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

A snowHead

Skiwi222 - yea its good as in the afternoon yesterday everything shut down. The morning the funi was open but they did have to shut it all down in the pm. As long as your lift pass is valid for 2 days or more and NOT a season pass you can get something back - anyway check that link!

That was a nice day!

One thing is certain about this job is that it is often mentally tiring but today was also quite physical as well!

Early doors and the blasting started on the mountain but the clouds were starting to clear so it was setting up to be an amazing day! I headed out early to get to Snowberry nice and early to get everything ready for my team to turn up. In a nutshell it was a team of 8 people split between me and my colleague Joe... we had initially planned on doing Bonneval but I new the lifts would not open on time etc. With Bonneval you have to keep pretty tight timings... so as a result plans shifted to a Chevril heli option instead!

Some of the team were on time but some had problems picking up their gear from the various hire shops they rented from and other issues which meant that by the time we got out there the queue even for the ski school line of the Olympic was as long as I have EVER EVER seen it - several days of het up demand in action! We decided to jump on the bus to La Daille... however the problem soon became apparent that several days of bad weather meant that it was going to be a very slow opening annoyingly!

Ultimately the funi had a huge queue too so we opted for the La Daille gondola instead. Finally we got up there and the plan to have a warm up on the Mont Blanc was a false start to as the queue was massive there. However the ability to check the latest details direct from the lifties etc meant I knew that the Tommeuse would be opening pretty soon and we ended up with a 10 min wait which was not too bad so it was finally nice to actually get going at about 1030.

After checking transceivers were working we did the hike along the 'Familial' ridge... the team of 8 had some who were more and lesser fitter than others so it took a little while but we got there in the end! We opted to take the south sunny side and the snow was lovely, solid and was a great start... around the corner was a little more mixed with much of the mountain having purged itself! But it was OK and across the altisurface was awesome. The hike up was good and easy enough but then we had a long wait (it turned out the pilot was dealing with an on piste medical emergency somewhere in the resort so could not get back to me for a while!) whilst we got the go ahead to proceed past the point of no return! Anyway we had an amazing descent down through the trees down the heli pick up point at the chervil. The pick up itself worked well enough (although the snow surface down at the pick up zone was very breakable meaning walking it it was a nightmare!) and the flight wonderful!

We took lunch at the Datcha and then had a good descent down the Danaides into the L and then a Banane into Super Santons... all in all a really fun but tiring day.

After returning all the gear etc I headed back home and started the evenings chores... but I must say I am rather shattered so off to bed in a moment!

Tomorrow will be an interesting day as we have the AGM for this block when I am hoping to get through the positive votes for some of the works we want to get accomplished on this flat of ours - wish me luck! In the afternoon I have seasonnaires!

TTFN

P.S. Dinner and drinks last night was really good! The new menu at the Danois is darn good and good value too!

As you can see huge queues about this am as EVERYONE was on the mountain... Clare took this picture and you can actually see my little group (sort of near top left of the photo after the walking track goes up to a small group of people - thats us!) too - we were waiting for the thumbs up to descend down to the lake from the pilot!

Not your normal view of Val!

Miles of powder turns to be had!

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

Runaway Go Pro

Well the day started nice and peacefully and it was only slightly tricky as I had to get Ben to creche as well as carry my ski gear but also today my ski boots so I was somewhat laden down. Anyway it was OK...

I got to the conference centre very early and hung about catching up on emails and waiting for some neighbours I know to turn up for today was the big day - it was to be the day that the AGM for the building we live was to take place and the various things on the agenda that I had placed would be voted on along with several other motions neighbours were voting on too! There was a collective job that has been going on the last few weeks to get enough proxy votes on our side and there are basically 3 of us trying to get similar things though but Clare and I had some extras. In a nutshell we want to expand the size of our apartment by purchasing some communal space and a few other things related to the development!

So I basically spent 2 hours trying to follow this meeting in French along with a couple of expat neighbours and despite this block having about 70 owners only 6 of us were there along with the representative from the management company!

HOWEVER it looks like we have cleared the first hurdle and everything got agree - YAY CHAMPAGNE TIME!

