Meribel Snow Report: 8th March 2012

The local weather forecasters must be working overtime this week. The weather is currently extremely changeable and probably extremely difficult to predict. A mini-heatwave last week was followed in short succession by a cold snap, light snowfalls, bright sunshine and now more snow. The good news is that the snowpack is greatly improved: generally the pistes are firm and grippy and fun. Best of all, there is some fresh powder off-piste.

I skied yesterday with the mountain guides’ group outing and was ecstatic to find some proper powder off-piste. Our guide, Lilian, managed to find us excellent, light, and sometimes quite deep powder snow. This was quite a surprise because only 5-10cm of snow fell on Monday. If you think I’m exaggerating, check out today’s video snow report for images of us bouncing around making wiggles in fresh snow.

I suspect that mountain guides have some sort of extra-sensory perception. They all share this uncanny ability to find stashes of virgin powder days after a snowfall; can spot an ibex on a rockface 2km away and can sense boulders lurking under the snow. It’s well worth using their expertise to find the best conditions off-piste.

If you are a keen off-piste skier, you may like to know that Méribel’s Bureau des Guides offers this excellent group guiding service from Tuesday to Friday each week. You join a small group (4-6 skiers maximum) led by a guide for a whole day of off-piste or ski touring. It costs €100 per person, which compares well with the normal price of 380€ for a guide per day.

Yesterday, Lilian took us to the piste-less area between la Masse and the Cime Caron, a Mecca for off-piste skiers. A 45 minute walk with skins took us to the Mont du Chat ridge where we picnicked in the sunshine. Not all our group enjoyed the walk up. My companion, a first-time ski tourer, wasn’t convinced. “Why have I paid 100€ to walk up a mountain?” he enquired crossly, as he arrived out of breath at the summit.

However, he did see the point of all our effort once we had made our descent, an 800m vertical drop through pitch after pitch of light and untracked powder snow. As far as I’m concerned, skiing doesn’t get any better than that.

I asked Lilian how he knew there would be great powder in this particular spot, and why there was so much more snow here than elsewhere. “You often get localised snow flurries,” he explained. “And all the guides share information on where the snow is good.” As there were absolutely no other tracks in the snow, proving no other guide had skied here since the snowfalls, I still don’t understand how he found us such great conditions. I still believe in my ESP explanation.

At the end of our long descent we skied across the still-frozen Lac de Lou. The tip of this lake is beginning to melt and this is a popular place in spring for the young and foolhardy to try to ski across the water on skis – at high enough speed they can just reach the other side without sinking. As some fail to go fast enough, it’s an entertaining spectator sport.

Lilian pointed out the barely visible wooden bridge over the stream by this lake. He pointed out that last year we skied under that bridge, which proves just how much snow we have this year compared with last. I think that this will be one of the seasons that we reminisce about for years to come.