The view from............ Val d'Isere and the Espace Killy

A snowHead

Kenzie and Old Fartbag - nice idea - ill have words but I think she might tell me where to sling my hook!
Jehu - blimey what a rock and roll time of it you had eh! Transfer days are always the nightmare to start and end the trip aren't they!!!!

A snowHead

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

@Steve Angus, TBF. It's mostly Kenzie's idea...though I'm always open to taking credit. Skullie

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@Steve Angus, Thanks...I saw that notice (Thanks to Kitenski) and suspected they were waiting on a part.

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Old Fartbag / Kenzie - ill let the two of you take any glory!

A varied world

First some news on the Marmottes lift... basically the long and short is that the mechanism that detaches the chair from the speed cable onto the slower cable when it arrives into the lift station has broken! Basically teams from the STVI are dismantling the 4 tonne system to get to the broken part. This will take quite a while and even when they recover it the Swiss manufacturer will need to see if its repairable and whether it can be done on sight or something else. Basically it will be AT LEAST a week until its fixed they are saying. Reading between the lines I think this could be a longish term problem lasting weeks! Doh!

So it was an early start with Olivia to get up and on the school bus to Bourg and then Ben to his school bus (which was late as it turned out). He was rather snotty still but with plenty of encouragement we got him off to school... he was not happy! He is having another early night tonight but I think hes almost through it all! I had stayed up to watch some of the cricket too so the alarm going off was not welcome! haha

Anyway it was bitterly cold once again - it should start getting a little warmer later in the week as the snow (hopefully) arrives! With the kids at school Clare and I headed to work.

My morning slot was with a couple from the US (New York). We had quite a lot of coincidences - e.g. same age as Clare and I, had kids the same age as ours AND they were married the same year as us - how funny! Anyway they had never skied in Europe and wanted a combination of a tour with some ski tips. We set off for an around the world of Tignes as well as the green triangle and had a nice ski about! It was nice to cover so much ground in 3 hours! Although having to consider the closure of Marmottes in our routing carefully so we were not stuck the wrong side! Anyway it worked quite well as I was able to drop them off at the Folie as they wanted to have lunch there.

I fast - tracked it home to change from ski boots into snowboard boots, grab some lunch (pre-made) and then get to the pm meeting place which I had arranged (given my gear change) to be here in La Daille. It was an interesting 'set up' as the 15 year old beginner boarding boy had Russian parents but had lived all his life in Ukraine until the war started but they had relocated to Greece of all places where he was now living and schooling AND also learning English online! So his English was OK so we got by communicating!

So in the space of a day ive had people from very different walks of life!

We headed on the bus to town for him to learn to board whilst his Dad was having a ski lesson with a colleague. In the 3 hours he progressed pretty well all in all... I have another 3 sessions with him over the next few days.

At least it was a little warmer this afternoon but boy is it cold in the mornings!

After work I popped into town - a trip to the pharmacy to get more medicine for Ben and then we had a ski school meeting in the new seasonnaires bar of the Black Sheep (which is where the old Underground Bar used to be on the high street - its quite nice actually). I checked our post box on the way home and then got back just before Ben went to bed!

So there we are - back on the board in the morning but it wont be as early a start as it has been thankfully.

TTFN

After all it is free

As someone who doesn't post often and is late to the party, just wanted to say I enjoy the daily updates but can imagine how much of your time they take up!

On the experience/ability level its why I always caveat my ability with the phrase "Im good for someone who skis once a year!"

i would also like to add my support for the daily updates. We're regulars at Val D'isere (if one week a year is regular) and i always enjoy reading the 'on the ground' updates of what's going on in the resort throughout the season. It must take a lot of effort to maintain, but it's much appreciated and a good advert for TDC.

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wam15 and lower - I really appreciate you taking the time to write this - its especially nice when its a new name that pops up. It gives me renewed vigour! Awesome.

