Skiing in the Courchevel Valley

Courchevel is undoubtedly one of the world's best ski areas. The piste preparation is second to none and this is where other resorts send their staff for training slope care.

Quite simply, the Courchevel 1850 area is ideal for all standards of skiers. Easy pistes groomed to perfection run through the centre of the resort offering painless doorstep skiing. At higher altitude the slopes are steeper and include a fan of couloirs below the Saulire ridge.

Courchevel's couloirs are renowned as some of the most difficult black runs in the world. Les Couloirs de la Saulire began to acquire their legendary status in 1954, when the installation of the first Saulire tram made it easy to access the couloirs. The couloir running directly below the tramway has an average incline of 62°.

In Courchevel there is plentiful choice, particularly on the Biolley and Loze. Further up the mountain there are some excellent reds notably, Saulire, Creux, Combe de Pylon. Good bumps are on the Chanrossa, Marmottes and Loze Rouge where we ski our bump courses. For great off piste head for the 1650 back country, the fruit bowl or 'Disney Land'. This is the stuff of which fairytales are made.


The lift system is so efficient that even intermediate skiers can manage the end to end tour to Val Thorens and back without having to rush. In Courchevel the tree line runs up to 2,300m, offering more forest runs than normally found in alpine resorts. In bad weather there's sheltered skiing in the forests above La Tania and Le Praz. Truly it is difficult to find a resort anywhere in the world which can offer such a diversity of skiing.

A snowfall history combining twenty feet of snow per season with higher elevation pistes, without no doubt the best grooming in the Alps and mostly north facing slopes. The result, pistes that hold snow earlier, longer, that ice less often and with bonus east and west facing runs that allow skiers to follow the sun. Over five hundred snow cannons are used in Courchevel to 'touch up' heavy traffic areas, and they cover over 25% of the pistes.

The cannons at La Tania insure solid runs back to the village through some of the prettiest areas in the valley. Because the skiable area is so large, the 1850 kiosk and most of the cable car stations across the valley supply a daily map showing the slopes that have been groomed overnight.