 Poster: A snowHead
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Friday and The Bogee and I decided to take another stab at Combloux. Our aim was to catch the 11.40 navette from the bottom of Princesse so we hopped on the 10.30 bus to the DMC -(main St Gervais telecabine- One of the MANY joys of doing a season is not feeling the need to squeeze every ounce of time out of every day!) Up to Freddy, and The Bogee noticed that the Bosses teleski light was off. Not red, just off so probably a bulb issue rather than a lift issue but not wanting to risk missing the bus at the bottom and scuppering our second effort we decided against a blast down Chateluy and headed off down Fenils and on to the Alpages chair.
This was a fortuitous decision as when we arrived The Bogee spotted his ESF ski instructor shepherding his herd in the same direction. "Bonjour Stefan" greeted The Bogee as he wheeled up alongside. We hopped on the chair together and in the next 10 minutes picked up, for us, 3 useful little snippets of information. The first that the navette didn't take us to the ski area but to Combloux village where we'd need to catch another bus up to the lift....a minor point but one that saved us wandering around like lost sheep looking like the tourists we are a little later. Secondly it transpired that The Bogee was probably in the wrong group with the ski club....the problem was there wasn't a right group as he was already in their top group. A 'slightly' throwaway comment about him attending BSA prompted an interesting response "Oh really? Let's see what we can do for him here then....." AND he thought he might know someone who would give The Bogee french lessons...so all in all a fairly profitable diversion.
Anyway, back to the day. We headed down Finance then Milloz taking us to the half way point on the princesse where we were greeted with the rather beautiful sight of, if not 99 red balloons, a skyful of multicoloured ones. Having skiied the pretty shot blue (Encraty) down the other day, and the seriously icy red (Grand Bois), opted to take the the green (Plan) which is still in pretty good condition, despite there having been little in the way of snow at that level since well before Christmas. Saying that, the stuff reputedly heading this way this week is going to be very welcome as there has been some fairly obvious 'harvesting' from the sides of the pistes over the last couple of days.
This time we waited on the right side of the road! - and 10 minutes later along chugged the little Borini Bus which dropped us outside the tourist office in Combloux. An 150m walk up the hill and we found the ski bus stop. We hit Combloux at bang on midday.
Well, I had thought the January midweek slopes in St Gervais were pretty empty but Combloux was another level of quiet! With the occasional exception, the only person seen on most of the slopes, most of the day was The Bogee........for the most part perfecting his "Look mum, I can ski one ski here too!" ( I have the video evidence of this - well sort of, more down to my shooting ability than his one legged stuff....but let's face it I haven't sussed the multiple picture posting yet you video has no chance!)
We started up the Bouchet teleski and onto the beauregard chair. "Ha! I spy the snowpark signs" chuckled the bogee. The signage in Combloux is really pretty good, certainly the best of the bunch so far, which is is just as well as a piste map is something we neglected to pick up until much later in the day. So of we went down Papa and Melezes - I'd done this last year and found it much more challenging, though whether that was more down to the fact it was half term and littered with bodies or an improving technique the jury was out. Up the Pertuis chair ....and at last we found some people. all basking in the sunshine, imbibing quantiites of vin and plats du jour. Something else we noticed about Combloux, and Les Houches come to that, is that the restaurant prices both mountain and village are significantly cheaper than St Gervais.......and Megeve (where they're just frightening!) - so much so that the pic nic stayed in the rucksack for a change and we had a leisurely (remember there's an 11 year old here, so 30 minutes IS leisurely) menu enfant, delicious soup with twiddly bits and a couple of drinks and still got change from 20 euros.
Fully fuelled we messed about around the snowpark and on the various reds around the plaine joux and pertuis lifts before deciding to see if we could get over to La Giettaz as per Stefan's recpmmendation. Unfortunately though, we'd left it a bit late in the day and by the time we reached the top of Le Christonet realised that if we ventured further afield we'd never make it back for the bus link back to Princesse and that would involve calling on Robthenav as taxi - not a good idea as he was stuffed fully of lurgy this morning. A swiftish descent down coq up the Pres chair and a final fling through the park (for the bogee) and we headed back to Combloux and rolled up to the bus stop with perfect timing ( 3.20pm for the 3.50 bus back to princesse - miss that bus and I think but don't quote me yet getting back to St Gervais begins to get expensive!)
