Ski Trip at Courchevel 1850

I just returned from a ski trip to Courchevel.

Courchevel is located on the French Alps and is one of the "Three Valleys" touted to be the largest linked ski area in the world. There are four ways to get there - via Geneva, Grenoble, Lyon or Chambery. I came in through Geneva because I wanted to see Switzerland as one of the side trips. My other mates came in from Grenoble.

Courchevel 1850

There are four towns in Courchevel; Courchevel 1300, 1550, 1650 and 1850. Each of the numbers represents the altitude of the town. There were eight of us. We stayed in 1850 as it was the heart of Courchevel. Because of that, it was an expensive place to stay too. According to this, Courchevel is a winter playground for the rich and famous especially the Russian oligarchs. That explains the €20 a chicken we had for dinner.

Courchevel 1850 town centre

The bus transfer to Courchevel cost 1.5x the flight ticket here. For €130, this would be the most expensive bus ticket I've ever paid to-date! And just a little more cost insight, we estimated to have spent £420 just to arrive into Courchevel without skiing! And to start skiing, this is what we've paid:

Weekly accommodation - €230 (average)
5-day lift pass - €180
Ski hire - €130
5-day lessons - €170

*All of these are not inclusive of insurance which would be another 3% uplift.*

So it's easy to imagine why skiing is an expensive sport. We were told to set aside £1000 for the trip. Almost two return tickets to Kuala Lumpur! And the weak £ is not helping either. Well, it's experience, isn't it?

I thought our timing to ski couldn't be better. Courchevel was quiet when we were up there. So this was good for us visitors. For example, the 40-seater bus that took me up to Courchevel only had three passengers in it.

Being a newbie, I took ski lessons. First at Hemel Hempstead (nearby London), then at Courchevel. I started earlier at Hemel Hempstead because it would make it easier for me to get into gear once at Courchevel. At least I got the clumsy bits out of the way first. I was glad I did because I started skiing the first day before the lessons started. Because of the quiet season, there were only three of us for the group ski lessons. During peak periods, it could be 9 to 15 people in a group.

Our ski instructor Mr Pierre (in red) on the ski lift to our training ground

There are two ways to determine ski skills. One is by knowing how to ski and two is knowing how to control at slopes with different difficulty levels. Knowing how to ski doesn't mean you can handle any slope.

By the second day, I could do parallel skiing and stopping, which were the intermediate skills in skiing. The basic was to snow plough. The earlier lessons in UK helped. According to the instructor, this was fast, as it would usually take 5 days for people to attain the level; which was why a basic ski programme takes 5 days. So I didn't carry on with my lessons. I went straight to the more challenging slopes.

Kids' snow plough lesson

The difficulty level of ski slopes are categorised by different colours: green, blue, red and black. Green runs are fairly gentle and flat while black runs are the most difficult and should only be attempted by experienced skiers.

Black run

However, as some green runs intersect with the blue, red and black runs, they can be quite steep in those areas. In fact, after doing a blue slope, some intersections at the green runs were steeper than the blue!

This is a little steep but it's a green run!

Yes, I've tackled a blue slope before coming back. But it wasn't without falls. I could still remember vividly the trail of snow mist coming down on my face as I lost control of speed and rolled down on the blue run. The poles swung out of grip. The poles were stranded up at the slope and it was where they were that I realised I've rolled down quite a distance before grinding to a halt. The high speed fall was scary but exhilarating (as long as I didn't injure myself)!

There were many kind skiers who were willing to help. For example, two skiers picked up the ski poles and passed them to me as I skied down. At other falls, some stopped and asked if I was alright. I am really grateful to these nice people. I also aim to be as good and helpful as them when I become a better skier.

All in all, Courchevel was a great place to ski. I hope the next time when I ski, I am able to do the red and black runs.