The view from............ Val d'Isere and the Espace Killy

A snowHead

And on the 10th anniversary to the day of my dad's death. This one is for him today. Miss and love you.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

She only went and did it!

It's been a roller coaster of a day!

Firstly I survived a night camping in our van but getting 'up' this morning in the cold was real tough. The weather has teased us all day... Generally cloudy with periods of heavy snow but then moments when the sun said hello too.

So after getting a croissant and coffee breakfast I was at the bottom of the race stade nice and early.

Her first run wasn't her best at all unfortunately and nerves (hers and mine!) meant she came 13th in run 1... But the timings were very close and there was less than 1 second between 1 and 13! Alll to play for in run 2.!

A warm up (it was BALTIC up there) and then she was back on course.

Run 2 was MUCH better and she came 5th in that run. So she finished 8th overall in the French (National) U12 girls GS Coq d'Or competition. Yayyyyyyyyyyy

Much celebrating!

This afternoon and evening has been a combination of going to the awards ceremony, I treated myself to a couple of hours in the spa and swimming pool and have just consumed a HUGE côté du bœuf meal washed down with some beers. But now back in the van for another night as tomorrow there's (televised on YouTube) the parallel knock out GS competition. She's hoping for a top 4 in that... We shall see.

If someone can sort these photo links out from ImgBB for me so the pics show that would be awesome please. Not sure how to do.... Need a tech helper.

Proudest of dads day today.

Back home to my own bed tomorrow night and day off on Sunday.

TTFN

P.S As you'll see in the photos below about 10 of the French World Cup team were there to give the prizes out. Pretty awesome!

You need to Login to know who's really who.

There you go Steve - I've been waiting to hear how Olivia got on, I'm so happy for her, and you too Very Happy

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Thanks Steve, that's a great explanation!

Amazing news for Olivia today. Congratulations to her!

You'll need to Register first of course.

Well done again, Olivia!

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

@Steve Angus, Wow! Top 8 in a top ski country like France. Fantastic and well done.

Worth the night in the camper van and the dedication all have put into getting to this stage.

I bet you’re all proud and well deserved. Heavenly grandparents looking down proudly too I’m sure.

Well if there aren’t balloons, an extra poached egg and a cake waiting back in La Daille, snowHeads will want to know why.

Double chapeau!

After all it is free

Great news Steve. Well done Olivia!

Fantastic. Well done Olivia. Enjoy tomorrow.

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

motyl - thank you and especially thank you for being my stand in tech hand last couple of days. Back at the laptop now
Owlette - great glad that helped! Thank you
KSH - thank you
PeakyB - ah thats lovely - yes quite an achievement - and it was two nights in the van actually - this morning was colder than yesterday morning -15!
philhitch - again thank you.

Well if yesterday was pure positive emotion today was other emotions!

Im back at the laptop this evening which helps post these things rather than typing on the phone keypad!

So as said it was even colder this morning in the van - even my half drunk bottle of orange juice was frozen - eeeeek. Anyway I knew it would warm up but still needed to layer up before that happened!

The pain of getting up and ready over with I headed to the slopes for the parallel slalom event. In short its a random draw of the 32 ranked girls and they go head to head once on exactly parallel (measured with tape measures etc) blue gated course and then red gated course.... they carry over when they swap to the alternate colour course the time advantage or disadvantage and after being on both courses the first to the bottom goes through to the next round. So 32 down to 16 and so forth. There was the category of U12 girls, boys and same again at U14. Obvisouly the first round takes about 1.5hours, next round about an hour and it gets quicker as less racers are left.

So anyway the whole finish area was a hive of parents watching, the TV cameras were rolling - it was broadcast live on Youtube - maybe theres a replay out there somewhere. All the sponsors tents were up, a bar / cafe sort of thing, many of the racers not competing and of course other interested parties. Game on.

