Meribel and Courchevel, France - March 31-April 6

[ComeBackMudPuddles]

Date(s) Skied: March 31 to April 6

Resort or Ski Area: Meribel and Courchevel, France

Conditions: Powder and packed powder, with corn at the base

Trip Report: I spent a week in the French Alps skiing "the world's biggest ski area" - the Three Valleys. Talk about truth in advertising - the place is HUGE. Six days of skiing and I didn't even make it to the third valley, Val Thorens.

It was a banner year in the Alps, so the mountain was 100% open with excellent conditions. Four days of sun with two days of snow mixed in, including one blue bird day with almost knee-deep powder off-piste. The week we went was not one of the French school holiday weeks, so the place was virtually empty - no lift lines and untracked stashes with minimal effort. Sweet.

If blacks are your thing, there's great skiing off of the Creux Noirs and Chanrossa lifts at Courchevel, and excellent stuff off of the Mont Vallon and Cote Brune lifts at Meribel. What's nice, though, is that the whole family can ski relatively close to one another and easily meet for lunch without anyone feeling frustrated or overwhelmed. Truly steep/extreme stuff tends to be off-piste, but, with only six days, I didn't feel the need to hire a guide or go with a group.

The town of Meribel is OK, but not very pedestrian-friendly or quaint. Also, it's a haven for the Brits, so if you're looking to experience "France", this isn't the place. Our hotel, though, the Yeti, was fantastic, with nice staff and truly superb food.

Some pix:

 

[severine]

Gorgeous!!!

 

[deadheadskier]

:-o

 

[gladerider]

puddles, i hear you man. i went there in 2000/1 and in 2006/7. i stayed at La Tania during my first trip and i wanted to get to Val Thorens. I had to carefully plan my trip to make sure i get back home that day. i left at 8:45am and got back around 4:45pm. it took me all day. made 2 stops. 1 for lunch at the summit of Cime de Caron and another for a beer at the base of Val Thorens. i got lucky that day and got a clear view of the Mont Blanc from the Cime de Caron summit. awesome place.

i highly suggest you check out Val Thorens your next trip. looks like you had a good time.

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

Serious stoke...I need to ski Europe sometime soon..

Where did you fly into and were things expensive over there?

 

[gladerider]

Serious stoke...I need to ski Europe sometime soon..

Where did you fly into and were things expensive over there?

since my first trip there, the currency nearly tripled, overall price over in europe more than doubled so the trips out there is getting way out of affordability for me. but, you can alway time it well.

les trois vallee has i think more than 6 or 7 resorts so you need to choose wisely based on time of your trip, price, base elevation, etc. IIRC, val thorens and courchevel 1850 are nicer to stay but steep in price. other resorts are much more economical. during my second trip we stayed at courchevel 1850 and it was very nice and convenient, but pricy. they normally have 1 week packages.

you can fly into Geneva, which i think is the easiest. i flew into Paris > took the TGV to lyon > Moutier > bus to base of Courchevel, which is a day trip.

if you do head out there, you also want to do some research on off-piste skiing. check out couple of guides take you around. summit at Val Thorens is at 3200meters, which is over 10K feet and its glacier so if you don't know where you are going, you can really be in trouble.

 

[ComeBackMudPuddles]

Serious stoke...I need to ski Europe sometime soon..

Where did you fly into and were things expensive over there?

since my first trip there, the currency nearly tripled, overall price over in europe more than doubled so the trips out there is getting way out of affordability for me. but, you can alway time it well.

les trois vallee has i think more than 6 or 7 resorts so you need to choose wisely based on time of your trip, price, base elevation, etc. IIRC, val thorens and courchevel 1850 are nicer to stay but steep in price. other resorts are much more economical. during my second trip we stayed at courchevel 1850 and it was very nice and convenient, but pricy. they normally have 1 week packages.

you can fly into Geneva, which i think is the easiest. i flew into Paris > took the TGV to lyon > Moutier > bus to base of Courchevel, which is a day trip.

if you do head out there, you also want to do some research on off-piste skiing. check out couple of guides take you around. summit at Val Thorens is at 3200meters, which is over 10K feet and its glacier so if you don't know where you are going, you can really be in trouble.

