Megeve, France

Ben Chance from UNITED KINGDOM writes:

Been skiing at Megeve every year for the last 16 years. The views are excellent, there are numerous restaurants dotted all over the resort and they are almost all proper restaurants (none of the self-service canteens you get in the bigger resorts). As with all low resorts the snow is not always great at the beginning and end of the season (having said that I had 50cm of untouched powder in the middle of April two years back, and a full week of fresh powder every day last Christmas). Although there are increasing amounts of English, the resort is very rarely busy and there are only significant queues on Feb 1/2 term week. Even over New Yr and at Easter it is pretty quiet. There is plenty of easy skiing, but there are also a far higher percentage of moguls and challenging runs than you find elsewhere. The real gem is the off-piste. Because it's low, you're skiing through the trees and the ground underneath is mostly grass or shale - hence, NO ROCKS. You can pretty much ski anywhere off-piste and there are some great tree runs and wide open off-piste down Mt Joly. The lift system is indeed antiquated (mainly because they don't have the crowds to demand improvement) but is being slowly updated. Rochebrune offers the most consistent snow but for a more varied approach go up Mt d'Arbois and if there's powder head under the ropes off Mt Joly. Personally, the skiing here is far harder than in bigger resorts such as Val d'Isere or the Three Valleys and although it's certainly not a resort to go to the nightlife for (unless you're older and more sophisticated), I use it as a detox week. There is some great (and hugely underrated) skiing to go for.

2006-02-17