All in all a very pleasant day and we'll go there again - Quiet, pretty and cheap(ish!) at the moment for me it's head to head with Les Houches for my favourite 'bit' -in a general way- so far.
Nowt special on Saturday except we had dinner at Siriol's - or the bogee and I did, Robthenav was still feeling under weather and felt in the interest of social decency he should keep his lurgy to himself. - She makes a wicked lasagne!
James's ski group skied Arcosses - which to me looks more than a tad scary and did some timed slalom down the aptly named 'slalom' from the top of Mont Joux - and when we picked him up a little invitation. His group (4 of them including Siriol junior) have been given the opportunity to do the Fleche test next week....Is he excited, you bet he is!
Last edited by Poster: A snowHead on Sun 18-01-09 11:03; edited 1 time in total
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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here are those balloons
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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We particularly liked this one - The flying bogee?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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God, it's a hard life this 'freezing cold' skiing lark!
I'd rather be at school - honest!!!
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Annie, we've been meaning to get to Combloux/La Giettaz for ages, but for us it's another ski pass, and we've not got round to it yet. We can get a "deal" in Les Contamines with our Saisies season pass. It's just started snowing here, and the weather looks like being fairly grotty and changeable for at least the next week, possibly further. Going to be a different world out there. Today I am washing the covers off my ancient Ikea armchairs - it's that sort of day, and we're between visitors. I keep looking out of the window and willing it to snow harder!
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Annie, I think I shared the Princess bubble from the mid station with you Friday afternoon, I was the one with the orange ski jacket. When we chatted on the lift I thought that your tale of a season in St Gervais sounded familiar. 
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pam w, Pretty much the same here - catching up with all I haven't done all week!! No snow here yet though at 850m it's rain I'm expecting to see today- lots of cloud and getting windy, I guess it might be up to something more exciting higher up.....I DO hope so!
Dunk, I think you might well be right - small world!
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Very windy and snowy now - the plough's just been up the road. I promised my French neighbour to make some English scones for tea - she had a very strange recipe, from a friend, which purported to be for English scones, so I was prompted to try mine.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Flipping 'orrid day today - a real British winter feel; cold, grey,wet at anything below about 1500 and windy - though I grant you the surroundings are STILL much more impressive than surburban Kent. Shouldn't really complain as it is the first really unpleasant day since we arrived at the beginning of December and is giving the slopes a bit of a boost in a wet and sticky base improving kind of a way - but don't the snow gods know yet - I'd prefer it all at night?
Went up for a couple of hours this morning - deserted! save a few ski school school groups snaking their way down Finance - the flat track above papicot (sure there's an R in there somewhere) made for entertaining teenage kid watching as it was distinctly shiny and slidey! An hour or so on what I now consider my own personal nursery slope - 'Cretes' the 'red'....with a distinctly blueish tinge, trying to remember (not too bad) and execute (hmmm) some drills on the basis that among my discoveries are that a) I may have banished the demon hip but seem to be trying to take every right turn weighted 2 skis - dunno where that's come from but I don't like it! and b) skiing on my own in sunshine and blue skies is fun. I'm not so keen in 'snreet' and rising/falling cloud. so decided to give it all up and do battle in the supermarkets at Sallanches instead, of which there are a veritable feast to choose from. Ed's is our current choice - sort of Lidlesque, with an in house butcher, better fruit and veg ( the only reliable place I've found to get ginger and chillies too!) and conveniently one roundabout down from Carrefour for what it doesn't stock - probably worth seeking out if your self catering around this neck of the woods at any time.
Inspired bypam w, I bought some scone, apple pie and bread and butter pudding making stuff so will probably spend this evening in a fugg (a Nigella word I believe), of apples and mixed spice.....and playing hide and seek with the 'quaint' electrics of course!
