Meribel Snow Report: 6th December 2015

In contrast to last December, when there was so little snow the season start had to be postponed, this year the white stuff has obligingly arrived on time. There isn’t a huge depth yet -  between 50cm and 80cm on the summits (sources vary) and 20cm on the lowest runs - but this is more than enough to open the lifts and give us some good skiing. 

On Saturday, conditions were very good on almost every run. Light overnight snow left 5-10cm of powder on a groomed base, giving gorgeous conditions on the upper slopes. The lower runs mainly had soft, freshly groomed snow and there were only a very few stones poking through the base. As usual in December, the runs have not yet attained their usual wedding-cake-icing flatness and retain the terrain’s natural lumps and bumps. I quite enjoy this undulating terrain as it makes for more interesting skiing and prevents the crazies from skiing too fast. Just the main lifts are open but this offers quite enough skiing in all three valleys to keep most people perfectly happy for a week.

I love skiing in the first week of the season. There’s all the excitement of being back on skis again and discovering all the new lifts and pistes. The virgin snow hasn’t yet been scraped hard by skis and the slopes are fabulously empty. Accommodation and lift passes are discounted, so it’s a relatively inexpensive way of enjoying very quiet slope conditions. Premiere neige skiing isn’t for everybody: there’s not much of offer for beginners and party-goers and gastronomes might find the restaurant/nightlight scene a bit limited. And off-piste skiers would find the current low snow depth frustrating – rocks abound at present making off-piste sorties highly inadvisable. For those of us lucky to be here for the whole season, however, the first week is often one of the best. And for people who can sneak away before Christmas, it’s a great time of year for a cheeky extra week’s skiing.

Now, have you ever experienced that deeply unpleasant sensation of your newly-serviced skis misbehaving? On harder snow, they feel as if they are possessed by an evil spirit and start grabbing at the snow in unexpected ways. This happens when the ski technician hasn’t sufficiently ‘de-tuned’ the edges at the tips and tails. This occurred to one of our party yesterday and, as he discovered, it can ruin your skiing confidence and enjoyment. Luckily we were skiing with a pro, Ed Wooley, director of Parallel Lines ski school, who showed us how to “de-tune” over-sharpened ski extremities. I pass on his top tip in case the same should happen to you. Find a stone or use the edge of your ski pole, and rasp gently at the top 10-15cm of the tips and 10cm of the tails to remove the very sharp edges. Your skis should immediately behave normally. 

The forecast is for fine weather all this week and no new snow is expected to fall. However, the snow cannons will continue to produce cultured snow, so the pistes should remain in good nick and the snow depths continue to increase. 

Coming up in my next report: what’s new in the ski area this winter.