The next step will be to have architect plans etc drawn up - some feasibility studies etc etc etc and of we go to the mairie.... there are some lose ends to tie up this end along with a 2 month cooling off period for the co-owners of this building to change their mind (fingers crossed they dont!). So hopefully by the end of the year we will hopefully have planning consent and permissions all approved and then finalise plans and hopefully 2022 get building but the first speed bump has been overcome but there are hundreds of hurdles still to come... it'll be a long road but this evening I am chuffed!

Anyway I dashed from the meeting at midday to collect my seasonnnaires for an afternoon off pisting with them and we found some nice snow once again - there was some lovely snow in the Jardins de Borsat but the Super Santons couloir was the best of the bunch! It was a lovely afternoon with some decent visibility! Yay!

So that was pretty much my day! In all the excitement I forgot to get a photo - really sorry! Ill use the following photo which could have been taken today as it was generally pretty sunny and will continue that way tomorrow. Talking of tomorrow I am heading out for dinner with my friend again and possibly some apres so might not be posting until very late!

P.S. Todays title about Go Pro... well after skiing the Cairn at the end of the day we came back towards the bottom of the Face and one of my seasonnairs took a fairly normal tumble... however as he landed his go pro which was attached to his helmet pinged off - no one saw where it went and despite hunting in the vicinity for a few mins on the snow (it was piste like snow at this point!) we could not find it - anyway we skied much further down the slope and some 200m further down the slope we stumbled across said camera - wow what a ride that took!

TTFN

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@Steve Angus, good luck with buying your communal space. I wanted to do that in Flachau, knowing that everyone else had just extended without buying. Still, I followed the rules adn asked everyone's permission to extend (30 flats) most jsut said yes 2 said said I had to buy the space ...at market rate of €4k per sq mtr for attic space which was very slopey. £40k? no chance as it would not be regarded as "living space" because of the degree of slope.

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@bar shaker, i remodelled inside instead.

Radio silence

bar shaker - yes its all worked out better now and Cyril was one of the benefactors at the meeting too so he is a happy camper now!

Well folks I must apologise for not posting yesterday - it was one of the very rare occasions when I dont post.... in a nutshell I had a shandy or two and got home and totally forgot to post - whoops!

So a brief summary of the last 48 hours!

Yesterday morning I was back out with D and he was on fire - he had been practising it was evident. So I thought that it would be a good idea to get him into some moguls and we had a good session. Some nice and simple moguls were the order of the day. It turned into a weird session as mid morning there was a large power failure in Tignes that knocked out nearly all the lifts and they ended up closing Tommeuse too to try and stop people getting stuck over in Tignes etc. Luckily ultimately we werent affected by the problem thankfully but on the positive side it made the pistes very very very 'Saturday' quiet! It was quite nice really for those of us not affected! Ha ha!

I treated myself to lunch at the Sun Bar and that was followed by my seasonnaires group and again they wanted to focus on moguls so we worked on that... they actually surprised me as they were pretty gung ho and happy to throw themselves in at the deep in. There were some funny falls though! Ultimately it was a hot and sweaty session as the sun was beating down and it felt like the Spring was in the air. Ultimately it was great afternoon!

I hit Blue Note for an apres drink and my bestie turned up with the other mate he is on holiday with and we had a few beers and a good laugh - it was just a shame that the cricket was cancelled as I would have enjoyed watching that in the back ground! By 7pm I headed home for a shower and change before heading back into town for dinner at Chez Paulos and had an amazing meal with my mate and his friends... I didnt have a pizza but they looked darn good!

A cocktail at Victors finished the night off perfectly!

I stumbled in about midnight I think and it was not until 0730 that I was back in the land of the living - a pretty decent sleep really!

I felt a little jaded but not too bad and certainly nothing a swift ski about with Olivia would not fix! So as Clare took Ben for a ski atop the Solaise I met up with my mate who is also Olivias god father and Olivia, M and I had a fun morning. I must say as I have not actually skied with Olivia in person for a fair few weeks she has REALLY come on in leaps and bounds. There was a little carving much to my amazement, there was some steeper slopes, a trip down crocodile alley, moguls, twirly birds (see my Instagram feed from today!) and much else. Of course hot chocolate too. The slopes were empty the weather awesome and company fun - I had the most amazing morning... a happy daddy!