Still very cold but new heated socks have arrived

Yes you read that correctly my new heated ski socks arrived in the post today... I finally worked out what was wrong with the old, older and very old socks and batteries too. So anyway I have several broken socks but plenty of working batteries now too. Ive also worked out that the current socks one works and the other doesnt! haha! However the new socks should work a treat so they are charging ready for tomorrow.

Anyway Ben had woken us really early this morning with a massive temperature therefore there was no way he was off to school today! Olivia obviously down in Bourg still. Anyway Ben was plonked in front of the TV and our friendly neighbour was able to pop in a few times and keep an eye on him over the morning whilst Clare and I were at work. Thank goodness I picked up new medicine yesterday for him.

So I headed to the meeting point and despite the client being somewhat late we set off. We made good progress today for someone who is only on his second day. We spent the first part of the lesson working on garlands before heading up for his first chairlift ride... and lapped around a few times! Apart from being in the shade and really cold we tried to keep warm moving as much as possible.

All in all a very successful morning and tomorrow we will head up the mountain for the first time to the magic carpet. It will be good before the weather moves in on Thursday!

At lunchtime I headed home for a quick change of footwear and to eat but also to check in with Ben. Clare was only working the morning so she was in at lunchtime too. She was supposed to take Ben to the speech and language therapist in Bourg but he obviously was not going but she still had to go as she was collecting Olivia and some friends from school (Olivia has race training tomorrow morning!) and also collecting a food shop!

Whilst that was all happening I headed out to get some filming done.

I have a long list of things im trying to film at the moment (for social media purposes mainly). Filming is quite tricky - managing layers and and getting the gear ready (e.g. lapel microphone), cold hands, batteries on phone dieing more readily, being cold yourself, getting to the right place and getting the correct shots etc.... it all takes a while and is quite a faff! Well anyway in the couple of hours I was up the Bellevarde I got some decent amount filmed but I did not manage to get the drone up today! What I did manage to do was help my colleague Paul out as he is in charge of filming some ski tips for TDC at the moment. We went and filmed a load of tips that will now be edited. I put a summary video on my instagram (@SteveAngusSnow) of some of the action this afternoon. Watch this space for more.

With all that done I then headed to Snowberry Slopeside as needed a crash course in how to access the shop to get my gear tomorrow when it is shut up. So I learnt the codes and location of the keys etc to get in. So thats all sorted. Finally I headed to the bank as I needed to do some signing of some documents.

Phew just when you think it is all over Clare was getting back from Bourg with a big food shop that I needed to help get away before putting the car away in its underground parking! And finally sorting the kids (Ben is better tonight but still not 100% so him and I have swapped beds for tonight!) for bed! Phew.

After all that I was starving this evening so have eaten well.!

So ill be in bed early tonight (well his bed anyway) as id like to watch a little of the cricket in the middle of the night tonight. Tomorrow should be the last day of bitter cold and sunshine before it warms up about 5-10 degrees BUT with a huge amount of snow (hopefully) coming our way!

In local news I thought the screenshot of the chat about transfer companies etc was quite interesting to read. It is a growing problem. Im sure everyone has their favourites but Snow-Drone and White Rides are among the local favourites.

Also there was an incident involving a guy in his 30's yesterday who had a heart attach in the pedestrianised area of town... he ended up being taken care of in the tourist office before taken to hospital. Luckily he seems to have survived! This is all the more incredible as you might have heard their are doctors strikes across France at the moment and most (including Val) docs are out on strike leaving a skeleton crew behind!

Right im off. Full day tomorrow before the snow arrives. Yay!

TTFN

My weapon today!

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

@Steve Angus, long time reader, just saying I'm still here and read the blog regularly!! What socks did you get?

snow reports

Mild carnage in Val with an electrical fault shutting Daille bubble, Tommeuse and Mont Blanc lifts. Only way back to Tignes is Train Rouge bus to Val then Olympique/Borsat, or on the laughably inefficient Val/Tignes bus service.

kitenski - ah thanks for checking in! Always good. Socks - another pair (have several batteries and sets now) of Therm-ic ones!
Dr John - yes what a nightmare eh! I was Solaise side all day so didnt affect me but still! And the bus - inefficient - you dont say! Its France!!!!!!!

