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

A snowHead

A different day

After so many crap sleeps of late I took a whole sleeping pill last night (wont be taking another for a while though) and boy I was out of it! I slept like a log until my watch woke me up after 7 and having gone to bed early I actually woke up quite refreshed thankfully!

With nowhere to get to by a certain time I was able to take my time. Clare was working and the plan was for Ben and Olivia on their snowboards (first time for both of them this season) to come with me boarding with their grandpa. Awesome! So we met up with Grandpa and headed up the funi at about 0930 which is a good time as the snow was just softening. We headed down Collette (which is a pain on a board sitting on the heel or toe edge) towards Grand Pre and did some laps. So Olivia has obviously done more than Ben on a board so she was fine from the off but Ben took a little while to get into the swing of things. Anyway we got there in the end. One of the worst things about learning to board is when you get to the turns just about linking together you can easily take a hit / lose concentration etc and take a big fall. Unlike in skiing where the skis come off you get the scorpion tale whip from the board and hit the deck hard (one of the reasons the injury rate on boards is so high btw!) hurting coxics (sp?) or wrists as you fall forwards trying to break your fall!

So we enjoyed a lovely couple of laps of the lift and had a drinks break at the Empreinte Avalin. Good old grampa treated the kids to a nice cookie etc too!

Olivia fitted in one more lap as she needed to get back to club and change into ski gear and then she was invited to a friends for lunch before afternoon Club! It just so happens the friends parents run a nice restaurant in time so lucky girl had a yummy lunch!

Anyway Ben, Grandpa and me did another couple of laps and then we headed towards town ourselves for lunch and met up with Grandpas wife and we enjoyed a fabulous lunch at the Etincelle... its always good food in there and today was no exception. We all had amazing pizzas - yummy! Washed down with a couple of panaches and then a massive shared pudding it was perfect! So nice to have such a relaxing and chilled morning it really was.

We got home about 1500 and Ben was invited to have a swim at Grandpa's pool again and Clare ran some errands in town so I got about an hour to myself before a friend on holiday popped around for a cuppa with me. Really nice catching up with him and heading all his news!

Before too long (Olivia after she finished skiing headed for a swim of her own at Grandpas) the kids were back in and we started the evening stuff like feeding and getting a little homework finished off and now they are in bed!

In local news the weather is still sunny and warm, the snow is still OK but the resort remains quiet!

Since I start 6 full days of quite intense off piste starting on Sunday I am trying to not go crazy work wise this week. Coupled with that and having the inlaws here and the kids on holidays I am taking a half day off tomorrow - I just need some time out of ski boots. On Friday afternoon I need to spend time with the electrician when he comes and then we will be into the weekend anyway! Also either tomorrow or Friday afternoons Ben is having his birthday present - paragliding off the top of Solaise (tandem) and since it is a present from Grandpa everyone is looking forward to seeing him do that! Should be fun!

Right think thats all for now.

TTFN

A snowHead

Weather gonna change again!

I was awake far too early this morning for some reason so ill need to make it an early night again tonight!

Anyway the sun was shining - Olivia was having a lie in this morning and (only) snowboarding this afternoon so pretty chilled day for her. She is now at the swimming pool at the Equinox with her friend and of course with Grandpa etc! Meanwhile Ben was skiing with Grandpa this morning (even though he is more than capable of doing it at his age not the best idea) and he took him up the 3000 drag lift - I think he'll sleep well tonight! Anyway Ben and Grandpa had a ski together and Clare and I were both working!

I met my lady (same as earlier in the week and have a final session with her tomorrow) at the bottom of the funi and off we went. I was surprised how firm the snow was first thing - there had been a very deep freeze overnight and I think it will be even firmer tonight! Eeek! Anyway I was hoping that it hadn't frozen lower down and we might have been able to do a lap down to La Daille first thing but it was a non starter so instead I changed tactic and bought myself some time by skiing to Grand Pre and doing a couple of laps there and doing some tricky drills. After about an hour I knew the Fontaine Froid would be OK being south facing so we headed there.... it was just a shame they had obviously pisted it quite early in the evening last night which means you get the refrozen ridges on it which when its softens is a ready made set of moguls but hey ho we got a couple of good laps in on that run.

By mid morning it was too soft there thus we needed to get something with more challenge on it and I knew 3J / Diebold would be firm and it proved 100% to be like that! Unfortunately the option of skiing OK was not possible as there was race training going on unfortunately. Anyway Diebold skied pretty much like a black given how firm it was!

I did mix it up with a lap on the stade bonnivie which softened nicely and we could talk about 'handling bumps' etc. It was good. She has come on so much she really has - very impressed with her - she is really easy to teach and really keen to learn and works on stuff she needs to outside the lesson! Nice!