You can see some of the runs on my instagram as friends of ours recorded it for us (complete with their commentary as well which is quite funny). Its pretty cool as there are French commentators on it too! So she made it safely through the first round and then was leading in the first leg in the second round.... next up she had the second leg of the second round and despite being slow out the start she really put her foot down and flew down the middle of the course. Then, even she doesnt know, the unthinkable happened and she managed to trip herself up and she fell.. she almost slid over the finish line but it wasnt to be and she lost the run. She was gutted - in fact she was really pizzed off with herself! She was inconsolable for ages and the Rossignol rucksack she was given as a consolation prize really didnt touch the sides. Couldnt believe it!

Anyway check out my instagram for the vids.

After that we needed to watch all the rest of the nail biting racing going on as the numbers were whittled down at all ages and genders! With only Olivia and a U14 boy called Jackson in the running from Val d'Isere I needed to cheer him on even after Olivia was knocked out so it was a real attention grabber for a few hours and as the sun rose in the sky it got pleasantly warm thankfully!

In the U12 girls race the girl Olivia was beating before she fell ended up going all the way to the final which made Olivia even more annoyed and upset but that is the nature of the beast with these things!

So I headed off at lunchtime and drove back to Val, making a quick stop at Super U to get some dinner for us all and then at home had a lot of sorting out of the van / all my stuff to sort and no sooner had I done that all than Olivia was back from Les Menuiries herself. Ben had been at club too!

Well thats that for another year - im shattered so will be off to bed very shortly - im so looking forward to my own bed tonight! I have the day off tomorrow and then the manic of Easter holidays are upon us. Weather wise its going to be a rather up and down week (again!).

In other news - check what was spotted in Tignes today - I mean WTF!!!!!

The team on finals day today - Jackson in the middle came 4th in the end and won a very nice Rossignol kit bag.

Her friend Romy trying to cheer her up after the disappointment

Glorious day for it! Glorious setting

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

Ah so sorry for Olivia, that was so unlucky. I'm really glad you've got the day off though!

snow reports

Part of the learning curve, I guess, but jolly hard when she was doing so well and expectations were high. Onward and upward, Olivia!

You know it makes sense.

motyl - yes indeed it was but thats ski racing for you! Did you see the video?
KSH - yes thanks. It is what it is. Again did you see the video?
sno trax - but yes indeed - I think wearing trousers to keep warm would be a good start! Yes she knows she can be right up there - she needs to put it all together on the day really! Next time my girl, next time!

Relax

I had a wonderful sleep last night and I feel refreshed once again! The day started with baguettes and nutella for the kids and eggs on toast for me and I milled around the place tbh doing a little sorting and tidying that still was left over from yesterday!

Ben headed off to club this morning - he has a race on Saturday (neither Clare nor I can go unfortunately) - mini buoys (stubbies in English if you know what I mean) in St Foy so they were training for that! Olivia got up late after a nice lie in and chilled for half an hour or so. All good.

The weather outside was average - nothing too bad but not wall to wall blue skies thats for sure! Again for this time of the year it is pretty cold out there dipping to below zero each night.

I then had a real proud moment as Olivia suddenly decided that despite training for her and the others that came back late yesterday being an option this morning she wanted to get back out there and train hard. She seems more determined than ever so improve and I think getting close to the top of the podium and also falling in the parallel yesterday invigorated her to try harder! So off she went to train. They have the final of the Savoie champs middle of next week (10 days away or so) and its a parallel slalom thing so she wants to work on that and today they were training for that. Her coach also today decided to try her on longer skis so she tried some 142 length skis.... she'll be going up to stiffer boots and longer skis in a few weeks time anyway so it was a good idea... might give her the edge in the race in 10 days time (or not). The other thing is that there is a chance she might be asked to open the Scara race on the Orange this Wednesday too so good to get some training in today.

So after she was out the door it was nice and quiet at home - ah bliss!

Before too long I was heading out as Clares brother had arranged for lunch for us all at the Ouillette. Clare and the kids were going to have a ski after lunch with Clares brother and his middle child but I was not really wanting to put skis on today so I went up as a pedestrian! So we had a super nice (filling but nice) and spoiling lunch for us all at the Place Ouillette and it was a lovely hour or so all together!

Clare and the kids then had a nice afternoon skiing with her brother / cousins and I headed home and tbh didnt do a lot.... maybe flicked the TV on to see some of the IPL but generally not a lot!