I flew in through Paris and rented a car to drive down, but that's only because we stopped to see the in-laws....I think flying into Paris and taking the train, or flying into Lyon or Geneva and taking a bus is probably the way to go (unless you're carrying all your gear, in which case renting a car and not having to move it from plane to train to bus might be preferable).

The euro/dollar exchange rate is rough, but at least lift ticket prices are really cheap in Europe. My 6-day pass was 220 euro, which works out to about 350 dollars. I couldn't track down Vail's pricing on its site, but I would be willing to bet it's more than $58/day.

Of course, food and lodging are another ballgame. Pretty steep prices, but I agree that if you do some hunting, you can find reasonably priced places.

GSS, considering your trip reports always detail what you eat and drink, I bet you'd be down with Euro skiing. There's a pretty good "quality of life" aspect to skiing in Europe that's missing from places like Jackson Hole (that's no diss of JH, just a comment that skiing in the Alps is different).

 

[ComeBackMudPuddles]

puddles, i hear you man. i went there in 2000/1 and in 2006/7. i stayed at La Tania during my first trip and i wanted to get to Val Thorens. I had to carefully plan my trip to make sure i get back home that day. i left at 8:45am and got back around 4:45pm. it took me all day. made 2 stops. 1 for lunch at the summit of Cime de Caron and another for a beer at the base of Val Thorens. i got lucky that day and got a clear view of the Mont Blanc from the Cime de Caron summit. awesome place.

i highly suggest you check out Val Thorens your next trip. looks like you had a good time.

Yeah, a guide at our hotel made me promise I check out Val Thorens next time.

It's pretty impressive how almost all the lifts are high-speed quads or six-packs, with the occassional gondola and tram thrown in. You can really cover a LOT of ground and move around the Three Valleys pretty easily.

One thing for sure, though, is that, if possible, I'd avoid the French school holiday weeks. I've heard it's a ZOO in the mountains during those weeks (despite all the impressive lift infrastructure).

 

[2knees]

unbelievable pics.

that couloir looks like something out of a warren miller film. did you ski it?

 

[ComeBackMudPuddles]

unbelievable pics.

that couloir looks like something out of a warren miller film. did you ski it?

Thanks!

I did ski the couloir, which was pretty fun, actually. Not too intimidating since there was no mandatory air. Plus, having that HUGE bowl beneath you kind of lulls you into a false sense of security....

There is steeper terrain at Meribel and Courchevel, but that couloir was particularly photogenic.

You can check out where the trail is by following this link - it's to the right of the tram called "Saulire".

 

[gladerider]

It's pretty impressive how almost all the lifts are high-speed quads or six-packs, with the occassional gondola and tram thrown in. You can really cover a LOT of ground and move around the Three Valleys pretty easily.

One thing for sure, though, is that, if possible, I'd avoid the French school holiday weeks. I've heard it's a ZOO in the mountains during those weeks (despite all the impressive lift infrastructure).

yeah and the RFID system totally helps IMHO. it was a breeze to go through some areas that were crowded with the RFID lift cards.

 

[gladerider]

GSS, considering your trip reports always detail what you eat and drink, I bet you'd be down with Euro skiing. There's a pretty good "quality of life" aspect to skiing in Europe that's missing from places like Jackson Hole (that's no diss of JH, just a comment that skiing in the Alps is different).

i second that. although it can get pricier, there are ways to workaround them if you are willing to deal with some inconveniences which seems to be fine with you based on what i read from your trip reports. for example, unlike US resorts many euro resort base areas are built with much more amenities. you can get up in the morning and go to a bakery to pick up a bread for quick breakfast. stop by a cafe to slurp down a cup of espresso. there are gazillion cafes. stop by any bases and easily find a place selling a fresh sandwich for a few bucks with soft drinks. after all day of skiing, you can stop by any cafes to gulp down a couple of pints (sometimes you got to be selective because i've seen some cafes charging 10+ euros for a pint) then, you can stop by a supermarket and pick up a few things for dinner at home. often you will have to pay when you are sitting down to get served. otherwise, you can find enough to feed yourself at reasonable prices.

one more thing, most europeans that i met are not crazy about how many runs they have in a day as some i've seen here in the states. they get couple of runs and stop by slope side cafes to relax out in the sun for a while to enjoy the mountain. i think they definitely have a different skiing culture.