3 Valleys Snow Report: 15th December 2014

The lifts opened on Saturday in Méribel after a week’s delay. It’s true that only a limited number of runs and lifts are yet working and there’s little snow in the resort itself. However, I’ve just enjoyed two lovely days skiing on really quite good snow, mainly thanks to our fantastic snow making system.

Méribel’s lift company has been creating as much cultured snow as possible when the temperature allows - 100,000 cubic metres at last count – and this combined with some natural snow on the upper slopes has created enough depth to open the main upper pistes.

The best snow in the valley is currently on the high pistes around Plattières, and from here you can ski all the way down into Mottaret itself. At the moment, there is not quite enough snow to allow you to ski back into Méribel, so you have to take a gondola lift back into the resort.

One of the great bonuses about Méribel is its position in the heart of the 3 Valleys. As well as our own wonderful valley, we also can ski in two equally enormous ski areas only a short lift ride away. Val Thorens has been open for several weeks already and the majority of the runs are open, so we headed over there on Saturday.

The snow in VT was not perfect powder, but it was perfectly good enough for an enjoyable day’s skiing. As you’d expect in the very early part of the season, there are one or two stones around and the snow under the cannons is a wee bit variable, but generally conditions are good. The best run of the day was the long red Christine, one of my favourite swooping runs. We made a point of checking out the newly upgraded Portette lift, one of the many improvements made to the ski area this winter now a 6-man chair with a more accessible start point.

On Sunday, we skied in Courchevel 1850 and were delighted to find the runs groomed to the usual Courchevel-wedding-cake-smoothness. Creux was piste du jour – perfect corduroy snow from start to finish. As with Méribel, very few runs are open yet in Courchevel so we hope and expect more will open for next weekend.

What we need now is a cold snap which will allow the snow cannons to run day and night. Or a ruddy great dump of snow. Or preferably both. Until then, there’s plenty of skiing to be done on the upper runs.