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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The bogee is now into his second full half week at the BSA and is really enjoying it. Out of the house at 07.40/45 and back about 19.00 - I'm slowly getting this continental time thing sussed - he's usually pretty knackered at the end of the day! The early start (primarily) coupled with the snowy weather led to our first interesting driving experience, being still on British 'slicks'. One of the major complaints about St Gervais is that the roads are frequently congested. While we haven't seen too much of that yet it's certainly not difficult to imagine that February will be pretty frustrating. It does however have an 'upside' in that as we're on the main route to ourselves and Les Contamines, and a secondary route to Megeve and on to Albertville (hence the congestion) the snowploughs in all their guises do a fantastic job of keeping the roads snow free - the same cannot quite be said for Les Houches!
So tuesday morning and Robthenav set off on the 'school run' It had snowed a bit overnight and was 'trying' that morning. Down to Le Fayet, no probs, right at the roundabout and right again to join the dual carriageway towards Chamonix, pretty much still like driving on a murky day in the UK. Despite the fact it's dual carriageway and there are a number of industrial units around Passy and Servoz this is a really scenic drive especially when it's been snowing - a mix of pines and I presume silver birches line the banks on either side, a viaduct, and the odd isolated building makes for something straight out of Narnia. I'm still impressed every time I drive this way. Anyway, past Servoz and he takes the second turning to Les Houches - it's flatter, shorter and a more direct route to the BSA base where the bogee gets dropped. It's also still early and has had only a rudimentary clearing. There's a roundabout at the top, you need a little bit of speed to get up the hill before it flattens out to approach the roundabout, There's a car coming from the right. Robthenav, gently applies the breaks. Nothing happens. The car's still coming, and not slowly either. The breaks are applied again - he's already done the swift downward gear change. He's sliding. There is NO WAY he's going to stop, so slides round the roundabout English fashion at virtually the same time the other car is circulating French fashion. They miss by centimetres - though God only knows how....and a slightly shaky robthenav 'safely' delivers the Bogee to the base...........and takes it very very gently all the way home!
We play driving games again towards the end of the week - I'll get to those and other things later but now we're going skiing!
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Time for snow tyres. And, educating the French on the right of way at roundabouts!
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You know it makes sense.
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he's already done the swift downward gear change.
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not a good idea on snow. Keep the gears high, revs low.  A fast downward gear change at highish revs is absolutely guaranteed to spin the wheels. Or keep them spinning, maybe, in that case.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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pam w, Apologies he had already made the calm and controlled upward gear change.....this is all the fault of the French you understand, - whether the right way round roundabouts or their snow clearance .........I wouldn't dare question my husband's driving skills........much!
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Poster: A snowHead
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Other than the car incident, Tuesday confirmed what I've known all along - I bow with shame - but I am unquestionably a fair weather skier. Snow, fog, low cloud (couldn't see the person on the next poma ahead of me) really doesn't float my boat regardless of the fact that the snow was fabulous.....but I tried for an hour or two...very very embarrassingly slowly! The bogee on the other hand spent the day knee deep in powder at a deserted Les Houches and came back looking like the cat that got the cream spouting "Fantastic, awesome, magic and countless other superlatives (not the right word, but the right word escapes at the moment) ......."couldn't see much but it was fantastic, awesome, magic etc etc"
Wednesday was better, except that I spent the morning working on some presentations I need to give when I go back to the UK at the beginning of Feb for a few days Can't wait!! (sarcastic smiley please!) Went to pick The Bogee up at lunchtime from Les Houches but they were running over an hour late so any lessons learnt the previous day about taking it a bit easy on the mountain roads were swiftly forgotten with 35 minutes to get from Les Houches to Le Bettex in time for him to join his ski club group. Met up with Siriol and we went for what has become a twice weekly appointment with a large cup of Vin Chaud then pottered about for a while in a spot of glorious sunshine where the flakes of very lightly falling snow were sparkling in front of us....really magical. A quiet night in (like most of them really) tackling the Impossible Quiz and an early night for all.
Thursday dawned with bright blue skies but The Bogee and I had other fish to fry and jumped in the car.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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- and this is where we ended up..............any takers?