You know it makes sense.

My non-skiing wife had a day in Val last week while we stayed in Tignes. The demand for the 4.25 bus back far exceeded the capacity. She fought her way on, having been waiting at the very cold bus station for over an hour. The 11.00 from Tignes had been packed too, with young skiers happy to sit while an octogenarian stood all the way.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

I follow Tori Ski on IG. She lives in Tignes. She posted on her stories this morning about her morning commute (driving) to Val for her lesson booking. I wondered idly why she might not ski it (I've never been to either). But this thread has just answered that! When it goes wrong, it really goes wrong.

A snowHead

Baltic

Definately felt like this today!

First before I forget tomorrows update could be very late... I have work all day and then in the evening I am doing a Vie Val d'Is avalanche talk so it will be a 'go, go, go' day.

So I attempted to watch some of the cricket last night but fell asleep in Bens bed (think I mentioned he was sleeping in my bed last night and I was in his) and woke up this morning with the battery on the iPad totally dead - whoops! But I did sleep well thankfully non the less!

I was the first up by a long way (Ben ended up sleeping in my bed until gone 0900 and he is MUCH MUCH better this evening and will 100% be back at school tomorrow thats for sure!). Olivia was not starting training until 0930 and Clare was off. So I was up on my tod quite early and got breakfast in me in good time and other bits done. I even was able to see some of the cricket quietly on my own too over an extra cuppa.

Meanwhile the temps outside were even lower nudging -20 brrrr. However once again it was clear!

So I set off into town and dumped my pm ski stuff in Snowberry and then made my way to the meeting point - it was sooooo cold I was glad I had on about all the clothes I could fit under my ski jacket! Slightly annoyingly my client was about 15 mins late (again) and it was cold waiting! Then when he arrived we needed to get him a lift pass!

After all that was sorted we headed up the Solaise and he had a really successful morning and by the end he had the hang (just about) of linking toe and heel edge turns together on the magic carpet. Awesome. As I told him all the hard work is just about done now.... tomorrow should be fun as I can take him maybe up to the Grand Pre or something. We shall see what the weather is doing!

At lunchtime I had only 45 mins today and I needed to get through the various codes and door opening protocols to get into Snowberry Slopeside and retrieve my gear and change as well as eat some packed lunch.... it was a hectic 45 mins. Then having done all that lock the shop up again and get to the meet point!

The afternoon was the first session with this years group of seasonnaires and it was a purpose built group from BuildMySki and what a lovely bunch they were. Having never met each other at season start they certainly all seemed to gel well and ski about the same! Off we went up Solaise again - and initially we did some carving before doing short turns. I must say I have not skied Arcelle yet this year and I was apprehensive it would be average at best but I was pleasantly surprised - it was pretty nice and in good condition overall! Nice! As well as a quick 'trick of the day' we ended up skiing Solaise to the bottom.

A good but busy day all in all.

So the weather did start to move in this afternoon as the skys finally clouded over but finally the snow is coming and the weather is a changing. Luckily the temps should go up a little which will be welcome thats for sure!

But boy it has been cold and it has affected a colleague of mine.... a long story but basically he forget to put his neoprenes on / boots warmers on yesterday and the client he was teaching was not as active on the skiing front as he had hoped and there was a lot of hanging around! Anyway it turns out his big toe was black yesterday and despite warming it in the bath last night he still could not feel it this morning! Anyway the docs have said it was mild frostbite! He has been ordered to keep it warm and not ski for a couple of days - hmmm lets see how long that lasts for when the powder arrives eh!

