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

A snowHead

As we say here in the PNW, wet snow is good for the base! Glad to see somewhere in Europe is getting snow.

A snowHead

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

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Thanks guys.... ill keep posting fear not and looking forward to when things get back to normal. I totally understand with the faff people will look for options that make it as easy as possible thats for sure. Either way its all such a mess... domestic tourism would be so much easier eh!

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+2

Was out W/C 11th December and was due to be back out on the 26th. When news came out briefly considered staying put but decided to conserve our resources for when things are more settled. Will be back as soon as we can but in the meantime using this as an opportunity to either explore other places we wouldn’t have considered or reacquaint ourselves with places we haven’t visited in a while.

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To be expected

With the temps above zero in town all night and with some rain that had been falling it was a somewhat damp start to the day. The snow clearers were hard at work getting the roads and pavements passable so it was action stations. I luckily had a morning lesson today so needed to be up and out at a reasonable time but still drop the kids off at the Village.

Clare was off cleaning so we had to be on it.

I dropped the kids off at Village and then headed to the meeting point and it was a snowhead and her boyfriend from Portugal to start the day off. First time skiing in this part of the world and with the bit between her teath wanted to travel and see as many ski resorts around the world as possible on their holidays. Val d was this time and Zermatt next time. Anyway as expected the demand from the public to get up the mountain and ski after a couple of snowy days was immense. There were pretty large queues for the Olympic but (as usual) smaller queues for the Solaise side so we headed that way. It was always going to be a slow opening as they had been blasting late last night across the domain and this morning a lot more cleaning had to be done.

Up the Solaise initially all they could get open was the Madelaine and the Datcha but it was obvious they were trying really hard to get the Glacier Express open too. Initially not too many people were up there but of course with the heavy snow and high avalanche risk not too many people were keen to head back down into town or indeed head off piste. The pisteurs work had shown that a lot was moving - a LOT and in large scale too - a couple of photos below. Movement was on multiple aspect and slope angle. Anyway the lesson progressed really well and I thought I did a pretty good job of keeping away from the crowds and also as the pistes were getting cut up with all the skiers. Even by the end of the session making my way down to the bottom of the Datcha it was very very bumpy and will have only gotten worse as the day continued!

Anyway there were some really good changes made to her skiing as the session went on and the boyfriend on the snowboard got a couple of tips too. I left them to go on their way as they were planning on getting over to Tignes so hopefully they had a good afternoon!

No sooner had I gotten off the mountain but I got a call from a friend (Debbie who owns Mountain Rooms) to ask whether I might be able to do some snowboarding lessons for a client owner of theres. So I spent a fair while trying to sort out the details of that welcome booking and will be starting on it tomorrow and that should lead nicely into my Irish client of next week as I have a few sessions now on the board.... so all in all way behind on the bookings front and still the resort is on its knees but the odd little booking here and there works a treat!

In other news... in a massive push towards getting more people boosted the Folie Douce were hosting a walk in booster jab campaign today... they were aiming for a few hundred boosters to be giving but looking at the numbers of people queuing I think they got a really good number - good on them for organising that!

Elsewhere last night with the road between Fornet and town closed they put into action the emergency housing plan whereby people caught out in town were housed in the various hotels etc around town - some 17 people I believe. The road re-opened this morning and all is well that ends well.

Anyway I am off now to collect the kids so ill say...

TTFN

Large scale avalanches all over the place - mainly natural but plenty pisteur initiated too.

The Fontaine Froid from above.... and below....

After all it is free

Germans are lifting their travel ban on uk citizens from Jan 4th .
Hopefully the granny snatcher will allow us into France sooner than later .

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@JamesHJ, to be fair it is a bit weird…..

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I've never seen a queue that big on the Fontaine Froide! Normally there's nothing. Shocked

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@JamesHJ, I have nothing but contempt for macron. He is no friend of the uk.

You know it makes sense.

