© Caroline Sayer
Blue skies over Méribel
Spectacular sunshine and silly amounts of snow
After weeks and weeks of snowy weather, Méribel is finally enjoying a few days of stunningly beautiful sun and blue skies. The temperatures are currently spring-like (it’s +5C at 2,000m today) and we’ve even been able to enjoy our first lunches outdoors this weekend.
The pistes are generally in great shape. The upper runs have good, dry wintery snow but there are harder areas on some of the lower runs. The lower pistes seem to be in better shape than last week thanks, no doubt, to a combination of careful grooming, cultured snow and the softening effects of the higher temperatures. On particularly sunny slopes there’s even some spring snow developing in the afternoons and I’m told you can find good spring snow off-piste too. In these conditions, it’s generally better to stay on the higher runs and enjoy the softer snow above the lift mid-stations.
One hundred percent of Méribel’s runs are open and all the lifts are running. The slopes are quiet during this pre-half term lull, so skiing conditions are pretty gorgeous right now.
How much snow have we had this year? The official snow depths are a whopping 305cm on the summits and 115cm at La Chaudanne.
There are, of course, other ways of measuring snowfalls, such as total accumulated snowfalls. The Rhododendrons restaurant (by the top of Rhodos 2 gondola) keeps its own accumulated snow statistics based on how much snow falls on its terrace during the official season. Its figures, going back to the mid-1980s, are kept on the wall just to the left of the bar, should you want to take a look. According to the Rhododendron, this season’s accumulated snowfall is already 424cm, more than the whole of last season, which totalled 340cm.
A more striking demonstration is the objects partially buried by snow. For example, the hut by Loze chairlift has mostly disappeared, and I’m told the Richard Orlinski sculptures on Courchevel’s slopes were entirely buried and had to be dug out with a mechanical digger… Altogether, it’s been a pretty amazing winter so far: ‘un vrai hiver’ as the locals say.
Yesterday, we had a ski into Courchevel to check out the pistes and see what’s new in this valley. There is a fantastic new sled run at Moriond 1650 which is open every afternoon. It’s 3km long and steep enough to keep adults happy with lots of tunnels and overtaking places. At €15 a pop for adults, it’s fairly dear but, I’m told, great fun. (For smaller, accompanied children it’s free)
Some Courchevel chairlifts have recently sprouted piste maps on the pull-down bar. This means you no longer have to get your piste map or smartphone out of your pocket, a real advantage on wet or windy days or if you are inclined to drop objects off chairlifts.
Art lovers and those seeking an original selfie will enjoy the new Orlinski sculptures at the top of Biollay chairlift. Personally, I find the blue horse a bit alarming – if it were a real horse, it would have toppled over backwards by now…
Finally, there have been improvements to the most direct route from Moriond 1650 towards Méribel, i.e. the Ariondaz gondola, then the dull Petite bosse path towards the Aiguille du Fruit chairlift. The Ariondaz lift has been replaced by a swanky fast and high capacity gondola; the dull Petite bosse path has been remodelled so there are no uphill bits to pole along and the tricky, narrow piste down to the Aiguille du Fruit has been widened. Altogether it’s a much nicer route home when your legs are tired or tummy overfull after too much lunch! (Top tip: once you get to the top of Aiguille du Fruit, you have a choice of 2 chairlifts to take you back to Méribel. On sunny but cold days, take Marmottes which is in the sun. On windy days, take Suisses which is more sheltered from the wind.)
What about the forecast? After this brief, spring-like respite, winter will return. We should enjoy a couple more days of gorgeous sunshine, then cold and snowy weather for at least another ten days.