When the kids came in it was the usual hectic evening - Olivia packing her bags for school tomorrow, bath, dinner time etc. Olivia and I also had to pop into town to get some work done on her ski boots that needed doing and also return her skis to the service room at club for them to sharpen them (as they do all centrally still).... and likewise Bens skis needed to go back too! All go.

And that was about it for today.

Im back on my normal Easter holiday family booking starting in the morning (the same family that come at other times of the season too) so that will be getting back on the job so to speak. Haha.

But otherwise im back in work mode again!

TTFN

Quite thick low hanging cloud abounded today

Ski with the cousins afternoon

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

@Steve Angus,

A snowHead

Haha no - its on my stories.... click on my round icon picture and go from there within insta... although I posted more than 24 hours ago now so it might have disappeared already sorry!

A snowHead

@Steve Angus, can't find anything more recent than January. I must be doing something wrong, sorry. I don't know why, but I always seem to make a meal of navigating Instagram. I suppose it's my age... Sad

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

yea its my story i added it to and i havent posted for a while sorry.

You need to Login to know who's really who.

@KSH, I struggle to find my way around instagram these days.

@Steve Angus, yes I did indeed catch the video last night - Olivia is a slick racer! It looked like she just caught an edge, the usual thing, but she was going so amazingly well. She has a great attitude and character. Well done to all of you, I remain awestruck snowHead

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

motyl - ah thanks so much! Yes the complexity of modern 'ways' is overwhelming sometimes isnt it! Anyway shes back training in a couple of days times and correcting the errors!

Are we sure its almost April?

It was an early start and since the clocks only changed a couple of days ago the brain found it harder than ever getting up especially after a few days 'off'. So we got Olivia out the door and closely followed by Ben. I really needed the extra 20 mins this morning to get myself sorted and head up to the meeting point. Luckily I had had a look at the weather station and info on there as looking out the window it confirmed it was pretty wintery. OK maybe not a huge amount of snow to have fallen but it was not exactly enticing weather!

I headed to the rond pont to meet my colleague im working with (as usual) with this regular family. We work together with this same family about 3-4 weeks of the season when they come out to use their chalet and 'E' and I have the kids. So they arrived nicely on time and it was a toss up of quieter slopes but nastier weather up Solaise and towards Fornet where the Wind would be worse OR heading up Bellevarde where we always have the option of skiing to La Daille BUT it would be much busier that side. After a quick chat and speaking with the kids we decided to head Bellevarde way - so off we went... we decided to take the two chairs as there was quite a queue (day 1) to go on the Olympic!

It was very much a baptism of fire coming over the top ridge as the wind hit and it was not the worst by any stretch of the imagination ive seen but not nice at all. We headed down the Verte and attempted to get away from the wind by dropping lower and the team of 4 kids decided straight away they wanted to have a boys team (me and G) and the 3 girls with 'E' (a female instructor). So it mean 'G' and I could blast about.

We skied to La Daille and the snow was amazing - mid Winter like. We got to La Daille and headed back up the Funi as the snow was so nice despite the wind.... the second time down we did the 'tunnel' route which is always a good option! But it was already getting mega busy down there - ski school groups heading down along with lots of Monday morning idiots everywhere.

It was time for a hot choc after 2 laps and we headed to Rossies for a warm up and bumped into the girls team - yay!

We did a tactical and bussed it back to town early so we were in position in case the bus queues got big for lunch! Lunch was booked for the Yule at 1230 so we had fun skiing the trees etc of the Rogoney a few times.

Lunch was decent although the prices in there are stupid especially given the size of some of the portions - somebody took the fish dish and it was the size of a side plate AND it didnt come with a side salad or anything at all and it still cost silly money! I took the schnitzel and it was lovely!

None of the kids were keen to ski in the pm as the wind was strengthening / snow was falling harder so me and 'E' took the dad and one of the adult friends out for a slide about! We had a wonderful time! The wind was VERY strong yes but the vis improved and with nobody about it was amazing skiing - just lush actually. We even skied the Face to finish and it was in amazing condition with nobody about - yippee.

This evening it has been pretty chilled but Ben has been knackered and a little under the weather - nothing a little medicine could not sort but he needed an early night.

