Courchevel opens for skiing today

15th November 2017, by Abi Butcher

Courchevel opened a handful of pistes. Pic: facebook.com/courchevel

Courchevel has opened three runs today following a bounty of early-season snow. The ski resort in France’s Three Valleys opened the Verdons, Biollay and Bellecote runs at 9am this morning, Wednesday 15 November, with the ski schools in Courchevel offering free lessons for children.

The snow that has fallen in the Alps over the past ten days has been celebrated far and wide, with Verbier in Switzerland opening last weekend for two days and Obergurgl in Austria planning to open tomorrow. Val Thorens has confirmed it will open on Saturday for the season, with 70 per cent of the lifts in operation.

Over in North America, a raft of ski resorts have opened in the past week, including Breckenridge and Keystone in Colorado, US and Lake Louise in Canada.

Tomorrow we will publish our first snow report of the season from Fraser Wilkin at weathertoski.co.uk, but earlier this week Fraser said of the snow: “there is already enough snow in the Alps to at least guarantee a decent start to the season in many high resorts (and some lower ones), but lower down (more generally) there is still plenty to play for, as you would expect at this time of year.”

To read Where to Ski and Snowboard’s independent review of Courchevel click here.