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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OK, I admit it - a bit low on identifying features, though one of the few places I've regularly seen cycling in the snow and IS showing significantly less white stuff than is featured on another longer running thread.
Thurday then was LDA day. Having stupidly said that my ESF instructor had commented that the position and technique were OK, it had subsequently all gone to hell in a handbasket and I was searching for Easiski's famed 'magic wand' ....as well as just wanting to pop over for a cup of tea. I know there has been countless advice about not taking the satnav too literally out in the mountains, but Flossie (the satnav) seemed to be prescribing a fairly straightforward route so off we set. Through Megeve, Praz sur Arly (pretty village!) and on through Flumet en route to Albertville (pam w, We did give you a wave as we passed Les Saisies), was all very straightforward and then we hit Grenoble where if we drove around Ikea once, we drove around it half a dozen times! ...... I was obviously destined to go there, so popped in a picked up a couple of much needed saucepans! Eventually by some fluke, or maybe Floss had got it right(ish!) after all we spied a sign for Vizille. Thank God for that! Despite Flossie chuntering on about U turns every minute or so for the next 10 minutes we stuck to our guns and followed the signage. Suddenly we were given 'permission' to continue and thinking she'd sorted herself out I went back into auto pilot and did as I was told, thereby missing the obvious signage for Bourg d'oisans and participating in a mystery tour of the backroads of Vizille instead (the backroads around the chateau are actually a good deal more attractive than the A to B route might suggest). Still despite our detours and the impromptu shopping trip we wheeled up outside Les Lutins just over 3 hrs after having left St. Gervais.
A lightening change and the usual faffing around getting passes, nearly going up in the big Jandri rather than the white eggs and 50 minutes or so later we were loitering around Le Patache at Cretes for a casual rendezvous with Easiski.
"Let's ski" she said, and took us off to view the new Thuit run. Well, she skiied (obviously!) and The Bogee skiied and I kinda creaked down it, probably demonstrating that I'd forgotten everything she'd ever taught me - roll on tomorrow! Easiski and The Bogee went trundling off piste and having said at the beginning that I'll happily follow Charlotte anywhere, I immediately reneiged on that and headed back to the piste! Coward? Me?.....most definitely!
Easiski departed and The Bogee and I took another look at the sky and decided against the top to bottom jaunt and played around on The Cretes for a while - mainly so that the Bogee could keep going over a jump by one of the snow blowers. Tomorrow is another day and all that.
A pleasant early evening cuppa chez Easiski with Ronald, his brother and a couple of neighbours then dinner at El Cameletta(?????) - The value for money italian with entertainment thrown in, in the form of Tim the Aussie chef/patron. The bogee and I were ready for bed!
Friday morning....and blimey chicken licken, the sky was falling in...and doing it sidewards too! The plan for The Bogee to steal a march and have a bash at the Fleche test in LDA was abandoned as was the plan that he ski with Ronald, both less a weather issues, rather he decided to treat the Lutins stairway as a downhill run and like all good racers do at one time or another, crashed out on the first bend, depositing a good scraping of skin from his foot and knee on the way down - so we went to watch the Fleche test instead. It seems that the majority of other entrants had also decided that this was not the day that they were going to shine, so having witnessed about 5 or 6 go down Le Stade with only two attempting any gates we decided it wasn't going to be a spectator spost today and went and bought a bagful of E numbers from the sweetie shop next door to Jutta.
11am and it was still thoroughly miserable. I should have had a lesson, but it was just so vile we met up with Easiski and had a few hot chocolates in Les Melezes instead. J.C. (Mr Lizzard) popped by bubbling with enthusiasm despite the weather, - how does he do that! and we watched as several ESI instructors came down together with a real look of "I hate my job today!" on their faces.
On the gentrified slopes of St Gervais, one of the things that is missing is any fashion sense....or anyway any sense of fashion that is in any way worthy of a snap....but I knew we could rely on Les Deux Alpes! ...and possibly we scored a double whammy here!
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Obviously an ESF instructor giving a young lady in a suit it'd be hard to miss in a white out, a very thorough how to get on a poma lesson...............though I'm sure someone can come up with an 'alternative' caption!