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

HoneyBunny - in all fairness it is extremely rare that it is THAT bad! But either way get plenty of queues there at certain times of the day in school holidays.

Change at the 11th hour

I got a call yesterday afternoon from a swiss number for someone looking for a snowboard instructor for a few days starting from this am. I think the combination of language and her not really knowing anything about skiing / snowboarding or Val d'Isere meant it was not a 'normal' booking process / meeting process and that was to come out in the wash a little later (more on that in a moment).

Anyway it looks like I am going to be taking the booking on the snowboard for the first few days and then handing the booking over to a colleague as I have my usual Irish family coming in to ski with me next week! So this morning Clare was teaching a French little boy so had to be out the house at a decent time and I had to get into town after dropping the kids off at the Village. It didnt help that Olivia was in a bad mood - made it trickier!

So I headed to the MonCler shop in snow square to meet up with the 13 yr old Swiss girl (she goes to international school there so speak English well with an American accent!) and her mum. Turns out mum produces movies and has a fair few films on Netflix - cool - just checked a couple of titles out... fame!

So with lift pass, pass sanitaire and some brand new wrist guards / spine protector in position we were off. The girl was quite shy so I wanted to be cautious for the first run or two. I also saw / knew it was (as usual) going to be a lot busier up the Bellevarde side so we headed up Solaise side instead. Today was the very first time that I had even seen anyone checking Pass Sanitaires let alone have mine checked (to access the ski lifts that is!). Anyway we headed up and did a run on the Madelaine and then the Glacier express and the snow was really nice. I wanted to push her a little more so did a descent down Arcelle and it was pretty firm to put it mildly! It was a good test.

Anyway I had a lesson plan by this point in time in my head as to what we were going to do run by run and paced in my head when a message came through saying that they had a table booked at the Panoramique Restaurant at 1200/1230 - blimey! I called the mum and she called one of the other members of the group to double check they meant the restaurant in Tignes and the details. Since the mum didnt ski / snowboard I told the girl that it was going to mean the mum was going to have to take a taxi and then buy a pedestrian lift pass even to get to the restaurant for lunch and she and I were going to have to throw the lesson plan out the window and focus all our time and effort on getting their.... BLIMEY! Nothing like a curveball eh. The thing that annoys me is that people forget that I have to get back from a place like that and that even in heading over there we would end up on terrain that was not exactly ideal for what I was trying to teach her... so basically whole lesson lost!!!! Not ideal! I was also conscious of not over-tiring her either or over-phasing her with the terrain so we downloaded on the Solaise gondola and immediately uploaded on the Olympic (more Pass Sanitaire showing!). The runs from the top of the olympic all the way to the bottom of the Tignes funi were as expected horrendously busy and the snow was not great being a mix of sugar bumps and ice (thanks to the rain we also had the other day!). Anyway we got to Tignes and I dropped her off as planned but I had to turn around for the 45 mins to get all the way back home again!

So I have been able to catch up on a few things here and am about to head back into town to get the kids from Village and then Ben has a swimming lesson and if Olivia is not too badly behaved then I will take her swimming too otherwise she can just wait the 45 mins of Bens lesson with me on the side!!!!!

The Folie jab push event yesterday was well supported and it looks like 320 jabs were done including a large number of chalet seasonal staff including Brits were done so it was a real success by all accounts.

Finally a word on the snow conditions - I have talked about the on piste above - but the off piste - well unfortunately it is unskiable below about 2800m as the rain crust is horrendous - what a shame - will take a wee while to sort that out. Such a shame after all the nice snow that fell before the rain! You need to go REALLY high to get anything nice.

Anyway must dash - more snowboarding lesson tomorrow and then time with the kids after that I think will be the order of the day.

TTFN

Ready for the day ahead

A snowHead

That was nice

Well the day started nicely and gently (although Olivia was in a foul mood!) and Clare got out the door for her lesson and I did a few bits around the house.

