Meribel Snow Report : 11th December 2012

“Is it still blooming snowing?” asked my friend Rick in disbelief as we exited the restaurant into yet another whiteout . “What’s happening to our weather – are we in Utah or something?”

He’s not alone in being rather startled by Méribel’s snowfalls this December. Apart from two or three bright days, it has been snowing here for the best part of a fortnight. The resort is looking absurdly pretty with great thick duvets of snow covering absolutely everything, but we really would like the snow to stop now. For one thing, we’ve all had enough of snow-clearing and we’re running out of places clear the stuff to, and for another, it would be really nice to see what we’re skiing on for a change.

Skiers tend to come in two varieties: the ‘ski in any weather’ toughies (often of Scottish descent, I notice) and fair-weather skiers. I am one of the latter. In fact, I am so disinclined to go out in poor weather that the photos on my past snow reports may misleadingly suggest Méribel enjoys near permanent blue skies.

Today I was lured out into thick grey clouds and falling snow by keen friends and a forecast which promised sunny periods later. I soon stopped grumbling at the lack of visibility because the snow was excellent everywhere and there were lots of new pistes opening up.

For the first few days of the season, the top lifts and Three Valley links were closed as there was simply too much snow. Today, links with both neighbouring valleys were open so we were able to venture into Courchevel 1850 for the first time. The snow on piste was lovely and the powder off the sides was excellent too, much of it still untracked.

The pistes and lifts are blissfully empty at this time of year. During the first week of the season you can walk straight onto every lift and often have whole runs to yourself. We cruised down a very quiet Combe run in Courchevel and then tried out the new Biollay chairlift. The old four-man Biollay chair has been replaced by a new six-man chair which continues slightly further up the mountain. The increase in capacity should mean queues are reduced during busy weeks and it is now easier to access the Saulire lift which takes you back to the Méribel valley. It was, however, blooming cold today.

One of the few disadvantages of premiere neige skiing is that very few restaurants are open. All our usual Courchevel haunts were closed so we skied down the Aigle piste back to Mottaret where we knew the Cote Brune restaurant was open. Despite there being deep snow cover, Aigle still has stones on it – and I really can’t image how. Does somebody sprinkle them on this piste at night?

By now I was feeling slightly queasy due to the flat light and it was time to call it a day. I have a theory that if you suffer from travel sickness (as I do), you are liable to feel nauseous skiing in bad visibility. Do please let me know if you think this is true – and share any helpful suggestions on how to conquer the whiteout seasickness. As always, please add any feedback to comment box below.

The Cote Brune restaurant in Mottaret centre was very good, by the way. The staff were charming and the dish of the day, breaded veal escalope with pasta in tomato sauce – was good and reasonable value at 14 Euros. They also do an excellent café gourmand – an expresso coffee with five delicious little portions of dessert - for 11 Euros. It’s the perfect end to a meal when you don’t quite have room for a whole dessert. Utah may enjoy snow like this every winter, but I bet you don’t find cafés gourmands there….