Last Sunday, Laurent Carret-Nouri was driving his navette on his usual route from Les Menuires to Val Thorens, when he spotted something cross the road just in front of him.

“Magnifique!”

“I’m used to seeing chamois, but it was the first time I’ve seen a wolf in 10 years of this job,” he told Le Dauphine. “Seeing one so close is magnificent!”

Fewer tourists, more wolves

The lack of tourists is one of the few upsides of this ‘saison blanche’, in which the lifts still have not turned.

It’s not just in Val Thorens that wolves have been seen in Les 3 Vallées. After the lifts closed in March 2020, a wolf was seen crossing the piste just above Courchevel 1850:

https://twitter.com/CassandraExYo/status/1249602335552057344

Wolves in Méribel

And even before lockdown, wolves have been sighted close to chalets in Méribel.

In 2018, it was estimated that there were over 400 wolves in France, with 72 packs (groups of 3 or more individuals).

Photo Le Dauphine