The Merinet.Com Meribel Snow Report

Le Mont du Vallon

At last the Siberian weather is lessening its grip on the Alps. Today the sun unexpectedly shone and the temperature finally rose above freezing point in the resort. The sudden change from potential frostbite weather to potential sunburn weather obviously caught a lot of people unawares, as I saw several cases of lobster-red sunburn this afternoon.

The temperature rise improved skiing conditions by softening previously frozen solid snow. Piste conditions today varied from excellent (Combe de Vallon, Lagopede) to good-but-a-little-bit-hard (Combe Tougnète, Choucas, Lapin) to thoroughly icy (Gelinotte, Martre). It’s worth getting out early to make the most of the freshly groomed pistes, and avoiding runs (such as Gelinotte and Martre) which always become scraped and hard after a long snow-free period.

Today we made a little trip to the Mont Vallon. Not only is this the highest skiing point in the Méribel Valley (2952m) but it also offers some of the most spectacular views in the 3 Valleys. Turn left out of the gondola lift to find a ‘viewpoint diagram’ of the surrounding peaks and spectacular panorama of the Vanoise National Park and Gebroulaz glacier. Here we found the very best snow in the valley on the high and north-facing Combe de Vallon. A lot of other skiers had the same idea as us, so this piste was rather crowded. We perhaps should have taken the alternative, Campagnol, run which is usually much quieter.

It was virtually warm enough to eat out of doors today – for the first time all season. To my mind, one of the best places to eat lunch in the 3 Valleys is St. Martin de Belleville. Its sunny aspect and low altitude (1400m) means it is usually much warmer here than in other resorts, and there is an excellent choice of restaurants. If lunch runs late you don’t need to worry about a long ski home and potentially missing the last lifts, as it is a short two lift hop back into the Méribel valley. We ate at the tiny, charming Montagnard restaurant where the food is as good as ever. The dish of the day here is a very reasonable €12.50 – eat in the Courchevel valley and you can expect to pay at least 50% more.

Under the St Martin 2 chairlift we spotted a very welcome sign of spring – the first spring snow of the year has developed on south facing off-piste slopes. I love spring snow, perhaps even more than fresh powder. There is nothing more easy, flattering and confidence-giving than good spring snow. And unlike powder snow, if you fall over you don’t have to spend ages removing snow from your person or waste time looking for buried skis.

Next week I shall be away from Méribel so this snow report will be written by our snowboarding apres-ski reporter, Digby.
Click here to read his Apres Ski Report - a weekly round up of what's hot and where to party in Meribel!

[1] Generally described in more detail in the resort avalanche bullettin (e.g. altitude, aspect, type of terrain etc.)
[2] Additional load:

• High: e.g. group of skiers, piste machine, avalanche blasting
• Low: e.g. skier, walker
• Steep slopes: Slopes with an incline of more than about 30°
• Steep extreme slopes: Particularly unfavourable in terms of the incline, terrain profile, proximity to ridge, smoothness of underlying ground surface.

This is an indication of status at time of writing. Please check latest situation at the lift stations before setting out.