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

A snowHead

Filthy weather!

A snowHead

Top of borsat express .

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

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@Dr John, but quicker than what was there before Eh oh!

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

red 27 - its rather snowy though!
vipul and Dr John - yes too easy wasnt it. I dont think its too slow! A long lift though!

Laps and more laps

The weather was a little unsettled first thing this morning but it wasnt too bad overall today - albeit the vis was the main problem!

The kids dressed up in festive clothing for the last day at school and they happily went off to school. Clare was out teaching all day and so was I.

I did a little social media recording before the lesson and then met up with 'E'. Having been Bellevarde and or Tignes direction every day so far we decided to go the Val glacier direction instead today!

There was a few centimetres of fresh snow on the piste and it was lovely skiing it.... despite not being able to see much for much of the am! Little by little we worked our way over to the Val glacier and it was interesting to note how they had gotten some pistes set up in the Fornet sector... like the Pont Abatte piste - the route you have to take to get down to the Signal is convoluted to put it mildly! Anyway despite the Vallon gondola stopping every few mins (please oh please let Summer 2023 be when they FINALLY replace it - every year we are tempted to think it is now but surely that time must be coming soon!) we did finally make it to the Val Glacier. We did A LOT of laps up there. Hot choc break at the Cascades restaurant and lunch there too were a good stopping point. The rest of the family joined us for lunch which was nice. The weather came and went but generally in the afternoon it was pretty clear (certainly up high) but most of the resort had been in a blanket all day.... it certainly was pretty foggy skiing back home again at the end of the day!

After a quick turnaround at home I got Ben off the bus whilst Clare was taking Olivia to a birthday party. When Clare got home we swapped and I headed in to town to be there after the ice skating part of things as the kids headed to the Garage for pizza. I joined our friends and the kids for a pizza and a beer before getting Olivia home again and Clare and I have just managed to get the kids into bed.

Tomorrow I am out of boots for the day, Clare is working in the morning. Olivia is skiing with club and Ben and I have some time together!

TTFN

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Merry Christmas from the Pre (Maternelle) School

So my little boy got to meet Papa Noel yesterday and there was much excitement as you can imagine! The whole school attempted a school photo with him in the playground and it (sort of) worked!

Meanwhile today I wasnt on the hill but the day was a stunning one....

I didnt rush to get up this morning as Clare was working and also taking Olivia to club so it was pretty chilled start to the day - last one really for a while as Xmas day won't count even though im not on skis that day.... haha. But generally could be a while until I get a down day like today for a while!

So with the girls out the door Ben and I had some tv time / I did some chores and we played some games. Of course all to the background of the skiing on tv and the cricket too. It was nice spending some time with Ben and fun to chill with him.

I collected Olivia at lunchtime from Club and at home rustled up some toasties and soup which is one of their favourites. Clare was back by early afternoon so she could take Olivia back for the afternoons club.

Meanwhile on the mountain the conditions were excellent but after so many snowy days and wind etc there was a lot of people heading off piste today and conditions are a little volatile avalanche wise and it showed. Got sent the photo below by a colleague - taken near the top of the Tommeuse lift - be careful out there folks!

Big enough to ruin your day thats for sure! STAY SAFE!

Anyway after the days skiing ended we had a friend around (and OLD school friend of Clares!) and his teenage kids for a cuppa and slice of cake. It was lovely to catch up as it has been a fair while since we saw him / them!

With the kids showered and in bed I am settling down to watch the Strictly Final.... then its back to work tomorrow!

TTFN

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

Well that was nice!

It was all systems go this morning as both Clare and I had to be on it for work and also both kids had to get to lessons / Village / Club.... anyway we did it OK - it always gets easier as the season goes on sorting this that's for sure!

Anyway I met my girl and we headed Bellevarde direction. With the sun shining but chilly it was imperative to try and get warm early doors so we blasted about as much as we could before having a hot choc at the Bellevarde restaurant! One thing that was noticeable today was that it was a lot busier now the French / British school hols have started.... but still it will be busier next week after Xmas thats for sure.

As soon as we had had the hot choc break we headed over to Tignes as there was a lunch reservation at the Panoramique for midday! Boy it was a treat of a lunch - but glad I was not paying as rather expensive! It was amazing food though... I had the amazing ribs - yum! When lunch was over it was time to get her a few laps around Tignes working on some more technique before having to head back towards Val.