At 1100 the plan was to rendezvous at the top of the La Daille gondola and have a family ski over to Tignes together. It was to be Bens first time ever skiing over to Tignes so a nice family milestone. So with the sun shining and slopes quieter than they would be on other days of the week we were off.

Apart from the usual mix of complete idiots (its always the same - every new week there are collections of 'hero's' who seem to forget we see the same crap ski / snowboarding etc week after week and the hero of today is exactly the same as last weeks dross!) on the mountain who career about for a week and have no concept of what controlled and courteous skiing / snowboarding is all about it was a good outing... by that a boarder (I am NOT boarder bashing at all but it was in this case) really was going way to fast and wiped out Ben and whilst he was OK I did have to chase her to get her to stop to make her realise that you HAVE to stop (why is the industry so crap that these basic rules are not known about - instead everyone is more clued up about buzz words and ego's and 'names' in the sport rather than the basics!) if there is a collision. Anyway it was on the usual suspect part coming down from the the top of the Toviere turning right towards Tignes and under Tuffs lift. Anyway luckily Ben was OK and we carried on. Little by little we got him all the way to Tignes Val Claret and lunch at The Corner! Lunch between us composed of sausage rolls (they really are amazing there), chips, burgers and croque monsieur's - all amazing there. We all indulged ourselves and it was so nice to all be over there and also seeing plenty of familiar faces as a lot of locals obviously head there too to support Ryan / Fergus and Lou. It was amazing.

So what is it with this blind assumption that speed and open ended turns is good skiing / snowboarding? What is it with the assumption that colour of run is linked to ability (it is only moderately for the most part). What is it with the assumption that by trying to copy what is seen on YouTube is applicable for your every day skier? What is it with not even looking up hill before setting off and / or 30 people setting off at the same time and not realising that immediately the whole slope is unskiable by heading off randomly and unpredictably en masse. What is it with spreading so far out across the slope that the whole slope is pretty much blocked..... I could go on. What does seem to happen more and more is that having the multiple pairs of skis / 10 different types of sense / go pro on a stick and how much side-cut on the skis is much more important than actually what skiing / snowboarding is really about.... the whole industry seems intent on driving itself more and more into the ground - I just dont get it and personally think equipment manufacturers have got us exactly where they want to get us! Grrrr rant over!

Anyway we just about got back to Val OK although as usual Edelweiss was a death trap (no pun intended after last week!) and whilst Clare took Olivia down skiing to La Daille Ben and I downloaded!

The afternoon was spent playing games with the kids and generally chilling out. Apart from Clare doing a massage this evening and the kids eating another huge meal this evening it has been a very chilled afternoon / evening.

Tomorrow I should be back working in the afternoon and Clare is teaching in the am and Olivia will be at Club des Sports all day - so not sure what Ben and I will do in the am - we will sort something out I am sure!

TTFN

P.S. Weather wise it will get slowly colder this week and more unsettled as the high pressure moves away.
P.P.S. The roads tomorrow will be much worse than they were today so leave / arrive early / late if you possibly can and want to avoid traffic jams!

Nice photo from Radio Val - au revoir to 2021 - and may 2022 be WAY better!

A snowHead

I admire you for your comments on the occasional stupid level of skiing/boarding one sees. TBH, it is getting to the extent I am seroiusly considering, and with a two, possibly three, year gap due to covid, whether at 65 I shall ever bother to put on skis and boots again as I find one gets more spooked with age by the behaviour of the very few.

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

@countryman, I know what you mean but if you pick your resorts and dates carefully you can largely avoid the 'hero' brigade.

EK at NY is definitely one combo to avoid as Steve points out above.

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@Steve Angus, top rant! Thank goodness Ben was OK.
Happy New Year to you all!

