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

A snowHead

@Steve Angus, Dang, Signal and Sunny Bowl - thought it was over Cascade way but you’d see the chair looker’s right...

A snowHead

Churros at tippi bar always welcome

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

Steve have you seen the Gondola running up to Folie on a tuesday night and heard anything of the evenings ?

We are booked to be there the night of the la daille Self torch parade and fireworks in a couple of weeks

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Belter

It was somewhat colder this morning yet the sun was shining which was good to see and with about 5cm of fresh snow about it was set to be a great morning!

Getting the kids off to school / creche etc was easy enough and I was able to head to the hotel to meet the gang. The plan was for us all to have a ski together and I hatched a plan to ski runs and take lifts that we had not used / skied in the past! Since they have spent a lot of time skiing the EK over the years this was quite a good challenge for me!

We decided to take the two chairs up and I knew that leaving at the time we left it was not necessarily the best plan. Indeed it proved to be so as the lift queue for the Loyes Express was horrendous. The queue was poorly managed, half the chairs were going up empty and half the ski school line contained non ski school people, ESF overtaking non ESF groups etc etc etc - it was carnage and an embarrassment to Val! We all had a good chat and agreed that modern high speed lifts dont necessarily reduce lift queues... ultimately lift queues themselves need much better managing to get over the problem! Grrr!

Anyway we got going and had a good ski over to Tignes and took on slopes not skied before! It was a lovely morning and by taking the track less travelled we avoided most of the lift queues too! Hot choc break was taken at Le Palet in VC and then lunch at Aspen Burger too!

By now C had caught us up and we enjoyed skiing together for a further couple of hours before heading back.

I had a quick change of footwear and then I met up with the kids, Clares brother and his family and also Clares step sister and her teen daughter who had taken the bus over from Tignes. We went to Le Garage for dinner and had an amazing meal - the Calzone pizza was particularly awesome! Next up was a trip to watch the ESF freestyle show and fireworks etc before getting the kids home and into bed.

And that brings you up to date.

Meanwhile on the roads there was a serious head on collision earlier.... one women was seriously injured and 4 children were hurt too.... the road was closed for quite a while but now seems to be open again! Hope all is well on that front!

So whilst it was colder today the temps should stay low again tomorrow before the clouds come in overnight giving us a day of snow / some wind etc.

TTFN

Fireworks being ready'ied for the evening fireworks display

Rather large queue at the Loyes Express

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

^ is that the posh new hotel in that photo??

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Yes it is

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

Yesterday was a bad queue day in Espace Killey from what I experienced. Even eight seater lifts going up with only four people on. Had someone slide in front of my daughter and myself (no worries - they will go solo I think) only for them to stop and wait for their mates. As my daughter can’t go up solo this meant several empty seats on two chairs, down to one person.

But the sun was shining so it didn’t matter Very Happy

I saw a couple of TDC types in the Le Fornet lunch queue on Monday. Transceivers hanging out and looking hardcore. If i had know it was you I would have said thanks for the local intel!

After all it is free

@harvsurrey, is that called Mademoiselle? Sister to Airelles in Courchevel?

Is so it got an absolute slating in the Telegraph Travel last Saturday. Grossly over priced, disorganised and smelt of drains!

@Steve Angus, I am one one the many people on here that appreciate your informative and enjoyable posts, without a word of thanks. I'm in Tignes next week so will keep an eye out for you but beware, I'm a hugger Very Happy

Keep up the good work.

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

Regarding head on crash the only surprise is that there are not more of them
My trips up and down always seem to involve at least one encounter with car overtaking a line of traffic on blind bends coming at us at stupid speed and me having brake violently to allow them to complete their overtake
Last jan the coach at the head of the opposing traffic line had to swerve so far into the bank he took his mirror off!

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

Same queue/lift management issues in Paradiski over Christmas. I don't get why the lift companies don't make more effort.

snow reports

@harvsurrey,

I believe you are mistaken with which Gondola is being operated during 2 evenings each week.

The Solaise Gondola is open on I believe Wednesdays and Saturday evenings which allow people to go to the new Refuge de Solaise Restaurant/Hotel.

The La Daille Gondola runs up to the Folie Douce.

I'm not sure what the "Self Torch Parrade" is that you refer to. The Val d'isere ski instructors including, Steve A, ski down the Face carrying torches. No members of the public participate in the event.

When you get to Val d'isere all of the week's official events are published in "Valscope" free from the Tourist Office.

The week's unofficial events are listed in "The Echo" which may not be in the Tourist Office but I usually get my copy from the "Blue Note Bar". This will include where and when the live music is.

You know it makes sense.

Going to Tignes Le Lac in early March, is it necessary to book restaurants there at night for groups of 4/5, or is it pretty free and easy ?

