 Poster: A snowHead
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Even more snow overnight
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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looks like you'll be heading home soon then johnnyboy, since there can't be much to do there.
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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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Amazingly though, even some of the runs close to town were practically empty; you can just spot one other person in the distance on this run.
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I'm not in the slightest bit jealous. I am going to work tomorrow in Corby(Northants) and Southam(Warwicks), personally I would much rather be doing totally sensible things and getting on with my life as a responsible adult. These posts must stop. They are becoming far too distracting!!!!
 greg
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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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I really think that I ought to give up reading this thread 
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johnnyboy, Good Man ... you've fired me up if nothing else !
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So, arrived safe and sound in an apartment that did actually exist and yet to be done in by my axe wielding travel companion, life was looking good. Having unpacked a few bits and bobs, we decided to we had earned a beer, so we wandered off in search of refreshment. For anyone who has not been to Val Thorens, it is a bit of a rabbit warren, but fortunately Mark knew where we were going and showed me a couple of fine hostelries before we strolled back, through the now thickly falling snow and crashed out for some much needed sleep. This is where I started, waking up early the next morning and composing my first entry!
According to Paul (Mark’s instructor friend) we had a good 40cm that night, but as he also said we had 40cm the following night I wonder if there is any accuracy to the figure; one thing is for sure, it certainly snowed quite heavily, as there was fresh all over the resort. We were both up early and ready for the off, Mark disappearing to dig his car out and move it to a more permanent parking spot before a days skiing with Paul, whilst I had to try to sort some skis out.
Although I own 2, yes 2 pairs of boots (don’t ask, I’ll bore you with it later) after only 2 and a bit weeks skiing, I had yet to get any skis, and was now faced with a bit of a dilemma. Skis that would suit me now would almost certainly not be suitable in the second half of the season, and I have been given conflicting advice on how best to proceed. I had come round to the idea that I might be best suited by a relatively easy and hopefully quite cheap piste ski initially, to help me develop my technique with a view to buying proper all mountain skis later in the season. I could certainly see the sense in this, and decided this was probably my best course of action. I had a quick look in the shop within the apartment complex, then wandered up to have a look at some more shops in the town. I eventually came back to the first shop, feeling that they had as good a selection as any of the others, and any issues I had wouldn’t require a treck halfway across town to get it rectified.
I stood there admiring the great selection they had and Damion came over and asked if I needed any help; like he wouldn’t believe! I explained my situation, that I’m a beginner who will be here for the season, and asked what he felt would be my best way forward. He showed me some lovely all mountain skis that I might like to progress to, but then came the problem of getting me to a level where I could appreciate such beasts without spending a fortune. He suggested that a last season ski might be a good bet, and led me back outside the shop to the rack of specials that had been one of the reasons I had picked this shop in the first place. They had a good range of skis for under 300 euros, and given my ability (or lack thereof) he started to narrow down the range. One possibility came in 163s and 170s.
The great length debate, again relating back to various previous threads here! I am about 173 I think or just over 5’8” in proper language, and felt the 163 would be about right. Damion was at least trying to look beyond the quick sale and suggested that the 170s would give me more scope in the future, but eventually came round to my way of thinking (shorter to help me improve now) as long as I agreed to consider something a bit longer when I was looking for my all mountain skis. He carried on along the rack checking the suitability of the remaining skis before coming to the last pair. These were the same price as the other contender, but were second hand rather than a discontinued model, and, new, would have been a much more expensive ski. Damion felt that they would offer more scope and would still be a decent piste ski for me at the end of the season, and they came in 165s so we even had a bit of a compromise on the length issue.
We agreed that I would try them for a day or two, and make a decision, so I made off with a pair of Salomon Crossmax 10s for my first taste of skiing at Val Thorens. I kitted up and made my way down to the ski lockers and out onto the piste. The lift passes can be bought from the gondola station just across the piste from the apartment, so that was easily sorted, but then I had to decide where to go. The gondola only gave access to reds and blacks as the blue was shut, so I thought a more gentle introduction might be a good idea. A quick look at the piste map and I decided on a chair lift just below the gondola that led to a blue back through the town. Perfect (not a word that is often associated with my skiing!).
After an uneventful chairlift experience (thank goodness for BZK!) I emerged on the piste and saw, snow! Not really a surprise I suppose, but it wasn’t just snow, it was fresh snow; the piste was entirely covered in fresh, unbashed snow. My latest skiing was on the glacier at L2A, but my 2 proper weeks skiing had been in glorious 8 degree sunshine with only one afternoon of rain at Alpe d’Huez. I was used to beautifully groomed runs, but this was something quite outside my experience. I stopped halfway down and my skis disappeared in over a foot of snow; it really was amazing.