The three of us had lunch at Marmottes - amazing value it really is in there. A faux fillet steak and chips for €11 I think that is very good vfm!

I dropped a tired Olivia back at home after lunch and then had a ski with M and his friends for a couple of hours before he came back for a cuppa and a slice and then the evening routine of getting 2 tired kids into bed (arghhhh!).

So that brings you all up to date... Clare is teaching tomorrow so I am on daddy day care so I think a trip to the swimming pool is on the cards! By Monday however a huge storm will bring lots of wind and snow and possibly rain - hmmm we should see!

Anyway I need an early night so TTFN

Olivia showing her god father how to ski!

Twirly birds in full swing!

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A tad annoying

They say bad luck comes in three well the main piece of bad luck today seems to be that our boiler in the apartment we rent out has blown up... the thermostat has literally blown up and so I need to organise a plumber who should be coming tomorrow to change either it or the whole boiler - grrr!

Anyway the morning started peacefully enough for us with the kids playing nicely, a family breakfast and as Clare headed out to teach I was taking the kids swimming. Its somewhat of a faff and a ball ache taking them both on my own but its fun so sod it! It was the usual collection of people at the pool and both Olivia and Ben had friends there and we had a jolly fun hour or so! Anyway we got home and I sorted the kids out for lunch before Ben had a sleep and Olivia watched a movie before Clare got home!

I was keeping an eye not the cricket score and boy did England make a meal out of it but we got there in the end! We'll take 1-1 for the series... however with the T20 World Cup happening later this year it will be interesting to see how we take to the shortest form of the game as the series starts this week!

Meanwhile on the slopes front and for only the second time that I can think of in the years that I have been here they had to do a full evacuation from a lift as shortly after opening this am the Bellevarde Express chair broke down and they had to winch people down off it - the mechanical failure meant that even the diesel back up motor could not be used. Doh!

http://www.radiovaldisere.com/index.php?p=vids#vidPreview

This is a video Radio Val put together covering the 'action' this am!

Anyway the weather was glorious all day although it coming in this evening and the next couple of days could be interesting to say the least as we receive the weather the UK has had the last couple of days! Hmmm could be interesting!

We had Mr and Mrs Snow Trax around for a cuppa and it was just as the kids were starting to fall apart with end of day fatigue! Oh dear!

I must say it was nice when the kids actually got into bed as it meant some peace - yay!

So tomorrow I have to sort out the plumbing issue in the am and then the afternoon I might get a booking but I suspect the weather will make the chances of that somewhat slim!

TTFN

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Calm before the storm

With the start of the new week it was no surprise that we have some weather coming in again!

It was not looking to promising out there first thing (as the day panned out in the end it kept changing its mind - one minute horrendous wind and snow and the next moment just 'grey' and the next moment just rainy!

I took Olivia to the school bus and then Ben up to creche and then with the weather forecast as it was no one had booked any lessons (nor have they tomorrow by the looks of things - some down time before the Feb HT comes around the corner!) so I popped home! Its always good from time to time to simply catch up on things at home and with Clare out teaching all day it was very quiet and peaceful at home!

Even though I didnt get up there I could see the big lift queues out there - the La Daille gondola queue was HUGE for much of the morning and the funi likewise but it got worse when the gondola closed too!

Today marked the 50th anniversary since the darkest day in Val's history that of the 1970 UCPA avalanche that claimed the lives of 40 odd young persons sitting having their breakfast that fateful day! The slide came down from the Dome side and swept away several chalets and of course these days you can still see the rebuilt UCPA with the big concrete wall out the front and the patch of land opposite - that of the car park up there! What a sad memory that is!

Meanwhile elsewhere the break down of the Bellevarde chair lift yesterday was the talking point of the town and I checked it was 2012 since the last time there had to be an evacuation of the lift... so no it doesn't happen that often! The broken part of the Bellevarde Express will hopefully be replaced by the end of the week at the latest and it won't be a moment too soon as at this time of the year we really need the alternative way up the mountain!

This evening I went to the VIP (tour operator) welcome drinks but it was very quiet so not much trade! Doh!

Tomorrow the weather is supposed to horrendous and worse than today and the last couple of hours the wind speed has been going up and up! Hmmm could be an interesting day tomorrow!