In local news - well lift local news:

1) there was an electrical fault as mentioned above today affecting the Tommeuse, La Daille Gondola and Mont Blanc chair.... it meant for a few hours those lifts did not move a muscle! It caused chaos as you can imagine - especially with Marmottes being broken too still.
2) talking of the Marmottes lift - not good news im afraid! So they took the gearbox apart and there are huge broken chunks inside it. They have contacted all the lift manufacturers from across Europe and see if anyone can help repair it.... one option is a repair of the broken part alone, another option a whole new gearbox but the main problem seems to be that the broken part is NOT made anymore... as it turns out the Marmottes lift was a prototype lift when it was installed anyway.... what this means, reading between the lines is that it could be days, weeks or even longer until the lift is back up and running - I really dont know what they are going to do to fix it but I am sure they will work something out quickly (hopefully!).

Anyway must get to bed as im tired and tomorrow is a long day.

TTFN

Lots of worry amongst the locals now about what the avalanche danger will be when this multi day storm hits!

A snowHead

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

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A fascinating and unique approach, and she certainly has an USP.

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

I follow her on social media, because I also have a young daughter that is learning to ski and quite liked the stuff she was putting out.

but as mentioned what seemed to start out as just getting little kids into skiing and enjoying it, seems to have turned into a full time advert/ money making machine. fair play that she seems to be making a good living out of it, but I’m not watching her to hear about her second home at the beach and the new land rover discovery that was soooo late being delivered! she was also advertising/ recruiting on socials looking for a nanny/ housekeeper/ helper/ social media person/ photographer, so what seemed from the outset to be an insight in to a nice life in the alps teaching little kids to ski, is actually something quite different!

After all it is free

you can submit an application to ski with ........not just book ...LOL

must be doing alright

This is interesting stuff. A friend of mine was offered a position (not a job) following the lady around filming clips of various lengths to promote on social media. In exchange he was to get accommodation and lunch. He sorted his 6 month visa, then the demands of the non-job increased and he reckoned he would be working 40 hrs per week in exchange for a shared room and a sandwich for lunch. He withdrew his labour. Not sure how the authorities would have tolerated this, but she seemed confident it was all above board.

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This thread has me laughing.. good read. She gazumped my booking a few years ago, when the kids were younger, clearly for someone richer than me wink

We had to default to an ESF instructor in Tignes, who actually as OK, in the end and I saved a load of cash !! Girls are now adults.. Steve had them for a week a few years back (Millie and Evie), when we needed Millie's GCSE racing videos and stuff! She got maximum marks and a 9, thanks Steve !

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Steve, I think you need a new business model Smile

snow reports

Very smart lady.

Deliver a Mary Poppins experience on snow.

Splash it all over the socials.

Rake in sum dolla.

Very smart.

Alex A ah thats really lovely to hear (my bit anyway). Thanks

But yea I think we can draw a line under the 'T' person... suffice to say 'it causes a stir' putting it mildly!

russ_e - what will be my speciality be?

You know it makes sense.

Wow

We werent expecting that! I dropped Olivia down at the bus at 0700 and there was already about 10cm of snow on the ground - looking good. The snow continued hard and fast all day and (ill talk more in a moment) in places this afternoon it felt about 50cm deep even on the lower Fornet slopes - goodness knows how much will be there tomorrow at this rate as its still going hard!

The change in the weather and the snow is staggering in 24 hours and there is a lot more to come!

So I had a REALLY busy one today... initially I had to go to Snowberry streetwise and collect two off piste packs to stash for my pm off piste session. It didnt help the buses were all over the shop this morning so took a while to get up to town. Anyway with that ticked off I collected my snowboard from Snowberry whilst at the same time dropping my skis for the afternoon session and I headed to the meet point. It was dumping but at least there was minimal wind. To be honest the wind (as it was the other day) was very localised to a certain altitude where it was affecting lifts i.e. there was some wind but below about 2500m it was not too bad at all - above that altitude it was much worse! Even this afternoon things like Glacier chair was not too bad!

The guys were late (again) by about 30 mins but we got there in the end.

Interestingly its much warmer out there now - worrying increase in temps by about 15 degrees!

Sorry back to the story!

My session was to be split with the snowboarding friend of my beginner ive been teaching so we did some work on the Madeleine for about 30 mins before heading down the Plan M. The snow was perfect for boarding today... but by the time we were coming down the Plan M it was pretty lumpy and bumpy! But we had a good time developing him.

