Hello from Val Thorens

View from our picnic spot

Extra photo of picnic spot on Thursday

Paul and Mark when we stoppped for lunch

So , after posting yesterday Mark and I met up with Roger c and a couple of his friends who are in Val Thorens for a long weekend; a longer weekend than Matt, one of the guys, realised! He was under the mistaken impression that they would be heading back this afternoon, and that he would be in work Monday, so on the plus side he has got a whole extra day’s skiing, but he did have to try and get hold of his boss to explain why he wouldn’t be back till Tuesday.

So far I haven’t forgotten too many things that I should have brought out, but I did ask Roger to bring out, of all things, a wire coat hanger if he could, which I must admit was not on my original “to pack” list. So he duly obliged, and wandered around VT with a wire coat hanger on his way to meet me in the Frog. Not since its use as an aerial for a Mark IV Cortina has a better use been found for such an object!

We had a few beers, and Mark and I had a few more before heading home, determined to try to get a decent night’s sleep with our trip to Courchevel lined up for today. I awoke after a reasonable night still struggling with one of the worst diseases on the planet, probably responsible for massive under output whenever and wherever it hits, manflu, also occasionally called the common cold. Despite this, we set off about 9am, heading initially down to Les Menuires. From there we tried to get a chair up higher in the resort, but we were stuck on it 4 or 5 times, taking us forever to gain a relatively small amount of distance. Not a good start to the day, but this was the first weekend that Les Menuires had been properly open, and they are obviously having a few early season teething problems. We made our way up to Roc des Marches and from there down to Meribel Mottaret. There were number of lifts not open at all in Meribel, so we had to modify our route slightly, and eventually took the Saulire 2 up to Saulire before droppng down Creux into Courchevel. We made our way down to 1850, and did a couple of the runs that were my first experience of skiing, before heading back up the mountain for a run down to La Tania. From there we came back up to Col de la Luze, from where we were going to drop down to Meribel itself for a spot of lunch.

This was where things didn’t go quite according to plan. As we were stood at the Col de la Luze, Mark’s preferred route down was Boulevard de la Luze, which, as the name suggests, is actually a road in the summer and, as my legs were now starting to tire, would have provided a nice easy blue down to Meribel. The only slight problem was that the run was ferme, shut. However a number of people could be seen on a track cutting along where the piste would be, had it been bashed, and Mark was confident we would be fine. I was somewhat reluctant, but when an ESF instructor set off along the track, I figured it was, at least, safe, and Mark had skied enough with me for me to have confidence in his assessment of my ability, so off we set. With hindsight, this wasn’t the wisest of decisions we made today!

Initially there was a fairly well defined track, admittedly only one skier width most of the way, but at least at that point I could make out where we were supposed to be going. However, as we proceeded the track was somewhat less well defined, probably in part because people had been leaving it at various points to explore the off piste that the track opened up. Back up on what remained of the track there were flattish bits, which were hard work because it’s tough to pole into powder, and not so flat bits which were hard work because, as the track was far from well defined, I kept finding myself skiing powder, which I’m not equipped to ski yet. Progress was slow, to say the least, and for me exceptionally tiring. It didn’t help that Mark is sure we had left what would be the piste once they get round to bashing it quite some time ago, and the terrain was, at times, quite steep even though we were only trying to cut across it rather than trying to ski down it.

Eventually, after what seemed an age, a piste came into sight in the distance, and Mark confirmed that this was our target; at least now the end was in sight, but not before we had to get around a fairly steep outcrop and then ski a relatively flat bit of heavily tracked powder. Having stayed on my feet the entire time, I was sure I was going to take a tumble when we emerged from the powder onto the beautifully, beautifully, beautifully groomed piste that was so unbelievably welcome to my weary legs, but I managed to stay on my feet, resting there for a moment or two and a couple of photos, before heading down to the bottom of the run. Here I grabbed 5 minutes rest, before Mark confirmed it was only one run down to Meribel, lunch, and a more substantial rest, so off we went. Unfortunately my legs had gone by now, and it really wasn’t very pretty, but the thought of a pint and some grub kept me going until we eventually arrived down in Meribel and had a much needed repast in The Cactus.

The stop put food in my belly, but unfortunately very little energy back into my legs, so we made a fairly direct route, via Mottaret, up to the Mont de la Chambre, and finally back down Pluviometre to Val Thorens, and home. One last bit of energy was required, the removal of the boots, but, this accomplished, I stumbled into a lift and collapsed into my apartment for some much needed recuperation. I was utterly exhausted, and, a couple of hours and a hot bath later, I still am. Still, I managed to visit Les Menuires, Meribel Mottaret, Courcheval, La Tania, Meribel and finally Val Thorens in a day, as well as my somewhat unintended cross country off piste hike! All in all, not a bad day’s skiing, with not a tumble all day!

Ttfn

johnnyboy

He made me ski this