Meribel and the Three Valleys

They say that “all good things must come to an end” and in the case of our week of skiing, that stupid cliche came true yesterday when we got back to London. To be fair, I think everyone was happy to be resting their tired muscles after a week on the slopes; but a relaxing weekend in our chalet followed by another week of skiing would have been a much better outcome than having to come home!

Our chalet was in Merbiel, which – along with Courchevel and Val Thorens – is part of the largest ski area in the world, known as “The Three Valleys”. One thing I can definitely say about the area is that there is an absolute metric crapton of snow – way more snow than I’ve ever seen before. And, since we were also higher than we’ve ever skiied before (the highest slope we hit was just over 3000m), the quality of the snow was generally amazing.

We were very lucky to enjoy perfect weather on our first few days, but the clouds rolled in on Tuesday night, bringing with them a fresh dump of snow. By morning the weather hadn’t improved at all; four of us did venture up to the top of our closest mountain, but the fog was so thick we could barely see each other, even just a few metres apart. It took us about an hour to very cautiously ski back down!

Still, even though hitting the pistes were out of the question we weren’t going to let all that fresh powder go to waste! And given that our “backyard” consisted of a fairly steep, wide open hill, Giovanni and Suzie found some shovels and slaved away building a huge kicker! I must admit, it took quite a bit of courage just to hit it, and it seemed even bigger once you were in the air! But the landing pad was like a well fluffed pillow, which I think we were all very thankful for…

The visibility certainly improved on Thursday, though the snow continued to fall well into the afternoon – so much so that they didn’t bother grooming the slopes until after the resort had closed for the day. Still, boatloads of powder, freshly groomed runs, and perfect visibility added up to an unbeatable day of skiing on Friday – just a pity it had to be right at the end of our trip!

Aubain, Ingrid, Kristy and I took the opportunity to venture as far as possible, and after about three hours, we managed to make it to the eastern most point of the resort, and into The Fourth Valley – one of the most beautiful places that I have ever seen, in all the world. Photos don’t do it any justice!

This trip was also both colder and hotter than any other ski trip we’ve done. Thursday and Friday were especially cold – it was -17˚C at the base of one of the lifts, and that doesn’t account for windchill, nor the 1,000 metres or so of extra altitude at the peaks. I was mostly warm enough in two thermal layers, a fleece, a neck warmer, and the hardshell outer layers, but the wind rushing in and out of my goggles (which prevents fogging) was enough to give me a brain freeze! It’s even worse when you’re sitting on an “open plan” ski lift, as you’re not moving to keep warm, you’re up in the air, and you’ve got no protection from the elements! Brrrrrrr!!

On the contrary, our ski chalet was way too hot! Everything had in built heating – the rooms, the floors – even the sofas! And there was a problem with the wiring, which meant none of the thermostats worked properly (neither did the lights – they flicked on and off at random – but that’s another story). Most of the time we needed a door or window left open just to balance out the temperature a bit, and the hot, dry air meant everyone woke up feeling dehydrated each morning. Still, we can’t complain too much – too hot is definitely better than too cold!

All in all, it was a pretty amazing trip, and given how far in advance it had been planned, I’m still in disbelief that it’s already over. My fingers are crossed for a second ski trip this season; I just can’t get enough of it!

More photos in the skiing and the kicker albums.