Les 2 Alpes - Winter 2007/8

Frosty the Snowman, I think so - she'll go up and look for it anyway, but with this amount of snow it will be a good long while! You've never had a chance to see Chalance, but it's a fantastic feat to ski out on one ski, show what a fantastic skier she is.

It was a super day today although a little chilly all day. Sunny for the most part and the snow was to die for. Not much fresh last night but a cm or two on the piste which just made the whole experience seem so nice and smooth and easy. My morning peeps skied the combe du Thuit (blue) well, and I took a photo looking up. I had to fiddle with the colour a little as it was shady. Afterwards I took two boys down the red part of the Thuit twice in the fresh - not deep, but very light and powdery. the first time was the route I photo'd the other day and the second time we did the steeper route. Afterthat we skied the Vallons (black and not pisted by machine) which was great, finishing off with a Bellecombe (says it's blue but deffo red) which was ab fab. Bellecombe is wide and north facing in a gully, so nearly always had super snow. It was as good today as I've ever skied it. In the afternoon I took their dad on the Cretes and then down Grande Pente which was tracked out but really nice snow. So easy and soft. He struggled but made it, and to his delight I told him that I thought it was too steep for the boys!

A totally fab day all round. I'm hoping to go to LG tomorrow with Owen and his Mrs, and to that end I moved the van up the hill this afternoon before it gets too icy overnight. My friend and HMG Francois Pinatel says LG is well tracked and in very good condition. Will hopefully report more tomorrow. I'm also hoping to meet up with the Qs to ski it at the weekend.

I also took a photo that didn't quite work, but I've uploaded it as it's turned out to be a good close-up of the snow condition.

Llew, Welcome to Snowheads. Youve pretty much already had your info on the ways back down to resort. There are actually an infinite number of lines you can ski down the 'face', and many are not pisted. Don't expect much pisted black here - most of it isn't! I don't know about many around that week, and the ones I do may not want to do your sort of skiing, but you never know. I'm sure we'll find someone for you to ski with.

SO ........ Went to LG today. Nice snow, the first and second pitches particularly. In the middle some of it was quite exciting and a bit variable, but all skiable. Lower down we actually found some nice spring-like snow on the last open bit where the Derby de la Meije finishes. The bumps and path were in very good condition indeed, with hardly any ice and none of it enough to mention. We skied more than comfortably all the way to the bottom, and even the walk up was better than usual as the footsteps hadn't been carved out yet - more of a slope.

We looked into the Eidelweiss to see if the Black Diamond guys were there (not) and then stopped by Ski Extreme to see Bruno (Jutta's ex) and ask his advice about ski lengths for touring. This turned out to be very auspicious as Mrs Owen found a hat she liked, Owen found a T shirt, and it turned out that Bruno had the shorter Missions to rent out, so when I go on Sunday I'll get a chance to try them at last.

Oh, and the snow was nice in LDA before leaving, but it was warmer and the Grande Pente was OK but not as nice as yesterday afternoon.

I'm going to post the pix one at a time so they go in the right order. No 1 is the view from the middle station

No 3 is the seracs and crevasses (where we later saw some peeps coming out of one of the couloirs).

Well, another super day. Not cold, sunny and very nice snow first thing here on the Cretes and then later at La Grave. It was as busy as I've ever seen it today, but then thinking about it I'm not normally there at the weekend. They're preparing the glacier on their side now, so the link should be open soon. We took it easy and had a very pleasant run down and a nice drink before and after at the Hotel Castillan. The Qs were in very good form and skiing well, as as ever, lovely company. A couple of pix, the first one is from the Haut Dessus restaurant at the top looking over the tracks down the Chancel side and the huge crevasses. The second one is looking down onto La Grave from the top of the last bit of the run down the meadows.

Thank you all. good to know. Here's pic proving that there's still some deep(ish) stuff around to catch you out! this was in the trusty top of Thuit, and the most stunning sky at sunset which I just had to take.