 Poster: A snowHead
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On a rather argumentative thread today I read something like "people come here to read about other people's skiing holidays" so I thought I'd post a little diary of our holiday in Verbier last week. And in respect of the new rule about posting thumbnails, I'll only put those in and you can click on them for the bigger picture if you want.
On Friday 19th January we flew into Geneva. We've always hired a car for transfers, but because this was a special week for me (as some of you may know!) we decided to travel by train to Verbier. What a treat that was - our flight was early, so we walked downstairs to the station, bought tickets straight through, and were sitting on the train which left at 10.27. Precisely.
We had a beautiful view as the track ran all the way around Lake Lausanne and then carried on to Martigny, where we had to change onto the St. Bernard Express. We arrived in Le Chable, a small town in the valley below Verbier, at around 1300. Got our luggage onto the platform and there was snowball and Cedric with some of their friends. We were all staying in the same hotel! Le Chable was green, but that was ok, we hadn't expected any snow down there.
There's a gondola right by the platform in Le Chable that takes you straight up to the Medran in Verbier, which snowball and his friends used every day since they were staying in the valley for the week.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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RachelQ, you haven't mentioned me yet 
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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spyderjon, don't be so impatient 
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Le Chable is a lovely place, with a centre of beautiful ancient wooden buildings, many of which have been renovated with great style. We decided it was somewhere we could quite happily buy a place if it wasn't so expensive putting our boys through university. A good lunch and a long yomp, and it was time for dinner and bed.
Next morning we caught the Postbus up to Verbier, about a 20 minute ride all included in the train fare, were met by the Peak Ski guys and were in our chalet by 10.00, unpacked, coffeed, ski passes delivered and were on the lift at 1115. It was lovely and snowy up there, and the sun was shining
John stood still long enough for me to take a picture looking down over La Chaux.
We skiied for a few hours, and went back down to Verbier for a very late lunch sitting outside in the warm sunshine. Linds, Spyderjon and Marc Gledhill joined us afterwards for coffee/beer. Then it was time for après!
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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brian
brian
Guest
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Frosty the Snowman, yes soon, but I needed my dinner, and some sleep in a few minutes. It's tough being back at work. Did you notice that it was only the trousers not the jacket? John bought a new jacket with a bit of lime green to go with the trousers. Lime green is definitely this year's black - it's everywhere.
brian, I don't know how long the gondola ride is - but it's got to be quicker than the 20 minutes on the bus. And you're right, the lake is Léman, and Lausanne the region we went through 
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Sunday morning dawned bright and clear again. We hadn't skiied in Verbier for 16 years, so we thought we might, for the first time ever, ski with the Ski club rep. We went up to the meeting place for 9.00, thinking we'd check him and the group out from a distance, and if we liked the look of him and it we might just join for the day. And what fun it was. Nigel knew the resort inside out and we skiied longer and harder than we would have if we'd been on our own, covering lots of miles and enjoying the company of some very nice people.
We enjoyed it so much we did the same again on Monday when we went up to Mont Fort and down the glacier and the itinerary to Tortin amongst other things.
Then on Tuesday morning (my birthday) we had our first ski clinic with NewGen. Except it wasn't a clinic, because there were only the two of us, so it was more like a private lesson. Sandy was great, identifying our weaknesses after one run. He had us skiing by numbers, so our turns were smoother (mine anyway, John's were already pretty good, but I have a tendency to rush my turns). We did big wide sweeping turns on the count of eight, or lots of very short turns on the count of one, but they all had to be smooth, on whatever gradient. Two and a half hours went by very quickly. Then lunch, then it started to snow 
We practised in the falling snow for a couple of hours and skiied back into Verbier for a beer in the Offshore (the bar with the pink car) with the other snowHeads. After a bit we walked back home, and although this piccy is blurry, just look at the snow falling in what was earlier a town with no white bits anywhere
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Wednesday morning should have felt a bit rough after celebrating my birthday with Linds, Spyderjon, Marc Gledhill and a few guest appearances from other snowHeads. Plenty of beer, wine, more beer and tequila shots and a late night ought to mean a sore head. But who has time for a sore head when this is the view from the balcony
Yesterday morning it had all been green grass and trees, and we couldn't wait to get out and play. Up the top of the Medran lift first thing it was still snowing and not much was open above Les Ruinettes. We heard the eerie booming sound of avalanches being set off every now and then, and for a while just skiied up and down under the Ruinettes chair getting used to the deep snow. The cloud starting thinning out and the sun just peeped through now and then and we headed over to Savoleyres and skiied through the trees down La Tzoumaz a few times. It was as good on piste as off, just wonderful.