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

@mrvinegar, if you are not bothered where you want to go, no.

But the better ones do fill up quickly e.g. Mendecoa, queue de Cochon, especially for fish and chip Friday!

A snowHead

@harvsurrey, I did notice the La Daille gondola running last night and have seen it running on a few evenings but I've not heard anything about events/evenings up there.

The La Daille ESF torchlight descent and fireworks are on 3rd March this year.

A snowHead

AndrewBailey - that sounds very annoying! It might have been me but I dont think so!
Zermattandchips - ha ha thanks no problem - have a good holiday!
mrvinegar - outside of school hols its not 100% necessary but a sensible thing to do!

Yes the gondolas are open on random evenings for various event / restaurant openings etc! And also the roads can be hairy indeed! The French are taught to look for gaps on the road not 'is there space to complete a safe overtaking manoeuvre' and pull back in! So if there is a gap they will try and fill it... its quite shocking for the uninitiated really!

Shall we, shan't we

At first light this morning the sun had been replaced by flakes of snow but with little wind down low... however it was relatively windy up high! Since I was not working until later in the morning (there were lie in requests coming my way from them - haha!) I took Ben to creche and Olivia was off school anyway! The weather was getting worse by the moment and there was some indecision about whether they wanted to head up at all!

I managed to get a few jobs done at home before meeting up with them... the roll of bad luck was about to strike! Firstly we headed up the Bellevarde Express chair as the Olympic was shut cause of the wind and in the time we headed up the lift the wind speed obviously peaked meaning we had to then ski down the lower part of the Face as the Loyes Express was now closed! Arghh! S + C downloaded on the chair.

When we got to the bottom we then found that the Solaise was now closed too so we opted to bus to the Fornet and headed up the cable car and then the chair - the top of the chair was somewhat windy and poor vis so we retreated to the Signal for lunch and then with only another couple of runs under the belt we called it quits and headed home!

Clare unfortunately seems to have a bug this evening so has been in bed all evening poor thing!

I did see a celeb on the hill today - that of the Ski Sunday and former Team GB ski racer of Graham Bell... as someone with an exemption from the Eurotest he is able to teach here and does a few weeks a season for a HEFTY premium... ridiculously hefty premium but hey ho for the glamour for some people! Anyway been a few years since I did some work with him so nice to catch up with him very briefly!

Oh and did I mention the speed flyer last night that needed a rescue by the PGHM in the Super S area... it was dusk before he was taken off the mountain poor guy!

Anyway folks TTFN

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

@Steve Angus, With the demise of Pacific and Morris, which bars are showing the rugby this Sunday? Ideally looking for a bar close to the slopes as hoping to arrive in time to squeeze in a couple of hours up the hill.
Bananas? Blue Note?
Thanks!

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Fifteen, The Garage (may need to reserve a table in advance here), Coin des Amis.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

flaming - yes what john2 says really those are your best bets - and the Blue Note too!

Glorious

We awoke to clear blue skies and cold weather after a clear night! The usual finely tuned morning routine swung into action and before too long I was off to the meeting point. The bus was packed the area around the meet point was packed and there was a lot of people wanting to get up the mountain pronto with the 10cm or so of fresh snow that had fallen overnight but with the wind yesterday there was larger accumulations in some places than others!

I think the queue for the Olympic lift was the worst I have ever seen it...

Anyway after I collected the guys from their hotel we braved the Olympic lift queue (which was smaller about 20 mins after this photo was taken when I got in it) and headed up... the snow was lovely and it was obvious that the off piste was looking awesome today too - pity that I didnt get into it but tomorrow I will be! So the last day for their holiday is always a blast about for them and a customary trip to Tignes les Brev for lunch! So we managed our time avoiding the big lift queues and went the 'wrong way' around the world as we call it and ended up in Val Claret... hot choc break at Planks cafe was perfect. Anyway we carried on after that and had good run from the top of the Lanches chair back to VC... boy they are taking the Vanoise chair to pieces and back again - the bull wheel is off and everything - oh dear bad timing on that! Anyway the Cairn piste from the top there was just awesome today - have not skied that for YEARS!

Anyway we finally made it to Brev for a yummy lunch at the best place down there (IMO) L'Armailly - I know there are a fair few opinions on which is the best place to eat down there but I have always loved L'Armailly the best! Anyway we had a really nice lunch - we all had pizza's.

After that it was the long winding road back to Val and we finished back at the hotel so I could take the off piste pack they had been borrowing back! We bumped into Clare so it was nice for Clare to see them again too!