As a knock on consequence of the football the Club des Sports were finishing a little earlier so that they could head to watch on the big screen so I needed to get Olivia a little earlier than planned. Luckily this was not going to be an issue as 'E' was knackered so we finished a little earlier anyway!

I just about able to get Olivia back home, get out my ski clothes and watch the footy out one eye before having to head back into town to collect Ben from Village - all go! Getting two tired kids washed / fed etc meant it has been a busy evening. Of course the kids were rooting for France in the final too so they went to bed a little disappointed!

Tomorrow I start some new bookings as we move ever closer to Xmas day itself!

In terms of the mountain more and more evidence of avalanche action is happening out there and some people are getting quite lucky by the looks of things.... have a look at the instabilities out there e.g. in the photo below!

Weather wise I think we will have another couple of nice days weather before a big change to snow / rain etc later in the week.

TTFN

Well of course.... at the Bellevarde restaurant!

After all it is free

Ps meant to say the Combe Folle piste is now open. Few panic over

Can you turn the fridge back on please

Phew , was it warm today !

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Monday, Monday

The alarm seemed to go off far too early this morning but thats just the way it seems to go on Mondays isnt it in life!

Anyway it was all go getting the kids sorted and then we headed off. After getting them delivered to where they needed to get to I headed to the meet point. I was taking over the final day of the Ski Club of Manchester - a group we always teach at this time of the year as a school. I had the relatively strong off piste lot and after sorting ourselves out we headed off. The school hols really have started as the queue for the Olympic lift was quite large it must be said.... however for the most part the queues are nothing at all to be worried about... the worst queue of the day was probably the Fontaine Froide as its always a bottle neck especially at the moment with Santons not open (yet!).

Anyway we found some nice snow off the Verte (even though it was mainly tracked out!) and then (even though I say so myself) found some REALLY nice and untacked snow in the Jardins Borsat back to Grand Prix. It was heavenly and hardly any crust which was a pleasant surprise as thought it could be. I think I tired them out as they asked for a coffee stop - haha!

A quick second lap before finishing up for lunch followed.

Being back OFF all day bookings I was sat under the Sun Bar for my lunch stop which suits me just fine generally. haha!

The afternoon I had a guy with his 3 grown up (well late teen) boys and it was a case of brushing up the technique but they varied quite drastically in abilities and since they had all had a growth spurt since they last skied it was an interesting session to put it mildly. However we had a great session all in all and the coffee stop at the Bellevarde was a welcome break for them.

We skied to La Daille at the end and Clare was on kid pick up duty so I sorted out a few things at home whilst waiting for the kids to get back! And since then it has been the normal evening.

Tomorrow should be a normal work day but need another early night tonight thats for sure!

TTFN

The price list for the outdoor snack hut at the new place bottom of Grand Pre.... its not tooo bad really.

If you know where to go and with a short push from the pistes you can easily get to some amazing places! Fresh tracks anyone!

Happy campers!

P.S. The weather today btw was a LOT warmer than it has been.... going to stay relatively warm before a big change, some snow and rain later in the week. Could spice things up again somewhat.

snow reports

We need some more snow... oh and better temperatures please!

This morning after getting kids on the bus with Clare who was doing the drop off it was a simple walk over the road to meet the am booking. The am was a long time TDC client who has skied with plenty of us as friends and families over the years... including myself! But in particular I dont think I have skied with the 2 kids I had.... a lovely pair of twins (boy and girl) of nearly 11 years old. Anyway we headed up the La Daille Gondola and set about crossing off some green and blues with them and developing their technique!

It was a decent morning with some good fun games played although when they asked to take a quick trip on a magic carpet and we were by the snow park carpet we took the opportunity to jump on it BUT one of them was a little silly and tried to cut in front of the other as they were loading and one thing led to another and one of them had a ski off.... a queue building up behind us... ski poles being discarded in order to free up the hands to help... etc. Cutting a long story short the stray poles ended up stopping the lift when they got to the top and the liftie couldnt restart it and all those who had been held up by her antics then (as well as us) had to walk along the carpet to the top - doh! It wasnt my finest moment - a little embarrassing thats for sure!

With lunch under the Sun Bar and a good rest I then headed out for my afternoon session. It was the same team as yesterday afternoon and once again we headed Bellevarde direction. We covered carving for the first half of the session and then moved onto moguls. I hadn't originally planned to do moguls but the warm temps etc meant the snow bumped up quite badly this afternoon so it made sense!