Thursday morning was our second lesson with Sandy, he spent some time teaching compression turns, which John picked up much faster than me, and we did a bit of hiking to get to some lovely deep snow beside the La Chaux black run which we did a few times.
After lunch we went up to Mont Fort and skiied there and down to Tortin where we met up with Spyderjon and skiied with him for a while. Sandy had said to me that morning to keep my arms very forward and low, so I'm not sure quite what was going on here
but Mont Fort is very steep. Why doesn't it ever look steep in the pictures?
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| RachelQ wrote: |
| Linds, Spyderjon and Marc Gledhill joined us afterwards for coffee/beer. |
That's simply untrue.
There was no coffee involved at all!
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Weird, I was in town last week too ! Forgot until Thursday that I was supposed to contact you guys (was having so much fun in the new snow) by the time I had remmebered to ring I was a bit embarrased at leaving it so late. BUT I think I remember seeing you with the Ski Club guy and if thats you in the white I think I skied past you....The new snow was really nice but with no real snow base my ski bases are really battered. First time in Verbier, great resort even in the marginal conditions early in the week. Did you grab a brownie at the Cabane Mont Forte ?
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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| Quote: |
| but Mont Fort is very steep. Why doesn't it ever look steep in the pictures? |
A listing Photographer ?
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admin, That looks suitiably scary now
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You know it makes sense.
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Hey, that's better admin, why didn't I see that, me being a graphic designer and all. Makes my high arms look even worse though!
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Poster: A snowHead
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Linds, ha, you beat me to it. Look at Dawn Chorus - I thought it was more like 0200, but maybe that was the time we got back to our chalet after John dragged me past the Casbah, cos I wanted to go in there on the way back.
And, Linds and marc, I'd like it to be known, for my reputation's sake, that John and I both had an expresso after our lunch and bottle of wine and didn't have any more beer until we went somewhere else 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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And so to Friday, our last day. It was a blue sky day, but bitterly cold. Fingers were frozen beyond pain on the first chair lift, but the snow was gorgeous. We skiied a lovely off piste bit somewhere high above Medran, no idea where it was, but there was a stream going through it, that someone in our group found! Then we went up to Mont Fort again and came down the Glacier and itineraire route and down to Tortin where we had a coffee to warm up. From there down to Siviez and up to Combatzeline and up again to Greppon Blanc.
We were the last in our group up the chair, and when we got off at the top, I saw everyone taking their skis off and putting them on their shoulders. It was quite a steep climb up and over the ridge. It's hard when you're trying to climb in the boot steps of a 6 foot + male and you're only 5'4 and a half! I had to kick my own foot holes sometimes, and if there was rock underneath it took a lot of effort to stop sliding back, harder still lugging heavy skis. We stood at the top for a minute getting our breath back, and then looked over the edge to the left. How worth it was that! Verbier is famous for it's powder being used up as soon as it falls, how had they missed this! Apart from a dozen tracks the snow was untouched as far as the eye could see.
I called this picture Les Masses, but it isn't in fact, I think it's La Mache or something like that. It's not named on the piste map.
I've never skiied such perfect powder. The sun was sparkling on the snow like a million little snow fairies dancing about, and we floated through it with effortless turns and no one but us to be seen. Except for our exclamations of pure joy there wasn't a sound to be heard.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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John Heaton
John Heaton
Guest
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RachelQ, Fantastic antidote! Thanks 
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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brian, Le Chable-Medran takes 6 minutes and another 7 minutes up to Ruinnettes (no need to get of and change lift)
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brian
brian
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rungsp, thanks. So you can sort yourself out with a 4Vs pass down in Le Chable then ? Is parking free and easy at the gondola ? I'm thinking I might have a wee day trip round to Verbier at easter.
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brian
brian
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RachelQ, excellent diary !
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brian, thank you. It was fun to write cos it brought all the brilliant memories back.
There's a big car park right next to the gondola, don't know if it's free though.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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It is free, but will fill up quickly at Easter. You can by the 4V pass there.
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FAQ
