And the winner is.........

No suprises really, the winner of the fireworks festival/competition was my favorite all along: the Slovakian entry! The prizegiving was a typically french affair and topped off with a superb display from a previous winner of the competition, it all happened up on the snow front in 1850 yesterday evening. In second place was the Russian display that was last week in 1650, third was the French company who kicked off the competition in Courchevel 1550 and last but not least was the German entry that was also held in 1850 a few weeks ago. I have never seen so many awesome fireworks in such a short period of time.

The prizegiving

Final fireworks

Penultimate round of the fireworks competition

Last Friday evening was the fourth round of the international pyrotechnics competition that is currently being held in Courchevel. Originally scheduled for Thursday but moved to Friday because of bad weather conditions the fireworks were staged on the snowfront at Courchevel 1650. This time is was the turn of the Russians to put on a display and the company was called "Pyrotechnic yards of Petershof"!! All the displays are limited to between 15 and 17 minutes in time. I'm judging this one a close second to the Slovakian display held in Le Praz! The winner of the competition is announced this Wednesday with another display to round of the festival on the snowfront at Courchevel 1850. Super duper.

Bluebird day!

This is the view from the office at half past eight this morning, the weather has defied the forecasts yet again and has turned out completely clear! (and when I say this is the view from the office I really mean it, all I have to do is open the window to get this photo without even stepping outside!) The mountain in the picture is actually the bellecote Glacier of the La Plagne ski area and can be accessed by all our guests staying in Les Coches. If you look very closely you can make out the gondola connecting the glacier to the La Plagne ski area.

Sunday morning...

Much brighter than was expected by all this morning, this is the view from the office and Chalet Delage at 9am this morning. Lovely jubbly.

Meribel Moon park

It's that time again, a cold but sunny day in the three valleys today gave me the perfect chance to get some pictures of the snowpark above Meribel - The moonpark. The moonpark is one of two parks in the meribel/mottaret valley the second being the plattieres park inbetween Val Thorens and Mottaret. This park has been in the same place for many years and has grown to be a very substantial snowpark with a wide variety of features, both big and small!
The park is situated on a plateau above Meribel on the southern side of the valley and is best reached by skiing down into the main lift area of Meribel (The Chaudanne) and getting the plan de l'homme chairlift. The park has its own drag lift running along side which is great for getting in loads of practice without having to get a long lift.
At the top of the park you can choose which path to follow depending upon the difficulty of features that you want. Along the top edge is a long line of rollers with a few small blue kickers alongside.

The line of rollers

Very small blue kicker

Following on from the rollers if you stay to the skiiers right hand side of the park you come to the beginners area which has lots of small features for those new to snowparks. There are two small blue kickers and a reasonable selection of boxes to slide:

The first blue kicker

The second blue kicker


Rollercoaster box


Small barrel stall


Battleship box


Flat box


Down-flat-down box


Flat-down box

All these boxes are ideal for learning to grind as they are so low to the ground if all goes wrong you're unlikely to do yourself much damage! (hopefully). Just to the left of the beginners area is a line that takes over some more intermediate features of the park. Two sets of double kickers each of a different size and a selection of intermediate rails and boxes.

The first set of intermediate kickers

The second set of intermediate kickers

Down box

Up-down rail (with optional urban take off)

Extra long box

Curved box

Flat rail

Log stall feature

Final red kicker

These rails and boxes in the intermediate line are much higher from the ground and all different shapes so only attempt these if you are comfortable sliding rails!

Last but not least is the Pro area with some rediculously large features that should be given a wide berth unless you really are an advance park skier. Quite rightly the area is well signed and cordoned off as a mistake here could have serious consequences!

The pro area sign

Step-up kicker and advanced rail

Monster booter!

The pro kicker is at least 12 feet high with a 40 to 50 foot table to clear before the landing area so is seriously big! The moon park is slightly more exposed than the family park in Courchevel so can suffer when the wind picks up like it has in the last few days, this makes doing big jumps much harder.

Good day!

With weather like we had this morning and all the recent snowfall of the weekend a bit of off piste was defintely in order! The pics below are of the hike from the grand couloir above Courchevel 1850 across the top of the couloir de curee and along the ridge to the couloir croix de verdons.

Adam, the chef in chalet Elan, hiking out of the grand couloir

View down the northern entrance of the grand couloir

View down the couloir de curee (this is the couloir to the right of the grand couloir if you look up the mountain)

Hiking along the ridge between the couloir de curee and the couloir croix de verdons

Nearly there...!

View down the couloir croix de verdons

The couloir croix de verdons is two along from the grand couloir as you look up the mountain and is wider and less steep than the grand couloir itself. The powder here often stays fresh for days on end as the short hikes out of the two previous couloirs and along the ridge put most people off.
There's a neat cornice to drop in the couloir if you so wish, what better way to start it than with a 15 foot huck into fresh powder!

NOTE - off-piste skiing should only be attempted with a suitably qualified and experienced guide or instructor.

Lovely day today!

This is the view from the office this morning! Beautiful eh? We've had a break in the warm and wild weather of the last few days. The temperatures have dropped slightly (-5 this morning in 1850) and the skies have cleared!