There was a very funny moment in the moguls when (just like dominos falling) 3 of the 4 of them toppled one at a time - in slow motion too. It was most funny.

After skiing and downloading I changed out my boots and grabbed Olivia from club before putting her on the bus home and then going to grab Ben from his ski lesson. Clare was doing a 2 hour massage for someone so it was all down to me. Sorting out wet clothes, putting ski clothes away, getting dinner ready, showering and into pjs etc. It was all go. Phew pretty knackered now.

So the temperatures have been pretty unseasonable (thats putting it mildly) but it will get a little cooler into the next few days and there is a big storm brewing. It has not been great for the snow pack and there really are some big problems about.... e.g. skiing the Edelweiss piste towards the Marmottes from the Tignes side is brown / stony all over.... the 3J piste has been closed the last few days... and generally off piste is still quite thin. Things like the Tour du Charvet is not a serious option still at the moment. Hmmm hopefully the big storm coming will totally change it all up! That would be welcome moving into the New Year period thats for sure.

TTFN

My daughter (lookers left immediately to side of the sign with the Orange helmet) with her Orange helmet on.

One of the problems of pistes being closed and it being the school hols is the remaining open pistes (Diebold here) get VERY busy! - little ants everywhere!

You know it makes sense.

Certainly cooler this morning and letting the rest of our hotel pile out of the boot room exceited at the sight of falling snow.

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

Bit damp and squidgy

The weather this morning wasnt looking too enticing. Ive certainly seen a LOT worse of the years but nevertheless being a 'grey' day with some clouds / snow / moisture about (thankfully no wind) it was always going to be a challenging sort of day.

Clare had a blank day in her diary (the last for a LONG time bar Xmas day in her diary) so it was a good opportunity for the kids to get a rest day... they both need it. Olivia really wanted to go to club however so she came up to meet point with me. So Olivia and I headed up to town where I dropped her off for a morning of race training with Club. It certainly feels a little cooler out there than yesterday but certainly NOT cold.... and certainly NOT cold for this time of the year.... hovering around 0 in town and only a couple below at altitude! The precipitation coming out the sky (when it has today as its not really being doing much) has varied from rain in town (light drizzle) and sometimes snow but nothing really in either direction for very long!

Anyway I jumped in the queue to make sure I was first up the Olympic so that I could ski to the top of the La Daille gondola in order meet the kids again for their second session with me. As you will see from the photo below it really was a first but I saw a bloke queuing right at the front of the (virtually non existent) queue for the Olympic lift at 0855...... reading a broadsheet newspaper - well I never - ive seen it all now!

The actual morning session saw us ski to Val Claret .... there were certainly times when we could not see a thing and the vis was horrendous but generally it was OK. I did a lap on the Prariond run from the top of the Fresse lift back down towards Val Claret which is only about the 2nd time ever I have been able to ski that run - it really is a nice run - well worth doing and with not too much traffic at all!

We had our hot choc break at The Corner.... i decided to treat myself to a part early lunch of a hot sausage roll - gosh they are AWESOME in there. Washed down with a cup of tea - amazing! It was also nice to say congrats to Ryan (and Lou who was obviously not there) as they had their baby on Monday down in Bourg.... a little girl called Nancy. Awesome news for them - congrats!

Anyway we headed back Val side after the break and did some more exercises - the kids just need to remember to keep their feet under their pelvis - i.e. close together and not use the skis under them like a tripod - when they do this they slide into parallel much more readily! Anyway hopefully they will be able to practice well over the next 48 hours before I teach them again - sure they will.

I came home for lunch but did my live broadcast enroute home - just at the moment a large flurry came through which was good timing.

This afternoon we have a family 'down day' ahead of a few hectic days and weeks coming up! There has been many cups of tea and movies watched by the kids - haha!

The weather for the next few days will be a mix of snow / bit of wind / cloud and possibly some glimpses of the sun possibly. We shall see! Whether it will totally change the whole resort for the better snow wise or not remains to be seen but the pistes do need a freshen up - there are a fair few stones etc coming through on plenty of the pistes and it is thin in places.... although I would say its not too bad despite me saying this. Of piste with the layering / temps / snow fall etc that we have had it is going to make it quite interesting to say the least so as always caution is advised out there!

