Courchevel Snow Report: 5th April 2015

After a miserable, rainy start to the week, the temperature dropped and several subsequent snowfalls have transformed the slopes. There is currently good, wintery snow on the upper runs where the snow depth is over 2m. The lower runs were not slushy at all today (not surprisingly, given the complete absence of sunshine and sub-zero temperature) and the recent snow had covered over any icy patches.

The resort itself is a pretty white once again, with snowy roofs and laden trees. As soon as the sun comes out tomorrow, this layer snow will quickly melt, but for now it’s a rather lovely sight.

The slopes are relatively quiet and there only seem to be British families on holiday this weekend (the French school holidays don’t start until next weekend). If you close your eyes and listen to the voices on the slopes, you imagine you are in the Home Counties.

Today the visibility was close to zero on the summits. I skied down from the top of Saulire towards Méribel, aiming to take the blue Biche run, a route I have taken several thousand times in my life – and got completely lost. A few figures loomed out of the fog, all equally disorientated, and there was a nice feeling of camaraderie among us all as we blundered around, hopelessly lost. The fog cleared around the level of the Altiport forest, so we spend the afternoon happily exploring the Moon Wild and Piste des Inuits and skiing down to Méribel Village through the trees. For little skiers, this is a wonderfully entertaining area, with games, activities and lots of little ‘rat runs’ through the trees with jumps and bumps galore. Parents may tire of endlessly going up and down this one area, but the children never tire of it.

The forecast is for a week of sunshine so more normal spring skiing should resume shortly.