had the same potential for skiing as the best Swiss resort of the moment.

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In 1938 a first hotel, Le Doron was being built above the hamlet of Mussillion. This hotel was associated with The Three Valley’s first lift, the “Red Dragon,” a 19-seat cable sled. As the name Mussillian was too difficult for the British to pronounce, the Major renamed it Méribel. Peter Lindsay moved to Meribel permanently where he created the Société Foncière de la Vallée des Allues, upon which he he gradually developed the resort. In December 1938, the Saint Bon town council voted a land development for the Courchevel and Moriond sites. While the resort industry came to screeching halt during World War II, the the planning continued as the project was privately financed.

Laurent Chappis, a young architect held captive in an interment camp, had a plan to create an interconnect involving three resort, and applied it to The Three Valleys. He was helped by Maurice Michaud, another prisoner who also was a civil engineer. The town council had appointed Laurent Chappis as its urban planner and charged him with the planning of the resort. As both prisoners were realease in March 1946, they began drawing the plans for the lifts located above St. Bon, and received help from Jean Blanc, a local skier and Jean Pomagalski, the founder of Poma Lifts.

"The first Three Valleys multi-areas ski passes were sold in 1958"

A first surface lift from Courchevel to Les Tovets opened in December 1946 and another one between Les Tovets and La Loze followed in January 1947. Courchevel would become the initial link in The Three Valleys network. From that point on, things followed rapidly with the opening of the Hotel Departmental Des Trois Vallées in December 1947 and the Hotel de la Loze in January 1948.

The resort needed a name, Chappis wanted it to remain the ‘Plateau des Tovets’ but others believed a new resort needed a punchier moniker. Pierre de la Gontrie suggested Courchevel, the name of a hamlet situated someway down the mountain; in the process, and after much discussions, it was decided that the original Courchevel would be renamed Courchevel 1550, and Les Tovets called Courchevel 1850.

In December 1951, Courchevel and the Les Allues valley were finally connected via the Burgin Saulire lift. At this time, in the Allues valley, Méribel was being developed. As its three first surface lifts were installed, the valley was connected to the electric grid for the first time. In August 1952, the Saulire tram began operations and in November 1954, Emille Allais took over the management of Courchevel. The first Three Valleys ski passes were sold in 1958. In 1970 a mountain airport was added, followed by additional subdivisions. More importantly, 1973 saw the introduction of a single lift ticket accessing the entire network.

In 1963, Méribel counted100 houses built and over 10 lifts, including the Saulire cabriolet that linked the resort to Courchevel since 1951. In 1960, the Tougnète gondola allowed for the first access into the third valley des Bellevilles. As the resorts kept on developing, a new extension was planned up into the valley, in an area also known as Mottaret. Named Meribel-Mottaret, the new ski-in, ski-out resort began operations in time for the 1972/73 winter season.

The valley des Belleville appeared on scene when in 1960, Nicolas Jay, its mayor, commissioned a tourism development study. This is how les Ménuires came to being in 1964. As the upper valley offered even greater skiing potential, Joseph Fontanet, the new mayor of Saint-Martin de Belleville asked a developer in 1969 to plan and design the resort of Val Thorens, further up in the valley and with easy access to the glaciers, that opened in December 1971. Over time, Val Thoren kept on strengthening its notoriety and added in 1982 the Caron tram to its lift infrastructure.

Some smaller resorts that are now part of The Three Valleys did not develop until the 90’s. La Tania is one of them and used to be a little hamlet halfway between Meribel and Courchevel known as “La Tagna”. In December 1990, it opened as a new resort, rechristened “La Tania”. As implied by its name, the area originally consisted of three valleys: Saint-Bon, Allues, and Belleville. The skiing area has since been extended into a 'fourth' valley, the Maurienne valley. It is adjacent to Val Thorens and today, Orelle is the latest addition to the world's largest interconnect; used as a back entrance into Val Thorens, it also offers some excellent off-pistes itineraries...