Ski Week, Méribel, France, Feb. 2025

This year for the annual Hansell-Grenager ski week we went to les Trois Vallées, the largest combined ski resort in the world. It’s comprised of 3 main valleys, as the name aptly states, and we stayed in the central one in the village of Méribel. We chose this location because it is high altitude and therefore most likely to have good snow, and because we’d heard many recommendations to go to Val Thorens (one of the 3 valleys). 

We again flew into Lyon (much preferable to Geneva, in my opinion) on Sunday, rented a car, and headed to Méribel. The drive itself was gorgeous, and we arrived in time to see the locale a bit before nightfall. Méribel is set into the hillside more than the other ski towns we’ve yet visited, and our apartment was high up on a hill with a stunning view of the valley. We picked up Sally’s skis from Intersport and did a quick grocery shop (I love foreign grocery stores - still haven’t lost that delight!) before heading to dinner nearby at Alti-16. We got it just before it became super crowded, and ended up having a delightful evening. Because it was so busy, the restauranteur asked if he could seat another family at our large table, and that was such a nice turn of events! That family had also just arrived, and we ended up becoming friends. It was a mother and her 4 children (her husband was unpacking) - they just moved to Paris from Toulouse, and she’s American and her husband is French and the children have grown up in France. But it turns out she is from Maryland, and even did one of her grad schools at Penn! So we all ended up sharing a nice meal and exchanging numbers

On Monday we hit the slopes as a family! There was a lift about 50 m from the front door of our building, which is a hugely helpful feature. We spent a half day all together on the Méribel slopes, with a delicious and nutritious lunch of fries at the top at Col de Luze, overlooking Courchevel. I did a few extra runs on my own then snowboarded home and took Sally to the pool (at Parc Olympique) - where Sally adored the water slide and we had a great time in the nice warm, deep water, with loads of complementary floats to enjoy. We finished up with some churros from a nearby stand (quite possibly the best we’ve ever had) before using the free shuttle to get back up the hill. That night we had dinner at Fifi, which was less than a 5-minute walk from our apartment, and had phenomenal service, atmosphere, and Italian food. 

Tuesday we again hit the slopes for a half day all together on the Courchevel side. Lunch was, you guessed it, fries again (it’s hard-pressed to want to pay €100 for a full lunch for us all!). David was thrilled because we were near the famed Courchevel airport, and I’ll admit it’s pretty cool. It has a very short and steep runway, and it would seem pilots need nerves of steel to fly in/out. (It was featured in Bond’ Tomorrow Never Dies). David and Sally headed home (after a slight ski loss kerfuffle!) and I spent the afternoon exploring that valley. 

That afternoon, Sally and I explored the shops in town and picked up dessert to take to our new friends’ home for dinner that night. Dinner at Andrea’s and Francois’ apartment was delightful - great conversation, fun raclette, and the kids were charming and got along well. 

On Wednesday Sally felt she needed a day off, so David hit the slopes solo in the morning, while I took Sally back to the pool. We had a fantastic time, though the water slide was not open, and Sally had to “settle” for a crèpe instead of churros afterwards. Then I headed out for the afternoon, exploring the other side of the Méribel valley and down to St. Martin in the valley with Val Thorens.  

In the late afternoon, Sally and I built a pretty awesome snow fort and then we enjoyed a quiet dinner at home made by David.

Thursday the weather looked a little questionable at first and Sally was still tired, so David again headed out alone in the morning while Sally and I went for a short hike and built probably the cutest snowmen I’ve ever contributed to. After lunch Sally was ready for the slopes and the clouds had broken up so I took her over to the far side of the Méribel valley, where I’d seen a cool family park the day prior. She did great, but was ready to head home before me, so David met us in the village (and he and Sally got churros, of course!) and I spent the full rest of the afternoon on the Val Thorens side, which was indescribably perfect and beautiful.

That evening we walked into the village for dinner at La Fromagerie - a very quaint restaurant with very friendly waiters (and I probably liked them even more because they complemented our French) and nothing but cheese on the menu! We all delighted in fondue and probably the largest salad I’ve ever seen, although Sally was not a huge fan of the understandably strong cheese odor in the whole place. 

On Friday, after yet another beautiful sunrise/moonset admired from our balcony, we enjoyed a last morning together on the slopes in Courchevel and revisited our first lunch spot at Col de Luze, where we watched paragliders take off and cute dogs run around (what a great life!). I spent the afternoon solo in Courchevel then enjoyed a little home-style late afternoon après ski on our balcony with David and Sally. 

We all greatly enjoyed dinner at the nearby Indian place, which well-deserved its very high google ratings, and Sally couldn’t stop talking about the dahl!

Saturday we had a late checkout so Sally and I went for a nice walk up the hill (expansive valley views) on what would normally be a lovely snowy trail, but it had been quite warm so it was part ice, part mud, with snow along the sides. We had fun anyway (I had reccyed it the evening before) and can only imagine how lovely it would be in either summer (so green!) or with lots of snow. We ate snow, sang, and talked [a lot] about Ariana Grande. :)

I’d say we left at just the right time - the weather on Saturday wasn’t very pretty, and it had been quite warm all week so the snow was pretty mushy/crunchy. I’d love to go back some day and explore more of the Val Thorens side, though I think Méribel was the perfect spot for our family to stay this year, with easier access to more family-friendly slopes. I was astonished by the epically long runs (sometimes like 20 minutes without stopping), endless views of the sparkling Alps, and friendly people. We had another fabulous ski week and feel so lucky to have spent it together in such an amazing spot!