This was all quite difficult for me, as I had no experience whatsoever of anything other than perfectly groomed piste, or ice! In all honesty, I struggled; frankly my technique wasn’t up to it, and, as any beginner will confirm, skiing can be bloody hard work even in the easiest of conditions, but this was testing me to the limit of both my ability and my fitness. I looped back round and tried the same lift and run again, and was slightly less ragged, but I also found the visability, or lack there of, a bit of an issue. I was used to glorious sunshine and perfectly groomed piste; here I had cloudy or actually snowing, and piste that the bashers just weren’t able to keep groomed due to the fact that it wouldn’t stop snowing!
However, as the day progressed I felt I made a little progress; I did have one slight problem when I ran off the edge of a piste (by about 2 metres) due to being cut up by a sodding darksider, and took a tumble. Neither binding released, but I was in two foot or more of powder. With both legs downslope of me, I tried to push myself up, but my poles just disappeared! Again, an entirely new situation, only 2 metres off piste. Eventually I had to pop a binding to let me get to my feet, and I was somewhat relieved that I could manage to get the ski back on quite so easily in powder up to my thighs.
I carried on until about 3pm, and was just emerging from the ski lockers when I bumped into Mark, mobile in hand, trying to call me; I had only been provided with one set of keys, and so we needed to meet up to let him get into the apartment, or to dump his skis in the locker. Perfect timing. We went over to the locker and I showed him the skis I had been trying all day; despite less than ideal conditions for what was primarily a piste ski, I had really enjoyed them. I felt they were short and light enough to be easily handled, but when I had tried to really use an edge I found them very responsive ( like I know what I’m talking about!). To be honest, I had just found them to be a really fun ski that I felt I could handle, especially when I got the chance to use them in more suitable conditions, so I nervously awaited Mark’s impression of my possible new babies. “Yeah, I’d recommend them” he said, “I’ve got a pair upstairs in your apartment!”.
That more or less sold me on them; Paul had a quick look at them the next day to check they were in OK condition, and confirmed that, at 200 euros, they were competitively priced, so I soon became the proud owner of my first pair of skis, Salomon Crossmax 10s in a 165. Big grin all round,
I realise that , so far, am I losing ground (time wise) on real life, but, in all honesty, all the fun stuff has been and gone now; all future reports will, I’m sure, be even more boring than what I’ve already posted, but that will mean I can easily catch up on the intervening days and be posting current stuff relating to conditions. In short, it has hardly stopped snowing since I arrived, visability has been far from good most of the time, whether due to low cloud or falling snow, and the bashers have, until today, been fighting a losing battle to keep pistes anything like remotely groomed. Only about 20cm fell last night, and though it has been snowing on and off all day, pistes are finally starting to look like pistes (well, some of them at any rate). The forecast is for brighter conditions towards the end of the week, and the resort is confidently predicting that all runs and lifts will, wind permitting, be open by the weekend.
If you’ve made it through that lot, well done you sad gits!
Ttfn
Johnnyboy
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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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johnnyboy, excellent - you should turn this into a book !
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johnnyboy, great next installment
you'll soon be an expert in the powder!
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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johnnyboy, Boring. You should try working. Reads like a Jack reacher novel compared to work 
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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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You know it makes sense.
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| Smokin Joe wrote: |
| johnnyboy, excellent - you should turn this into a book ! |
I agree! You write so well, we can't wait for the next installment!
(and you are brave to ski in poor visibility--shows great determination!  )
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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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False modesty begone! Each installment is more thrilling than the last 
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Poster: A snowHead
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Good instalment johnnyboy, want more, want more, want more 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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johnnyboy, I'm late to the thread as usual but it sounds brilliant and makes great reading, hope all goes well and look forward to following progress.
Also thirded what Headplant & riverman said!
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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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Excellent stuff johnnyboy, made a boring afternoon in Buffalo much more tolerable. Real jealous about the powder conditions.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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johnnyboy, glad to hear it's all going so well - looking forward to the next installment. I just did my first run in pow this weekend - I know exactly what you mean!
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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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I'm off to read War and Peace instead of this thread. Will be quicker 
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Identified with quite a lot of that! Powder is wasted on me!
Nice reading, thanks!
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Lovely stuff! Bet you can't wait to get back to the ice at the PSB next year though .
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Excellent - looking forward to the next installment.
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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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I’ve suffered my first injury of the season, right after posting last night! Having checked a few emails and posted here, I was off to join Mark in Le Bowling Club which had coverage of 3 of last night’s Champions League games. I stood up and, ouch. While I had been sat down my right leg, or more precisely the bottom of my hamstring/back of my knee, had really tightened up, and was quite painful to walk on. I struggled round to Le Bowling in search of the obvious first remedy which handily comes in pint glasses, repeat as necessary! However, even that didn’t really help too much, so the good old ibuprofen gel has made its first appearance of the trip.