A dash at home to sort things out and get changed before we all headed back into town for the pedestrian night. I dont get to the pedestrian night very often so it was nice to see it... fire-eaters, live music, hot choc et al. The kids had a wonderful time... It got somewhat cold though! A warm nutella crepe soon warmed them up before we headed home and now the kids are all tucked up in bed! I will be joining them soon before gearing up for another nice sunny day tomorrow and some off piste!

TTFN

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Some powder and a nice trip

It was a busy start to the day as both Clare and I had to get to the meeting point early so thank goodness for Clares mum being on hand! Anyway with the sun shining and the crowds determined to make the most of the last day of their holidays it was good day to be off piste!

I headed up Solaise and we had a small problem immediately as C forgot his lift pass so D and I did a warm up lap then when C caught us up we were off! A few laps on the Datcha stash and we got some nice snow - it was looking good! We did quite a few laps and things improved as a I layered it all up technique wise. Later on we took a trip in the Cugnai (inbounds side so to speak) and then finally before coffee break we took a trip through the meadows towards Datcha... there was some areas of lovely snow and other areas of not so nice snow it must be said!

After a late lunch at Cascades (again great value in there) we went over the top into Col Pers... the traverse was probably the wrong decision compared to hiking up after traversing over from the chair as the T-Bar kept breaking down with us on it - grrr!

Anyway we got there and the entrance was OK, the flats not that great, the last steeper section better but the gorge itself was great once again! The push back to Fornet the usual pain in the back bottom! Anyway it was a lovely session!

We got back to town and everyone was knackered but I had to go to see Kurt who managed to fix my busted TDC jacket - phew - thanks Kurt! So I finally got home about 1830 and apart from bath and bed time it has been a chilled evening! I must say I really am looking forward to bed tonight as I am knackered after this week!

Cars wise it will be another really busy day on the roads so good luck if you are out there and as always leave / arrive early or late!

TTFN

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

Lazy

I slept so well last night but all too soon the alarm was going off and it was time to get up. But apart from Clare leaving the house it was a jolly relaxed start to the day. I had some yummy scrambled eggs which is always a nice way to start the day!

When we got ourselves sorted Clares mum and I took both the kids swimming. Normally I go on a Saturday but it was lovely and quiet today - even if the inflatables and kids toys were NOT put out - boo! We had a lovely time in the pool but I almost felt guilty looking out the window at what looked like a perfect early Spring day... however the temps were unseasonably warm and will remain so for a few days! With the melt freeze cycle the avalanche risk has reduced to 1/5. The weather will change radically with strong winds and snow and a massive drop in freezing levels mid week which could change things around totally! Lets see eh!

After an hour in there we popped to Chevallot to get some yummy things for lunch and afternoon tea before getting home at the same time that Clare got in from her lesson! So that meant that after the kids had had a good sleep I was able to watch plenty of sport and plenty of catch up tv - guilty pleasures and all that! However the lazy day is over as its back to a full days teaching tomorrow and much of this week is busy too! In fact I am actually snowboarding much of this week and I have not been on my board for weeks and weeks - always nice to have a change of scenery!

Meanwhile on the roads the expected carnage happened and it took people hours and hours and hours to get where the needed to go and in fact in terms of total numbers of cars on the road it was the busiest day of the season! This coming week of the season will be just as busy on the slopes as last week and the resort will be just as busy as it was last week! After this week there will be one more busy week and then things will calm down!

In local news there was really only one thing to note and that was of the mad Frenchman who managed to get directions to the underground parking at Le Cret that his friend had given him totally wrong... he mistook the cross country track here in La Daille for the road... well not only that but he was driving a 2WD maserati... oh dear. He ended up having to be pulled out back to the road by piste basher this morning at first light - whoops!!!! Funny though!

So there we have it a summary of the day - back to tomorrow and work!

TTFN

After all it is free

well if the snow arrives, Mr Maserati could have more fun on the way home, not much clearance for chains on that.... Hope he got a big bill.

Having one's Maserati towed up to the hotel by a piste basher is about as cool as it gets.

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

A change of pace

With a change of week comes a change of pace more often than not and it looks like this week is one of them... not only could we be in for day after day of snow and bad weather from mid week onwards but also I seem to logged in to do quite a few beginner snowboard lessons in a row... its nice as this job has variety and I enjoy teaching beginners!

So anyway with both Clare and her mum having a family day with the kids I was on duty nice and early to get sorted! I had to get both my ski and my snowboard gear in order and up to our office as I am doing lots and lots of changing over this week. Anyway I met my team of a father and his 14 year old daughter from Belgium who actually used to live in the US but had never snowboarded before! Anyway nice team and it was off.

We ploughed our way through the necessary and they made good progress and by the end of the session they were making good heal side turns!

It was HOT in the sun though - real warm... in fact atop the mountain day end it was a little soft and slushy so that early Spring day feel was once again in the air!

