Courchevel: piste guide

Courchevel’s local slopes, along with neighbouring La Tania’s, comprise 23 green, 34 blue, 32 red and 10 black. They offer 150km of runs, and each of the other main Trois Vallées resorts (Méribel, Les Menuires and Val Thorens) also has around 150km, giving a total of 600km of pistes – far more than anyone could hope to do in a month, never mind a week. The lift system is excellent too, with lots of fast gondolas and chairlifts and most slow chairs and drags being avoidable (the piste map even helpfully distinguishes between fast and slow chairs).

There are free lifts for beginners, including at least one in each resort village. But the two best villages for beginners are Moriond (1650) and Courchevel (1850), which both have nice long easy green runs to progress to, as well as good nursery slopes.

For intermediates of all standards, there is arguably no better ski area than the Trois Vallées, especially those keen to clock up as much mileage as possible. Around 75 per cent of the pistes are blue or red, and most are immaculately groomed each night – you can check out which on lists at the main lift stations or lift pass offices and on the Trois Vallées smartphone app. There’s also one local piste in the Courchevel valley picked out most days as Piste du Jour – a great idea.

Most black runs are pretty tame unless they have been left to form bumps. The main exception is the Grand Couloir, which you can check out by riding up on the right side of the Saulire cable car. This is the widest of the Saulire couloirs and the only one still with official piste status. It’s steep but not extreme, and the scariest bit is the traverse along the narrow and bumpy ridge to reach it. The main challenges for experts lie in exploring the off piste.

The ESF Club des Piou-Piou at Moriond (1650), for kids aged three to five, is very well run. Several UK chalet operators have their own nurseries – family specialist Esprit Ski operates in Courchevel (1850). The Indiens blue run above Moriond has an Indian village part way down, making it extra fun for kids.

The Family Park above Courchevel (1850) is the main terrain park and has lines to suit different levels, with a variety of jumps, rails, tables and obstacles including, at certain times, an airbag jump. There’s also a fun boardercross here and a Children’s Village run by ESF in Courchevel (1850) which offers five hectares of closed trails. There are two smaller “fun zones” above Moriond (1650): Snake Park has a boardercross and Fun Park has large bumps. The Wood Park above Village (1550) has wooden rails and tables.