Finally last night there was the ESF snow show and fireworks (on a side note I just love it when during the weeks the ESF do the show it is always 'The ESF snow show' and then other weeks its 'the instructors of Val d'Isere' thereby implying that it could also be the ESF doing those weeks shows) on the snow front... it made me chuckle that apparently 3624.6 people attended the show - not only is that a very precise figure but dont know who the .6 of a person is. Haha!

Anyway the weather continues to not be very enticing out there and there has hardly been any accumulations of snow out there - whether it will all be change tomorrow or not remains to be seen!

TTFN

getting his news from the broadsheet in the queue for the Olympic life opening!

A snowHead

@Steve Angus,
Have ESF contracted FIFA to calculate the attendance figures? Would be a logical matchup of organizations. Twisted Evil

A snowHead

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

Go girl

So the weather was somewhat better than anticipated this morning which was nice.... just as well as Clare needed to get to Tignes for the day for teaching so the stress of bad weather and possible lift closures etc is always nice when it doesnt materialise!

Anyway I took the kids to the meeting point / kids club and then headed off for my mornings teaching. I met my new team of kids for their lesson... they have a couple of days / sessions with me and then change to another colleague such is the logistics of lesson allocations sometimes! So the kids ranged in ages from 8 - 13 and there were 5 of them from a couple of different families!

Having assed where they were at we did some laps on the Madelaine for the majority of the lesson time. It was their first time in Val so it was nice to show them a little! Anyway it was a good session and they are certainly grounded ready for building on it for the next few days and moving onto harder terrain and exercises etc. The first day / session its always a good idea to let people find their feet and test them out and really get to know them.

So apart from the fact that they did not have any money for hot choc break which meant we couldnt go in anywhere and so had to sit outside which mean one of the kids got REALLY cold hands it was a fun first session thats for sure! Looking forward to being able to show them more of the hill and improve them tomorrow!

I came home for lunch and with Clare out all day it was a chilled couple of hours. I made some pigs in blanket ready for taking on Xmas Day to Blue Note for the traditional nibbles and fiz session! I was able to pop over the road to watch some of Olivias race training and she is really starting to fly now - warms my heart!

As the afternoon progressed it got more and more cloudy and the weather is set in somewhat now this evening - so we could have a nice top up to come BUT it all depends on how the temp behaves as it could be rain / sleet lower down and we must also consider what the wind might do too. It could whip things around a fair amount! Hmm its going to be pretty turbulent tomorrow whatever happens I think.

Clare finished her days ski teaching and was straight out to do a massage in town so I was on kid duty again! So I collected Ben from Village - poor boy (I think it must be fatigue) had been sick during his ski lesson but being the trooper he is carried on anyway! Now he has skied the Face (yes I know) he is just loving his skiing and I bet he didnt want to leave his friends.

So I got the kids home and sorted and into bed nice and early - talk about knackered kids... They have Saturday and Sunday out of ski boots etc so they will be refreshed going into a week next week of kids club etc and more fun!

And finally a massive congrats to Lou a friend of mine who is behind this Piste Code X stuff. See photos below.

TTFN

Ah my friend the magic carpet - haven't spent much time on here so far this season yet!

Always remember that Val did host the Olympics in 1992

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@Steve Angus,
Ben puked skiing the Face? I think there are many punters who've done worse on there (and probably a few racers too!).
Always remember (season 2005/06) skiing past an ESF instructor taking a class down it. When we looked back up he'd fallen over & was doing it (skiless) out of control on his backside, as were his class. There were loose skis bombing down all over the place.
You need to do seasons for memories like that. snowHead

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

@Steve Angus, well done to the kids for their skiing progress. Ben's very young to be skiing the Face and better out than in, I say.

Hope the campaign your friend is running gets the wind in it's sails too. It's certainly much needed in this area, 3 Vallees, Paradiski, Chamonix and Portes du Soleil. Smart deployment of a small number of piste patrollers/enforcers would be well worth it. Great work on partnering and spreading the message too.

The bit in the article about how polite the Japanese were when confiscating her lift pass made me smile and brings back happy memories of travelling and skiing over there. Smile

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@Steve Angus, did see you with the kids up on Madaline but as you were busy I didn't say Hi .
Grim out this morning and just spoke to someone competent who has just been up and decided not even to ski back down .

Lazy day !