And since then I have been keeping warm as it feels REALLY cold out there this evening it really does - eeek!

TTFN

Quite bleak.

Entering the funival

Look how busy the Face was at 1500!

You'll need to Register first of course.

P.S. I popped to SureFoot after skiing to collect Olivias ski boots - they have been adjusted and some Sidas booster straps added - she will be excited when she gets home tomorrow night ahead of testing them out on Wednesday!

P.P.S 2 major ski competitions start this week in the EK... the Scara (mainly and initially) on the Orange piste for U14 and U16 French athletes which is a major competition before on Thursday and Friday for those qualifiers from tomorrow and Wednesday the international athletes start arriving. By the end of the week some future big names will have announced themselves on the international stage... some big names like Lara Colturi have won it in the recent past! The other thing is the French senior champs are happening in Tignes too... so expect all the big French names to be skiing on the Lognan this week such as Clement Noel etc etc etc.

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

Blimey im forgetting everything to add to the blog this evening....

I was sitting on a lift today and it turned out the lady sitting next to me was non other than Judy Murray - mum of Andy. Obviously here on a ski holiday - unfortunately it was only near the top of the lift that I found this out as we had been chatting away and right at the top I asked where in Scotland she was from and she mentioned Dunblane - and I said that place was famous (put my foot in it really didnt I) for two things - that awful massacre and Andy Murray so she replied and said - yes I know hes my son.... blimey!

After all it is free

@Steve Angus, haha, great story! Laughing

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

Fab story, Steve!

snow reports

Hi all. Staying in Val Claret from Saturday and wondered if anyone could recommend the best place for new boots / fitting etc.
Hoping I might be able to pick up an end of season deal. TIA

@Steve Angus, great story. I recall (or am I imagining this?) that Andy Murray has had a bit of stick for not being the most competent and graceful skier. So at least you didn’t mention that to her.

I once complained, in rusty French, that a grumpy old man wouldn’t let me ride the drag lift on my snowboard, as I kept falling before the top.
The woman in the lift pass office smiled and replied, ‘Oh, you must mean my Father’. Embarassed

You know it makes sense.

Re the lady above. Is that what they mean by A framing...?

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

KSH, gixxerniknik, Owlette - glad you like that one!
PeakyB - thats an equally 'put your foot in it' moment! No idea how he skis so no didnt mention it.
Whitegold, Technician - ah ha very funny and suggestive... but not sure it would go down well as the new SH's logo! Try sending it to Admin and see what he thinks!
Rhg76 - Tignes Spirit? - you could try them as starters maybe? Not really sure on Tignes shops / eateries / clubs etc as not really my area of knowledge!

Mid Winter again?

We woke to an annoying and persistent cloud hanging over the resort but certainly at town level it was clear enough. There was also a breeze about but nothing that would stop lifts running. What we hadn't expected was that there had been a decent snowfall overnight!

Only Ben to get on the school bus meant it was a pretty chilled start to the day on that front.

So I met the team at the usual place and off we went. There was a big call for the Face from the kids but when we got up the mountain and set off for a warm up on Fontaine Froid a few things became apparent... firstly the cloud / vis was really thick and light was very flat. Secondly there was a lot of fresh snow - about 20-30cm in some places but it was light snow thats for sure. The other thing we noticed was that it was COLD, very cold. OK the air temp itself was not mega cold but the combination of lack of sun, a breeze and the clouds meant it felt like mid Winter once again!

So the shout to do the Face faded pretty quickly as it would have been hard to put it mildly. Anyway there was glimpses of getting through the clouds at slightly lower altitudes but it was not a day for skiing to La Daille AGAIN! So we ended up doing a mix all around the top of Bellevarde before having an early hot choc stop to warm up! The snow was awesome though!

Slowly but surely the weather improved though which was just as well as the first runs of the Scara ski racing for the U16 boys was cancelled unfortunately! Too foggy! But the girls went ahead and well done to Tessa Nael from Val for winning!

Anyway it was awesome powder right on the piste and by the looks of things off piste was similar too! Nice for the end of March and its not even April fools day yet!