TTFN

The primary school kids got their cross country ski training in this am!

P.P.S I meant to say that I spent an hour or so after dropping Ben at creche this morning at our rental apartment waiting for then with the plumber as the thermostat on our boiler was replaced - phew the tenants have hot water again!

snow reports

@Steve Angus,
My parents have recently been staying with us and have loved watching the antics of the school kids each morning from our windows. Dad’s comment last week was “who needs a TV when you have this view”
At 75 he’s even tempted to give skiing a go ! Mum not so much.

Hi Steve, I note that the weather has been bad recently but what is the condition of the snow like? We're thinking about heading to Tignes for a week from the 7th/8th March.

You know it makes sense.

@muppet, A couple of years ago we went to Morzine and in our chalet we met a lovely, elderly couple. The man was 76 and he was trying skiing for the first time. He loved it!

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

Worse

All I could hear for most of the night was the wind howling outside! This morning it looked pretty bleak out there... getting the kids out the door was easy enough! However physically getting to the bus and then to the creche was tough going but I got there.

I headed into town to do some shopping after that and spent a small fortune on some wine for a friend as a thank you for something - I know VERY LITTLE about wine - I know there is white and red and rose and bubbly varieties but after that not too much! I had planned to go to the Cave a Vins but unfortunately it was not opening until mid morning so instead I went to the supermarket and worked my own way through the racks to get what I think was a nice couple of bottles! I looked for one minute as if I knew what I was doing - but not really! Now for those winos out there you have probably seen this one about a million times but it did make me chuckle! No I didnt buy it!

After that I did a couple of other errands in town then headed home! I then spent the morning doing some more chores and since Clare was not working today either it was strange being cooped up at home with the blizzard raging outside!

At lunchtime I had a rendezvous with Mr and Mrs Snow Trax to discuss their plans for their apartment renovation in the Summer and that was good to see and hear and discuss the plans! No sooner had I finished there but then had to head back into town as unfortunately the repair work on the boiler yesterday had not fully been successful! Cutting a long story the plumber came back and discovered that the actual heating elements in the boiler were corroded so the new thermostat was working but getting overloaded by the elements and shorting out the power board - so a lot of extra work today meant by 5pm it was all finally repaired - lets hope that really is all now sorted out!

I then headed into town to pick Olivia and her friend up from art class and get them home... and as usual this evening it has been bath and bed time etc!

The winds and snow came and went all day and they did manage to get a decent amount open but tomorrow with the sunshine it will hopefully get back to normal after they have done a lot of avalanche clearance! We will then get a day or two of nice conditions before more snow and wind moves in and then finally by the weekend and in time for half term it should be business as usual again! Sun and calm conditions - yay!

In local news the census continues and interesting enough (with still 4 days to go to complete the paperwork) the official population of the town is down by about 25% from about 1600 permanent residents to 1200 something like that. So that will mean even after another 4 days that the official population is noticeably down... I think it is down to a few factors.... 1) properties being sold up and redeveloped as tourist accommodation 2) people keeping property interest here but moving down the valley or having it as a second home and 3) places like the Fornet not appealing to the younger generation and as older residents pass away the younger generation not taking over the family home etc. Either way the town will be worried about this trend for several reasons including the money they get from the powers that be for public services etc. We are proud to be 4 of those 1200 people though!

Anyway TTFN.

P.S. My cheeky little chappy this morning waiting for the bus to creche!

A snowHead

Hi Steve, interesting to hear that even an internationally successful tourism centre like VDI is losing population.
It’s a similar trend here in the Uk. The Lake District has a smaller population now than in the 1950s. This is because of high house prices and an increasingly urbanised youth. They carnt afford to and often don’t want to live in deeply rural areas any more.

A snowHead

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@Steve Angus, I hadn't heard anything about the census. Did it come in the post?

I hope you bought your friend some Apremont. It is a delicious Savoie wine, sadly not available in the UK.