I changed gear and headed for my pm ski lesson after that and had 2 mid 20's girl friends. On paper they had made the fatal assumption of being about the same level based on the fact that one had not skied for a 'few years' therefore must have gotten worse in the time when paired up with someone who had just done a week before!

Anyway although there was a split I just about made it work but there was quite a lot of work to do as one of them had really weak foundations that needed developing! Alas it all worked out OK in the end! Despite there being a punchy wind from the north about at altitude it was nice enough up there. We all enjoyed the afternoon and being a Sunday it was not too busy up there but tomorrow will be a different story Im sure!

I got home and had a nice dinner and am spending the last evening before Clares mum leaves us tomorrow.

Tomorrow I am teaching boarding people again in the am and then at the moment I have the pm off so ill see how that pans out as if it stays that way ill get a few things done at home! But hey with the potential for a LOT of snow coming this way this week it could be the last nice day for quite a while and the transfers this coming weekend could be perturbed!

TTFN

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

Oh Olivia - why oh why!

The sun was shining hard again this morning but we had our first proper refreeze of the season and it was slippy and firm out there first thing!

Clares mum took Ben to creche and then headed off back to the UK via coach and plane so it was sad to see her go as she is really good help about the place at such a busy time for us. So there was lots of goodbyes to be done first thing! I was on duty to take Olivia to ski school as today marked the first day of her mid term school hols!

So I made it to the meeting point well in time and slowly but surely all her team turned up and she went off without a fuss... So was the smallest in her group and is punching pretty well above her weight at the moment so hope she enjoys!!!

I went off to teach my team - the same lot as yesterday morning and after a warm up run on the Village we started working on toe side turns and they surely but steadily started to get it... by the end of the session they were linking turns pretty well so job accomplished really! Tomorrow after a warm up we will attempt to get up the mountain onto the Madelaine and try and get everything linked together!

After the lesson and as I wasnt teaching this pm I headed home and no sooner had a finished enjoying my lunch but I got a call from Clare to say that Olivia on her day ski lesson had fallen asleep - would you blooming believe it! She had done them morning lesson bit just perfectly then had enjoyed lunch with her group before falling asleep at pudding time - doh! So yes I had to get to town to collect her! Hopefully tomorrow she will be better as she has had a very early night!

No sooner had I gotten home but Clare called me to say that she would not be home on time after her lesson so would I mind going into town to collect Ben from creche too - arghhh this meant taking Olivia back on the bus into town. Oh well all worked out OK in the end!

So after all that too'ing and fro'ing and racking up the steps it was down to Clare and I to sort the kids out this evening... bath, tea and bed time!

So the weather should start to close in tomorrow afternoon and by this time tomorrow it will be snowing and that will lead us in to Wednesday when the storm will really take hold and it might be quite a ride!!! This will continue more or less through until the weekend on and off with some large accumulations before then - watch this space!

TTFN

Another week, another school hols week, so busy with kids groups all over the place!

Glorious views as the sun sets (possibly last we'll see much of it for the next few days anyway!)

snow reports

Well that worked out well!

I slept pretty well last night but woke early for some reason... Clare did too so we randomly were awake about an hour before the kids talking about stuff related to the what ifs and buts if Olivia ducked out of her ski lesson early again!

Anyway the preparations to get the kids sorted went according to plan and we were off!

Clare took Ben to creche and being Mardi Gras he was dressed up for the celebrations for the day! Meanwhile Olivia was briefed that today of all days she had to stay in her ski school lesson all day! So we were set. I took Olivia to the meeting point and she happily went on her way - yay 1st hurdle overcome!

I met my team once again and after a warm up lap on the Village we headed up the Solaise! The weather was pretty decent with a veil of clouds but nothing to worry about. After a couple of laps on the magic carpet we headed up the Madelaine and ultimately got some successful laps in on there. They were stoked to have gotten so far in a few days like that!

Lunchtime was a grab and dash affair as I had to swap into my ski stuff and wolf down a sandwich before meeting my afternoon lesson in less than 30 mins with Snowberry closing for lunch these days it was go, go, go!

Anyway I met the same girl I had a couple of afternoons ago and we took off from where we were a couple of days ago! She had made some good improvements thats for sure! Anyway there was some tweaking to be done and I decided that with the weather moving in from the north that going Solaise way again would give us the longest timeframe before it crapped out! Anyway after some time on the Madelaine we headed for a lap on the Glacier Express - the great thing was that at one point it REALLY looked like the weather was going tits up! At that point and for about 30 mins everyone and their mother was trying to get off the hill and shortly after that the better weather made a return but by now it was empty on the slopes - double yay! Interestingly the wind was strong at altitude which meant the up and over was closed in the direction towards the Fornet - hmm is that a sign of what might happen tomorrow!