At lunch the sun was coming out (even though it remained cold) and we ate at the Grand Ourse - it was great food as always although I would have preferred to eat inside as it went cold WAY too quickly! Anyway it was nice!

After lunch we needed to work out who was doing what and it was decided that I would ski with the middle daughter and dad and by now with the sun shining she was determined to ski the Face and to be fair it was pretty nice and she skied it really well indeed! However from one moment she was freezing cold to the next boiling hot she was pretty cooked after one run down that all she really had time and energy for was a couple of laps on the Rogoney to finish! So thats what we did and then called it a day! At least the sun was shining by now!

So at home I sorted a couple of things out and then our friend and her daughter arrived as she is taking part in the Scara race tomorrow morning! It was nice catching up and having a cuppa together and chatting. They have headed out for dinner this evening and then it will be a very early start in the morning for them as I think they will need to be on the 0730 lift (I think) to course inspect for a 0830 start. Good luck.

Finally one of my colleagues was actually on a chairlift with Andy Murray today so he is in town! They said he skied a bit like bambi on ice when they watched him ski off!

TTFN

You'd have thought it would be breaking cloud up there but in fact it really wasnt at all! It only cleared at lunchtime.

Lovely snow (when you could see it) this morning!

Ah thats better now!

P.S. The weather should start to get better and warmer from tomorrow onwards - yay - I am really ready for proper Spring now!

A snowHead

@Steve Angus thank you for those pictures, the snow looks a delight! I'm getting my hopes up and crossing fingers that I somehow alike within the week of 13th of April ... If posted tomorrow, I would have say that could be candidate for April Fools... Very Happy

A snowHead

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

peterpan - no worries. Yes hope it continues this snow! Agreed re the April fools - I was thinking that as I posted! But its real!
snowornever - ah ha good shout that one.

Still cold but excellent snow

It was all action stations this morning - Olivia was heading out training, Ben was going to kids club for the day (Clare was taking him) and our guests needed to be up and out the door - they did not have a massively early start on the race front but they needed to be up and moving about the same time as us. Luckily I had slept well last night but not enough sleep. I dont suppose I will get much sleep tonight as im fascinated to watch the launch of the Artemis II rocket - how amazing that will be.

Anyway it was certainly chilly this morning and it had been a late night as Ben did not get back from his evening out with his school to a show in St Foy until 2200 so it was very late when we got him into bed!

I headed up to the meeting point and with the sun shining at least we knew it would warm up - OK a breeze up there but surely that would not make it too cold. After a quick chat and finding out one of the kids was not 100% today we decided to go up Solaise which at least would be the quieter part of the resort! Awesome.

Being up there early and first thing it was chilly - like really chilly... mid Winter temps once again... I think with the clear skies overnight the temps had plummeted. So we made the most of things and enjoyed a ski down the skier cross on Madeleine a couple of times! One of the kids needed to go home early as she was sick so a mum was called and we needed to work that out but after that we had a glorious ski about. We did need a warm up at Datcha but after that we found Piste L was in great shape - enough that we ended up doing it twice!

Finally we headed to Etincelle for lunch at 1230 and boy the food there never disappoints - its NOT cheap at all there but it is jolly good. Luckily I was one of the first there so I could ask for a table inside as sitting outside would have been chilly - very chilly.

I had the lamb rack and it was awesome! Well worth having if you go!

After lunch most people wanted to ski so me and 'E' took a team of 4 over to Tignes and back! We went the Borsat way and the snow was awesome and not too many people about! It was a nice ski all the way down to Val Claret and back!

Meanwhile the second day of the Scara continued and our friends daughter did not get through unfortunately BUT there was some decent results by Val kids and some have made it through to the international leg of the races tomorrow - exciting!

A cold but nice day on the hill!

After teaching I headed to collect Ben from kids club and got him home before Clare returned. Meanwhile Olivia had had a good training session this morning and had chilled this afternoon somewhat and we then needed to get them into bed. So it was bath and dinner time etc of course.

The weather tomorrow will be that little bit warmer but sun will prevail.

Cant think of anything else to report.

TTFN

April Fools - the Eye of the Needle in Tignes has collapsed!