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Hey Steve, am interested to see these twirly birds exercises, I looked on your insta feed but couldn’t see them? Could you add a link on here?
Cheers

bar shaker - no they're old fashioned - door to door knocking only! Yes I have had Apremont before - no didnt get that - can't remember what I got in the end! Pass!
Kenzie - Indeed Ill be keeping an eye out for it. Not sure when the last one was done but they are normally every 5 or 10 years I think.
Huski - Nice to have you tuning in - great food... highly recommended - we have a freezer with a good selection - you can never have enough crumbles for a Sunday evening roast on standby or occasionally a main meal ready to roll! Yum Yum! Everyone should check out www.hu.ski
ajc2260626 - it was on my insta feed the other day but disappears after 24 hours I think... anyway try this now.

or perhaps in this format https://www.facebook.com/steve.angus/videos/10163103472410416/ - hope that works.

Waiting game

It was always going to be a weird day of waiting since I was doing a pm lesson so much of the morning was spent paper pushing and the rest of it. However there good news was that the sun was shining and we finally got a bluebird day!

Clare took Ben to creche and then went cross country skiing with Olivia. It looks as if they had a wonderful morning!

I headed to the office to collect some off piste packs and then met my pm lesson. It turned out I had quite a lot in common with the clients... one of them did the same subject at the same university as me and specialised in very similar things to me so we had a good chin wag - he is now a curator at the Natural History Museum in London so I said I will look him up as we plan to take the kids there when we are home in May! Another person lives in the town next to the town I was at school at - there were lots of close connections actually!

Anyway after the safety chat we headed up the Solaise and found some nice pockets of snow but it is hit and miss really.... there were some nice bits though and surprisingly deep snow. The best descent of the afternoon actually was in the Combe de Signal / Sunny Bowl which, considering it is west facing and shouldn't have been very nice) was actually awesome - I think it was the altitude that helped so much actually! Anyway lovely turns to be had in there! It was a really nice afternoon!

After skiing I rushed home so Clare could get into town so she could get her torchlit descent ticked off... as it turned out there was a balls up and they ended up having to wait about an extra hour before they were allowed to descend. bug! So anyway I was on kid duty getting them both into bed, bath and tea etc. It was rather hectic - thank goodness it doesn't always happen!

However with Clare out I was able to watch the cricket and boy England threw that one away didnt they - they should have won I think and there were some definite signs of poor judgement - anyway bring on round 2 on Friday!

One piece of good and one piece of bad news from today....

The good news is that they replaced the broken (2 ton!) part of the Bellevarde Express chair today so that lift is now back in the running - phew as we really need that during Feb HT to get up the Bellevarde side of things!

The bad news (and I'm still trying to find out what this will all mean!) is that Val d'Isere along with several other resorts have confirmed some sort of protesting / strike action (the lifties this is) this coming Saturday.... ill try and find out exactly what it all means but I hope it is not too disruptive on Saturday!

TTFN

Sunny Bowl (apart from the very first bit in the foreground!) was lovely knee deep (and soft) in places!

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@Steve Angus, looks like the link has disappeared..... judging by the photo does the instructor essentially anchor the turn?

snow reports

ajc2260626 - have you tried the Facebook link - just below the line above... it should be 'open' access that link so you can see the video - I think. So two people - poles linked together facing each other, one person skis down, spins 180 and their moment pulls the other person down and past them and they in turn spin 180 whilst other person spins 180 too and you keep on slingshotting each other spinning like heli blades around and around in a circle down the slope - its GREAT for balance, co-ordination, edge control and helping kids in particular get their skis parallel to each other but dont do it too long otherwise you get dizzy!

Early posting

With the arrival straight after skiing today of the mother in law (a godsend to help with the kids over school hols!) and then Clare and I actually going out for dinner with a friend (bad timing we know with the mother in law arriving - whoops!) I am posting now... so much of this is what I will be doing! Ha ha!

So after this morning was a chilled one at home making a few phone calls and doing some paperwork on our rental apartment (we have tenants in year round and I need to reconcile for year ending!) I will be heading off out to work very shortly! Im off piste and also doing some moguls with the seasonnaires this pm! It could be interesting as it is supposed to get cloudier and cloudier this afternoon and start snowing and the wind will get up so by tomorrow am we have a descent amount of fresh snow about but coupled with the wind it could be another interesting day coming up! It started so warm and sunny first thing this am I have a feeling lots of people will be caught out today!

