Tougnete face
With only a 5 minute walk you get a steep, challenging and little skied pitch.
Severe Freeride Skiing
- Distance
- 1.2 km
- Ascent
- 22 m
- Descent
- 286 m
A Dozen Epic Freerides in Méribel's Backcountry
Lift accessed, smile-inducing ski lines in the middle valley of the 3 Vallées - the World's largest ski area.
Freeride Skiing Moderate, Difficult, Severe
Description
Nestled deep in the Vanoise National Park, Méribel marks the centre of the 3 Vallées ski resort. The village was founded in the late 1930's and in the years since has become one of the most famous mountain towns in the Alps. It is known for its superb (and extensive) piste skiing but there are also some epic freeride lines above Méribel too, and this guidebook showcases the best of them.
None of the lines here are particularly technical but they'll take you into to some pretty wild places so you'll need to be fully equipped and suitably experienced at moving through and making good decisions in avalanche terrain. If you are skilled enough to ski these lines, you'll have the obvious pleasure of doing them, and the added satisfaction that you'll likely have many of them to your yourself, despite the thousands of skiers on the Méribel pistes!
Having worked your way through these adventures, there is still a huge amount to be discovered in the 3 Vallées and we've got guidebooks galore to the area!
Routes included
Main Face
A wide open powder face that makes you smile!
Moderate Freeride Skiing
- Distance
- 1.3 km
- Ascent
- 21 m
- Descent
- 356 m
Le Spot
An absolute Mottaret classic!
Severe Freeride Skiing
- Distance
- 1.2 km
- Ascent
- 3 m
- Descent
- 422 m
Col du Fruit
A brilliant really long face, a classic of the 3 valleys
Difficult Freeride Skiing
- Distance
- 6.8 km
- Ascent
- 112 m
- Descent
- 1.1 km
Olympic
Often loaded with snow up there and not skied that much
Severe Freeride Skiing
- Distance
- 1.3 km
- Ascent
- 1 m
- Descent
- 473 m
La Becca
An easily accessible and very demanding couloir with a huge snowfield to follow
Severe Freeride Skiing
- Distance
- 1.1 km
- Ascent
- 28 m
- Descent
- 339 m
Dou des Lanches Face
An easily accessed powder field with lots of drops, trees and open fields of powder
Difficult Freeride Skiing
- Distance
- 1.3 km
- Ascent
- 4 m
- Descent
- 533 m
Col de Jean
A real Meribel classic, with a bit of bushwhacking here and there!
Difficult Freeride Skiing
- Distance
- 4.3 km
- Ascent
- 33 m
- Descent
- 999 m
Rocher de la Loze - Freeride face
Host to freeride competitions in the early 2000s - a short walk with an almost certain guarantee of cold snow!
Difficult Freeride Skiing
- Distance
- 1.6 km
- Ascent
- 245 m
- Descent
- 282 m
Col du Vallon
A mellow trip into the Vallon du Fruit.
Moderate Freeride Skiing
- Distance
- 6.8 km
- Ascent
- 44 m
- Descent
- 1.1 km
La Grande Rosière
A surprisingly long descent on the edge of the Tuéda nature reserve.
Moderate Freeride Skiing
- Distance
- 2.7 km
- Ascent
- 19 m
- Descent
- 659 m
Creux de la Stetta
Fun tree-skiing down to Le Raffort
Moderate Freeride Skiing
- Distance
- 4.2 km
- Ascent
- 4 m
- Descent
- 964 m
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