Making Tracks

Hi everyone and welcome to the next instalment at the start of winter 2025/26 from your favourite blogging Méribel ski instructor. Since the previous post, I've put on a pair of skis a couple of times and had a slide around. And I must say that I've had a great time, and loved being back up the mountain again. A brilliant reminder that skiing and the mountains can certainly clear your head and is fantastic for physical and mental well being. Blimey, that was a bit spiritual, but it's true. I'm guessing you can relate to this statement. Anyway, all of these photos were taken on Friday last week or yesterday (Monday).

A clear favourite for me to go and visit for a slide this early in the winter is Val Thorens, here in the 3 Valleys. During the main ski season, it only takes about an hour to ski over there from Méribel. And guess what, it takes a similar time by car! It's funny you know, I do question whether it's worth driving that far there and back just for a ski. After all, in just a few days time, I will be walking from my apartment to put on skis for the slide down to Chaudanne. A lot of effort for driving 'just' for a ski. But then I got thinking......

Let's bounce this scenario over to you in the UK. If you could jump in a car, drive for an hour, and have an amazing ski at somewhere similar to Val Thorens before driving home again. Would you 'bother' doing this? I bet your answer would be a resounding YES? Of course you would, you are skiers and love it so much. So I think I need to get a grip, and not feel guilty or silly about doing such a thing here at the moment. Skiing is a passion after all isn't it?

So how are the snow conditions I hear you ask? Well, I hope you can see how good they are from these photos. The quality of the snow at Val Thorens is really quite good, in fact I would say above average for this very early stage of the winter. The snow cannons have clearly been put to good use, plus, last week saw quite a lot of natural snow deposited by a rather decent storm (as mentioned in my previous post). With Val Thorens being at such a high altitude, not much vegetation grows on the higher slopes there in the summer. This means that the landscape can be quite rocky, or scree-like. It's not uncommon this early in the winter to ski over several patches of stones in Val Thorens. However on both days that I've skied there I haven't seen a single stone. It was great to be skiing over there, making some tracks.

The other day I walked down to Chaudanne - where Méribel's ski lifts spring up from - to have a nose around. It was nice to see how well the snow making is going. The temperatures are cold enough at night for the cannons to run. So again, another good start. Some years there can be mild periods where snow making isn't possible, this isn't the case at the moment.

I'm looking forward to this weekend when the ski lifts open up further around the 3 Valleys ski area, including Courchevel, Méribel and Les Menuires. Fingers crossed the snow will be as good, and let's not forget it is still only the first week in December. It will be awesome being up the mountain again, and making some tracks in the snow. I will of course report back, with photos, soon after the weekend. In the meantime..... Live With Passion. Martin.