In other news apparently some of the trees in town are starting to bud early!!! It has been that warm this Winter - arghh! Lets hope they change their mind as they are unlikely to last long (the new buds that is!)

Also I hear that a British ski tourer decided to skin up the Face yesterday am early doors so as to get first dibs on the powder up there... despite the warnings and everywhere saying no touring until after the PIDA happened he still ignored this... ultimately it cause the delay to the PIDA blasting on the Face and that is one of the reasons why the Olympic lift was late opening yesterday am - FFS!!!!

Anyway folks sorry for the early and brief reply - must dash off out now!

Stay tuned for more updates.

TTFN

Took this pic yesterday BUT I can guarantee if you were in the Solaise gondola this am you would have gotten the same pic this am!

One of the those days

We had a really nice meal out last night in the end. L'Avancher hotel gave us their private room and the 17 of us had a feast... it was basically an alpine bonanza of food... tariflettes, meat and cheese fondues, pierade, amazing mountain salads, you name it - it was a little of everything type evening and washed down with a couple of beers it was jolly nice. Clare and I dont do these things that often so it was a nice treat! Getting up there was easy enough although with pedestrian night the bus turned around at the first roundabout so we ended up having to walk a fair distance... this was OK as the snowstorm that was now in full force and dumping large and numerous snowflakes was accompanied by strong winds from the north. So the wind and snow was on our back going up. However coming home again it was a different story as you never know how long you will have to wait for a bus and when the weather is like what it was you dont want to hang about so basically we walked head first into the blizzard all the way home - arghhh!

Anyway by breakfast time this morning the weather had cleared leaving generally cloudless skies although there was an annoying cloud bank that drifted in and out at about top to mid mountain height - grrr! The temps were quite low so with the fresh snow etc it really was game on for a true bluebird day! Yay

With Clares mum here and Clare not working today I basically had next to nothing to sort for the kids this am which was a nice treat. Yay!

Anyway I got to the meet point to meet my team of 3 aussies, 1 of whom had bummed a season here about 20 years ago - about the time I did my first season here as a ski bum living out of my car - yes you did read that right! Anyway the 3 of them were knowledgeable, strong, fit and able skiers and with all the gear it was game on... There was always going to be a game of cat and mouse to find the best snow and couple it with what lift was going to open and when! The wind was set to have done some muddling up of that lovely fresh snow. Anyway I opened with a collette which was not quite as good as I was hoping and then a 'fontaine froid out wide' as I call it... I was sort of testing them out as well as watching the Grand Pre as I was aiming to be the first over the Tour de Charvet and its really not often you get the chance to open that up... today was not to be that day as the lift was still be worked on etc so I changed plan and headed for the Cairn knowing that we would be amongst the first in there. I was a little apprehensive as knew the old av debris was not too far away in there - some sharks ready to trip you up!!! Anyway the top pitch was OK but not quite as good as was hoping for... but lower down and ESPECIALLY into the trees was the best I have seen it - through the trees was exceptional - light snow and deep - brilliant!

When we got to the bottom of the Face I could not face standing in the line for the Olympic so with the Solaise looking quieter I headed up there... I thought it worth a gamble given the horrendous thick cloud overhead that taking on the Danaides Wall was worth a shot - the snow was decent and its steep in there but we could see a darn thing... I got a little nervous at picking my way through the routes down to the L so instead headed to the l'avancher couloir and that was spot on - good snow and finding our way through the sides produced the goods - it was awesome! By the time we got back to town the clouds were still lingering about but I decided to give the Banane a go. Of course the top was hit and miss but the middle wall was the best I have seen it and boy did we have a ski. However we dropped through the cloud quite quickly thankfully and was back in basking sunshine. Unfortunately the heat was getting to the slopes and snow lower down so it got a little heavy.... but anyway we were all in need of a break after that!

I took lunch at the Tartine - boy was I hungry!

The afternoon I had an initiation session for my Friday pm seasonnaires group and we got some nice strips of snow on not too testing a terrain - by now the clouds had gone and we had a really lovely pm... lots of happy smiley peeps about and not too many a fall! We did finish with a trip down the Face which was quite a tester for some of the group... ha ha. It was bumpy that was for sure!