For the second part of the session I was back with my (now not so much) beginner and we worked mainly on the Madeleine... I am super impressed with how he has come on in these few days. He had a big smile on his face by the end. Happy days. Although he did get shouted at by an instructor for getting a little close to one of her students on the magic carpet when we were doing the warm up run - whoops!

Mission accomplished!

One thing I have noticed about this booking / family which is perhaps a sign of the times was what kit he had / or didnt as the case may be! So yea board, boots, jacket etc all that stuff but what he DIDNT have was goggles and gloves... this was NOT the first day he hadn't have that stuff. Of course all other 'important' things he had e.g. helmet and waterproofs etc but not ultimately really the vital goggles and gloves - I mean whats happened to some peoples common sense! Hope he can still feel his hands and use his eyes by the end of this trip!

So at lunchtime I was back into Snowberry and change into ski stuff and get ready for the pm session. All go I told you.

Whilst I got changed I was getting messages from one of the dads of the snowboarding kids from the morning (they tend to leave all the kids to do their thing and the adults seemed to be a little all over the place too - I think it was a cultural thing). All rather bizarre the whole booking tbh. Anyway the messages were basically (in very broken English and difficult to understand) saying that one of the boys (the better one I took down Solaise earlier) had hurt himself and asking me questions about where he would be taken etc. As it turned out when I went back to the meeting point for the pm session I saw him being loaded into the ambulance - oh dear. As it turns out the dad messaged me this evening to say he was OK and his ribs were not broken thankfully!

This afternoon I had the Americans that I had had earlier in the week for a resort 'tour' and today the plan was for me to show them some of the off piste. Basically with the avalanche risk going through the roof, the wind getting up, the vis dropping (even more) etc options were limited. So I just did bits next to the piste up Solaise but also dropped down and did the bus stop (it was excellent) as well as the bits off Mangard and even the not yet pisted 'Cognon' which was AWESOME. There was thigh deep powder down there!

I got some vids today so will post on my insta tomorrow of a small edit from both am and pm of them all - pretty cool!

No sooner had that all been sorted and we finished the day off than I needed to get home and ready for the next part of the day. That was another Vie Val d'Is seasonnaires avalanche talk this evening! So I got some bits done at home before going back into town. Arghhhh its been a busy day but I got there in the end.

Meanwhile the snow continues to fall and fall hard!

Im shattered off to bed. Teaching in the morning (whenever the lifts finally start turning) and then recording my snow report in the afternoon and having some down time too!

TTFN

At least could see a little lower down!

But not much up high!

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

Hooray for a huge influx of snow! Fingers crossed the temperatures drop again and stabalise.
Interesting to hear about the lack of goggles and gloves. Do the adults in the party have them? I was on a lift over Christmas with a guy who didn't have a buff. On this particular day the winds were howling and snow was being blown off the top of the piste and straight into our faces like a million tiny needles. He was holding his (gloved) hands over his face the whole time.
It was a rough ski down from that lift (where I beat a hasty retreat to lower slopes where the weather was clear), so he must have had an awful time of it.

A snowHead

A snowHead

Blimey!

I got to bed far too late last night and the alarm was going off far too early ... I WILL get to bed early tonight (just as soon as I have caught up on Traitors on TV!). At least there is no temptation of the cricket to watch anymore!

So anyway looking out the window this morning there was a LOT of fresh snow that had fallen, the wind had gotten up once again and it was going to be a delayed opening - it will be again tomorrow im sure!

Given the amount of snow that has fallen the school bus dead on time - full marks to them as the bus comes up from Aime believe it or not. It does the school run, does a public run to back to Bourg and up again another couple of times during the day and finishes with bringing the kids home again before he drives home for the day! Dont suppose youd get that in the UK with 1cm on the ground!

So with Ben off I was then watching my various 'sources' channels to see what would open and when all the time trying to peer through the gloom to see how the PIDA was going! Its a good vantage spot from here in La Daille actually!