Anyway she did really well and was very happy!

I headed home to change then headed to town once again to collect Olivia from her ski lesson - she was not as tired as I thought she might have been actually! However by now the snow was falling hard and fast but it was not that cold really so was more sleet than anything! Olivia got home with Clare after we met up and then I grabbed Ben and boy he was not happy to leave his Mardi Gras party at creche !!!!

The usual evening activities before we look towards what tomorrow might bring! And tomorrow will see heavy snow all day and perhaps some strong wind! Hmmm could be interesting!

TTFN

Wild one

Since I sleep like a log at the best of times I was startled to have been woken about 5am with the wind battering the outside of our flat - luckily I got some more sleep after that though! However it was looking pretty bleak out there when the sun came up!

The wind was mainly at altitude and it was passable at resort level thankfully!

I headed up to the meeting point dropping Ben off at creche on the way! The plan had been to meet the new clients at Snowberry but I dont think their ability to find their way around the resort was up to much as they got the wrong Snowberry and despite leasing with directions the other half of the group went totally the wrong way too and ended up somewhere else entirely! Anyway we got there in the end!

With only the Village and the Rogoney open (and Savonettes) the options were limited! Meanwhile the Olympic and the Funival were initially open too but they closed later on too leaving the Fornet Cable Car as about the only other option! I started my complete beginner snowboard lesson and it was not too far into the lesson when the father decided he'd had enough and quit leaving just the 16 year old son who was biting and the piece! It turned out he had done a little bit before... so we rattled through the syllabus and the soft fresh snow was perfect for learning on... as a result amazingly by the end of the session he was linking turns on the Village - yay! Lets see what tomorrow brings eh and who turns up!

I headed home at lunchtime as Olivia was only in ski school in the morning and as the weather got worse in the afternoon it was a day to chill at home! Some play time with Olivia and a few jobs was on the cards. I decided to do some batch cooking too! Yummy thats carbonara for the next few weeks on and off!

The weather forecast is for more snow and wind overnight but easing off into the early hours! We will get a little restbite first thing in the morning but it will move back in in the afternoon! A lot more snow is coming! This trend could continue for a few more days yet - eek!

Radio Val released its findings on the number of skier days (as they often release figures on visitor numbers etc) and it looks like last week, thanks to the overlap of Parisian AND British school holidays was the busiest week in the resort for something like 5 years in terms of number of skier days! In fact there were 96,047 skier days recorded - that is a lot of people skiing over the course of the week!

TTFN

You know it makes sense.

Light & deep

Well for the first hour or so of the day it was looking promising but I like to think that the time I take to study the various forecasts and meteorological charts prepares and today prepared me well for knowing that it would not last!

Anyway I took Ben to creche and Clare dropped Olivia at her ski lesson then I was off! I dropped my ski boots at the office ready for my lunchtime swap then it was action stations! I met my team (just the son once again!) and we were off.... just we werent! Doh! He had changed ski jackets and forgotten to swap out his lift pass... a quick trip back to the hotel with him and then we were back on track again! Phew!

Luckily the queue for the Solaise had not built up yet a while so we were not penalised - phew!

So with the wind and snow from yesterday the pisteurs had only managed to do some of the clearance work so we were limited to the Madelaine and the Datcha lift up the Solaise but it was pretty good snow so there was no problems! The pistes were extra busy (and thats saying something being school hols!) as a result though! Anyway lovely snow you can't complain about! We completed quite a few laps on the various combinations up there and I was very impressed with how he improved! Bravo!

The weather did move in and large flakes of snow fell all morning long and the accumulations were fast! Luckily (and it is quite rare to be honest) the flakes fell without any / much wind - yay!

Lunchtime was the quick change into ski stuff and wolf down a sandwich then meet my seasonnaires - my last Thursday pm seasonnaires session for this year! With the weather really closing in even more I had to make some changes to my plans to work on carving and then freestyle and ultimately we skied some piste down to the La Daille working on carving before realising that the accumulations meant we were better skiing some powder between the trees and boy was it decent snow - super light and super deep. We had a lot of fun for a couple of rotations!

By the time we headed back up to have a couple of goes at some freestyle stuff the wind was getting up so I changed plan once again and instead we got in a lap at the bottom!

I picked Olivia up and headed home shortly to be joined by Clare with Ben and its that time of the day again!

Tomorrow the weather should improve dramatically although this evening it has gotten SUPER windy out there - all this nice snow could be ruined - boo! The avalanche risk was 4 this afternoon and it will stay right up there tomorrow... lots of reports this afternoon of the 40cm+ snow stuffing naturally and other skier triggered slides out there - must be careful out there tomorrow!

