We decided to ski Friday at Courchevel on the way into Val d’Isere. On our Val Thorens week in March/April 2023 we only got half a day in Courchevel in whiteout conditions so we couldn’t say we had really seen the place. Weather prediction was similar to Monday, mostly cloudy with rain likely by mid-afternoon.
We spent Thursday night in Moutiers and so arrived in Couchevel Le Praz about 9:30.
Our Thursday drive from Dijon took an extra hour due to French farmer protests blocking the A41 autoroute. We gave James the heads-up so he drove via Annecy and Albertville and arrived at Courchevel 1850 about 11AM.
The Le Praz gondola ends slightly lower than most of the lifts rising out of 1850, so we took a lap down to 1550 to avoid a hike. No surprise that was a hardpack run but it was freshly groomed.
We rode two more gondolas up to Vizelle. Liz got a good pic of the couloirs dropping into Courchevel from the ridge dividing it from Meribel.
The Saulire tram terminal is at far left with the Grand Couloir directly below.
We cruised the upper piste under Vizelle. I dropped into a short section of off piste which had an easy bailout to the Pylones piste. The off piste was like irregular stiff styrofoam and Pylones was bulletproof. That was fortunately the worst run of the day.
We next skied the Creux run to check out the Chanrossa sector. Creux starts in saddle with incoming traffic from Meribel. In this view through the saddle you can see a Val Thorens lift at center of the far ridge.
Zoomed view of the Mont Vallon lift above Meribel-Mottaret:
We bought the Courchevel ticket that was 7 euros less than the Trois Vallées ticket, fearing a weather shortened day.
The Creux run had tons of people but it’s very wide and was fine when we skied it. James said it had been well scraped by the time he got there 2 hours later.
Chanrossa was the objective of our Val Thorens guides in April 2022, but with pea soup fog it was futile to go up there then. This time Liz and were early enough to get a run nearly to ourselves.
That piste is surrounded by abundant intermediate pitched off piste that would be great in fresh snow.
After a few runs there and on Roc Merlet, we met James at Marmottes, which had better light as seen here.
We all skied that run near the chair where the snow had loosened in the morning sun as it was about 40F by noon.
We showed James Chanrossa and Roc Merlet, then continued below Roc Merlet, passing the Pyramides surface lift.
After a run down Roc Mugnier we had lunch at the top of Ariondaz. By this time the warm weather had softened pistes below 2,000 meters to a usually pleasant spring surface. We then rode Signal to check out Chapelets on the far left of the trial map. View east from there, including optional frame at bottom:
I used one of those frames last year at Montgenevre.
Liz and James just below tree line on Chapelets:
Back up we skied the aptly named Rochers piste that winds its way through rock outcroppings and eventually worked our way down to Courchevel 1650 via the Cepes run.
From there we had to use the self serve Petit Moriond gondola, terminals circled in pic below.
We rode Ariondaz and Aiguille du Fruit to return to 1850, passing by the Altiport on the way.
I knew that it was used by helicopters but I guess there are some planes that can handle the very short runway.
James went to his car at 1850 but Liz and I had to get back to Le Praz. We first rode the old Chenus gondola.
Our course we HAD to ski the Eclipse World Cup run.
This sector of Courchevel must not get much traffic because even the steep section here were not scraped much. The lowest third of Eclipse was not adequately covered so we were diverted to Murettes at the end.
We skied 25,500 vertical, the first such day of my season. The odd combination of cloudy but warm weather was good for most of the lower pistes that we skied. It helped that these were in relatively quiet outlying areas. And the rain did not start until we got off the hill at 4:30.
We spent Thursday night in Moutiers and so arrived in Couchevel Le Praz about 9:30.
Our Thursday drive from Dijon took an extra hour due to French farmer protests blocking the A41 autoroute. We gave James the heads-up so he drove via Annecy and Albertville and arrived at Courchevel 1850 about 11AM.
The Le Praz gondola ends slightly lower than most of the lifts rising out of 1850, so we took a lap down to 1550 to avoid a hike. No surprise that was a hardpack run but it was freshly groomed.
We rode two more gondolas up to Vizelle. Liz got a good pic of the couloirs dropping into Courchevel from the ridge dividing it from Meribel.
The Saulire tram terminal is at far left with the Grand Couloir directly below.
We cruised the upper piste under Vizelle. I dropped into a short section of off piste which had an easy bailout to the Pylones piste. The off piste was like irregular stiff styrofoam and Pylones was bulletproof. That was fortunately the worst run of the day.
We next skied the Creux run to check out the Chanrossa sector. Creux starts in saddle with incoming traffic from Meribel. In this view through the saddle you can see a Val Thorens lift at center of the far ridge.
Zoomed view of the Mont Vallon lift above Meribel-Mottaret:
We bought the Courchevel ticket that was 7 euros less than the Trois Vallées ticket, fearing a weather shortened day.
The Creux run had tons of people but it’s very wide and was fine when we skied it. James said it had been well scraped by the time he got there 2 hours later.
Chanrossa was the objective of our Val Thorens guides in April 2022, but with pea soup fog it was futile to go up there then. This time Liz and were early enough to get a run nearly to ourselves.
That piste is surrounded by abundant intermediate pitched off piste that would be great in fresh snow.
After a few runs there and on Roc Merlet, we met James at Marmottes, which had better light as seen here.
We all skied that run near the chair where the snow had loosened in the morning sun as it was about 40F by noon.
We showed James Chanrossa and Roc Merlet, then continued below Roc Merlet, passing the Pyramides surface lift.
After a run down Roc Mugnier we had lunch at the top of Ariondaz. By this time the warm weather had softened pistes below 2,000 meters to a usually pleasant spring surface. We then rode Signal to check out Chapelets on the far left of the trial map. View east from there, including optional frame at bottom:
I used one of those frames last year at Montgenevre.
Liz and James just below tree line on Chapelets:
Back up we skied the aptly named Rochers piste that winds its way through rock outcroppings and eventually worked our way down to Courchevel 1650 via the Cepes run.
From there we had to use the self serve Petit Moriond gondola, terminals circled in pic below.
We rode Ariondaz and Aiguille du Fruit to return to 1850, passing by the Altiport on the way.
I knew that it was used by helicopters but I guess there are some planes that can handle the very short runway.
James went to his car at 1850 but Liz and I had to get back to Le Praz. We first rode the old Chenus gondola.
Our course we HAD to ski the Eclipse World Cup run.
This sector of Courchevel must not get much traffic because even the steep section here were not scraped much. The lowest third of Eclipse was not adequately covered so we were diverted to Murettes at the end.
We skied 25,500 vertical, the first such day of my season. The odd combination of cloudy but warm weather was good for most of the lower pistes that we skied. It helped that these were in relatively quiet outlying areas. And the rain did not start until we got off the hill at 4:30.
