What is it like to ski in Les Menuires?

8 Mar, 2022 by Tim Jenkins

Forming part of the impressive Three Valleys ski area, Les Menuires stands as a premier ski resort offering over 160km of skiable piste. Its superiority as a school ski destination is not purely down to its connection with the world’s largest ski area spanning a 600km network, but for the ski aficionado, it may go some way to choosing Les Menuires for your next school ski trip. Read on to find out what it's like to ski in Les Menuires.

Range? Oh about 600km

Seems vast, right? For those new to the name Les Menuires and the Three Valleys, you may be wondering how Les Menuires’ 160km of slopes sit amongst the Three Valleys' dreamland.

Les Menuires is one of seven interconnected resorts making up the Three Valleys area. Here are the names of all seven:

• Courchevel
• Méribel
• Brides-les-Bains
• Les Menuires
• Saint-Martin-de-Belleville
• Val Thorens
• Orelle

Les Menuires, however, is the chosen resort of SkiBound where the La Croisette doubles up as the meeting point for the ski school (pretty handy if you’re staying at SkiBound’s Clubhotel Skilt). From here, the La Croisette district opens up to four more districts to explore:

• Preyerand
• Les Fontanettes
• Grand Reberty
• Les Bruyères

Les Menuires’ 31 ski lifts contribute to the total of 160 across the Three Valleys ski area. With such a vast number of lifts available, queue times are minimal and slope time is maximised.

Piste map highlighting Les Menuires at the heart of the Three Valleys network

This is music to the ears of Group Leaders and parents with the thought of students being fully supported in getting the most from their time in resort. As a high-altitude resort, Les Menuires also gives great snow cover – added peace of mind when choosing to ski in Europe.

DID YOU KNOW?

Les Menuires was created in 1964 as part of a grand plan to develop new, high-altitude ski areas in France.

Why do UK schools love Les Menuires?

Of all of SkiBound’s chosen resorts across France, Les Menuires proves to be one of the preferred resorts for schools to direct their focus towards. Like bees to honey, it makes sense – Les Menuires is like ski nectar. The attraction of Les Menuires covers all levels from beginner to advanced. This means that once your complete novices have nailed the nursery slopes on the doorstep of the Clubhotel Skilt, beginners can then progress to the blues, which opens up the opportunity to reach the thick powder of the summits.

SNOW DEPTH STATS

Centre of resort: 32cm

Summits: 126cm

Les Menuires is known as the ‘friendly resort’ and is epitomised by its picture-postcard charm. Almost all accommodation options in Les Menuires offer ski-in, ski-out so students can hit the slopes quicker than correctly pronouncing “Alexis Pinturault”. A huge plus for Group Leaders planning their next school ski trip, doorstep skiing saves the laboured boot walk at the start of the day and tired legs at the end of the day.

Les Menuires is made up of two mountainsides:

Mont de La Chambre
La Masse

As you can imagine, each mountainside has different features but both have plus points. A huge plus for the whole resort is the lift system. Seen as the pioneers of ski lifts, the cable cars in La Masse and gondola lifts from Les Menuires swiftly transport school groups to the slopes. Together with a balanced distribution of runs from green to black, Les Menuires is not only known as the ‘friendly resort’ within France, but the premier resort for UK schools.

TOP TIP FOR ADVANCED SKIERS

Check out the Dame Blanche black run on La Masse! Named as champion skier Timothée Théaux's favourite route in Les Menuires.

To find out more about planning your school ski trip to Les Menuires, call the SkiBound team on 01273 244570 or send us a quote request.