Which resort in the Tarentaise??????

Planning a ski trip 17/1/04 to the Tarentaise - but having difficulty
deciding which resort to visit, especially in view of the current snow
shortage.

I have tried to soothe my anxiety by logging onto snow-forecast.com but this
service tends be rather optimistic - I often receive daily "e-mail alerts"
for snow, which of course never happen!!!!!

I've skied all resorts on a number of occasions, and have never really
suffered poor conditions.

Can anyone suggest how much snow coverage Meribel needs to enable most of
the runs to open? I know Courchevel faces north - but will the ski back be
awful?????

Any suggestions would be welcomed.

Thanks in advance.

"Simon Dolby" wrote in message
...
| Planning a ski trip 17/1/04 to the Tarentaise - but having difficulty
| deciding which resort to visit, especially in view of the current snow
| shortage.
|
| I have tried to soothe my anxiety by logging onto snow-forecast.com
but this
| service tends be rather optimistic - I often receive daily "e-mail
alerts"
| for snow, which of course never happen!!!!!
|
| I've skied all resorts on a number of occasions, and have never really
| suffered poor conditions.
|
| Can anyone suggest how much snow coverage Meribel needs to enable most
of
| the runs to open? I know Courchevel faces north - but will the ski
back be
| awful?????
|
| Any suggestions would be welcomed.
|
| Thanks in advance.

I was in Méribel late last season (Easter) and it was terrible, the
lower runs back to Méribel village were stone-filled mush. But
mid-January *should* be fine, plenty of time for some decent snowfall
before then. Anyway you're out of school holiday times as well, so you
should have no difficulty finding the right conditions higher up if
necessary.

Of course there's no way of predicting which resort will have the most
snow by then, but nightlife and other facilities aside, for the skiing I
always stay as high up as possible. Takes less time to get to the best
snow and least crowded pistes.

Other resorts? Higher up the Tarentaise the combined La Plagne/Les Arcs
Paradiski domain gives you well over 400 km of runs, loads of variety,
and a bit cheaper that the 3V.

Pete

Go high - I suggest Val or Tignes. There was very good snow last week all
over and as low as Breviere, but it was very warm for the last few days and
the snow is deteriorating. The forecast is for more snow tonight.......but
you know what forecasters are like!!

Rob
"Simon Dolby" wrote in message
...
Planning a ski trip 17/1/04 to the Tarentaise - but having difficulty
deciding which resort to visit, especially in view of the current snow
shortage.

I have tried to soothe my anxiety by logging onto snow-forecast.com but
this
service tends be rather optimistic - I often receive daily "e-mail alerts"
for snow, which of course never happen!!!!!

I've skied all resorts on a number of occasions, and have never really
suffered poor conditions.

Can anyone suggest how much snow coverage Meribel needs to enable most of
the runs to open? I know Courchevel faces north - but will the ski back be
awful?????

Any suggestions would be welcomed.

Thanks in advance.

"Simon Dolby" wrote in message ...
Planning a ski trip 17/1/04 to the Tarentaise - but having difficulty
deciding which resort to visit, especially in view of the current snow
shortage.

I've skied all resorts on a number of occasions, and have never really
suffered poor conditions.

Can anyone suggest how much snow coverage Meribel needs to enable most of
the runs to open? I know Courchevel faces north - but will the ski back be
awful?????

Any suggestions would be welcomed.

Thanks in advance.

The ski club of Great Britain (www.skiclub.co.uk) has good reports.
They say it is snowing heavily in Merible today which should help
things. I went to Merible a couple of years ago when (according to
the historic reports on skiclub.co.uk) there was about 30cm of snow on
the lower slopes. This was enough in quantity but the runs into the
main resort on the Courcheval side were icy and the run into Merible
village were I stayed was worn is places. There should be more snow
by 17 Jan but Courcheval has better snow and Val Thorens has the best
(at least when I was there) I mostly skied Val Thorens and Courcheval
when the weather was not so good, Merible is a good place to be able
to choose were to ski. Motteret gives easier access to Val Thorens
and the little bit of extra height did seem to give better snow into
the resort. Even if the run into the resort is not great one bad run
a day shouldn't ruin your holiday.