It was going to be game on from 0930 so I met my new booking, a really nice young couple on their extended hols from Australia travelling most of Europe! We met at the La Daille gondola as it would be much quieter down here thats for sure! My sources were right as about 0935 they opened and we were off. The wind was not too bad but we loved lapping around on the La Daille gondola a number of times... amazing knee deep snow for the most part. At least for the first part of the day it was not too bumpy either!

We had a wonderful session even though they were both slightly different levels. It was jolly fun too! We did venture a little higher one time too on the Mont Blanc but the wind and lack of vis made it a little tough so we only did it once! Anyway it did get much busier but overall I thought we escaped what could have been a REALLY tricky morning! Jolly good!

So the guy was finishing of teacher training in Sydney and his girlfriend was doing a medical degree and was an ex professional swimmer... anyway we had been chatting about how many long haul persons are in town at this of the year e.g. Australia, New Zealand, Canada etc. Anyway who did he spot but one of his students from back in Sydney - talk about a small world!

But BOY was the snow good this morning - light and deep still - this will properly make the season back to where it should be for this time of the year id say!

I ate lunch in the picnic room at the bottom of La Daille before heading out into the elements to record my weekly snow report. For some reason I could not get it right today and it took about 20 attempts but I think I got there in the end despite my phone battery almost dying in the cold! Phew!

For much of this afternoon I was chilling at home and doing some odd jobs before Olivia was back from school, Clare from work and then Ben made it back aswell from school - phew! We have had a pretty non eventful evening but tomorrow Olivia has free skiing (aka in the powder with club), Ben too... and I will be on drop off and pick up duty as Clare is working.

In local news the resort (amongst many others) are noticing more problems with drugs whether on the slopes or off it so they are trying to clamp down and are even doing some spot checks on the slopes!

And finally (see photo below) I saw a very weird post on Facebook today - I know the weather and thus the roads tomorrow could be a nightmare as the snow continues but by the sounds of things Inghams are getting people to leave a day earlier than people have booked! Bizarre!

Anyway im off to bed now as too tired! Sorry not the most interesting one tonight!

TTFN

ERRRRRRRRRRRM WTF is happening here then outside the folie (im not sure how old this photo is but I found it online!)

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

Hi Steve, so loving your updates as always. The photos on this page are really good, making me feel very excited even though I'll not be in EK this Jan.

Hope to get there in March though, I could do with a lesson!

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2 Avalanche deaths on Envers Bellvarde, no transceivers.

https://www.ledauphine.com/faits-divers-justice/2026/01/10/deux-skieurs-francais-meurent-dans-une-avalanche-ensevelis-sous-2-5m-de-neige-et-sans-dva

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

chocksaway - yes was going to mention that in my daily report so see below for more info.
gixxerniknik - glad you enjoy my updates too. For sure hit me up for March! Sweet.

A mixed day

I had a very weird sleep last night. I went to bed quite early but woke up after an hour with stomach ache... after going to the loo went straight back to sleep only to wake for a second time with the same thing about an hour later! I knew that I probably wouldnt be able to get back to sleep so easily for a third time and even if did id probably wake again (no idea what caused the stomach ache!) shortly. I decided to pop a sleeping pill. Well the next thing I know (with my earbuds in) I was being shaken awake by Ben telling me I needed to get up (Clare had sent him up to wake me as I had slept through my alarm). I literally had no idea about ANYTHING for about the first 30 mins of the day but I slowly came around!

So after that im hoping I will sleep well tonight without incident!

It was all systems go as Clare was trying to work out what time she was going to be able to start with her clients today (like yesterday the lift and slope openings would be fluid and difficult to predict) for her extended 4 hour session she was due to teach. There was also Ben and Olivia to get ready for club. Olivia was powder skiing (they all had packs and transceivers etc) and Ben was staying on piste but it would still be very powdery out there! Anyway we got there and out the door and I dropped the kids at club and came home.

I had a list the length of my arm of jobs to do at home but of course having the various ski races on in the background made it that little bit easier!