Also it would seem the electric bus either does not have snow tyres or the torque meant instant wheelspin in the slush , driver certainly finding it challenging , stuck in the slush by le Garage Eh oh!

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

That electric bus also has an extremely slippery floor when wet. Certainly goes off with a good shove which results in most of the people in ski boots sliding backwards. Nice initiative though!

After all it is free

Yes it seems to be maybe more challenging to pull away smooth , and today as I am sure Steve will attest has been just a little wet !

In fact I haven't bothered to ski.

Kenzie - Sorry badly worded... he has skied the Face but yesterday the puking was bottom of the Funi! But yea others have surely done worse down there - haha! Wow thats quite a story back in 2005 / 6!
PeakyB - yes he is young but then again he gets a lot of miles under his skis! Patrollers on the piste to take passes etc is a controversial idea thats for sure - can't see it ever happening in these parts thats for sure!
harvsurrey / therock - for sure the bus has a slippery floor but didnt know it had problems today - whoops! As for the weather today...

WET!!!!!!!!

When I went to bed last night it was dumping it down with snow which was a good sign but by this morning the temps had increased and it instead was now rain! With the kids sorted and out the door with Clare taking them to Club / Village I ventured out.

It was always going to be a wet day but I managed to get my weekly TDC Snow Report recorded and sent off as well as doing some social media stuff too. I met my team and we were off with only a short delay of opening ... there had been a lot of avalanche blasting out there this am so it was good to see that they managed to get stuff running pretty much on time.

So the first lap ended up having to be back down to La Daille as nothing up high was open unfortunately! However skiing down to La Daille was 'interesting' to put it mildly with the mega sticky and quite thick snow meaning even straight lining through it was jolly hard work. The heavy rain didnt help matters thats for sure.

Hot choc break was taken finally when things started getting open at the Bellevarde restaurant and it was the funny moment of the day when (having finished her hot choc) asked for a bowl (got given a cup which was good second best) of cream as she enjoyed it so much first time around - haha.

I ended up skiing them back to La Daille as the family had decided it was not a day to be on mountain! I had a change of scenery for lunch and ate in Rosee's - a yummy croque monsieur filled me up! However putting the wet clothes on again to get out for the afternoon was NOT easy.

The afternoon was 'interesting' to say the least. It started with a slight wait for them.... then one of the kids really not wanting to come for his lesson and the Dad literally forcing him onto the lift as he was in tears but then the cold (it was pretty nice snow up high but windy and poorer vis) got to them. I planned to take them up the Marmots lift so they could get warm at the top of the Funi station (the didnt have hot choc money so couldnt / shouldn't go in anywhere just to warm up!) however as soon as we arrived at the Marmots it went technical so we had to change plans. With one of the kids REALLY upset and cold I had no choice but to use the warmth in the Folie.... that sorted them out and short while later we were able to carry on skiing.

So finally dropping 5 soggy kids back at their hotel (I can't describe how cold and soggy I was too!!) I was able to go about Dad duties! Clare had collected Olivia from club so I was for Ben. I was the proudest Dad at the meeting point when he was awarded his 3* badge by his instructor and he had a lovely week so it was so lovely to see him enjoying his skiing so much! Poor thing looked like a drowned rat though!

So this evening has been sorting all the wet clothes out and getting the tired kids into bed - I will be close behind them I think.

So I now have 2 days off - that is a novelty for this time of the year! Depending on the weather tomorrow I might take the kids for a slide tomorrow - see Father Christmas up the Solaise mid morning - we shall see. Clare is working all day tomorrow and then on Xmas Day - well of course that will be a family day! Yay!

TTFN

No words!!

Still no words!

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

@Steve Angus, how come the kids have no money? Isn't it set out they need €5 for breaks?

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@Steve Angus,

I agree with @holidayloverxx,

Parents should be told to give their kids enough money to buy a hot drink. It isn't fair on instructors if their pupils are too cold and they can't get warmed up with a hot drink.

snow reports

@harvsurrey, same here. One look out of the window this morning, saw that the overnight snow had changed to rain and so decided it was going to be a duvet day. Even the pooch didn't want to stay out long this morning and she wasn't keen on going out for a walk later this afternoon either.

Bumped into Steve on the bus back to La Daille this afternoon and he did look cold and soaked through. @Steve Angus Hope you managed to get yourself dried out and warmed up when you got back.

That cup of whipped fat looks so disgusting Confused

You know it makes sense.

