End of season fun in Courchevel

19th April 2013, by Dave Watts

Britain’s best ever Olympic downhiller Martin Bell (with the red pants) about to lead magazine readers out for a great day on th

After a season with remarkably few sunny days (I can only recall one warm sunny day during my many trips this winter) this week saw a complete transformation to wall-to-wall sunshine and afternoon temperatures well into the teens of degrees centigrade from Sunday to Thursday. When I left Geneva airport on Thursday it was 29ºC.

I had been helping to host a trip of over 80 readers of Ski and Snowboard magazine (formerly Daily Mail Ski and Snowboard) to Courchevel Moriond (1650). And everyone was having a great time, with excellent skiing on spring snow in the mornings, followed by late lunches when the snow had deteriorated to slush. As ever with spring skiing you had to be on the right slope at the right time to catch the snow just as it was melting from rock hard and icy to lovely sugary granules, which can feel very similar to powder.

The black slopes such as M, Suisse and Combe Pylones above Courchevel 1850 were groomed and in great condition by mid-morning. But the highlight was a run in wonderful spring snow run down the 800m vertical served by the Mont Vallon gondola in Méribel on Wednesday at 11.30am.

Off-piste was strictly off limits with an avalanche danger rating of 4 (high) and huge avalanches right down to the edge of the pistes in evidence everywhere in the Trois Vallées.

A deterioration in the weather and yet more snow was forecast for Friday and the coming weekend leading up to the last week of the season in Courchevel.

Our reader group was staying in tour operator Le Ski’s smart chalets scattered around Courchevel Moriond (1650). Most have hot tub, sauna or steam room and attract a loyal clientele. Several of the readers had been there just a few weeks before for Le Ski’s celebration of its 30th anniversary.

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