Friday 30 March 2012

Worth getting up early for

During February and March the Meribel Lift Company; Meribel Alpina offer their "Matinale" activity which we participated in this week. Each Tuesday a group of 25 skiers have the pleasure of skiing on empty slopes above Meribel for an hour before the lifts open to everyone else. As if this is not enough temptation a delicious breakfast of cold meats, cheese, bread and pastries is served at the summit of Tougnette just as lifts become open to all


The 18 Euro cost and the effort to get up to Meribel by 8.00am is truly worth it, the sun is just making an impression on the pistes, there is silence aside from the whir of the Lifts and skiing piste after piste of untouched corduroy almost alone was an amazing experience. Next season we will be encouraging our guests to seize the opportunity to participate in this activity, in the meantime here are a few pictures we took.


The sun just starting to warm up the pistes

Empty, perfectly prepared pistes


The icing on the cake - a delicious breakfast

Tuesday 13 March 2012

Strange sights on the slopes

We see some strange things out on the slopes, red crocodiles, Jelly Babies, people wearing one piece ski suits circa 1990 but today probably topped all of them. Having just enjoyed a well earned rest at the Plan des Mains at the base of Mont du Vallon we came across one of the many "Piste Basher" machines used throughout the Three Valleys which appeared to be full of Beer Kegs. If they really were beer kegs (full or empty) we may never know but here is the photographic proof.




We have been enjoying gloriously sunny weather for the last 4 days together with mild temperatures. Towards late afternoon lower slopes are softer but still lovely to ski and the upper runs are in perfect condition. The freshly groomed runs first thing in the morning are especially nice and make almost everyone look and feel like good skiers. Today we have skied as low as 1,400 metres (La Tania) and as high as 2,952  (Mont du Vallon) and have enjoyed every minute of it. The Three Valleys has the benefit of a long snow season due to height, aspect and impeccable grooming and this year will be no different with lifts open until the end of April there is no better place for an end of season ski holiday.
Here are a few pictures from around the area taken over the last few days:


Early morning Balloon sighting Courchevel

View from top of Cote Brune chairlift

Wednesday 7 March 2012

Sunday is a perfect day for.............

Here at Chalet Vache Bleue we operate a Sunday changeover day as opposed to the usual Saturday. We are often asked why as Saturday has been the traditional  day to arrive and depart from ski resorts for as long as most people can remember. Last Saturday we were reminded why as we crawled along a motorway with heavy traffic in both directions, we are not alone in operating a Sunday changeover but traffic to and from Ski resorts is much reduced on a Sunday. Apart from the traffic there is another reason to arrive and depart on a Sunday and that is that you have the pleasure of skiing on a Saturday which is the quietest day on the mountain, the pictures below were taken on a Saturday morning in the middle of the busy school holiday period, hardly a person in sight.





We have now reached the final week of the school holidays, the resort has become much quieter as a result and as a bonus we have a layer of fresh snow which has made the conditions perfect again. Today has dawned sunny and there is a promise of another snowfall towards the end of this week, it really doesn't get much better.