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03/11/2011
Issue 63

New Plantret chairs - still in their cling wrap

With the end of the London Ski show and the Freeze festival only a distant memory it can only mean one thing. Back to France. For me that either means a 10 hour drive across France or rely on mr Easyjet to take the strain.

Last time I travelled to France with Easyjet it was at the beginning of June, where I had a two hour battle at checkin with a hoard of obese golf club carrying sun seekers off to Magalluf. Now the summer is over the check in corral was about as busy as a lepers book signing.

Checking in with plenty of time to spare has another problem. After you’ve browsed the duty free shops, perused most of what WHSmiths has on display and maybe had something to eat the only thing that is remaining is to find a seat near one of the departure screens and wait for your gate number to appear next to your flight number all the time watching it slowly get promoted onto the left most screen until it gets to a point where all the flights before it are boarding and then….. the dreaded delayed message followed by a further delayed message and so on. I guess when you pay this little for a ticket you play Russian roulette with whether your plane is the one to have “technical difficulties” on that day.

Despite all these I made it back up the mountain to be greeted by the current heartbeat of the resort. The collective sound of 100s of builders frantically trying to finish their projects before the November deadline for the removal of cranes, scaffolding and heavy equipment.

The shiny new Plantret chair looks good although the chairs have yet to be attached and are still in their cling wrap (I guess for that new fresh chairlift smell).

For all of you who frequent the Chalet de Pierres over lunch (cause I know there are a lot of you) and then complain that they have to ski back to the Croisette in order to get back up the mountain your prayers have been answered. It looks like a small drag lift has been installed just above CdP which will take you 50 meters up the piste in easy reach of Biolay and Coqs.

The new Meribel Saulier bubble looks like it's finished as much as any building on top of a mountain from a distance looks.

The new K2 development is looking, from some angles, mostly finished which considering it’s opening for business this winter is a good sign.

On the way up the hill I was told the new aquatic centre in 1550 has run into a little snag. Apparently the powers that be have tightened the planning laws or something like that and the proposed opening in 2014 is now in serious doubt. It might possibly join the Padisha development for the title of most delayed opening.

Further up the mountain, the Bergerie restaurant has finally been destroyed, probably before the new planning laws came into effect, meaning that at least for this season it will be a hole in the ground.

At least he new Chabichou spa and brasserie extension which has been built under the piste has been covered up

The editor

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