We subsequently watched her progress with interest, all willing her to succeed, and what do you know 20 minutes later she was promoted to the Grand Viking!
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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having said at the beginning that I'll happily follow Charlotte anywhere, I immediately reneiged on that and headed back to the piste! Coward? Me?.....most definitely!
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priceless spelling error there, Annie. Thanks for the wave. Generally, I'm a fair weather skier too - why bother with the nasty stuff when you're here all season? If we have keen visitors I'll go out with them, and generally enjoy myself, but often I do cooking instead - look out the window every now and then, and get going on a bun loaf. Or if I'm feeling energetic, hike up the path on snowshoes (if you haven't got any yet, get some!). Or just go and fall over myself on the nursery slope on a snowboard, keeping away from the summits. Or watch a film. Or have a long afternoon sleep. That's the joy of doing a season - especially as you get older, dawn till dusk skiing, at any pace, can get quite hard on the legs.
We have friends coming Tuesday for a week - a day in Les Contamines might be nice - they are buying an apartment here so they need to discover the surrounding ski areas. I'll let you know if we're coming over.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Final, very short installment on the LDA trip and then we'll skip Saturday and go straight to The Bogee's Big Day today.
Late starter, No, honest, you'll be fine...ish, maybe, sort of ( Have chains, can fit, just didn't and tbh only our status as 'foreign nitwit' would have made them even vaguely necessary)
pam w, Amen to that - though still aim to ski every day even if just up in telecabine and down again (Friday the obvious exception!) - Unfortunately we're only likely to get the one season  Glad you appreciate the typo - knew it was wrong, couldn't think what was right and thought it suficiently seasonal to leave!
Free on Friday for Les Contamines - If that works, shout. If not, another time.
Oh thinking about yesterday chez Easiski. The Bogee is in love......with Yoda the putty tat. He is dead cute in the flesh!
Right. After the Les Houches incident, it would be fair to say that I'm a little, if not wary exactly - give me another word, cautious? careful? about snowy roads. Given that it had been chucking it down since silly o'clock I was quite prepared to stay another night in Les Lutins ...and suprisingly, Cathy was prepared to have us! However just after lunch the snow suddenly stopped and was replaced by light rain. A couple of frantic texts from Robthenav suggesting that if we didn't make it out that day we might be there for the long haul - a bit short on the undies supply for that! kind of persuaded me that it might be worth a shot....though of course, I had no idea what the road from Deux Alpes to Bourg was like .......Enter stage left Easiski ....who bless her, skiied all the way over to the far end of the village to take a look at the road from a better vantage point and declared it fit to have a go with lots of advice about not repeating the errors (tyres aside) of Les Houches. 45 minutes or so after unearthing the car from it's igloo we set of gingerly down the hill thinking "Oh God, I'm going to be that stupid Brit tourist crawling down the mountain, holding all the traffic up." in between of course lots of "oh please God, don't let it be too slippy" I need not have feared. Not only were the roads perfectly fine, a bit slushy but fine - indeed the 10 bends from LDA were far far better than the road from the junction on to Bourg but I had the good fortune (sort of - even I got a bit impatient after a while!) to follow a string of dept 38 (I think that's local and followed them to Grenoble so assume Grenobloise) cars go so slow that slower would have been backward, so couldn't even claim the badge for singlehandedly holding up all the traffic!
THE BOGEE'S BIG DAY!!!
When at home, we've hosted French students. And the first kids that stayed with us were 3 young boys who have on a very intermittent basis stayed in touch. Couple of weeks ago I got an e-mail with all the tenses mixed up which might have meant one of them had been skiing, was skiing or was going skiing. So I replied knowing that he'd been to St Nicolas before that if he was going there he should say and we could maybe meet up. Anyway, yes he was and yes it was this weekend so we could meet up around lunchtime.....
But first there was this little matter of the Fleche test which The Bogee got the chance to do today and again next week as part of
the village leisure ski club that he's signed up for. To say that he was a touch nervous, would be understating it by a fairly significant margin. To be honest none of us had much idea what to expect, so it was a case of go up, have a go, stay safe and see what happens. If he got a flechette or better, fantastic. If not, chalk it up as a practise day.