I got home and needed a sit down as I was tired! The 20cm of fresh today was the perfect amount to keep it safe but fun too!

After getting the kids into bed and all that whilst keeping an eye on the cricket - another stonking match with a good result for England, I had dinner and will be having an early night.... the start of HT is upon us and my HT clients are already in town so tomorrow starts a week of all-dayers with them!

Talking of tomorrow the lifties are going on strike but it is just an notional strike thank goodness... they are striking from 0830 - 0930 and only some of the lifts will be affected for little while so all in all it really won't make much difference! And finally tomorrow the roads are going to be bedlam - with strikes on the roads around Moutiers that will really snarl things up coupled with the 37000 cars coming up the hill it will be lots of traffic jams - good luck folks!

Right folks TTFN

TTFN

You know it makes sense.

Better on the slopes than the road!

With the news coming through of all the flight cancellations and traffic chaos in the UK I was just glad that a) I did not have to go anywhere other than on the slopes and b) that my gang were already in town and ready to ski today! Right from the offset there was chaos out there - literally thousands and thousands of people leaving on the road from before first light up until - well now really! It was a fairly leisurely start to the day with a nice pastry selection from the shop to start the day off thanks to the mother in law. The brother in law who is in town this week too had driven through the night to make sure they were avoiding the traffic arrived nice and early too so it was a sort of reunion, family get together breakfast time!

I got on the road to get to the Christiana to meet my team nice and early and was gobsmacked at the carnage in town bodies and vehicle wise already at 0900!!!! Arghh rather them than me!

So today actually marking the mid day of the season it felt a lot like mid Spring time as it was to get hot, really hot... wow even the snow had a touch of Spring to it! Boy that is early - lets hope it changes back again soon!

The strike wasnt really an issue in the end as they got all the lower lifts open on time in the end and certainly by the time we got up there about 0945 everything seemed totally normal thankfully!

So with the 500,000 movements in the valley going on the slopes were pretty quiet and we enjoyed our ski about - I took the whole family for a ski and tour and lesson combo! We covered plenty of milage having a coffee in the Corner mid morning and then lunch at Tignes cuisine. It was a nice day!

This evening was the usual mix of admin and dinner and a few other bits and bobs but I am pretty tired and with the mother in law desperate to get into the sofa bed I had better pack up for the night! Tomorrow the slopes will be bedlam but the sun will shine again (as it will do all week) so I will sign off for now.

TTFN

Notice at least 2 wind related 'features' of this photo!

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

Not as bad as feared

Whilst it was chaos on the roads late into the night last night - reports of traffic jams well after midnight still, it was a calm start to the day in town! It was a little overcast and throughout the day the clouds and sun jostled with each other!

Being a Sunday there was no real stress to get going so it was a nice start to the day... I had my favourites eggs on toast for breakfast and Clare slid out early to get to her lesson whilst I did a bins run and then took Olivia into town as she was due to ski with her uncle and cousins... it all worked according to plan meaning I arrived perfectly on time at the hotel to meet my lot and we were off... going light with just A (who is not so little anymore as he is doing his GCSE's next year - eek!). I was surprised with how quiet it was out there - 0945 and the queue for the Bellevarde Express was non existent and same on the Solaise Gondola - hmmmm interesting. I am sure people were just slow out the blocks this am as it did get busier but no where near as busy as it is likely to get tomorrow.

Anyway the plan was to go Fornet way and we made some nice laps around the Solaise area and I pulled out the bag a drill I have not used for ages - that of skiing with ski boots totally undone - it seemed to work as A got some better ankle flex going - for a while at least anyway! I was even able to take a trip up the Cugnai chair and I have not been up there this season! The views from the top I just love up there... I am convinced that thats where I would like my ashes scattered if it ever comes to it. It is something about the tranquility up there, the views and the brilliant descent off the back (one of my favourites in the Espace Killy) that combine together!

Anyway a drop over to the Fornet via the up and over and a hot choc before heading upstairs was in store and there was hardly any queues up the Val glacier it was amazing and the snow was so good too. Lap after lap was made tweaking the technique before we stopped for a late lunch! I just can't believe what great VFM you get at the Cascades like the Marmottes (see photo below)!.

