Skip to main content

Where are you staying?

Meribel Mottaret
SeeMeribel

Meribel Snow Report: 1st April 2014

Ski touring on the Borgne Glacier in Meribel

featured in Snow report Author Cara Brown - Ski Racer, Guest Reporter Updated

Every day this week has been perfect! The sun is out and the snow conditions are great for this time of year. The snow is staying in great condition on the top lifts all day. This week the Delancey British Alpine Ski Championships are being held in Meribel, you might have noticed that there is a huge amount of netting up on the stade because it’s Downhill time!

This week my parents are here to support me with my races and do some skiing of their own. My mum is a keen ski tourer and she has written a little a bit about it all for me to share with everyone…!

It’s getting into spring skiing time now and although the pistes are in great conditions, it is also time to break out the ski touring skis and enjoy the spring-snow conditions. If you love the mountains and haven’t discovered the world of ski touring as yet, look out for the folks walking uphill on skis around the resort! Go over and have a chat; see for yourself how the equipment works and get a little info on what ski touring is all about.

The Meribel valley has its own pocket-sized glacier, Le Borgne, which is perfect as a first introduction to high-mountain ski touring. Just “around-the-back” from the top of Mont Vallon, with a beautiful off-piste traverse and a few 100 metres uphill “skinning”, you can have a whole new view of the Meribel valley; an eagle-eye view of everything below from the pristine white slopes of your mountain eyrie.

When heading off-piste in the high mountains, the knowledge of a mountain guide is essential. Here in Meribel, although advised it is not essential to hire your own guide as the Meribel mountain guiding bureau have a programme of collective days when you can go along and join in. It’s a great way to pick up lots of mountain knowledge – and also meet other people who are interested in seeing more of this beautiful valley from another aspect. The skis and the other equipment you will need to ski tour can be hired in ski shops in Meribel.

In racing news, the Championships started yesterday with the Super G. The snow was very fast and the course turned a lot. Only 6 out of 12 girls made it to the finish and 15 out of 38 boys! Despite a huge amount of abandons, Chemmy Alcott took the win in the Ladies race, followed by myself, Cara Brown and Honor Clissold. The Boys race was won by Dougie Crawford and he was joined on the podium by Andorran Marc Oliveras and the Polish racer Adam Chrapek.
Today was the first Downhill Training. In a Downhill you are required to do at least one Downhill training before the race. In training if you miss a gate or come you can just keep going and racers use itto find the right line and get used to the speed. The training does not count for anything and no prizes are rewarded for it. The fastest men today were all British! Dougie Crawford was the fastest man today followed by TJ Baldwin and Jack Gower. The Ladies Podium was filled by the French, Margot Bailet, Jennifer Piot and Noemie Larrouy. The fastest brits were Chemmy Alcott, Cara Brown and Darcie Mead. Tomorrow is the downhill race! It will be starting with the boys at 9am and the girls will go straight after the end of the boys. Come along to watch the best race if you’re in the resort!

Location

Map of the surrounding area

Start Planning

News

Events

Start Exploring