So we joined the 'Sunday Squash' (good practise for half term!) on the telecabine and went to the ESF office to get his bib. No. 32 - that meant he was going last. A quick run round 'gizmo gully' and onto the Bettex teleski for what we thought was a good look at the course...but no, The bogee just high tailed it down the 'public' side of the red - doh! Take 2 up on the teleski. A group of bibbed skiers were skiing the course. Why don't you follow them?" we asked? "Oh Ok" he replied...and then promptly skiied completely outside the first half dozen gates (which of course is what he's supposed to do - but if everyone else is skiing it.....) eventually cutting in behind what was now a fairly stately procession Take 3 "Maybe I'll try and open it up a bit this time" he said, "Good idea!" but Take 3 didn't happen or, it did, but it was the real McCoy.
He didn't appear again until 30 or so minutes later a little red figure came flying over the brow of the hill into is last few gates.
" James .....uh announce the announcer 45.(something!) seconds James a gagne sa fleche d'argent"
(sorry still haven't figured out accents)
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Screaming Allez Allez so much I'm suprised I got anything but here he is approaching the finish
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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easiski, As far as I could work out he needs to up the pace by about 3 seconds - think sub 43 was the cut off, though maybe sub 42- - - - Something to aim for anyway, now he knows where he's at.
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up the pace by about 3 seconds
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it sounds as though that's well within his sights before the season is out! Well done. Annie, we'll talk to our friends about a LC visit on Friday.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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![]() The continuation of the last post is, that after The Bogee's success on Sunday morning we milled around the telecabine to meet the young French lad that had stayed with us a couple of years ago and with whom we had a rendezvous. Kids obviously can grow and change significantly between 11 as he was then and 13 (it transpires today!) so we weren't quite sure what we were looking for. All I had to go on bar memory was the fact that when his two hoppos had said that yes, they skiied and reeled of where they'd been and where they own appartements, Lucas just said no, he didn't ski. So we were looking for someone 'french looking' - whatever that is, (but we're getting quite good at spotting the nationalities before we hear their voices) potentially holding a huge great snowplough down the slope towards us.
Ha, ha and blinking ha...In retrospect, he perhaps just didn't understand the question, as out of nowhere came half a dozen 'exocet missiles' the kids all garbed(is that a word) in St nicolas de Veroce ski club gear who screeched to a very precise halt beside us with a big grin and a "Bonjour" Can't ski, my a***e! Anyway, we had a great afternoon and I discovered that yes, I can ski bumps, and I can ski ice.....albeit 'a bit' more slowly and delicately than the boys, who quite honestly just mowed down anything in their path. The Bogee had an absolute ball in and out the trees, on piste, off piste jumps, you name it. Hell, I thought he was pretty handy, but these kids Jeeeesus! The good news is they're back in a couple of weeks and seem happy to ski with him - though believe me, mother is going to stay at home!
The picture is of The Bogee strutting his stuff on Milloz - I'd have loved to catch the other kids but the shutter ain't that quick!
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Try again shall we, I was being greedy with the file size apparently
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Poo! I just lost the next bit. Long story short Anyone heard of Marie Marchand-Arvier? (14th in the Super G at Cortina today) ...Her mum is now James's french teacher............he's just a bit impressed! She's got an 8 yr old and 13 yr old for James to 'play' with......I bet they can ski a bit!
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You know it makes sense.
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Annie, Oooh - very exciting - get the autograph book out for the end of the season.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Monday, after having met Monique, mother of Marie. and such a lovely lovely lady I went for the quickest (or probably shortest is a better word) ski in the history of mankind - no real reason, just not in the mood for solo sliding today. Had a walk round the backstreets of St Gervais with Robthenav who does still exist! Poor soul is just shackled to his computer most of the day, though it hasn't been quite such the hardship when we've not had blue skies and sunshine EVERY day for the last week. Have mentally spent several hundred thousand pounds now on the cute, sweet, grand, with 'potential' properties tucked away up the most gorgeous little 'Chemins' that I suspect your average punter (Hark at me!!) never ever sees. I WANT! I WANT! I WANT!