After lunch we skied with the whole family working on a few things before retreating home.

Olivia had had a very full on tiring ski so it was a rushed tea then bed time for her and Ben too for that matter! Before settling down to the evening meal!

Tomorrow the weather will come in a little later on but still remaining pretty warm, but not as warm as it was today... we might even get a little snow tomorrow night! However the slopes are likely to be busier again with most of the ski school lessons going out!

TTFN

Pretty reasonable prices all in all really eh!

A REALLY hard 'where is this slope' question - a clue it is in the Solaise / Fornet area! If no one gets it Ill add a second photo to make it easier. I want the name of the piste!

Just love the views at the top of the Cugnai!

A snowHead

Cascade?

A snowHead

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

Combe du geant?

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

Vallon?

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Pont Abatte?

Cascades restaurant is very good value isn't it, and the service is friendly. Can be a bit chilly for sitting outside for much of the season though.

You'll need to Register first of course.

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

Traversée Des A rses?

(I just wanted to say A rses

)

After all it is free

@Steve Angus,

I was in Val d'isere last week and now I'm back home catching up with your postings from last week.

I see that you saw the "Fat B*****d" wine in the supermarket. One of the wine makers of "Fat B****d" is Guy Anderson, a very good British paraglider pilot. I met Guy when I used to paraglide over 12 years ago.

Which supermarket is selling "Fat B*****d"? I may buy a bottle to accompany my dinner when I'm back in VDI for my last weeks' skiing. I'm hanging up my skis, at the end of March.

The forum is censoring my posting and it's not letting me use the word B*****d!!!!

Held off just long enough

It was lovely having the extra pair of Clares mums hand to help with the kids this morning and as Clare had to be out the door extra early for her chalet meet it was all go!

The clouds were quite high and thin and there was an element of blue skies to be had so we were excited... however what would the queues be like!

Anyway I headed to the meet point armed with an off piste pack and it was action time! The queue for the Solaise was a little longer than normal which can be explained by all instructors trying to get their groups of kids up the mountain! The Olympic and Bellevarde lifts queues were not too bad! Anyway I headed up the Solaise and after a couple of warm up runs on the Cugnai (that place again!) we dropped over the back! We had the place more or less to ourselves and the snow was varied but pretty good really all in all! A was loving it - just me and him (I think he is happy is bigger brother is a little injured this time which means he can't do too much off piste skiing!). We took a late morning hot choc and churros break at the Tip Pi place at the Datcha and then just as we were about to head over the top to take on something up the Fornet news came through that not only was the Vallon gondola down because of the wind (the venturi effect meant it was funnelling up to the col today!) but the Cascades Chair had just closed because of issues... oh dear!

Anyway I decided to take a punt and head that way in anticipation of things settling down as we got over there and despite a long queue for the Col drag poma the Cascades was now open when we arrived so we decided to take a trip over the Col anyway. The clouds was hanging back just long enough and the light bulb in the sky was doing JUST enough through the gloom to make it do-able! Anyway it was a good call in the end and we literally had the place to ourselves - pretty good snow and lovely ambiance! It was a wonderful trip. Unfortunately we did not see any wildlife and the heavy wet snow on the way out meant it was hard going to traverse back to the Fornet! Anyway we made it of course and finally had lunch at the Crozets... it was a well earned rest!

By the time we left from lunch the cloud had thickened massively and I was glad that the clouds had moved in so slowly during the day - it could do what it likes now! Ha ha! So after lunch we took a trip up the mountain and now the wind had blown in the weather the Vallon gondola was open so we took a trip to the Col with the aim of skiing all the way down to the valley floor... it was snowing heavily up there and the light was flat by now so we just decided to ski down and head home! The rest is history this evening!

As far as the 'wheres wally' above - some good and plausible suggestions but all wrong I am afraid!!!

This should give it away!

Easy now eh!

Back to today and some photos of our wonderful off piste adventures away from the crowds today!

Started nice....

Bit cloudy as we dropped into Cugnai

The lightbulb helps us navigate into the Col Pers

The Gorge as impressive as always!

So this evening it is snowing quite heavily and by the morning we should have received a decent few cm's but tomorrow the sun is set to return! Yay!

TTFN

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

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