The amount of snow and wind that was out there for a second day in a row was immense - we have had probably over a metre on average but in some places it has drifted to about 1.5m deep. Once again the wind today was keeping the lift openings on their toes too!

Anyway at lunchtime I got the kids some food in them before Olivia had an afternoon of fitness and Ben did some 'Ben things' like go downstairs and dig a hole in the snow!

We have just enjoyed a nice family meal altogether and now the kids are in bed! How is that the end of another day!

So yea in local news a sad tale of an avalanche this afternoon down here in La Daille. Two young holidaymaker French lads as part of a group of 4. 2 of them headed down the Vallee Perdu and were caught in a slide... with the snow nowhere to go they were buried under 2.5m of snow. A while later the other two friends waiting at the bottom raised the alarm when their friends failed to arrive at the bottom and the pisteurs were called. Using their GPS tracking on their mobile phones the two were located (not wearing transceivers etc) and were in cardiac arrest... anyway they could not be saved! So sad!

But thats not it.... the various mountain professionals out there today were reporting back on slides in places like the lower part of the spatule into the trees as well as parts of the Livre blanc - all very spicy out there. Be safe! And there was some people that were buried in Tignes today but got out OK thankfully! About 100m from an open piste.

Since I deliver a lot of avalanche safety talks to seasonnaires over the year and years I say this often and its worth remembering:

"There is no such thing as a 'little' off piste, off piste is off piste". More people get caught in slides within 100m of an open piste than outside the 100m boundary!

In other news I was saddened to hear that Marcel Hirscher is NOT going to be able to make his comeback this Winter season and certainly not for the Olympics. If Lyndsey Vonns comeback was amazing as it is (she won again today!) then Marcels (when it happens) will be just as amazing!

So the weather today was quite windy and at times the snow was very thick as it fell but likewise sometimes it felt as if it was clearing up - all very strange! One things for sure it was still a blizzard for most of the day and when we wake up tomorrow and the sun is starting to come out there will have been an awful lot of snow in the last 72 hours.

Meanwhile on the roads today - well lets not talk about that as it sounds a nightmare!

Of all the bad timings too one of the snow clearers - the main big one also broke down this morning (it was only there for an hour so not sure they got it working again or just towed it for fixing elsewhere). Not only could it not clear snow obviously when broken but it broke down blocking the road out of town so it was one way traffic around it for a while - nightmare on transfer day!

At least the club kids had fun in the powder today - Olivia is in there somewhere.

Now I was about to write some other things here but Clare has just hijacked me for the last hour as she has managed to drop Olivias phone down the back of our built in wardrobe under our stairs and I have just been taking it all apart to retrieve her phone. However its going to need me to get my jigsaw out to cut the back out.... FFS. Anyway Ive reinstated everything and tomorrow ill see if I have time to start the job but im still not sure whether im working all day yet a while! Im off piste in the morning but with the weather improving they might do all day in the end - we shall see.

Right I need a lie down after that bad news about the heavy handed work thats going to be needed!

TTFN

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Good grief

Im so tired this evening - what a day of powder.

The sun was trying to break through at day break and it most certainly succeeded by game time!

Game on!

The main lifts opened more or less on time and my guy (actually the father of the wife of one of our instructors) was dead on time.

Lets go for a day off pisting!

Well we covered a LOT of ground including:

- Variations off Datcha and Madeleine
- Bus stop
- Sunny bowl
- Nose of Grand Vallon
- Fornet trees

Lots of variations of those.

One common theme amongst all these was that the snow was generally jolly deep and light but it varied between aspects and altitudes thats for sure. Another common thing was 'powder frenzy' feeling - what I mean by that is everyones blinkered 'I must get the powder at all costs before anyone else and without regard to etiquette / safety norms' . Its jolly dangerous and everyone pushing the boundaries left, right and centre ultimately gets the heart going when you are trying to do the safe and 'right' thing.

