Back from Les Carroz - report and achievements! - Long!

A snowHead

Well, we managed to sort out the hire car on the French side of Geneva airport without any problems and had a hilarious drive to Les Carroz due to the fact that one of the group had bought 2 walkie talkies so we had one in each car. Have to say it made the drive a lot easier with 2 cars as inbetween singing songs to each other the front car could easily report that we were turning right or 'look out for the next sign' if the car behind got a bit farther back. As a side note, they didn't work that well on the mountains except for the day when we we were happily chatting to the other group feeling really pleased that we could get through when it turned out they were inside the restaurant that we were sat outside Wink

Got to resort, no snow. Panicked a bit but were assured there was lots of snow on the pistes. Mon morning woke up to blue skies and gorgeous conditions, cue lots of whooping and laughing at how good it was to be back on skis! We were staying in La Cortiena chalet just below Les Carroz village with hosts Rick and Liz and this was our 2nd year there and a 4th time for Pete and Nic. Fantastic luxury chalet which is for sale if you have a lot more money than me Wink

Mon night, absolutely chucked it down in resort and again panicked, but it turned to snow in the night and woke up to a winter wonderland. There was snow everywhere and we fast realised that none of us could ski in powder Sad

This is my 10th week and believe it or not I've never skied the stuff. Here's a small video showing the conditions and our poor friends trying to get their skis back on after both falling and Nic getting Pete's ski lodged in her side! If you turn the volume up you can hear her wingeing.

http://youtube.com/v/TT6wD91ebmw (oh and ignore my husband's attempt to be funny).

Unfortunately, Tues night it rained heavily again and continued all day Weds. The pistes were empty but being true Brits we were out. Snow wasn't that bad and it kept trying to snow as we got higher and we would have stayed out longer than 2pm had it not being for my (old) goggles smearing with rain making it feel like I was skiing with someone else's prescription lenses. Only thing to do was to hit the bars. That evening hubby came down with some 24 hour bug and was literally in the bathroom from 9pm til 5am whilst we partied on with the chalet owners.

Thursday hubby couldn't ski as he was still drained and ill and I was going to stay in the chalet with him when the chalet owner came upstairs and asked if we wanted him to take us up to Flaine. I ended up crying (literally!) as was torn between staying and mopping hubby's brow and getting some ski guidance from a damn good skier! In the end the skiing won (I'm such a crap wife) and we headed off to Flaine where the conditions were perfect. Rick the chalet owner was helping our friends Pete and Nic with their technique as this is only their 4th week and I was just happily skiing away. Then, the highlight of my holiday happened!!

Rick said he had to head off back home at about 3pm and was going to leave us 3 to potter about in Flaine but feeling the guilt I decided to head back with him and look after hubby. As it was now just me and him he told me to follow and he took me on my first off piste experience. For those who know the area, we were at the top of the Grands Van chair out of Flaine about to head off left towards the Vernant car park. We skied towards a near vertical bit (at which point I said 'how the hell do I get down there) and had to slide down it before making our way down a gully and back to the car park. Didn't fall once, just did one turn at a time before planning my next one. Much hugging ensued and I couldn't stop grinning. Best thing was, if he'd told me what we were about to do I, fear would have taken over and I would have said no and missed out. He said he knew I was capable and bottling out wasn't my style. Talk about compliment coming from a slightly scary guy who calls a spade a spade and will happily walk over to people and make them pick up their dropped cigarettes so they don't litter the mountain.

Friday we headed back to Flaine, hubby skied but felt weak. Snow was a bit slushy and we saw a lovely run when we were on the chair lift; the Lucifer for those who know Flaine. It had a sign up which having asked a French woman for a translation said something along the lines of 'ski at your own risk, unpisted'. We decided against it but on the way back up it was too hard to resist. It wasn't particularly steep just a very bumpy red. After Thursday's off piste my confidence was at an all time high and although I've never really skied the bumps I got down without falling but with the grace of an overweight ballerina. Hubby had a bad day and fell 3 times (and fell on my banana I'd shoved in his rucksack which squidged into his camera) which was odd as he's a better skier than me. He wouldn't do the run again despite me nagging and we headed home. I felt invincible and went off piste down the outside of a blue run as there were bumps.

