Meribel / Advanced

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Méribel does not have the most testing terrain in the Three Valleys, but it still has enough to warrant the serious skier's interest. The blacks of Bartavelle (which generally has good snow) and Bosses (which generally doesn't) are best for bumps, though there is a tendency to keep most of the pisted runs mogul-free. Of the other blacks, Tetras struggles with snow, the Face (the women's Olympic downhill) can be sublime in unpisted powder or a massive adrenaline rush on freshly pisted corduroy. Grande Rosiere and Sanglier are unremarkable but enjoyable and Combe Tougnette is a good quick run with a very steep first hundred metres.

Off-piste in Méribel
Most of the off-piste is easily accessible by lift, though in the case of the couloir Emile Allais at the top of Saulire, you have to drop down into Courchevel to catch the cable car back up to avoid a walk. If you stay high and right coming out of the top of the couloir there is another flank of off-piste available and following the mountain south there is some quality off-piste above and below the tree-line accessed from the Loze chair.

On the opposite side of the valley, there is some slope-side off-piste under the top stage of the Tougnete and either side of the Tougnete drag. The non-pisted side of the Roc de Tougne drag also has a nice mix of terrain. Further along the west side of the valley, check out the bowl and face under the Olympic chair, from where you can also follow several itineraries down through the trees to the mediaeval villages of Le Raffort and Les Allues, but only after a bumper snowfall.

Mont du Vallon
Mont du Vallon has some steep off-piste both underneath the lift and dropping off the ridge towards the piste of Combe Vallon, a renowned red, as well as a classic itinerary off the back of the mountain which opens out to the left if you hike along the ridge line. One of the best descents in the valley can, paradoxically, only be accessed from the 3 Vallees 2 chair lift from Val Thorens. From here, go off the back and stay right before dropping down onto the very scenic red of Lac de la Chambre.

Cote Brune
The nearby Cote Brune is a good off-piste vehicle; follow the Venturon piste until it turns down the valley, keep left and as high as possible, from where it is a short walk behind the rocky summit to a natural gunbarrel and a steep powder face. For the best bumps in the valley stay directly under the chair.

Resort shortcuts

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