Skiing in january Courchevel & Les 3 Vallées

If you’re passionate about carving or powder skiing, January is your month. A month you should spend on skis! Regular top ups of snow make ideal conditions for skiing: fresh, light snow, plenty of it and top quality. Quite simply, amazing skiing. Which will leave a lasting smile on your face. You know what we’re talking about, right?!

Other bonuses? It’s quiet: no lift queues mean you get plenty of skiing in – straight up the lifts and down the slopes from morning until evening. Want to optimise your ski time? Here are our top tips to give you what you’re looking for…

The best ski slopes in Méribel and the 3 Valleys With 43% of slopes either red or black, you have plenty of choice in the 3 Valleys. Here is our selection of iconic pistes for winter 2022.

You love… Rolling slopes?

• Chapelets – Courchevel Moriond The furthest eastern slope of the 3 Valleys, off the beaten track, undulating and (almost) always excellent to ski. Just writing about it makes use want to teleport straight there!

• La Combe de la Saulire – Courchevel After a somewhat steep start, it’s guaranteed pleasure the rest of the way. The main track is undulating and very wide, it’s a real joy to let your skis fly and make carving turns. Ski it again and again. And again. To make it even more enjoyable, you can continue the ride all the way down to Courchevel le Praz. You love… Kilometres of skiing on a single slope?

• L’Eclipse – Courchevel The piste of the world cup 2023: 3km, 940m descent, 30% average gradient… A delicious slope for advanced skiers, starting high, sliding down into the forest of giant epicea pines and finishing in the village of Le Praz. A real champion’s challenge!

• Combe de Vallon – Méribel More than 1km long, with a succession of steeps and easier sections, left and right turns… We challenge you to do it without stopping before the Mures Rouge chairlift. Time to warm up those legs!

You love… Slopes with something special

• Dame Blanche – Les Menuires A well-kept secret, possibly because this slope is not very easy to find. We love it especially after a snowfall when it has not been groomed. With a view down to the Lac du Loup below, we’re very fond of this beautiful, slightly ‘old school’ black run!

• Col de l’Audzin – Val Thorens It starts from the summit of the Cime Carron with a 360-degree panorama which gives way to hairpins and changes in terrain. This slope is remote, far from civilisation. You could believe you were in paradise up here. Or even on the moon?

• Vertical Expérience At the summit of Saulire, two challenging ‘couloir’ slopes await. The Grand Couloir leading to Courchevel and the Tournier Couloir leading to Méribel. A steep start, a steep middle, and a slightly wider finish! Keep your head firmly on your shoulders and… drop in!

Snow encrusted pines. The cloud inversion you just want to dive into. A pure, clear sky with mountains as far as the eye can see.

Let your imagination fly and you will find yourself in the far north: Norway, Finland… Except here, sliding on snow isn’t with huskies but on skis, where slopes are essential! The ambiance is magical, perfectly poetic!

Looking for… The call of the wild?

• Le Signal / Vanoise National Park Wow, are those the Dolomites over there? No, no, that ridge on the east in the foreground is called the ‘Brèche de la Portetta’. Just behind is the valley of Pralognan, another ski area - actually quite close as the crow flies! Here you can look down into the Les Avals Valley, well known to those who love ski touring. It’s a wild and (happily) unexploited valley which gives access to numerous peaks and slopes for those in the know.

Looking for… High altitude

• Mont Vallon / Opposite our very own ‘vallée blanche’ Again, yes, but we just love it… Even after a hundred trips to the top, we still see new things. Not surprising with the view of the Gebroulaz Glacier, the largest glacier in the 3 Valleys which has been studied for over 100 years. It is one of 5 French glaciers monitored as part of the Glacioclim/Alps national programme which means that it appears in the world glacier monitoring observatory. Are you an experienced skier? It is possible to ski on the glacier after ski touring up from Val Thorens – with a guide, of course – it is always best to be with someone who knows where the crevasses are, and to be roped up as well, we don’t skimp on safety on a glacier!

• Col de Thorens / 4th Valley from this mountain ‘col’ we can look into the 4th Valley – La Maurienne, with iconic summits such as the Aiguilles d’Arves before you – the little ears of a cat. The big bonus of this summit? The new piste ‘Lory’, a gentle cruise through this whimsical valley, which will soon be a classic of the 3 Valleys!

Looking for… Wide open spaces

• La Pointe de la Masse / The endless mountain! Naturally. Opposite you, in the foreground, snowy ridges of the Encombres Valley. And time to test your memory - further afield, do you recognise the famous peaks of the Maurienne and the Hautes Alpes? The Aguilles d’Arves, the Barre des Ecrins, the Meije… And with the new additions from Autumn 2021, the Pointe de la Masse is even better: wide open vista, great new signage on the summits and a super quick gondola. It’s a not-to-be-missed experience!

• Roc de Fer / Poetry on the peaks from this summit we embrace the 3 Valleys and the Méribel and Belleville valleys in particular. Around us, everything is white. We can watch the hungry wagtails who come to peck at the crumbs left by picnicking skiers. Pure spectacle: we love it.