Riding in Meribel this winter? Phil Luckett brings us up to date on with an indepth review of what's on offer at the Plattieres Board Park in Mottaret-Meribel.

'The new park shaper appears to have come of age, and is making a good effort with what's been given him. When I last reported in, there was a distinct lack of pretty much everything in the park - now we have the following in order of appearance):

Top Pipe - reasonable size, cut fairly regularly, nice transitions. Left hand wall features a pleasant 50/50 - boardslide drop in via a metal handrail, right hand wall features drop in via a cheeky kicker.

First QuarterPipe - At the bottom of the run in to the tabletops - looks ok, never hit it as always going for the jump.

Black Hip - choppy ride in, but can deliver the goods to those with enough speed.

Red & Blue Tabletops - Getting bigger, pretty smooth.

Red RoadJump - Kicker across a gap, up onto cat track - sounds weird? Looks weird! Could be worth a go...

Second Quarterpipe - cut reasonably regularly, offers a cheeky hit on the way down to...

Hip with handrail - A nice looking (read lethal) Hip with a single handrail mounted atop it's length. French locals have been sessioning it in style!

Double Handrail - This is a nice easy ride-onto rail for all to muck about on. Quite wide too, so makes for easy 50/50s.

Bottom Pipe - Cut at least as regularly as Top, with a nice right hand wall. Short and sweet, worth a look if Top Pipe is out of action.

Black Kicker - Big and mean! Looks really smooth (I haven't been off it yet!), mates tell me it's easier than the red at the top. Not a huge gap to clear (unlike last year), and the landing looks well groomed.

Blue Kicker - gentle and unassuming, still allows for a decent bit of flight-time. To hit this bear off to the right after hitting/passing the second quarterpipe.

Red Kicker - Alright if you chose to miss out the bottom pipe!

Last Hit - sort of lip/hip/kicker thing at the bottom of the park under the Chatelet Chair (where the last hip was last year). Have to absoloutely cane it to clear the choppy landing and alight on the nicely groomed piste. Beware of people using the piste tho, they tend to get a little surprised to see someone flying broadside towards them as they are innocently snow ploughing down a nice blue run!

C'est tout! Enjoy girls & boys, see you there

Phil