Test yourself on the brand new black run

Couloir Tournier is better known to most British skiers as Méribel Couloir. This 37-degree chute starts at the top of the Saulire, passing directly under the new Saulire Express gondola lift. Lift company Méribel Alpina has chosen to turn this steep off-piste couloir into a black run and equipped it with cameras so you can be filmed skiing or boarding (or tumbling) down it.

To see yourself in action, simply register at the top of the couloir and launch yourself into the “Vertical Xperience Zone”. At the bottom, you’ll receive a record of your exploit on your smartphone or Facebook page. It’s free, and you can be filmed as many times as you like.

To create a piste from a previously rocky couloir, Méribel Alpina has removed a number of large boulders and added a snow fence at the steepest and windiest spot to trap snow. Sarah Neuville, Alpina’s Marketing and communications manager, says the rest of the couloir has not been reshaped, in order to preserve the “expert steep couloir aspect”.

Experienced skiers now can enjoy two black piste couloirs from the summit of the Saulire Express lift: the new Couloir Tournier and the equally steep Grand couloir on the Courchevel side.