Report from February 15, 2026

It turns out my old Cal Ski Team buddy Sara has a place in Méribel (part of Les 3 Vallées) and she’s here right now.

I’m crashing on their bunk bed and life is good.

Yesterday morning, we slept in and moved slowly. The forecast called for a grey day with light snow, and honestly, I needed the rest.

We were wrong.

It turned into a bluebird powder day.

We didn’t load the lifts until about 11 a.m. and headed straight for the alpine.

When it’s sunny with fresh snow, this resort is hard to beat.

We stayed mostly in the Méribel zone but kept gawking across the valley at the massive expanse of Val Thorens.

Les 3 Vallées spans about 25,000 acres. Roughly ten times the size of Jackson Hole.

Sara and I started the day on some fun, mellow powder runs.

That whet my appetite.

We worked our way across the valley to the Cherferie chair.

Cherferie holds beautiful, fingery terrain and endless options. Only one finger remained untracked, and I zeroed in on it immediately.

Off-piste terrain here is not avalanche-controlled, so we took our time assessing the zone.

Once we felt confident, I dropped in.

The powder was crisp, smooth, and responsive.

The line skied perfectly.

Now I was fully frothing.

We met up with Sara’s local friends Nadia and Franck, and from that point on, I just tried to keep up.

Franck guided us all over the mountain, and we found fresh tracks nearly every run.

The options here feel limitless.

There aren’t many dedicated freeriders hunting these zones, and honestly, it hardly matters. There is simply too much terrain and too much powder for it to ever feel tracked out.

We skied beautiful, powder-covered faces and fingers until about 3:30 p.m., then began the long journey home to Méribel village.

I was exhausted.

It took another hour and three chairlifts just to get back.

This place is enormous.

Merci, la France.

Photos