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

countryman - its sad isnt it that people such as yourself feel that way! Although I'm not sure its actually the behaviour of the very few - its pretty widespread id say!
red 27 - yes certainly worse in certain sections of the mountain / places / places / resorts and dates.... personally the Bellevarde side is always the worse - get up to the Val glacier and it is much better up there for the most part.
Hurtle - thanks. Yes! To you too.

What is also worth remembering is that even "close calls" and what people consider is a close call (even if the other party concerned dont think it is 'close') that that incident can strip the person of all confidence. The classic when you are teaching someone and a third party comes at high speed quite close and is totally oblivious the impact their actions have on others. I have had beginners I have spent days and hours building up confidence with and a 'close call' strips that ALL away - the other person doesn't even realise what they have done and it is deeply frustrating. As I ALWAYS say to people - generally persons who have learnt as kids and now teens / adults and are WELL within their comfort zone lets say on a green slope / zone tranquil is:

"half your speed, then half it again, double your overtaking distance and then double it again" and only then are you anywhere near in a 'good place'

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@Steve Angus, i loved skiing in Val / Tignes, the clientele put me off ever going back though. Very high% of back bottoms

After all it is free

@Steve Angus, well justified rant! Glad Ben was OK and well done to him on his first ski trip over to Tignes. Happy New Year and hopefully one with more freedom and normality very soon.

@countryman, @Hurtle, sad you feel discouraged like that but I understand why.
I feel I've become more vigilant and cautious of other skiers/boarders as I've got older. Also more aware of riskier bits of piste, bottlenecks and junctions in Val D/Tignes, having skied there so many times.
It helps to be familiar with an area but only so much you can do, then just down to luck.

I agree it could be challenge to get back to skiing confidently after a couple of years off. I hope to try next season, assuming my new bionic knee is up to it. I'll be praying for good snow and visibility. snowHead

I feel that overtaking skills and speed awareness should be taught early on, at snowplough level, and reinforced at all levels of lesson. No one seems to mention the skiway code, or teach where to stop safely (not under a chair lift or round a blind corner). I think these skills add to the fun of getting around the mountain. Years ago I did a 4 day course for school staff who wanted to take groups of kids for a ski outside of their lessons and it has proved very useful.

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Despite being a traffic aware courteous cyclist, whenever I go out there’ll be at least one driver who tries to kill me. Skiing and cycling defensively help minimise the risks but there’s only so much you can do if not everyone is trying to keep each other safe. Have to admit part of me is glad that travel ban means I don’t have to contend with the New Year crowds.

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...and I should have added glad Ben was fine.

The last time I got hit was from behind by a 12 year old girl snowboarder at Grindelwald. Parents came up very apologetically. Mercifully no damage done and I stayed on my feet. Tbh I was more worried for the snowboarder on that occasion.

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@Steve Angus, so glad Ben was OK, sounds like it could have been nasty.

Every word of your top "rant" struck a resonant note. Is this just a problem in the big French ski areas? We tend to go to Italy or Andorra these days (having, in the past, done at least one week a year in EK) and see far fewer idiots on the slopes.

You know it makes sense.

@Steve Angus, good rant as has been stated. It's a questioning one, and the answer might be similar to the question about why people drive the way they do. And the answer is: they were taught how to do it, but not how to do it the right way, nor why that matters. For example, I taught my kids to not merely stop at the four way stop, but also to see who arrived when, and to watch the other drivers, go when its your turn, and communicate if needed so it works.

I also liked your point about how the non-event in my mind may have hurt the confidence of the person that thought I skied too close to them even if I didn't. There are times I'd say maybe they were in the wrong place for their ability, but that'd be wrong. Good reminder that we were all learners once.

If we're on our game, we can even help. Some boarder shot out from the woods at 90 degrees to the run in front of me the other day, and in addition to the profanity I told him why he can't do that. To my amazement he said "Sorry, you're right". When we bring the light along with the heat, things tend to go better.

