Courchevel Snow Report: 12th January 2012

I like to get into the Meribel valley by the highest access point on Saulire rather than over the Col de la Loze lower down. So the Fôret bubble followed by the 3 chairs, Crêtes, Biollay and Suisses. Then the route into Meribel that I personally like from the top is to ‘just fork right at every choice’. This is a long blue blast down Biche and Geai towards the Altiport area where a welcome hot choc., coffee or beer can be had on the big sunny terrace of the Rhododendron restaurant. Plat du jour is €13.00 here if you are arriving at lunchtime and there is a bunch of other reasonably priced dishes at their self service restaurant.

I decided to go lower down into Meribel via the Rhodos piste through the trees past one of my favourite restaurants, the Coeur de Cristal. This is way more upmarket as shown by the €23 plat du jour with other dishes in the €18 to €30 range. On the opposite side of the piste is an interesting monument to the Founder of Meribel – a Scot called Peter Lindsay. I find it does wonders for entente cordial to point out to any locals in the vicinity that skiing in Meribel is a British, not a French, invention!

The Adret chairlift from just below Rond Point gives easy access to the new Saulire Express 2 gondola which whisks you to the top of Saulire again where you can watch people skiing the narrow ridge that gives access to the Courchevel Couloirs and also, if you’re very brave, the left turn down the couloir under the Saulire Express back into the Meribel Valley.

Not being very brave, I took the easier route down La Combe de la Saulire and into 1850 then under the tunnel on the left and down Brigues to Le Praz. Brigues seems have been transformed this year from being simply ‘the route home’ to a really enjoyable red run. It’s been widened and is a long roller coaster of a run down through the trees and if it wasn’t for the fact that I live at the bottom end of it, I’d probably have gone round and done it again but with a warm bath and a glass of wine beckoning I left it for another day.

The current idyllic conditions are set to remain with us for at least another week with it getting perhaps a few degrees colder over this weekend. I’m off for a trip to the other end of the 3 Valleys to meet some friends on Friday or Saturday so I’ll be able to tell you what conditions are like in Val Thorens when I report back on Sunday.