Saturday, extremely icy in the morning and we were back in Flaine having driven there with the intention of driving back to Les Carroz for the afternoon to finish on the home runs. Now it was my turn to have a bad day. Decided to ski the Lucifer again and although I didn't fall I was terrible and it felt like my legs were on backwards. As I was turning around a bump a guy fell behind me and his ski skated past me so I quickly turned to try and grab it. Looked back and he was skiing the moguls on one leg and just grabbed the ski as he flew past - shouted merci and shoved his ski on and was off like the wind - awesome. The other 2 were having an equally bad day having never skied icy slopes before so we split up and they stayed on the lower slopes in Flaine for a bit whilst we skied back to Les Carroz. Met up for lunch then after a couple of crappy runs (not the snow - me) I called it a day and waited in the car as I'd twisted my knee on the bumps and was skiing like I was in first year ski school.

All over too quickly but had a fantastic time. There were 4 others with us too who were on their 2nd year and one of the girls spent last year absolutely terrified of anything other than a flat slope. This year she was amazing; she'd figured out the snow plow/step turn and would go down anything slowly but surely and when others were panicking on the busy runs into Flaine from Les Carroz she kept her line and just snowplough turned her way down them. I was in total admiration for her, she was a complete star.

So, all in all a fab week, I had my first off piste experience and found out that I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE the bumps! It was also the first week I felt that I'd really improved hugely in the course of 6 days.

Anyway sorry for rattling on.

P.S. The flight home was hilarious, the chief steward was about 60 and had a really broad Yorkshire accent and everyone was doubled up as he was reading out the 'and luggage instructions. It was like the Hale and Pace sketch on Yorkshire Airlines
http://youtube.com/v/DaS2sy2rXes (yes I'm from Yorkshire, and yes I do have 2 greyhounds - rescued and retired;)

A snowHead

AllyK, Brilliant post, you've got me really excited for next week. I shall watch out for the bumps, I'm not very good at them but at least I laugh at them now instead of swearing......

Hope your hubby is completely better now, you only went skiing cos you were a good wife and knew he needed uninterupted rest & recuperation

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Lou, I used to hate the bumps but I find them a lot more challenging and fun than just going down a slope now and I laugh a lot more! As for hubby, instead of the pottering around town drinking vin chaud he promised me, he ended up spending 30 mins in a sports shop and walking back before falling asleep all pathetic on the sofa for the rest of the day, so I definitely did the right thing Smile

PhillipStanton, I hate the sound of my own voice Sad

Husband is actually a southerner who is getting more northern sounding the longer he lives with me and my large whippets Wink

Edited to say: Lou, where are you going? Flaine?

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

AllyK, Flaine and then Les gets (like home Very Happy

) for a few days after. We did same week last year and had a blast. Hot sun, great snow, fresh snow mid week.

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Ooh sounds good! How do you do it then? Hire a car and book a few nights in each resort? Never been to Les Gets, worth going?

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

Yep getting really excited now Very Happy

We are staying for a week in Flaine, (drive from UK) and then a few nights in LG. We did it last year and were half expecting the LG bit to be a walking holiday but although it was late and some runs were closed, we had a really great time. We go there as much as poss but trying to at least try out some other resorts at the least snowsure times!
Les Gets is a typical alpine village, with pretty tree-lined slopes 1172-2002m, easy access from Geneva, good variety of runs for all levels, particularly beginners & intermediates. Avoriaz is an easy drive/bus journey. Lots of good reasonable places to eat, in village and on mountain. Too many Brits though! Would avoid February as busy.
Just starting to think of next year......

After all it is free

AllyK, loved your post and your video, brought back happy memories of last year - we stayed in Morillon but loved the tree lined pistes above Les Carroz. Your snow looked great - much better than we had last year. Lucifer is a great run, one of my favourites in Flaine - well done on making the most of your holiday. Men are much better with peace and quiet, imo Smile

smwbounce, believe me, the snow was miles better this year. We were there in Jan last year and it was appalling! Nice to have Flaine on the doorstep for a bit of higher altitude Smile

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good to hear the report. am off to Les Carroz at the end of March and cannot wait! Lots of snow forecast for the Easter w/e

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Back from Les Carroz - report and achievements! - Long!

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