Meribel Snow Report: 11th April 2012

We woke this morning to a transformed Méribel. Last night the resort was green and brown; this morning it was magically returned to a winter wonderland. The trees were snow-laden, the ground was covered by nearly 20cm of snow and the chalet roofs were thatched once again with white.

April showers often fall as snow at this high altitude and it is very common for there to be a last flurry of snow right at the end of the season. The only season I can remember when late snow failed to arrive was last year. In vain we waited for a late-season dump which never came, only for a massive 30-40cm to fall overnight on June 1st. The irony of the biggest dump of snow of the 2011 season arriving on the first day of summer was not lost on us. By then, of course, we had long ago packed our skis away and were busy tending our gardens and really, really didn’t want any snow. That late snowfall brought down hundreds of broadleaf trees in the valley and cut of electricity supply to some of the villages. It didn’t do my tender garden plants much good either.

This year, of course, conditions have been very much better and there is a much greater snow depth on the upper slopes (198cm compared with 95cm this time last year). Today’s snowfall is still very welcome, however: it will soften the pistes and give us some more powder off-piste at high altitude.

I have to admit I didn’t ski today: the visibility was very poor and the snow was still falling and I am a confirmed fair-weather skier. Instead, I took the snow depth Labrador for a walk and he spent a happy hour rolling in, tobogganing on and eating the new snow.

I will go and make the most of the latest snow tomorrow. If conditions are suitable I intend to finally ski on a part of the Méribel valley I have never been to and most people have never heard of: the glacier du borgne. I’ll report back on how I get on this weekend…