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

Hurtle - what a shame!
Levi215 - again a real shame.... I just wish (not just here in Val) resorts were aware of the issue at large here... I know in plenty of places around the work they work much harder than here in France to improve things!
PeakyB - thanks! And yes there is certainly an element of luck thats for sure. Knowing the bottlenecks and timings of busy slopes etc certainly helps! In terms of getting back on snow - come on down!
blueski2 - you nailed it on the head there. I sadly think that as a profession as snowsports instructors we have created a monster of our own making.... certainly when snowboarding came along 30 years ago and ski manufacturers 'realeased' carving skis to counteract everyone shifting to snowboarding that the rush to skip the learning curve and the millions of nuts and bolts that make up the sport were lost. Sad!
brovert - think you nailed it on the head there - everyone needs to work together and unlike cycling and many other examples, on the mountain everyone really is equal in terms of ski, boarder etc but its here people 'try' and make up hierarchy (unfortunately) and it is from there the notion of speed and aggression seems to 'win'!
VolklAttivaS5 - shame!
moosepig - oh it really could have been nasty but luckily wasnt! Is it just a problem in the big French ski areas - quite probably but having taught and skied the world over I think different countries have different issues but this particular one is probably more akin to the French resorts yes!
Scooter in Seattle - great words...."not how to do it the right way, nor why that matters" - totally correct... takes it back to my point above in that the profession is partly at fault! As instructors we are suckers to the pressures thrown at us by certain learners of wanting to ski black runs on day one because 'mates are doing it' - here in Val for example its the expectation that at all costs you 'will' ski the Face de Bellevarde at some point during the week no matter what - why!!!!????????? Yes the non-event is actually the bigger problem for instructors as collisions (no matter what people say) are quite rare for the most part compared to the numbers of so called 'close calls!'..... 'we were all learners once' and unfortunately those of us who learnt as kids are at a disadvantage as we can't remember what it was like to be a learner!!!!! So learning as an adult is a whole different process! Yes education is a good one.... I see you are in Seattle - I worked in Whistler for a few seasons and I certainly saw such an approach working over there as the language / attitude barrier doesn't exist anywhere near what it does in these parts. But thanks for those awesome points!

A snowHead

Steve Angus I always enjoy reading your posts but the points about poor behaviour on the slopes really hit a nerve. I was in Val the week of the 12/12 and the lack of courtesy and common sense on the slopes really hit home.
The number of people who set off without first looking uphill is staggering. The number of skiers who believe “speed demonstrates how good a skier you are” even more so.
The most disturbing though was the number of people “skiing” down Face in the late afternoon who had no control whatsoever and were a menace to themselves as well as other slope users. “Lemming Leap” which I call the path just before the first steep pitch was packed with people too scared to set off but managing to get in the way of those who were trying to get down.
On the plus side I didn’t come across any boarders sitting just below a lip, hidden from view!
Due back 6/2 and hoping for a change in rules but I suspect there will have to be a dramatic fall in Covid numbers for that to happen.
Wishing you and your family a Happy 2022.

A snowHead

Domesticated

We all had to be on it this morning as Olivia was off to club and Clare was teaching so it was action stations this morning. Calm returned when they left the house so it was just Ben and I. Even though Ben is supposed to be back at school tomorrow along with Olivia his teacher is off sick (probably Covid I guess!) so he will be going to Village and therefore he will have a tiring day thats for sure! So this morning was all about being calm and having some down time - especially after yesterdays endeavours! Anyway taking the Xmas tree down, hovering, cleaning the smelly bins and plenty of other domesticated jobs was the goer this morning. Had to make sure that lunch was on the table for when Olivia got in from club and had the hour turn around time - go, go, go.

So with Clare home after her lesson and Ben playing nicely and Olivia ready to go back to club this afternoon I took her in. She was very excited as they had skied the Face with club in the morning and were planning on skiing lots of the other reds about town this afternoon - nice and lucky girl!