You need to Login to know who's really who.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

With the amount of people climbing on the Eye to get their Candid(e) Insta photo I wouldn't be surprised if it did collapse (again).

You'll need to Register first of course.

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

After all it is free

sno trax - yea I saw that too. Haha!
chocksaway - crazy isnt it!

Stuffed

It was a late night last night watching the Artemis II take off - I took some shut eye on the sofa before it blasted off then woke to see the event before going to bed properly. However when I finally got into bed I suddenly remember that it would be an early start as Olivia was off to school on the early bus - doh!

So it ended up being an early start to the day and I was a little jaded from the off!

Anyway it was promising to be a warmer day (and will continue getting warmer the next few days and turn into 'proper' Spring finally) and the sun was shining!

At the meeting point the kids were raring to go but unfortunately 'E' was running a few mins late as she forgot her phone this morning - whoops. So as she popped back to get it I headed up Solaise for a warm up run and the kids were keen to do Piste L once again so we did that and again it was in excellent condition. With lunch booked over in Tignes at the Panoramic from 1215 we needed to be close in that area from midday onwards! So we skied a VERY quiet Plan M down (see photos) before Olympic and then hot choc stop at the Maison Louly.

With the sun getting going we were able to profit from nice conditions and head over to Tignes via the Fresse and finally up the funi.

We ended up being the first there and waited around a while for others to get there but some of the extended group ended up being 45 mins late and since there was no phone reception inside I waited outside so I could remotely steer them in the correct direction. Doh

By the time we had all sat down for lunch the Dad had decided that he was wanting the suckling pig and needed someone to share it with - well yours truly duly obliged and boy it was awesome! NOT CHEAP but really nice! Totally stuffed (still).

After that feast the decision was who was going to ski back to Val, who might take the chalet van and any variation of routes back etc. Ultimately everyone skied back bar one person and we got back to Val about 1500.

After collecting Bens skis from club I set up stall and recorded my weekly snow report!

It was after all that I finally made it home about 1700 and noticed that the suns heat was making me somewhat jaded so it was nice to get indoors and have a drink etc before Ben get home.

It has been a pretty easy evening with him but now he is in bed I dont think I will be that far behind him as im pretty tired!

Tomorrow we are planning with the kids to do the '4 corners' challenge of the piste map (both glaciers, villages of fornet and Brevieries all in one day). Shovel be a nice day!

TTFN

Look how quiet the Plan M was at about 1030 this morning!

Eye-wateringly expensive but it was nice at the Panoramic

4 corners complete - just - very 'just'

I slept really well last night and Ben was on form so out the door effectively on time so it was all systems go to get to the meeting point and today with the plan to do the 4 corners of the piste map the meeting point was the Fornet. So off I went a little earlier than normal in order to get to Fornet on the Train Rouge and ended up meeting there at 0850 along with the other instructor 'E'.

So the plan was to take the kids and a handful of the tag along parents etc on a '4 corners of the piste' map expedition taking breaks and lunch etc as we saw fit as the day went on.

We were on the first Fornet cable car up, first gondola, first Cascades chair etc etc etc and made it to the top of the T bar about 0940.... in fact it was quite chilly up there first thing and I knew that I had gone down a layer but I needed to hold my ground as it would warm up (a lot) today!.

Conditions were WONDERFUL as you can imagine and slowly and steadily we made the route.... we stopped for coffee at Marmottes and tactically I pushed the kids hard so we could make it to the top of the Grand Motte BEFORE lunch and we were up there about 12 and made lunch about 1315 at Aspen in the sun! Lovely! However lunch took a while and I could sense some of the kids were flagging but everyone verbally was still 'in' for the challenge and we pushed on..... well we just about made it to Brev but since it was about 1545 when we were down there we pretty much needed to turn straight around and get back out of there.

Anyway some VERY tired legs crossed the 'finish' line in La Daille at 1650 - phew just about made it.