Anyway apart from a brief coffee stop we just kept going mixing up lift openings (and closing as Pyramides chair closed mid afternoon due to a technical problem) and where we found the best snow and where I could find safe options - not actually that easy! But we kept going as we wanted to make the most of the wonderful snow. I dont normally go all the way through like that but today was just one of those days - a really strong skier and good conditions all in all. We didnt end up stopping for lunch until 1600 - yes you read that right.... we finished the day by eating!

I was / am shattered by the end of the day!

After getting some packs from the office for the next few days off piste intro booking im got home to do the hard graft to retrieve Olivias phone from down the back of the wardrobe as mentioned last night! Blimey that took a while but the main issue was that it created a right mess - I mean seriously. I had to take a second shower of the evening afterwards!

Again today there were some lucky people avalanche wise out there - people skiing slopes that were too steep etc etc! I saw several skier triggered slides out there..... also we saw the leftover of the pisteurs heli blasting early doors up Solaise - quite impressive all in all!

Ill finish with some photos as I need to get to bed.

TTFN

Olivia was skiing with Club this morning and they had some fun in the powder!!!!

Can you spot the skier triggered slide in the Clochetons Couloir?

Justin was happy with his lines - mine werent bad either!

Some pretty juicy PIDA triggering was happening out there today!

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

More off piste

I REALLY did not want to get up this morning when the alarm went off at 0600. But such is the way it rolls on Monday and Thursday morning when Olivia is off to school so early. So she was out the door and that was followed soon after with Ben. Having gone to bed last night with the thermometer showing -15c it was now -6 so the temps are definately going up!

The weather was not quite as good as it was yesterday but nothing too bad!

I headed up with two packs to give to the am clients for (most) of this weeks intro to off piste as they were coming over from Tignes for it (long story!). So we met up and headed off to see what we could find! Ultimately it was one of those sessions where there was lots of nice easy intro powder turns found. But we also dropped onto and off the piste to work on technique. About 3/4 of the possible variations of the jardins borsat were done and we had a very good morning all in all with some good improvements made.

I had a quick turnaround for lunch and then this afternoon it was the same guy that I had had yesterday all day. We aimed to take off where we were at yesterday which was obviously having a lot of fun in the powder! So we set off for a nice Cairn (well the top bowl was not ideal tbh) which was better lower down and into the trees it was awesome actually - lovely cold powder in there. There was a request for a route he had (somehow given his experience off piste in Val over the years on regular basis) not done for about 15 years he reckoned.... the Tour du Charvet. Standing at the top it was not looking too enticing but my experience of how the snow has performed over the last 24 hours or so I new I could sniff some nice strips out. And right I was we had a great time on the flats.

When we got to the steeps I was busy trying to stay high on this little convexity but realised I was dropping too low. I was aiming to stay high so I could 'cut' the slope to release a little slide below me but because I was about 1/2 metre too low it went so I ended up on my back bottom. Doh. I ended up a couple metres lower down the slope - plonker ! Should just have stayed high or stepped up!

Anyway the steeps themselves were OK but it got better again when we got to the lower flats thankfully. What I could not understand was how quiet it was out there - I think for the first time I have ever been down there I did not see one other person.... now that is a first it really is!

So with that out the way we did a quick nose of datcha, which is still very nice and then we dived into Super S and Prime.... the top was great but actually got better and better lower down.

With the temps increasing the snow unfortunately is getting heavier but still pretty nice. At night with the temps dropping (its now -4 again) it should dry the snow out.

This evening I have run around like a mad things trying to get all my chores done as I need another early night before having a repeat of today tomorrow. I need to have a think where I am going to go with the intro off piste am team as I dont want to just repeat what we did today - hmmmm let me have a think! Its actually quick tricky trying to find the 'right' snow, the 'safe' snow, the 'best options for development' and also trying to go places that they will like. All in all quite tricky.

Right night all.

TTFN

After all it is free

Great photos Steve, Keep them coming!

I'm not jealous...Oh no!

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

Loving reading your posts Steve, you work so hard!!
I’m out in Tignes in 25 Jan, looking forward to it

Help!!

The view from............ Val d'Isere and the Espace Killy

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