Tomorrow I am going to introduce pole planting to her at which point it will probably all fall apart as it often does at this stage but we shall see! Time will tell!

After the session I came home and got some lunch. Clare, the kids and her dad all had lunch at the Sun Bar and then Clare booked the paragliding session for both the kids from the top of Solaise for tomorrow afternoon - this is Bens birthday present from last year and Olivia decided she wanted it for this year - so they are nothing flying at 1215 tomorrow - so Clare sorted that!

Meanwhile Olivia was boarding this afternoon and Ben had some down time at home and is now at a birthday party so I need to go collect him in a couple of hours time. Clare had an afternoon sleep and I am expediting Olivia home soon from swimming! All go, go, go eh!

The sun continues to shine BUT looking at the forecast it will change over the weekend and will be colder and snowier next week - just great as I have the SCGB next week and I am pretty sure its the off piste group I have - eeek!

Tomorrow ill be teaching my lady in the am, watching the paragliding (from the bottom of the Face landing area) at lunchtime and then in the afternoon am at home as the electrician is (finally) apparently finishing off here.... pigs might fly!

Anyway TTFN.....

I will be finishing my daily reports tomorrow for the season - Saturday we have the ski school end of season 'event' and then Sunday I start full time with the SCGB for the whole week and that will be energy sapping so tomorrow is my last daily update of the season!

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

Thanks for all the updates Steve. They provide a great insight to life in Val as well as lots of great info.

We’re coming out for a very late trip at the back end of next week. Do you or anyone else have any advice on the best routes to take around the mountain in spring conditions for the best on piste snow, both on the Solaise/Fornet sides and Bellevarde/Tignes?

I am a low/mid intermediate and comfortable on all blues and easy reds. Also very happy to download at the end of the day to avoid a slush fest. Thanks

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@Riddle,
Follow the sun around. For orientation, Fornet is the most easterly part of the EK, Brevieres the most westerly (and lowest in altitude). The Grande Motte glacier is the highest point, and when you are on it you are facing north.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

@Riddle, I asked a similar question on the Tignes thread. Chocksaway gave me an excellent follow the softening pistes itinerary for the Tignes sector. You'll find it on there a few messages up. We've had an amazing week, and thanks Steve for your interesting updates. Enjoy your rest when it finally comes!

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@Riddle, you need to bear in mind that if your stay strays into the last week of the season then there will be (planned) lift and piste closures which may restrict your options. In the past (and almost certainly this year) Tignes will advertise that they have 100% of lifts open, but what they mean is that 100% of lifts they intended to open are, not 100% of actual lifts!

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

After all it is free

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Riddle - as well as what others have said above (all good stuff) and to answer your query. Thanks for your kind words as well!. "best routes to take around the mountain in spring conditions for the best on piste snow, both on the Solaise/Fornet sides and Bellevarde/Tignes?" - So id be thinking (this is in Val anyway).... consider bus to Fornet. Up to top of the glacier and ski laps up there until the cows come home - pistes will be the best for longest up there if not a little firm first thing. Up Solaise - well since most of the pistes up there dont face due west then plenty of north facing options but early doors some of the east facing slopes from top of Datcha / Madeleine are nice if not quite short. Ski down into town bit later in the morning too but its not the easiest red run! In all seriousness the face will be quite nice early doors too but obviously a (fairly nice at that time of the day) black! Avoid runs like 3J / verte / Diebold until lunchtime as very icy up Bellevarde but otherwise cruise the greens up there for something nice. If you ski to La Daille do it quite early doors. Hope that helps.
lemoncake - thank you.

Satisying

Well I slept like a log last night so was raring to go this morning! The sun was shining once again. Olivia was to have a casual ski about this morning with her brother and mum but she whacked her ankle yesterday so its sort and she'll be going easy on it (evening update she went to the docs this evening and they have said to rest it as much as possible - doh - she is determined to do the fun Club des Sports end of season 'race' tomorrow morning though! Yesterday Clare was sent some really nice ski clothes by a new American kids clothing startup company (it was obviously planned they didnt just arrive in the post!) for Ben to wear in exchange for some action shots of him skiing etc. They of course will use them for marketing. Anyway Clare was also getting some photos for them this morning too.

So I was the only person needing to be out of there for 0900 and I headed over the road! I met up with my same lady of this week and we headed up for a session learning to poleplant. I often dread teaching it as often everything else falls apart when suddenly thinking about the poles! So anyway we mainly spent time on the Tommeuse working on it and slowly but steadily adding in the series of drills I use to teach it. The snow was good and she picked it up really well and by the end she was ripping it up down the Diebold pole planting etc! It worked out really well - awesome work and she was a real joy to teach!

