Meribel guide to the top ski runs

11th December 2008

The valley sits north to south, meaning you can ski in the sun all day long. Although a downside of this is the slopes can suffer and become slushy in late season - although with 80 per cent of the ski area above 1,800m and some much improved snow-making, this is less of a problem than it has been in the past.

Meribel guide to the top ski runs

Meribel has a good mix of ski terrain above and below the tree line with an excellent lift system (new and quick chair-lifts.

Meribels Top runs

1. Novices and Beginners

An excellent circuit of greens and blues to Courchevel and back gives beginners a real sense of travel and achievement. Start from Méribel Centre, take the Rhodos 1 and Rhodos 2 chair-lifts drop down the green Blanchot piste to the Loze chair, which brings you up to Col de la Loze. From here, go down to Courchevel on the blue Col de la Loze and green Loze Est runs. After lunch in Courchevel, return to Méribel via the Chenus gondola, Col de la Loze chair and the long, blue Pic Noir piste followed by the green Forêt run. The combination of these runs gives excellent coverage for beginners.

2. Beginners and Progressing Skiers / Boarders

There are plenty of long, gentle blues in Méribel but the route from Tougnète to Les Allues gives skiers a descent of more than 1,300 vertical metres, starting in a high Alpine environment and dropping down through meadows and fruit trees.

Check that the Village piste into Les Allues is open before starting the route. Take the Plan de l’Homme chair-lift from Méribel Centre and warm up on the blue Grive piste down to the Tougnète 2 chair. Soak up the views of Mont Blanc from the blue Crêtes piste before descending Choucas and Escargot to the beginning of the Village blue, which drops into Les Allues. If the bottom of the piste is closed, take the Raffort piste into Le Raffort.

3. Intermediate Skiers / Boarders

Méribel has a great choice of red runs. The favourites include the long, relatively steep Combe Vallon, a joy in good snow, and the descent from Saulire to Mottaret via the Niverolle and Aigle reds or to Méribel Centre following the seemingly endless, quite challenging Mauduit red.

The two long blacks on Tougnète, Ecureuil and Chevreuil, are really more like challenging reds. These runs provide a variety of terrain starting on wide, open slopes below Tougnète and ending in steeper, tree-lined runs above Méribel.

4. For experts

There is plenty in Méribel to keep expert skiers and boarders happy – Meribel valley is V-shaped which makes for some steep descents, with many over 1,000 vertical metres.

Book a guide for the;

  • Couloir Tournier from the top of Saulire towards the blue Biche piste above Burgin.
  • The Col du Fruit route that drops off the back of Saulire and travels through the Tueda Natural Park and past the beautiful frozen Lac de Tueda
  • The Combe Cure route from Roc de Fer into Les Allues.

Meribel Guide | Meribel Ski chalets

Enjoyed this article?

If you liked this article, feel free to re-tweet it to let others know.
Thanks, we appreciate it :)