Méribel off-piste & powder guide

Savoie, France · 1100m to 2952m · 5 documented zones

Finding powder at Méribel

Meribel sits in the middle of the Three Valleys with tree skiing that most of its neighbours lack, which makes it the place to be when the light goes flat. Most of the good lines involve a short hike or traverse off the top of a chair.

Lift-accessed zones — no walking

Ride up, drop in. These 1 zones need no hiking, which also means they are the first to get tracked out after a storm.

Loze Express trees

Altiport sector

Backcountry - no patrolIntermediate

Tree skiing directly beneath the Loze Express, running all the way down to Meribel Village. Gets tracked out fast after a fall.

Outside the ski area boundary. No avalanche control, no patrol and no rescue service. Full avalanche equipment, training and a partner are the minimum, and a guide is strongly advised.

Lift access
Loze Express
Walk in
No hiking — Lift-accessed.
Getting back
Continues through the trees to Meribel Village.
Known hazards
  • Tracks out very quickly after fresh snow

Worth the walk — hike-to zones

Every one of these needs time on foot, which is exactly why the snow lasts longer. Walk-in times below are as published by the resort guides.

Dent de Burgin

Altiport sector

Backcountry - no patrolAdvanced

Drop right partway along the Boulevard de la Loze track for a bigger, more serious descent than the trees below the chair.

Outside the ski area boundary. No avalanche control, no patrol and no rescue service. Full avalanche equipment, training and a partner are the minimum, and a guide is strongly advised.

Lift access
Loze Express
Walk in
Follow the Boulevard de la Loze track, then drop right partway along.
Getting back
Follow the Boulevard de la Loze track back.
Known hazards
  • Avalanche risk is high when the sector is closed

Cote Brune

Mottaret sector

Backcountry - no patrolAdvanced

A short hike from the lift opens terrain above Mottaret. Worth asking the patrollers which lines are in condition.

Outside the ski area boundary. No avalanche control, no patrol and no rescue service. Full avalanche equipment, training and a partner are the minimum, and a guide is strongly advised.

Lift access
Cote Brune chairlift
Walk in
A short hike from the lift.
Getting back
Descends back into the Mottaret lift system.
Known hazards
  • Check with ski patrol for safe routes

Roc de Tougne

Mottaret sector

Backcountry - no patrolAdvanced

Traverse at the top of the Combes lifts to reach open terrain off the Roc de Tougne.

Outside the ski area boundary. No avalanche control, no patrol and no rescue service. Full avalanche equipment, training and a partner are the minimum, and a guide is strongly advised.

Lift access
Combes lifts
Walk in
A traverse at the top of the lift.
Getting back
Descends back into the Mottaret sector.

Olympic to Raffort

Tougnete sector

Backcountry - no patrolAdvanced

Hike along the ridge from the top of the Olympic Express. The further you walk, the steeper the descent you can drop into.

Outside the ski area boundary. No avalanche control, no patrol and no rescue service. Full avalanche equipment, training and a partner are the minimum, and a guide is strongly advised.

Lift access
Olympic Express
Walk in
A hike along the ridge, as far as you want to go.
Getting back
Follow the Villages piste down to Les Allues.
Known hazards
  • Watch for the stream at the bottom

The avalanche danger scale

Every European bulletin uses this five-level scale. The column that matters most is the last one: around half of all avalanche deaths happen at level 3, not at the extremes, because that is when the snow still looks worth skiing.

1. Low

about 5% of fatalities

Generally stable snowpack. Triggering is only possible with high additional loads, and only in extreme terrain. Natural avalanches are small at most.

The most favourable conditions of the season. Terrain choice still matters in isolated extreme spots.

Forecast on about 20% of the season

2. Moderate

about 30% of fatalities

The snowpack is only moderately well bonded on some steep slopes. Triggering is mainly possible with high additional loads. Very large natural avalanches are unlikely.

Conditions look benign and catch people out. Roughly a third of fatalities happen at this level.

Forecast on about 50% of the season

3. Considerable

about 50% of fatalities

The snowpack is moderately to poorly bonded on many steep slopes. Triggering is possible even from a single skier. Large avalanches are possible.

The most dangerous level in practice. It carries about half of all avalanche deaths, because the skiing still looks good and the snowpack no longer needs much provocation.

Forecast on about 30% of the season

4. High

about 10% of fatalities

The snowpack is poorly bonded on most steep slopes. Triggering is likely even from a single skier, and numerous large natural avalanches are expected.

Off-piste travel should be limited to low-angle terrain well away from anything steep above you.

Forecast on only a few days a year

5. Very High

rare enough that no share is published

An extraordinarily unstable snowpack. Numerous very large and often extremely large natural avalanches are expected, even on moderately steep terrain.

Do not go off-piste. Roads and parts of the resort itself may be closed.

Forecast on very rarely forecast

Scale and statistics from European Avalanche Warning Services - Avalanche Danger Scale.

What you need to carry

Transceiver

Worn on your body, not in your pack, and switched to transmit before you leave the lift. Every member of the group needs one; a single person without makes the whole group less safe.

Probe

Pinpoints the burial once the transceiver has brought you close, so you dig in the right place first time rather than in a hole beside them.

Shovel

A real collapsible avalanche shovel. Digging is the slowest part of a rescue, and it is what actually gets your partner out.

Airbag pack (optional)

Helps keep you nearer the surface in a moving slide. It supplements the three items above and never replaces them.

How to ski it

Read the bulletin before you go, every day

The danger level, the problem type and the aspects and altitudes it applies to matter more than anything on this page. Conditions change overnight.

Practise with your kit until the search is instinctive

Owning a transceiver is not the same as being able to use one under pressure. Run search drills at the start of every season.

Never ski off-piste alone

Companion rescue is the only rescue fast enough to matter. Burial survival drops sharply after about fifteen minutes.

Ski steep slopes one at a time

Exposing one person at a time keeps the rest of the group free to dig, and reduces the load on the slope.

Hire a guide for terrain you do not know

Local guides know which aspects have loaded, which lines cliff out and where this season's weak layer sits. Every resort guide on this page says the same thing.

Plan the exit before you drop in

Several classic routes finish in a different valley or a long way from a lift. Know how you are getting home, and what time the last lift and last bus run.

Keep planning

Méribel snow report & forecastSnow history & depthMore resorts in France