Two metres at La Croisette, two forty at Le Praz
The municipal operator of Courchevel publishes the height limit of every facility it runs, and the list is instructive. The La Croisette car park, which is the centre of the resort, holds 320 spaces and stops at 2 metres. The resort gateway car park, 225 spaces, also stops at 2 metres. Moriond, 98 spaces, likewise.
A winter transfer, however, arrives with skis, ski bags and often a roof box. At 2 metres, that load does not fit. The facilities that take it can be counted: the Alpinium at Le Praz, 500 spaces at 2.40 metres, Loze with 62 spaces, Alpamayor with 40. Bellecôte is listed at 2.20 metres, and 2.40 metres on the ground floor alone. Les Cimes Blanches, 460 spaces at Moriond, stops at 2.10 metres.
Of roughly 2,600 spaces run by the operator, most sit below 2.20 metres. So the right question is not whether there is space, but at what height. It is asked when you book, along with the number of pairs of skis.
An altiport at 2,007 metres, 70 % helicopters
The council, which owns and runs it, gives hard figures: 2,007 metres above sea level, a runway 537 metres long and 40 wide, a gradient reaching 18.5 %, opened in 1961. It presents it as the highest in Europe and the only one cleared of snow throughout the winter.
About 6,500 movements are counted there each winter, 70 % of them helicopters. That percentage tells you what it really is: a connecting point, not a scheduled airport. For a road transfer it is above all a public, unambiguous meeting place, separate from the resort centre.
What the winter period requires of the car
The official route given by the council runs along the RN90 to Moutiers, then the D90, the D915 and the D91A. After Moutiers there are still some twenty kilometres of climb, and it is that stretch which decides the equipment.
The national rule is easy to remember: the period runs from 1 November to 31 March, the lists of communes concerned are set by prefects and signposted on the ground, and only tyres carrying the 3PMSF marking count as an equivalent to removable anti-skid devices. We publish the framework, not the list: it is revised every year, and an out-of-date list is worse than none.