For those interested these are the lifts in order we took:

Fornet cable car
Vallon gondola
Cascades
Pisaillas T Bar (whatever its called ????)
Cema
Leissieries Express
Datcha
Pim Pam
Olympique
Borsat
Perce Neige Funi
Grand Motte Cable Car
Tichot
Gratallu
Grand Huit
Aiguille Percee
Brev Gondola
Boisses Gondola
Aiguille Rouge
Toviere

If the kids were beyond shattered, the parents tired, then as instructors we were not exactly 'fresh' by the end of the day!

I got in, Olivia was back from school and doing her homework and has a load of training and races coming up. Meanwhile Ben pretty much followed me in the front door.

We got the kids into bed early as Ben needs to be at the Rond Pont early (0730) tomorrow as he has a race in St Foy tomorrow and Olivia has a day of race training.

Of course today marks the start of 2 weeks of Easter holidays for the kids and it will be a lot of skiing (and snowboarding a little for Ben) coming up.

Tomorrow I suspect will be a boiling hot day and we have about a week of it coming up so Spring is very much here thats for sure!

Anyway TTFN im off to bed.

Can you spot Bonneval (ski lifts?)?

As a geographer I spent many a year studying this sort of stuff - interesting and worrying in equal measures

As always stunning views up the Motte today

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

Quiet day

It was an early start as Ben was off to his ski race in St Foy nice and early. Meanwhile Olivia had GS training on the Orange this morning and Clare and I were both working. So the morning before work was rather elongated but Clare headed to take Ben to the rond pont where the bus would take them all to the race. Meanwhile I headed to town for 0900 start.

The sun was shining and it was always going to be a much warmer day than yesterday and is set to continue like that for a few more days yet! Still wonderful conditions mind you.

After a lift pass issue we got going on time and the resort (being a Saturday) was deserted and it was certainly a day to make the most of it! The kids (and adults for that matter) all had really tired legs from yesterdays exploits so it was always going to be a chilled one for everyone! So off we went. There was a request to do the Face nice and so that was the target!

After a testing warm up run on Fontaine Froide and the realisation that there had been a solid freeze overnight I knew the Face would be perfect with softening first thing and of course lack of death cookies on there it was to be game on! Yay!

It was 1 of the kids first times down the Face and one of the parents had never even done a black run before and given the conditions today was the perfect day for it! As it turned out the snow was just perfect too and everyone had massive smiles on their faces by the time they got to the bottom - well done everyone - nice work!

We had a hot choc break at Empreite Avaline and I had barely turned my head when one of the older kids was at the pudding buffet helping themselves to the €16 sharing platter pudding! Blimey girl! By the time I realised what was going on (she is 11 so able to look after herself!) she had a full plate and was on the way back to the table and there was no choice but to share it around us all - oh dear life is a struggle sometimes!

We had to work off that sugar after the break and rushed around trying to ski as much as possible and enjoy the quiet slopes and had a couple of fun hours without going mad as we worked our way towards lunch!

Lunch was at the italian restaurant at the Folie and they had managed to get a table outside - game on! It was a really nice lunch but the sun was hot hot hot! There was obviously no appetite for skiing after lunch so as soon as we finished lunch the mum just asked me to ski the kids to La Daille and get them on the van back to the chalet with her and I was off duty! Tomorrow the kids arent skiing (yes I have a day off) so by Monday everyones batteries should be fully recharged!

Meanwhile Bens race down in St Foy was a good one and he enjoyed himself... coming (they had 4 runs) in the top 1/3 of kids each run so I think that was a good result - he was happy! Meanwhile Olivia had a great morning (I even bumped into her at the top of Marmottes once) on the Orange and this afternoon they were down on the Raye training and her test times were very good.... go girl. As I said yesterday she is gearing up for the Savoie race finals on Tuesday so that is her next target race!

After work this evening there was loads of laundry to do and ski kit to be sorted out. Also had to collect Ben after his race too so it has been all system go. We enjoyed a family board game and then dinner all together and now the kids are in bed! Phew!

Im looking forward to a day off tomorrow and a chilled beer this evening! The slopes will remain quite quiet this week relatively speaking and of course the weather should remain nice and warm for a few more days yet!

TTFN

Game on kids!

This made me giggle

Help!!

The view from............ Val d'Isere and the Espace Killy

snowHeads Forum Index >>> Snow Reports - weather - snow conditions