 brian
brian
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"Neige garantie jusqu'a Pâques" says the big sign as you leave Grimentz. This was our first chance to put it to the test and we weren't disappointed.
We arrived on Easter Sunday in time to get everything sorted for the next day, including my skis in for a much needed service after bouncing off far too many rocks at christmas. The weather was beautiful, setting the tone for the week: warm and sunny. There was still plenty of snow to ski to the village on the cannoned run but snow cover was generally going lower down.
On Monday morning, mrs b was otherwise detained at the first meeting of our co-prop, so I took the kids up the hill, dropped the little one at ski school and skied around with the other. Being a local holiday, it was quite busy but the queues were never more than a couple of minutes. After lunch, I met fatbob who was in the area for the weekend, and we had a cruise around, finding some nice spring snow and had fun in a couple of nice little chutes. Unfortunately some numpty left his camera down the hill 
Tuesday, and elder son Euan and I headed for Zinal where we were met with the somewhat unpleasant surprise of a 30 minute plus queue for the cable car. There was some kind of large kids' holiday group in the village and the cable car is small enough to be a bit of a bottleneck. Once up the mountain, the crowd dispersed though and we had a lovely morning. Zinal is surrounded by 4000m+ peaks, the "Couronne Impériale".
Wednesday we were back in Grimentz, skiing as a family which was lovely. Younger son now being up to speed. Unfortunately disaster struck on the last run of the day as we headed down to meet at the top of the gondola. Mrs b, a competent skier,
... took an inexplicable tumble off the edge of a quiet gentle track. She was heading down with the little one while I was skiing an extra run with Euan. I got a confused phone call as she was speaking to a Swiss woman in French, who had come to her aid, when the call connected, followed by telling me it was a serious one. I shepherded Euan down as fast as safely possible, but before we reached her a pisteur zoomed past so at least I knew help was on its way. She had somersaulted over into a snowless rocky bank and was covered in a mixture of earth and blood. The pisteur cleaned her up enough to dress the wound and a skidoo ambulance arrived to take her down. She ended up with a large banana shaped bald patch and seven stitches in a head wound. Ouch !
With mrs b out of action I skied Thursday morning with one son and the afternoon with the other.
Douglas, who's 6, wasn't that fussed on skiing when he first tried it a couple of years ago, but his enthusiasm has fairly built up and now he can get about all over the mountain.
Friday saw the first (and only) break in the wall to wall sunshine as it gradually clouded over through the day. I met ise and Bandit for an afternoon and we had some fun attempting to be delicate in the not exactly light and fluffy snow.
The days had been getting quieter and quieter through the week but with a bit of an exodus of the last weekly holidaymakers on the Saturday, the weekend was practically deserted. Mrs b was back on the slopes, a bit nervously but with the security of her new helmet.
It was a great way to sign off our first season in the valley. Back at work now though and it seems an awful long way until December.  Luckily we'll be back in July, the biking and walking will hopefully stave off the worst of the snow starvation.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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That couloir looks interesting - did you try it? Hope Mrs B better - what bad luck - not good for one's vanity!
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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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Good to see the accident did not reduce your piste time 
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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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Hope Mrs B is up and about soon.
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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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Nice Photos, and I hope that the family enjoy many more holidays without the accidents next time.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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brian
brian
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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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Was Monsieur Walrus still playing jolly accordion music? 
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brian
brian
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Ray Zorro, indeed. I decided to burrow her mss name since she no longer posts here.
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brian
brian
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rob@rar, he certainly was. In fact there was even a live band playing jolly accordion music on Sunday for the last day of the season. They had to hand out free wine to make it bearable. 
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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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Following on from another much subscribed topic..did she have a helmet on?
If she didn't would it have helped?? 
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brian,
Looks great..did you scope ths dam run from Zinal...? I think your youngest could handle it in good snow..... its only the top bit that can be a bit rocky.
But you'd know what he could do... after that its a doddle and an adventure for him. Maybe you should have a look first, that would be prudent
Maybe we can meet you out there next year and there is always LG...for sure.
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brian
brian
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cfc5mu0, no and yes.
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brian
brian
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JT, I had a look over the back, looked nice down to the dam. Not sure how much walking would've been involved on the track back to Grimentz though. fatbob came over the Chamois from Zinal and had a bit of a trek I think. There were also a load of big wet slab avalanches on the slope above the track, some coming down quite close to it, although I reckon it would've been pretty safe in the morning.
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Poster: A snowHead
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brian,
Apart from a steep pitch the other side of the dam and the walk over the dam is 5-10 mins..!! then the path does not lose much height as it is a walking path all the way to Grimentz. There is another steep pitch from the path which looked ok but we couldn't see where it went so we saw the ski instructors avoid that...and we discreetly followed him
In fact, you can walk up to the dam from the piste that skis down to Grimentz, in the summer. The start would be about 100mtrs above the gondola lift station. The drops over the side of the path might need a review if you had kids on the bike tho'
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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JT
The backside down to the dam looked pretty good from Zinal but morning only skiing I suspect in the temperatures. The main run down to Grimentz had some decent powder still in a couple of the chutes in the top bowl but portions of the track had completely melted out - I suspect that any track or run out from the dam would have been even barer. Good snowpack up at Grimentz though.
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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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fatbob,
I'd expect that... it was in good nick the few times we did it and there is a nice gully that you can get to quite easily...but you can only see it from the Dam though. I was there late Jan and snow was good.... we never did the Chamois though as the Dam always won though. I will pop back there next year for more exploration. There are another couple of valleys we want to look at. And a car is the best thing. Hopefully that will keep the valley 'honest '
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brian
brian
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JT, the lift companies are pursuing a joint plan for a Grimentz-Zinal liaison, likely a cable car. The timescale they're talking about is summer 2010. Obviously I have deeply mixed feelings. 
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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,
hmmmm that road up will stop things happening...might keep the numbers reasonable and there really isn't any way round that...!!
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FAQ
not jealous me, no way, not at all, nope not even a little bit 