I met up with my girl for the pm snowboarding session and we were off. On the agenda was some steeper terrain and we took a trip down the Face too.... it was better than I thought it was going to be! We also did some work on ollie and nollies and a trip over the green line in the park too! The clouds rolled in later in the day (although likely to be just cloudy and not a lot else tomorrow and into Tuesday) and so we did a couple of laps on the lower slopes to finish off with.

After collecting Olivia from club and getting home it was time to swap as Clare was off out doing massaging again and therefore I did bath, tea and kids bedtime.

It was good to see Ski Sunday back on our screens again this evening - Winter really is here when that is on.

Apart from that it is the start of a fairly busy week mainly as my Irish family I teach every January week (this one) are back in town! So it is going to be probably my busiest week of the season so far - but as soon as it is over then that really is the end of the bookings for a long time!

TTFN

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

Captain Primrose - yes we call it 'Lemmings Leap' too. But interesting that you feel the same / see the same. Sometimes I wonder if its just me - this conversation re-enforces me! And yes please lets hope you are allowed back soon! Pretty please!

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Swift change

With Bens teacher off (at least for a couple of days) it was business as normal in terms of it being a school day so the alarm went off nice and early. Olivia was off on the school bus and I took Ben to village but there was a quick detour via our office (aka Snowberry street side) to drop my snowboard boots off!

After dropping Ben (with the unknown quantity of how long the school teacher will be off for) everyone in town has booked their kid(s) into the Village and it is totally full now for the week. The other options are non-existent really as everyone needs to work at the moment and take what little work there is... so it is a poor state of affairs and even worse now that the government have said that you can split classes amongst other 'surviving' teacher - its all rather rubbish!

Anyway Ben loves going to Village so was happy to be dropped off.

I then met my am lesson which was the brother in law and son of a good Irish client of mine. She is having some lessons with me during the week so it was a nice for her to extend to her relations. So they have a mixed bag of experience - the 17 year old only started yesterday and without lessons or any input was dragged down a red run (yes I know) - that will have been a little messy to put it mildly I am sure! The father skied a week about 20 years ago on a school trip. Otherwise they worked quite well together and I decided to work straight on the magic carpet with them at the beginning and that went OK so we moved on to the Madelaine. Without blowing my own trumpet it does take some skill to manage a couple of people at different levels with not a massive amount of experience under their belts but big and high aims! I shifted and shaped the normal learning curve to give the main skill of being able to skid in a controlled manner the skis to bring the speed under control! A success by the end and I was quite happy that they were able to ski in a reasonable amount of control down a green run by the end - hooray!

At lunchtime it was a very quick change at Snowberry into my snowboarding gear and then needed to hop up the Bellevarde in order to get to the Peau du Vache as was actually starting there this pm (a little later than normal). The weather was pretty nice all day with just a thin veil of cloud but there was a punchy breeze at times so my pm girl was not too keen to be up high in the breeze as she was cold. So I decided to take her (and my first since early 2020) to Tignes Brev... it was so nice being down that way again - has been far too long! It was a really nice trip down there but all too soon needed to head back to Val!

I collected Ben from Village and got him home - he was knackered - he nearly fell asleep in his dinner plate! Meanwhile Clare collected Olivia after school and her gymnastics class and then it was the usual weekday repertoire of dinner and bed time for the kids!

Tomorrow will be much of the same.

Ill leave you with some nice photos from today.

TTFN

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Wow! Where is everyone?

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Just how quite are the slopes???. This gives the impression that there are very few people around.

After all it is free

I'm there right now (Val d'Isère) after a change of plans, it is quiet indeed (Fornet blissfully so except the last stretch above Sign), but not that empty either in the usual busy slopes. I do not know what it would be like in a "normal" year though.
By the way, I was sad to see the Cascade restaurant (up at Pissaillas) closed: does anybody know what's up? I ate at overpriced Signal instead...

I believe a substantial proportion of the Cascade staff have COVID.

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Help!!

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

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