Day Off 5: The Quest of the Mountain Burger!

A month has passed since I first posted the introduction to my 'Richard's Amazing Days Off!' blog. Originally a way to keep my friends and family at home up to date with what I've been up to, it's received just shy of 1,000 page views! So thanks for the interest!
This past month I've had a look at parapenting, hiked up to a fort, visited 7 stunning views and stood in a glass box... All brilliant days off in themselves with plenty more to come!

This week's day off is centred around the reason I'm working in France this winter... Snowboarding. 

Being based in the little town of Bourg Saint Maurice has it's benefits. Aside from being the final stop for the Eurostar with excellent rail access to most places, it's also pretty central to most ski resorts. Located about 1.5 hours away is the world's largest ski area - The Three Valleys.

The Three Valleys

The Three Valleys ski area is linked together by 600km of interconnected slopes, 180 ski lifts and is made up of 8 resorts! These resorts are Courchevel, La Tania, Méribel, Brides-les-Bains, Les Menuires, Saint Martin, Val Thorens and Orelle. 

Needless to say we didn't cover the whole area but we did do 4 of the resorts!

Now for my friends and family back home who have only visited Xscape and the Chill Factore, the ideal conditions for skiing and snowboarding is a blue sky day after a night of heavy snow fall. Now, I know what you're thinking, surely I couldn't be that lucky. Well coincidentally my day off just 'happened' to fall on a clear blue day with loads of fresh snow... ahem. 

Abbie and Maria

Myself, Steve and Abbie spent most of the day following Maria who's based in Courcheval. I can honestly say I couldn't tell you where one resort finished and another started but I'm assured we did Méribel, Les Menuires, Val Thorens and Orelle.

"But where is the Mountain Burger?" I hear you cry! Well, Maria informed us, at around midday, of this monster burger that's served up in Méribel. After careful consideration (by Steve and I) we ended up changing the rest of our day, possibly even missing out a couple of resorts, because we embarked on a quest for this mystical burger. 

After many runs, loads of off-piste and a few chairlifts later we took the final cable car which set us up for our journey to Méribel...

Will, Finch, Q, Mike and Rich

...So imagine our surprise when we bumped into these familiar faces from summers and winters gone by! 

After a quick catch up with everyone, we explained our quest and made our way to the final chairlift to the snow park above Méribel. We had a quick play on the kickers (jumps) and made our way through the park and down to the little burger bar to order our Mountain Burgers.

Mountain Burger time!

Covered in raclette cheese, bacon, pickles and greens and a side of chips for the lads, the Mountain Burgers didn't take long to demolish. As expected the girls didn't finish there's so I ate some of theirs too.  

With this entry being more about the snowboarding rather than visiting specific locations it makes it a little harder to get across the excitement of speeding down the piste - especially for those of your who haven't been skiing or snowboarding before. Luckily for you, throughout the day I was filming with my GoPro so here's a short clip of one of the runs.

Click full screen and watch in 720 or 1080p for the best quality

So after a perfect day of the mountain with amazing weather, fantastic company and great food, The Quest of the Mountain Burger was complete.

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