Talking of tomorrow I am off piste with a new team of americans in the am and then off piste again with seasonnaires in the afternoon. Then in the evening we are having a ski school pizza and beer evening at Blue Note so no idea what time I will post tomorrow night!

This weekend the traffic forecast is not too bad coming up the mountain but going down will be busy - dont know numbers yet but it could be pretty busy out there!

TTFN

Some nice snow near the bottom of the mountain around the funi this am!

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

Bad luck comes in 3's doesnt it!

You know there has been lots of snow when you are woken to the snow clearers outside before 6am - arghh!

The sun was shining and 2 days of cabin fever meant everyone was keen to get on the slopes and make the most of the snow out there! I took Ben to creche and then headed to the meeting point! The queues for the lift were really big from the offset and when the team arrived we quickly worked a plan out then headed up the Olympic - as expected the queues were big. A warm up on the Collet was showing the goods so we dropped into the tour de c and it is rare to have the honour of being pretty much the first to open up the tour. It was awesome top to bottom and the steeps were especially good! The traverse around the corner was tricky especially for the boarder but we got there. When I embarked on the tour SkiPlan was telling me the Manchet chair was pending opening which is code for 'opening shortly or at worst soon' and you get to know the local ways that actually plays out... anyway the chair was still not moving when we got there... oh no we had to push all the way back to town - what a pain in the butt!

Whilst I was pushing I somehow managed to split my trousers too - so things were not going well - arghhhh one of those days!

Anyway we got up to the top of Solaise and put in a lovely lap down the Danaides into the L and followed that with a trip from the Tete du Arrollay! The snow was generally very very good! However there was definite movement of snow out there and in fact we saw someone taken for a ride in one of there lesser skied mini chutes in the Danaides into L area! Thankfully they were OK.

However there were a number of people caught in slides today but thankfully no serious injury and / or death seems to have resulted! Thankfully!

Since there was the chaos with the lift problem etc I overran the morning lesson which meant I was a little rushed at lunchtime etc getting ready for my afternoon seasonnaires!

We got going and did some of my stashes up the Solaise and followed that with a bus stop and a tete for the 2nd time of the day! Apart from some warming snow in the middle of the day the snow stayed good all day before clouds rolled in in the afternoon and a breeze picked up but it will be another 24 hours before it really comes to anything we think!

After skiing I had the pleasure of collecting Olivia who had just passed her 3* ski badge - well done! So she was happy! I got Ben too and got the kids home and caught up with Clare whilst chasing to get ready for the evening out!

So a beer or two and pizza and the Blue Note was the order of the evening so it was a nice social evening!

The traffic forecast for tomorrow is for heavy traffic but not as bad as it had been the last couple of weekends but it is the last big weekend for traffic for a while - phew!

So there we are folks a fairly brief review of the day here but I am totally shattered so really need to get to bed as can feel a cold coming on if I'm not careful!

TTFN

Big queues out there - lots of anticipation of the day that lay ahead with all this fresh snow!

One of the skier triggered slides today - one of many

About to dive in - with only 2 tracks ahead of us its pretty special to get in to the tdc so early!

DOhhhh!

A snowHead

Warming up

Not too much to report from today really as I have been incredibly lazy for most of the day!!!!

But anyway the day started pretty nicely with blue skies and calm conditions - perfect for the thousands of people heading home or arriving! It was also warm - barely zero C overnight! Down in town it was still too!

A family breakfast and plenty of chill time and then Clare headed out for her lesson. The kids and I mixed some play time with a few jobs that needed doing about the house. On the mountain it was a punchy warm wind up there and the clouds were rolling in!

It was nice to have a family lunch altogether before Ben slept.

After lunch and with the movie on I headed into town to run a few errands the main one being to return my ripped ski trousers to Planks and they are now sourcing me a new pair! We swapped and Clare headed to do a couple of errands before finishing the whole day off with yummy HuSki dinner of Beef Bourgignon - yummy!

By mid afternoon the clouds were turning to snow and as the day has worn on it has gotten to the stage of mega snowflakes and it is coming down at a rate of knots! There are some large accumulations already so tomorrow could be another interesting day. The whole week ahead is going to be very varied and it could be a large amount to come but without too much wind we hope!

The temperatures are slightly high though and this is partly due to the Foehn wind that now seems to be picking up! It could be a case that over the next few days and week that the Retour d'est could lead to huge amounts of snow on the Italian border which would be great for us... especially the fornet way! Watch this space!

So here I am this evening and the problem with a lazy day is that you feel even more lazy!

Tomorrow I have another day off and some family swim time in the am is the main event - what happens after that - who knows!

