fresh powder all the way down to Les Allues at 1200m…

7th January 2010

The powder is finally here in Meribel (not just in the UK) and all the way down to 1200m to our little office in Les Allues.  More snow is due and temperatures are set to stay low.   So, if you want to escape the January blues and hit the slopes now is the time!

St Martin

I had my first afternoon off-piste on Tuesday which nearly finished me off!  Having only skied on piste this winter, I don’t think I was quite ready for the afternoon they had in store for me.  Off I went trailing 4 instructors – 1 from Magic Academy and the others from Parallel Lines.  The sun was out and it was literally the first time we’d been able to see the Meribel valley for over 2 weeks!  Fresh powder and blue skies – perfect.

Ed, Badger, Me and Gregor

We started off ‘gently’, nipping off the cat track to Jerusalem and skied the gentle pitch down to the St Martin 2 chair.  That was just the warm up and already my legs were on fire!  Wearing my new puffer jacket and helmet meant that I rapidly turned a shade of red and needed to de-layer pretty promptly.

We nipped off the cat track again but this time down the other side in the shade to find light and fluffy snow, and a good few shrubs that the boys seemed to ski over but I seemed to ski into and get tangled up in.  Very slick Holly.   Nothing quite like the pressure of 4 instructors all waiting for you and watching you!

Back up to the top and this time we skied all the way down to the bubble at Raffort.  The snow depth was amazing considering the lack of snowfall last week and we were skiing really nice pitches of deep powder all the way to the bubble.  Avoiding tree stumps and shrubs I made it down in one piece after a collosal face plant.

Meribel Valley

And, as if that wasn’t enough.  Badger (Magic instructor) and I decided to give the Meribel Coulloir a shot.  We couldn’t resist one last run in the sunshine – we were practically the last people on the mountain and had the couloir and the run down to the Ronnie all to ourselves.  There’s not much that beats that feeling you get skiing down from the top of Saulire in the last of the afternoon’s sun and being rewarded by a large glass of something on the Rond Point terrace after a long and happy day’s skiing.  Here’s to many more this winter!