While we were looping around on the Tommeuse I had to call the pisteurs once.... a couple of middle aged French guys (they obviously knew each other) crashed into each other! It was one of those classic of going too fast and boom its all over! By default getting to the stage where you cant take evasive action to stop whacking into your friend means you are out of control.... so thus going too fast and a case in point that speed is not as controllable as people think. Anyway we called the pisteurs and then carried on with our session! Hope his knee is not too bad - he was screaming in pain and he took his boot off - silly guy there at the scene!

So after finishing at the top of Bellevarde I headed as quick as I could to the bottom of the Face to be in position to film / see the kids do their paragliding flight off the top of Solaise! Off they went and had an awesome flight soaring over Val and seeing the valley below - they LOVED it. Clare had go pros and all sorts strapped to them both and collected lots of good footage - check out my instagram as have posted some on the edited footage on there.... in actual fact talking about instagram Olivia now has her own instagram account (we manage it and we mainly set it up to profile her for future skiing sponsorship (hopefully). She would love some more followers (olivia.angus.ski).

I headed home after that as Paul the electrician was in ours sorting a few bits out and he ended up spending most of the afternoon at ours - unfortunately he could not get some of the wardrobe lighting to work which was a real shame no matter what he tried! The sensor was just too sensitive and ANY ambient light coming in meant the sensor would not activate!

However what also was awaiting me at home was a massive box and in it (to be assembled and it would take me most of the afternoon) was my new e mountain bike. Its a fat tyre thing but it has the power and range to hopefully get up some mountains with me in the Summer. Cant wait to use it - might try it tomorrow.

Talking of tomorrow. It is not only the Club des Sports end of season fun race in the morning (Clare is going with both the kids) and thats a team race event thing on the OK but we have the TDC end of season event... this year we are doing Biathlon up the Manchet and lunch afterwards! Whatever happens there will be the Club des Sports awards in the evening which is basically an excuse for plenty of beers and catching up with everyone and some of the kids will be given awards for doing great things for the club over the last year - maybe Olivia will get a mention - who knows!

Whatever happens Sunday am I start with the SCGB over in Tignes. I have one of the (on paper) best off piste groups so will need to get my thinking cap on as to where I take them - eeek.

Well folks thats it for another season - ill do a monthly update over the Summer so until then enjoy the Spring.

TTFN

One happy child....

...and another.

Plenty of snow coverage up there for the last couple of weeks of the season eh!

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

Thanks for sharing another year with us Steve - that's season number 15 since you started this thread, got to be some kind of record snowHead

snow reports

Thanks for all your time and effort producing these updates Steve. They really help stave off the withdrawal symptoms as I've not being skiing since 2020. I really need to get my act together for my first slide as an officially old person.....55 when I last went so it's going to hurt a bit next time Laughing

Looking forward to the monthly updates over summer.

Thanks for all the posts, always interesting and helpful.

You know it makes sense.

Thanks Steve - I’ll say hello if I see you out and about next week

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

Thanks for the posts all season, look forward to them every day.

A snowHead

Always a great read from someone who can write well, interestingly and comment on the psychology of skiing (as well as the technical matters).

I like following the "dailies" (I dont do social medja) albeit, like Skid, I am a rather lapsed skier these days - one day in three years - oh and I am 69 and was a bit sore and knackered afterwards especially with a two hour drive back to base. One does waste a lot of energy by skiing rustily!

Enjoy the rest after next week and, just to wind you up, hope the annual accounting event goes OK

A snowHead

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

@Steve Angus, belated thanks for advice about trying to keep carving consistent through slushy moguls. I’ll be trying to put that into action next season (maybe even this season if I can get all my ducks in a row).
The challenges I have with that include:
- leg with full replacement knee difficult to tilt to required angle;’
- mental blockage about excess sideways wrench on other badly worn natural knee finishing off my skiing for good (which would be anything but good Shocked

).

Multiple thanks again for a brilliant season of daily updates. So much valuable information, expert insights, local EK/Haute Savoie developments, food stuff, heart warming tales, continuing success in high level competitions, etc etc. Very glad you felt able to commit to it again amidst your already hectic lifestyle.

Chapeau!

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@Steve Angus, many thanks for all the posts. It makes a great narrative running through the season and gives me an insight into what it's like to be in the resort all winter.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Thanks Steve, hopefully see you again next year.

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Many thanks from me too. Your reports are always interesting. I'm now following O too!

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

Currently on my third day at Val D'Isere / Tignes and I have been having a blast! Today was a bit note cloudy, but nothing too much.

Some slopes are closed due to bad conditions (the last section of Diebold to La Daille) but other than that, all is good. I believe that the snow over at Val Claret side ends up being a bit more powder than on Val D'Isere, at least during the morning.

Weather looks good for the ret of the week, so still good opportunities for those last sky slopes!

Help!!

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

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