TTFN

A snowHead

Missed out

I was snowing very hard last night and all night and when I got up - respectably late with the kids it must be said (yes!!!!), the sun was starting to shine and it was obvious there was 30cm or so out there! Anyway family day beckoned and Clare popped to the bakery to get some pastries for us all and we had a lovely calm start to the day! I had to close the curtains again though as the sight of people smashing down the OK Orange that had been pisted early in the evening which meant it then received much of the 30cm of fresh looked heaven! Imagine top to bottom in light dry pow (it was just about cold enough last night and there was little wind so perfect conditions!) with turn after turn of fresh ahead - oh yes please!!!!

Anyway I was glad to see there was no fresh left and it was totally cut up within about 30 mins - ha ha that made me happier - sorry spoil sport I am but it was that type of envy this morning!

Anyway we headed as a family to the swimming pool and bumped into Bens best friend almost immediately we got to the bus stop so he jumped in the push chair with Ben and the comedy moment of the morning was me pushing the pushchair through deep snow just outside the pool and the wheels stopped, I slipped over and the pushchair tipped upward and both kids ended up landing on my head as I was face down in the snow - oh dear rather funny but embarrassing!

Swimming was the usual social catch up with one and all and then we picked up a baguette and supplies for a picnic lunch at home - oh yes the kids wanted it on the matt in the sitting room - rather fun though!

With Ben sleeping and some cricket and skiing to watch on tv I got an hour or so of quiet time in before Olivias bestie came around for a playdate and with Ben when he was awake it was carnage for a few hours! Constantly on duty trying to stop fights and bickering etc!

Meanwhile the weather outside had changed from sun to cloud and by late in the pm it was snowing heavily and now this evening it is a blizzard again! It looks like it will continue more or less non stop of the next 24 hours or so - this whole week is looking mighty unsettled in fact!

The kids crawled into bed knackered after a really fun day I can't see myself being much later than them to bed! Tomorrow I start the first of a 5 day clinic for solid red run skiers and I know they are looking to do some off piste so it could be a mixed and fun week that is for sure! The amount of snow that is forecast it could be a very interesting week! Lets hope the temps and the wind does not play foul!

When I got a few seconds spare today I was reading this years version of Altus magazine and there were a couple of interesting pieces in there - nothing new to me but I thought the readers of this might like to have a read too. Besides I would hate to post a photo of the powder out there. Ha Ha

TTFN

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

Snowy and more snowy

It was bleak this morning but the wind coming out of the south was not too strong and bearing in mind that it was a warm and humid Foehn it certainly didnt seem that way!

With Olivia to get to the Village kids club this week and Ben to creche but with 0930 stars on the cards it was a different sort of timing we needed this am! Ultimately the kids were on top form which is a good thing for a Monday morning and we sorted ourselves out!

I headed off to get Olivia to the village whilst Clare took Ben to creche! Olivia loves going to kids club - its like an extension of school but without the school bit - i.e. fun and games non stop with her friends! So it was nice to see some familiar faces and see her go off nice and happy!

I then made it to the meeting point to meet my team. An interesting team comprising a greek man who studied in Canada so sounded Canadian, a Serbian lady married to the Greek guy and a London GP amongst other - quite a mix. Anyway we headed off into the murk and I decided to head Tignes direction as the weather would likely be better that way! This is relative of course as it was pretty snowy and at times windy. We worked on some general technique and having 5 sessions with them we can cover quite a lot of things! There will be some off piste with them later in the week too!

We had some really good changes so it was a successful session!

After skiing I headed home as I was not booked this afternoon! With the snow getting heavier and heavier and the wind swinging back around again it was not the end of the world to not be out there!

I did get some admin completed but I think the mid season fatigue is still in me despite having a restful weekend - ce la vie!

Getting Ben from creche was a wade through the snow drifts, wind and snow and was an adventure in itself!

So by the end of the day we have had such a large amount of snow and the wind is moving it about that the avalanche risk has gone up to 4 tomorrow! I am off piste tomorrow afternoon so that could be an interesting afternoon!

I have managed to get my heli ski trip set up with the seasonnaires for this Wednesday and have studied the weather models carefully as that is about the only time this week that we are likely to see the sun - lets hope it works out that way!

P.S. Managed to get my ripped work ski trousers swapped over today too - yippee!

TTFN

You need to Login to know who's really who.

Arriving tomorrow, excited, looks like Thursday will be a whiteout but the weekend looks relatively clear

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Epic

There was lots of blasting going on right from the offset this am and I caught sight out the window as they bombed the spatula and it went really big, in fact I think it made it all the way down to the OK Orange piste perhaps! Big!

However the good news was that the clouds were thinning and the sun was trying to come out! Yay!