Not necessarily this one but just thought it was lovely:[/code]
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Poster: A snowHead
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Tuesday and collected my friend Trisha from Le Fayet. Visibility 'up top' was a bit iffy, so we stuck around Le Bettex for an hour or so and took advantage of the hospitality of Le Biollet (close I think - but doesn't quite look right) for a couple of hot chocs and a really rather scrummy lunch. Bit of a treat that, it's normally a squashed sarnie huddled under a tree somewhere or in one of the salles hors sacs - of which there are a number of pretty well sited ones here. After lunch it looked as though the sun was making a bit of an effort to come out to play so we headed up in the telecabine. T'was lovely ..............for about 2 minutes 30 seconds and then halfway down 'Monchus' I stopped to take a picture of Trisha...........and this is how she looks, standing, maybe 3 metres away!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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 T'was indeed a bit white!!! and the first time I have ever experienced this degree of lack of visibility except maybe once before when virtually surgically attached to the instructor ahead. Now under normal circumstances I would have been, not to put too fine a point on it **** scared. Bizzarely though, in I grant you, a slightly masochistic way, I really rather enjoyed it! It helped of course that I knew the slope well and knew the get out of gaol card of the 'ideal' green and the 'ideal' chair were not a million miles away but equally a couple of recent posts/threads on here helped no end! So, don't watch the snow, don't try to see, head for the side of the piste, find a pole, aim for where the next pole is/is likely to be....... hmmmm, maybe I don;'t know the slope quite as well as I thought, get back on the piste, how come I'm not moving?, ahhhh try pointing skis downhill etc etc etc! It probably also helped to be in the unusual position of being 'the expert - cough, cough, splutter' and without another soul anywhere near, I HAD to get us down....or look like a real numptie Eventually (well, we're only talking 1500m, so not THAT eventually) we heard the whirring of mechanical thingies ....Great! The chair!!! ..........ah, no, as we gave the snowblower a friendly hug! 50 m or so further on we nearly tripped over the orange ralentir banner ...Phew we've made it, a little bit disorientated, a little bit nauseous but down from our 'epic' whiteout adventure in one piece!
Just for the hell of it we carried on down Mandarine where things markedly improved!
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Just toooooo tired! So more as an aide-memoire to myself than a 'sharing' post - which I may or may not elaborate on at a later date....
Wednesday - Another go at St Gervais, mainly around Communailles and St Nicolas. Found a great little restaurant, (la Raviere) bookable only for food but the hot chocs aren't bad. Access by piste, exit by raquette track - only tiny with a yurt and hot tub outside. Nice weather! Trying to see if ESF can do something for Bogee til the end of season - 'Asking trainers from 'proper' ski club was mentioned. Met Brock for lunch at Freddy.
Thursday, Combloux and La Giettaz - still my fave bit of the area! Bogee had first french lesson and likes Monique.....she likes him too it seems and is impressed with his attitude to learning.
Friday Met up with Pam W and Tony in Les Contamines. Great fun! 2nd french lesson for Bogee went well. He is impressed by the trophy cabinet!!! Dispatched Trisha back to Chamonix with a promise not to say how lovely it is here.....I prefer it quiet! Awaiting the arrival of latestarter for the weekend.
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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The restaurant
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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The Yurt
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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inside the Yurt
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Getting out again
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The Yurt was far too warm to eat in when we passed by just after New year. The restaurant has also moved away from the 'no choice' menu it had for the previous two years. Still a great place to stop if you book though. And if it's full the restaurants in Les Communailles make up for it.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Poo! I just lost the next bit. Long story short Anyone heard of Marie Marchand-Arvier? (14th in the Super G at Cortina today) ...Her mum is now James's french teacher............he's just a bit impressed! She's got an 8 yr old and 13 yr old for James to 'play' with......I bet they can ski a bit!
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2nd in Super G at World Champs - wow!
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No doubt James will now be very keen for his next french lesson.
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FAQ
I hope to be in your neck of the woods sooner or later this season--love the area-- hope the snow keeps coming! Keep well, and keep us posted ! 
Or shall I read up on fitting snow chains? 
