Val Thorens Snow Report: 24th February 2014

What’s more, the slopes are not as busy as usual during the French holidays. I’m not entirely why this should be – perhaps fewer French are holidaying due to the moribund economy or perhaps they are frequenting lower, cheaper ski areas. High, snow-sure ski areas like the 3 Valleys tend to get lots of visitors during poor snow years. On good snow years, like this one, many French go to the lower, cheaper resorts instead and the 3 Valley slopes feel less crowded.

Whatever the reason, we’ve barely had to queue anywhere in the 3 Valleys this week. Only at the Cime Caron lift in Val Thorens have we had to queue for more than a couple of minutes. Today, skiing in Courchevel 1600, we got straight onto virtually every lift. The only exception was the Ariondaz gondola lift out of the resort centre – note that if there is a long queue here, it’s worth taking the alternative Marquis draglift which starts just a few metres higher up.

I’m always very happy to find a tucked-away restaurant, the sort of family-run place which you only find through word of mouth. These places tend to have much better food and service than the more obvious eateries on the main pistes. Several friends had recommended the Ours Blanc restaurant in Les Menuires so we tried it this weekend. A hotel restaurant, the Ours Blanc offers a huge sun terrace with wonderful views of the Belleville valley (fortunately, les Menuires itself is hidden). The menu is varied, the prices reasonable, the service friendly - the owner herself, half of the Irish/French couple who run the place, came over to check we were enjoying our meal. My starter, a chunky homemade pate, was so generous I didn’t need a main course. I wish I had room for pudding as the desserts looked excellent too. I will definitely return. The Ours Blanc is located on the main blue Menuires piste above the main resort. Simply ski down the left hand side of this run and you will see a large sign pointing to the left. Follow this for 30m or so and the hotel comes into view.

This week, a rather unusual phenomenon is visible on the mountain; snow of two different colours. The top layer, which fell two days ago, is a normal brilliant snowy white. The layer below, visible where snow has sloughed away, is pale beige, as if Farrow and Ball had decorated the Alps in one of its traditional off-white paints. I’m informed that this is due to dust from the Sahara which arrived with recent southerly winds and tinted the snow.

Snow condition can change fast, especially with the holiday traffic on the slopes and warming temperatures. At present, however, they are excellent and yet more snow is forecast to arrive in the middle of this week. What a great season this is turning into......