Mellow meadow skiing with an occasionally cheeky middle or exit...

Statistics

10

m

819

m

33

max°

Difficulty

FATMAP difficulty grade

Moderate

Description

Great meadow skiing followed by a slightly steeper section before the angle eases right back again, this run is best enjoyed early in the season after a cold light snowfall.

Overall the mountainside here faces West and the run drops down quite low to St Martin (1400m) so is prone to getting crusty or simply just running out of snow once the weather starts to warm up. On its day this is a fun, mellow off piste run starting off down the wide open meadows that are right in front of you as you slide off the Olympic Express.

Watch for rocks in the first few metres, but generally under the snow is pasture land so does not need a deep covering of snow to be skiable.

Trend slightly rightwards and when the huts at Catagne come into view you have a couple of main options - hang left a couple of hundred metres above the huts and drop into the bowl on West-facing slopes or head down almost to the huts before turning left and dropping down a South-facing gully into the bowl (can lose its snow sooner). Head towards the skier’s left side of the bowl and then traverse hard left underneath a stand of trees - a very high traverse may just get you back to the St Martin piste above the tunnel, or alternatively drop down towards the main road and walk back into St Martin - the little téléski will drop you up and over to the télécabin. From the shepherds' huts at Catagne there is also the option to keep skiing the meadows down the fall-line below the huts, and then cut back left through the bowl to rejoin the classic route - this generally involves some steeper, South-facing slopes (and occasionally a bit of walking across grass to get back to the snow) but can be a good way to get some extra fresh tracks when everyone else has pulled left.