@Sarge McSarge, but the nails on the kid are amazing

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

@Steve Angus, well done to Ben on passing his 3*** ski test. I reckon my son was 8 years old before he did that. He’d probably done only 11 weeks skiing over a 5 year period, to be fair. Next step Bronze for Ben I guess? I’ve lost track of the grading system.

Enjoy your well earned break. Sounds like it could take 2 days for the gear to dry.
Happy Christmas to you all. Smile

A snowHead

@Frosty the Snowman, True

A snowHead

holidayloverxx - no definitely not. You can't demand it. I always encourage it (for many reasons) but its not mandatory. Some people (understandably) think that paying more than a € a minute that stopping for say 15 mins is not value for money! Besides everyone is different - sometimes kids / adults full of beans want to keep going no matter what. welshflyer - perhaps but we should as instructors be able to cope I reckon!

sno trax - gosh it was a welcome warm shower thats for sure! The clothes were just about dried out by this morning!

Sarge McSarge - hmmmm takes so good though! Haha! Yes she has nicely painted nails!

PeakyB - yea he is happy thanks. Chuffed parents too. Yea it would be Bronze next but given his age etc its MUCH better for him to do his 3* a couple more times... really make it stick! Yes it almost was dry this am!

MERRY CHRISTMAS

The Purge after the storm

It was a very lazy start to the day especially since it appeared to still be raining! Clare headed off out to work for the day and the kids watched some tv whilst I sorted. Luckily most of the clothes had managed to dry on the electric radiator overnight thankfully so we were back in business!

The weather did clear up thankfully but we had had 72mm of raining apparently fall - that is a huge amount eh! Slowly the sun started to come out so with the promise of Father Christmas on the slopes giving out chocs and sweets the kids were happy to gear up. Dont get a lot of chances to go out with them both (especially on my own at the same time) but today was a chance so I thought why not! Olivia really wanted to snowboard which would work quite well keeping the 3 of us able to travel at similar pace.

So we headed up the mountain and pretty much straight away bumped into the Big Man but both the kids were too shy to want to go get a chocolate from him or get a photo - bit of a shame really.

Anyway we quickly saw Clare teaching on the magic carpet so the kids wanted to say hi.... but we soon headed off and did some laps around the Madelaine area and the snow quality was amazing. The off piste was looking pretty deep and reasonably easy to handle from what I could see too! HOWEVER one thing was sure was that MOST of the mountain seems to have fallen off. Basically 90% of anything that is steep enough to go has gone with the soaking it received! Pretty much everywhere you looked had fallen off, much of the mountain was not able to open and temps were not too cold really... but at least pretty clear!

Having the mountain purge itself is both good news and bad news... its bad news in that where it has slid (which is much of the off piste) we now need snow to be able to actually ski off piste again in these areas... otherwise it will be grass skiing and with it down to the base we need a decent amount again.... but its good news in that where its slid its not going to slide again and it has reset the season somewhat.... so all in all its a development we need to note for sure!

The kids wanted lunch out so I treated them to food at Datcha - burgers and chicken nuggets etc.... heck why not. It wasnt mega mega expensive either but went down a treat.

After lunch we did some more sliding and ultimately came down the Plan M which was pretty bumpy interspersed with bits of ice making it a challenge but the kids loved it.

It was a really nice few hours with the kids and thankfully the weather played ball.

We only had a couple of hours at home before heading back into town for the arrival of the Big Man in the high street and more chocs etc to be given out.... this time given the face their friends were there the kids were happy to get their photo taken on the stage with him. We didnt stay long but it was nice to see so many kids out there enjoying the festivities!

With the kids finally in bed and trying to calm them down with all the excitement Clare and I have just been Santas main helper with the present wrapping and stacking if you get my drift!

Time for a beer now and then bed before we get woken up about 2am (please no!).

Tomorrow will be family breakfast and some presents and we are heading to Blue Note for their annual nibbles and fizz for locals on Xmas day (they provide the fizz and we provide the nibbles - its always very nice for the expo community!) and then it will be more presents and nibbles at home before the meal in the evening and finally collapsing in bed hopefully quite early before its back to work on Monday morning.

TTFN

See what I mean about lots of the mountain having fallen off!

My special little boy

Lovely snow on piste today though!

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

And a Merry Christmas to you and your family, @Steve Angus.

