 Poster: A snowHead
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Last Easter we had intense freeze-thaw slushy days based out of Meribel Village. After a day or two chasing our own tails we cottoned on to skiing according to the sunshine (doh!).
As one looks at the 3V piste map (which I presently cant find but can recall roughly), is it the slopes on the left hand side we want to ski in the mornings, and right in the afternoons? Or other way around?
This all assumes sunshine to melt away at the nice dumps out there.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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just thinking..... I recall that piste map is counter-intuitive, in that north is roughly at the bottom, south roughly at the top. So the east-facing slopes (better bet in the afternoons if it's warm) will be those on the left hand side of the valley as you look at the map. But I'm guessing a bit..... don't know the area well. Of course, Meribel is pretty low altitude - so probably skiing will be best on the upper slopes, as always. 
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Peter Leuzzi, if you're in Meribel Village again to orientate yourself, the sun hits the other side of the valley, Tougnette first and then comes over to the Meribel/ Saulire side later in the day leaving Tougnette in the shade. Similarly if you ski into Courchevel in the morning that will be in the sun. Hope this helps.
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pam w, stevew, thanks. That all rings true from memory. We hardly skied Meribel itself at all over a whole week last year, so might be interesting if there is some snow.
So simply, I follow the sun for the slow melt?
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Basically yes. The south facing slopes will absorb a lot more solar radiation as they are more exposed to the sun. North facing slopes will be in the shadows for longer and hence won't get so much sun. If you look at the sun at around noon you will find you are facing roughly south ie the sun is effectively shining from the south, hence why north facing slopes tend to be in shadow. West facing slopes also get more sun in the warmer part of the day and East facing slopes get the sun in the cooler morning. So this can have an impact by the end of the day too.
First thing in spring most slopes will be quite hard as they will (probably) have refrozen a bit over night. Though in the Three Valleys they will probably be beautifully pisted. So early on you will want to find slopes which are being warmed up by the sun (South and South East facing). By early to mid afternoon though these same slopes will be starting to be uncomfortably warm.
Obviously it may not be possible to spend all day neatly progressing from one aspect to the next in order, but it is well worth keeping where the sun is in mind.
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