The forecast for today was bright spells but some cloud (a vast improvement on what we have had so far) but what we got was a slight wisp of cloud until about 9am, by which time it had burnt off and we were blessed with bright blue skies and glorious sunshine. It was great being out there today, and I was skiing more in the vein that earned me my skiing nickname back on my first trip. It must have been on the second afternoon; I was in ski school in the mornings, as was one other member of our party, Juliette. Her boyfriend, a very good mate of mine called Martyn, would collect us from ski school like a dutiful parent, and take us off to meet the rest of the party for lunch, before proceeding to ski with us in the afternoon. Martyn is a very good skier, and he has also passed an instructors course (though has yet to log the required hours to be properly qualified). He would have us doing simple drills and practicing the stuff we had been taught in ski school, and so we were making our way down a run, only a green, back into 1850. Juliette had skied a week before that trip, so she was very neat and tidy as we slowly zigzagged down the run, her leading the way. Martyn was actually skiing backwards in front of me, as I was in far more need of his attention.
As we were heading for the bottom of the run, it narrows a little and was prone to get a little icy, mainly due to it being shaded by some trees to the right of the piste. Juliette had made her right hand turn at the left side of the piste and was heading in an orderly manner back across the piste. I, on the other hand, couldn’t turn where I wanted because someone whizzed past me, and that was it; I suddenly hit a patch of ice and I was off. I picked up speed at an alarming rate and was shooting down the piste in anything but a controlled fashion. As Juliette made her turn at the other side of the piste she noticed Martyn, who is quite distinctive in his all black kit, helmet included, in a tuck shooting down towards the bottom of the piste. She was mentally chastising him for having deserted me, then realised he was actually trying to catch me up! Somehow, after many oohs and aahs from Martyn behind me, I eventually managed to put in something that vaguely resembled a turn , which was just as well as I was heading straight for some trees at the time, and gradually I managed to take some speed off and gain as much control as I was capable of at that time before coming to a halt. Martyn stopped next to me with a look of genuine relief on his face, but I honestly think it was at that moment that I was completely hooked. It also earned me my nickname of Jet Pack Johnny.
The contrast between yesterday afternoon and this morning couldn’t have been much greater; Mark and I skied together yesterday afternoon, and we were sat on chairlifts with visability barely beyond the chair in front. We could have been on a chairlift going off the edge of the world, and I always find there is an eerie calm in such situations. Today, however, I was spoiled by the raw beauty that is part of the skiing experience; snow covered peaks rising all around, bathed in brilliant sunshine and capped by clear blue skies. This meant that, for the first time since arriving, I was actually able to proper see where I was skiing, with confidence that I had proper depth perception of the piste ahead of me. In addition, the piste bashers are finally starting to catch up, and more and more of the piste is properly groomed. What a contrast to previous days when I was having to cope not only with poor visability, but also the prospect of running into a foot or more of powder in the middle of the piste, which I couldn’t pick out due to the, wait for it, poor visability!
Mark has told me that I skied some of the same runs today as I did yesterday; I have no way whatsoever of saying any different, because I couldn’t see them yesterday. However, they looked lovely today, so I’ll post some pics; I’m afraid I haven’t got an artistic bone in my body so I have no idea about compostion etc. Looking at them now, they really don’t do justice to just how beautiful it was out there today.
On a reporting note, most of the links between the valleys were open today; Mark made it over to Courchevel , and even I popped over to Meribel this afternoon. It was practically deserted, and Mark said the same for Courchevel. The Les Menuires links to Meribel were still mostly closed though. By the way, another clear day is forecast for tomorrow.
That will have to do for now as I have to upload the pics.
Ttfn
Johnnyboy
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View from my balcony this morning
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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And again
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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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Val Thorens from a piste
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You know it makes sense.
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Stunning scenery
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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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And again
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Poster: A snowHead
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johnnyboy, Looks really really bad out there today 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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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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johnnyboy, looking at your lovely pics..., we are all dribbling here in snowless land....
Last edited by Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see? on Wed 12-12-07 20:34; edited 1 time in total
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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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One last one
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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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ohhh-- looks like heaven!...
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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johnnyboy, wow
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johnnyboy,
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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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johnnyboy, you are a b@5tard! Today I have 16 weeks and 1 day to wait until I can ski (not that I am counting). It's a bit like somebody waving a deep-fried Mars Bar at a Glaswegian.
(thanks for the pics  )
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johnnyboy, .... I presume your TV setup isn't your top priority at the moment ... 
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FAQ