I dropped Olivia at the kids club then headed to the meet point and I was happily surprised to see that everything seemed to have opened on time! Heading up Bellevarde side once again I could see that there was a LOT moving on all aspects out there. It was one of those days that there was a lot of danger out there and if things were going to move they were going to move a lot!

Anyway with so much fresh snow out there there was really only 1 topic of choice we could work on if we were not going to be work on off piste! So moguls it was... a few laps on Fontaine Froide followed by a couple more on Tommeuse was the order of the day and to be honest everywhere was pretty mogulled up by about mid morning! Anyway I was very impressed with the changes everyone made so more of the same tomorrow please people!

There were umpteen people caught in slides all over the place but as far as I know nothing mega serious thankfully! We saw the chopper going in to the East Face of the Charvet too but I think that was just a routine injury! There was definitely a couple of separate incidents and people caught in the Chardonnet bowl over in Tignes too!

The sun was out in full force by mid morning but that did not disguise the nippy breeze about and it felt much more like a January morning than a March one!

I took lunch under the Sun Bar and then met my pm team a husband and wife team who were after some off piste action! With some technique thrown in there it was a case of making the most of the snow! So with a few warm ups up Solaise where the snow was not only MUCH deeper than I thought it was going to be - up to 50cm in some places but it was also quite light too! Anyway we dropped down into the Cugnai and had amazing snow top to bottom and it seemed to get deeper and lighter near the bottom - some of the best conditions I have ever had in there actually! Happy campers all round!

After skiing I collected Olivia and headed home for the usual evening jobs etc!

Tomorrow should be sunny in the am and some clouds coming in in the pm but either way I should get the heli in in. I am not sure what I will work on with the team in the am though - we shall see!

TTFN

Pisteurs just in from their morning PIDA clearance work on the Bellevarde

Spot the boarder triggered slide here.

Hundreds of pow turns in a row!

You'll need to Register first of course.

Well that was a stunner!

Today was a day that makes a season complete! The sun was shining, the snow good, the company good and nothing could go wrong!

Being a Wednesday there was no mega rush to get the kids up so it was a leisurely start and I actually got to drink most of my cup of tea.... warm.... which must be some kind of a record - result!

I took Olivia to kids club and she was a little silly at being left - I think she was just a little tired thats all! Anyway with the sun shining and it set to be a complete reversal of yesterdays weather it was set to be a good one! I met my team and we planned to do carving so we headed up the Solaise and worked our way through a multitude of drills and technique and little by little made our way to the Val glacier! It was perfect conditions and the team really improved massively! Well done folks!

And when I was doing some feedback on the Glacier Express run I got controlled for only the second time in 15 seasons here in Val! For those that dont know, snowsports are a licensed profession here - so in the same way inspectors can come into a school in the UK (and most places) and look through peoples qualifications / procedures in place / standards etc - the same can happen here. It is considered a career job on public land and therefore you have to have the necessary papers. So anyway they carry out controls whereby they come up to you and ask to see your paperwork to make sure you are legit. I guess like in some parts of the world the police can stop you on the road and demand to see your driving license! Anyway I 'settled up' with him by showing him and his Gendarme side kick my Carte Pro and we all continued on our way!

The whole morning was super lovely and everyone had smiles on their faces by the end!

Lunch was a rush before meeting my seasonnaires team for a Chevril heli! There were some whispy clouds about and you can tell the weather is changing and indeed it is supposed to move in overnight and produce lots of snow by tomorrow and all day tomorrow perhaps (great as I need to go shopping in Bourg tomorrow pm - doh!). Anyway we headed up and took the traverse option in to Familial where the snow was blooming awesome - and even across the flats was spot on! The hike up was more hit and miss though and was tiring going. Anyway after waiting an age to get the go ahead to descend we had the most amazing snow... first tracks through most of it - was the best I have skied down there ever and the snow was spot on and the ambiance something else too! Just truly special! Even down into the forest and to the pick up zone was great!

After doing the safety brief we had the ride of our life (it was fun and friendly pilot on today who likes to throw the chopper about - yay!) back to the top of Solaise and once again lots of smiles about!

I headed home and sorted the kids out and got ready for tomorrow... as I mentioned before one of the main things on the agenda apart from introducing my team to off piste in the morning is a trip to Bourg food shopping - lets hope the roads are OK! But if I dont go tomorrow then it will have to be the weekend - arghhh!

TTFN

Ready for the day ahead

Pretty quiet slopes up the Solaise today!

Hundreds of pristine powder turns to come...

Nuff said - just love this photo although I say so myself!

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

So jealous what lovely conditions lucky lucky man!

After all it is free

@Steve Angus,

Was a fantastic day yesterday where as I am sure will say later today has been dire.
It's been raining since lunchtime.

I bailed and went to the gym. Hoping for a better day tomorrow

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

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