I didn't earlier comment on the loss of your mother, but having been through that myself not so long ago (including the complicated business of sorting out probate etc) I feel for you. Here's for a better 2023!

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Phew - is it over for another year!

After wrapping all the presents I got into bed at a reasonable time last night... however I was a little apprehensive when I heard the kids voices early this morning but when I looked at the clock it want quite as bad as first I had feared... it was 0625 - ill take that I thought!

For anyone with kids (or if you can remember when you were a kid) the excitement is both non stop all day and energy sapping in equal measures! So trying to last out the opening of the stocking for as long as possible so they can savour it is a job... but there was lots of bits they just loved playing with thats for sure! Lots of excitement.

Breakfast time - well it wasnt the drawn out relaxed family affair of eggs on toast that I had been hoping for! The eggs were semi cold by the time I got to the end but oh well not to worry!

With the millions of family calls etc to make it broke the morning up nicely. Luckily we had gone to ski yesterday so despite the sun shining out there all day today (and it looked nice I must say and still quite warm!) we didn't go anywhere our skis.

By lunchtime's we arrived at Blue Note for the annual and traditional locals Xmas Day getogether! Basically the punters bring the nibbles and Matt provides bucks fizz. We were also graced with Matt sister and other former owner Lou and her (6 days old) newborn baby... how sweet. It was a really nice getogher as always and I enjoyed both the chats, nibbles and the bucks fizz. Highlight of the day for me I think.

A really nice interlude to the day.

Back at home it was a combo of making and eating Xmas dinner, watching the Kings Speech and the kids opening their big presents and playing with them.... So now I am knackered from the excitement of that and trying to connect the Nintendo Switch up to the TV as well as feeling like a beached whale from the food!

So the kids are now in bed and I really want to follow them soon. The weather should remain OK tomorrow as its back to work.

TTFN

Sorry not the most inspiring photo ever but millions of family photos were about all I snapped today at home until I remembered to get something for the blog.

Thought this was a pretty cool photo snapped the other morning of the pisteurs doing their PIDA work using the CATEX

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@Steve Angus,

Hope Ben had a good swim, all tucked up and warm in Borg but good to see you this afternoon.
Cormeyeur becons us tomorrow but we will be back in Val in March .
Let's hope the rain turns to snow tonight and it gets colder !

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

harvsurrey - Yes thanks he LOVES his swimming / lessons so it was good thanks! Tucked up in Bourg - pouring with rain like here probably! Doh! See you in March.

Changing

With the influx (today of holidaymakers for the New Year hols) and the weather changing it could be a completely different scene in resort tomorrow - hmmm we shall see.

So this morning started with Olivia announcing she was not feeling too great (just like Xmas last year when she was ill I think on Boxing Day!). Anyway she was just about OK to go to kids club thankfully so off Clare went with them both whilst all I had to do was cross over and meet my team at the bottom of the La Daille Gondola. The temperatures were once again unseasonably warm but crucially a few degrees colder than they had been... it would mean that the lower slopes and some slopes that were pisted earlier in the night were pretty firm / icy whereas higher pistes seemed to have held up better. Dont get me wrong overall the pistes are in excellent shape for the most part but not quite as perfect as they could be!

Anyway with my team we did some technique down the deserted slopes into La Daille (hence I found out about the icy pistes at lower altitude!) and then had a hot choc break over at the place at the bottom of the Grand Pre... boy its pretty pricey in there.... the kids wanted hot choc with cream and a plate of chips and it came to €27.... whooooaaaa

So anyway we did a couple of laps of the Grand Pre and it gave the opportunity for the kids to really ski as well as possible and that is the beauty of working on easier terrain - improving technique. As I always say to people, the colour of the run makes no difference, its the technique employed and the proficiency of how you perform the descent at hand that matters.... dont get het up with the colour of the piste is what im trying to say!

With the lesson over I had lunch at home and managed to get some jobs done before collecting the kids at 1430.... however it was obvious that Olivia really was not too well as she puked getting off the bus. As soon as we got in the front door she took herself off to bed for a few hours which worked quite well (well hopefully anyway!).

The weather this evening has deteriorated and it was raining (relatively lightly) from late evening onwards so lets hope that is snow up high and down here at resort level turns to snow soon.... all I know is that I am glad that we are a high resort and will get snow rather than rain, rain and nothing but rain in the recent past and current cycle!

