 Poster: A snowHead
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Just come back for a short weekend in the Val d'Anniviers region. Warning - no actual ski photos in this TR!
Thurday night we left Leeds for the short drive to Robin Hood airport. What a delight regional airports are! We parked opposite the check in desks, walked across the road, checked in our bags, skis (Thomsonfly didn't seem to worry that much about weight), cleared security and had a pint in my hand 10 minutes after parking the car!
Arriving at Geneva, with my Holiday Autos hire slip in hand (thanks to the discount voucher posted on here), we make our way to Alamo desk, where the process is *very* slow. The kind gentleman informs me my Focus Station Wagon isn't available, so I can have a Merc C class now, or wait while they ship down a Cleo stationwagon. I go for the Merc....
Off we go to resort Z. I've paid for a self catering apartment from a local company, who assure me the keys and directions will be stuck on their front door! 2 hours later we crawl down a snowy main road and with some relief find an envelope with my name on it and some keys inside!
a few wheelspins later up a steep hill (was hiring a RWD car such a good idea now...) we arrive at the apartment. We are pleasantly surprised by it's size.
A quick G&T and off to bed..
Friday dawns cold and sunny so we head up the tram. The frontside is skied out, the pistes are lovely, and the place is very quiet as we expected. The freeride zone is shut. We try a few lines around the freeride area. The off piste is very strange, fresh snow is nice if a little heavy, but old tracks and kicked up lumps are hard and icy. Not that good.
Later on we drop over the back, after 20 or so turns my right ski comes off, I manage one turn with one ski and then face plant! Taking off my other ski to start sweeping I sink up to my thighs in powder. My wife get's out her shovel and we start searching. We both start to get a little nervous after 30 mins off searching. The slopes seems very stable, there are no signs of recent avalanches but as our dig area widens and goes up the hill, the anxiety increases. 40 mins later having followed the old rule that the ski is normally above you I work lower down from our first mark and happily find the ski!
We both ski out and follow the track back to the sun and the poma up.
I'm then banned from further adventures and spend the rest of the day on piste. The blacks are slick and fast, and the steep home run means we earn a beer in La Ferme.
It was getting very cold as the sun went off the hills past 2pm, so the next day I plan to goto resort S for more time in the sun.
As recommended by Brian we drive through resort S and park at resort C which is now a pay car park! 5 CHF later and we are up the fast chair. The ladies nip off to the loo, so we fire down the red for a warm up.
A few trips into the woods and discover the powder there is still nice and light, however the girls are keen to get back into the sun, so we head over to resort S. I manage to convince my wife to ski the high marked itinary with me, but speaking to the liftie it's closed due to the ava 3 rating. A real shame as the slope looked fantastic. I content myself with some nice light stuff above the trees and some horrible crusty stuff lower down.
My wife misses the connecting path I knew I would hit and ends up in the bottom of the valley, so once again I am in the dog house 
Skiing back we try another itinary, which is pretty well tracked out with re-frozen lumps, I manage to find some soft stuff, but another day, another face plant as I try a jump turn and my tips dig in! I've fallen over more in 2 days than I have for many a trip! Wondering about tweaking my bindings up half a notch.....
At the top of the last run we spy a huge sledge run down but by the time we get down to the lift hoping for a go, the lift has shut..
The sun sets as we pack the car and drive back.
We have a mission tonight to finish off the litre of gin we got on the way over, so some pizzas from the local supermarket aid the task and the mission is soon accomplished.
Sunday dawns grey with a few flakes around, the plan is to ski the long black down to resort G, whilst one of our party takes the bus. Down the path to the black we have to negotiate a dead Pistey Beastie which appears to have shed diesel or oil down the track and died.
The black is deserted, reasonable snow and we make swift progress to resort G and hook up with the lady who took the bus over. Despite lots of black clouds around visibility is pretty good and we avoid the storms that are gathering.
This is my first time in resort G and I'm very impressed, need to spend some more time here! We stick to the pistes today and leave at 3pm with a huge black from 2900m down to 1570m to get the bus back, shower and drive to Geneva.
Heavy traffic into Geneva around the lake and increasingly heavy snow make for an interesting drive. Once again a very quick and pleasant check in with ThomsonFly. Lots of flights delayed and cancelled and the new restaurant area is heaving.
We fortunately find a seat and are pleased to see our 10pm flight is only delayed 20 mins, this stretches to boarding 30 mins late, but we are happy not to be stuck in Geneva. We land in a snowy Robin Hood airport and drive back to Leeds. Our house is on a slight hill and we just manage to get the car up the hill and on the drive for a 1:30am arrival!
All in all a nice trip, with hindsight I think a local guide would have found some fantastic snow, but we were on a tight budget and couldn't stretch to a guide. Even better news was my wife like her wider/stiffer Fischer Vision Zeal skis that we bought in the end of season sales last year.
cheers,
Greg
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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kitenski, very nice report mate, We are thinking of going to that region mid-march along with 3 pals. It has been suggetsed we stay in resort G. Did you notice if there were many hotels their and did it G look to have more life than resort Z, i.e. bars/restaurants?
Cheers Greg
Greg
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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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Hi northantsred, I honestly couldn't answer your questions, we weren't there at night and I didn't really take notice of any hotels! I did talk to a Brit in a restaurant who runs a catered chalet there, if that interests you I'll dig out his card.
There is a snowhead who has place in G so hopefully he will be along soon........
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brian
brian
Guest
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Nice write up, Greg. 
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