One thing I was looking at a fair bit today and that is the Val d'Isere App. Living here you dont really look at things like that - dare I say the info in it I just know (most of it) off the top of my head... but looking at the app its quite good with everything from 'wheres the next bus' to like opening and closing times and everything in-between... its pretty good actually! Im sure that in this day and age its actually not that special at all but its a good step forward in these things.

So tomorrow I have a new booking in the morning (again kids - as it nearly always is during school holidays) but we are playing it safe with a little neighbourly keeping and eye on our daughter in the morning and then ill be home in the afternoon to look after her. Ben meanwhile will be having a whale of a time at Village with his friends I am sure of it.

TTFN

It will get a LOT busier tomorrow I am sure of it!

After all it is free

It certainly was quiet yesterday, lovely morning and a belly busting fantastic lunch in the new Italian in Follie.
I ate in there the day it opened with a mate but not with Hazel and she was quite surprised.
In other Follie news for those that love rather than hate the place it seems host Kely Starlight has departed for a new venture , this will at least make @honeybunny, sad

harvsurrey - I need to get out more with all this Folie talk - no idea there was a new eatery there! And thats end of a massively long era if the Starlight has gone - wow!

1st day heroes

The sun was shining it was always going to be a nice first day for those who have just arrived!

Olivia was back on form so Clare was ably to take both the kids to Village with confidence. Phew. I on the other hand had a situation whereby the client had sort of double booked himself from Club Med where he was staying as he needed / wanted (his only chance of the week apparently!) to partake in the off piste lesson this morning but at the same time was supposed to be dropping his kids with me and with his wife ill he couldn't be in two places at once and since I needed to be involved in the drop off side of things this end we hatched a plan to meet slightly early at the meeting point so he could get back to Club Med to start his lesson.... a plan comes together - haha!

Anyway the two kids I had (14 and 12 brother and sister) hadn't skied since pre-covid but we got up and away on the Solaise and had a nice couple of early laps up top. There was about 10cm of nice fresh wintery powder up there and making the first turns down Madelaine was a nice way to start the day. Later we headed up glacier express and already the first injuries of the day came in... by 0930 the chopper was picking someone up from the piste who had decked themselves... not a good way to start your holidays really is it.

Talking of injuries (oh I did also see the SAMU chopper coming in for a serious injury at the bottom of the Face) today was the obligatory '1st day heroes'... by that what I mean is people have arrived, left their common sense behind, ramped up the ego's, thrown caution to the wind and gone hell for leather. That can take the form of trying to establish 'whose the most suicidal in the group' / who can straight line the most / who can ski the fastest / who can forget all technique they have ever been taught etc etc etc. Always the way.... as if we haven't seen it all before! So that means lots of idiots are not out of action (and in some cases their unfortunate unsuspecting victims) and for the rest hopefully they will have tired themselves out enough today to tone it down tomorrow! Welcome to wacky races!

Anyway the lesson went well although the girl developed such bad foot ache that she had to stop about 2/3 the way though so hope she is better for tomorrow and manages to get her boots sorted.

I headed home at lunchtime as had a change of lesson bookings for this afternoon and managed to get some admin done. I collected the kids mid afternoon too. They managed to play some Nintendo and wrote some thank you letters and generally we had a nice afternoon before Clare got home from work and we did the normal evening routine.

It was a little colder this morning than it has been and the melt freeze that we have now been through has seriously stabilised the snow pack somewhat which is great news. With the clear skies tonight the temps have really fallen tonight too! Tomorrow should be another nice day on the hill.

Despite this settling of the snow pack there was a large slide on the ridge above the Pays Desert yesterday afternoon (where we walk when we drop over to ski to Bonneval actually). Anyway the slide came well down into the Pays Desert and buried two people who were transceiver up. Thankfully they both got out OK - one had to be taken to hospital with a leg injury but it could have been a lot worse - talk about wrong place at wrong time but these things happen!

TTFN

The Face this morning was a mix of boiler plate with fresh pow on top - not the nicest!

First tracks on the Madeleine (after the pisteurs) - dont mind if I do!

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

Looks a mixed bag for the conditions. We arrive in Tignes NYE and hope the conditions will be ok. Can someone advise me, I have a son who is skiing for 2nd week having completed many hours at Hemel. He is 134 tall and I have been given a pair of decent conditions skis, 130, will these be ok or are they too long!?!

Help!!

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

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