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

A snowHead

@Kenzie, haha I guess that goes for pretty much everything in life.

@Steve Angus, interesting, judging by the state of the accommodation left on Vrbo and H&A in Tignes it does seem like the resort will be very busy. Maybe I should start looking on the Val D side...

A snowHead

Kenzie - true in many a setting that! My ski gloves have a healthy dose of duct tape around them!
Minion1980 - I think lots of things will slowly get booked up yes!

What a disaster

If it wasnt the stomach waking me up it was the heated blanket that I left on too high a setting... normally I have it on heat level 7 and that is SO nice to get into and I sleep like a baby; probably about an hour after I drift off it turns off.... BUT last night I had accidentally set it on heat level 9 so it ended up waking me up after an hour as I was sweating away - doh!

Anyway Monday morning was the usual battle to get the kids up and out the door with their sleepy heads! However as soon as they were gone it really was the calm before the storm. Like yesterday I was not due to meet my team (same as yesterday) until 0930 so off I headed. It was hard to believe that the weather really was due to turn so badly but it was forecast to change big time.... not that you would really know. Anyway when I got up the top of Bellevarde it was obvious that it was really windy BUT nothing I have not seen before... I had this - I knew how to handle it! Anyway we headed down the Santons and it must be the first time in about 5 years I have been down there today.... Actually it was in REALLY good condition and pretty quiet swell... a good ski. It was also nice being out the wind down there. As we headed up Solaise and away from the cloud that was rolling in we once again broke through into the sun and conditions atop Solaise were excellent. With the wind and clouds once again catching us up there was a second 'that has been a long time since I did that moment' as we headed down Piste L and that as well was in excellent condition. I was pretty happy that I was keeping one step ahead of the weather! We then took a trip up the Laissent Express and hit the blue run back towards the Signal as the weather was catching up again.... however by now I think everyone was having similar ideas as I have NEVER (and not even in the busiest of school holiday weeks) seen the Mangard piste as busy as it was.... I am still stunned how busy it was. Of course by the time we got to the Fornet to catch the bus it was busier than I have ever seen it there too.... People were walking down to the lower stop to get the bus from there... others were squeezing in like sardins. Anyway we all did finally manage to get back to town and we squeezed in another on the Rogoney.

We parted ways and then I got the message from my afternoon clients that they wanted to pull the plug as they could not make it over as they too were coming from Tignes.... so anyway I headed home and caught up on some chores.

However I got a message much later on from my morning client that they had gotten on the Olympic lift and were literally told that the lift was closing as the winds were too strong (at 1130 winds hit 160km/h up high!) as they stepped on it... so bussed to La Daille as the Funi was open (even that will have been hard as millions of people were trying to get down to La Daille in this scenario!). Having gone up and certain the Tommeuse link was still open as the piste marker board was showing it they set off.... however by the time they got to Tommeuse it too was closed so then had to ski to La Daille as nothing like the La Daille gondola to download was open... so I believe it was not until much later in the evening that they finally got home to Tignes - what a disaster!

I have posted on social media that I dont think Val d'Isere covered themselves in glory today as the communications for those needing to return to Tignes etc was pretty dismal and they were slow off the mark to set things up transport wise. All in all I think it was pretty rubbish and typically European poor customer service. I feel sorry for those involved (and others Im sure).

Anyway I did the collecting of Ben and Olivia (from gymnastics) and battled our way through the wind and snow. Yes in amongst the wind it has probably snowed about 10cm too.

The wind and snow should ease off tonight into tomorrow before coming back in tomorrow evening although the wind may still be problematic tomorrow - time will tell!

Lets hope we get a decent day in tomorrow.

TTFN

Calm b4 the storm

There were more people trying to get OUT of Val than waiting for the bus into town this afternoon!!!!!

NOTHING to do with Val but thought this photo taken off the skiing sites for the Beijing Olympics is pretty telling - crazy eh!!!!

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

And again Val d'Isere

Val d'Isere seem to be making a habitat of messing things up the last couple of days and today was another one!

The kids needed waking up this morning which is a first - well a first for mid week anyway! We got the kids on the school bus it was go, go, go as both Clare and I headed out for 0900 starts. It was apparent that we had had about 10cm snow but with the wind it was going to vary massively from part of the mountain to another! Anyway getting to the meeting point was easy enough and there had not been enough snow to warrant and PIDA work this morning so surely getting the lifts open at a reasonable time should be easy enough right..... wrong!

The first thing I noticed was that the Olympic was obviously having problems and they were not getting the cars on the cable quick enough so I knew straight away that perhaps the double chair option could be in order or Solaise. Failing that then surely Rogoney could be an option.... surely! Anyway with the content of what we wanted to cover I decided that Belvevarde would be the go'er and with my client being nice and early we hit up the Bellevarde Chair. However when we got to the top of the chair and started to head over to the Loyes we discovered that it too had a problem.... bearing in mind that they will have known about this problem a fair while beforehand it still beggars belief there was no signage at the bottom of the Bellevarde to tell people that the only ski option was back down the Face. Also with the ski race on there was basically no route passable anyway! It was carnage. Whist you can ask to download on the chair by taking your skis off (this is do-able ANYTIME) there again is nothing to tell people that..... anyway cutting a long story short there were LOTS of people skiing the Face - well sliding down on their face I should say that should be nowhere near the slope - NOT a good one Val!

Anyway when we got to the bottom of the slope (not a bad warm up all things considered!) still nothing was moving - it was nearly 0930 now.... I can forgive Val if it was still due to large amounts of PIDA clearance that needed to be done but this wasnt - they just didnt get the lifts sorted early enough! Anyway I used considerable experience in knowing how these things might work and waited for the Olympic to open up and we profited as we were basically in the front of the queue when it did about 5 mins later. Although the cabin we were in had a good new seating layout that helped moved people inside the lift which was great to see!

Anyway we broke through the clouds on the way up and the pistes up top were a mix of soft patches and some nice strips of fresh snow BUT coupled with LOTS and lots of area of hard pack snow / ice STILL - yes the wind had blown so much off that had fallen! The marmots lift was having big problems as well / they didnt try and open Borsat until mid morning and I didnt fancy risking big queues at the bottom of the mountain in La Daille so we mainly lapped on Fontaine Froid where there were no queues so that was a good call but the piste was the most icy I have seen for a long time! We did have to take Marmotts a couple of times which was not fun as it stopped about 1000 times in the elongated 20 mins we were on it... doh!

Anyway it was a good session working on short radius turns and we had a nice session despite the challenges. I managed to find a few extra mins at the end of the session as I got a message through from my pm lesson that there had been an injury in the family and therefore no one would be able to attend the pm lesson... so off I went home.

I hadn't been home for more than 15 mins when I got a message from our tenants to say the door lock at our flat was playing up.... so anyway I headed up there and spent a couple of hours sorting it out and I think I sorted something out that will hopefully last a week or two until I get a new lock next week!

Anyway thats about it for today... tomorrow is going to be a really busy day as need to get kids to kids club in the morning and then I am off piste in both the morning and afternoon and also need to collect 6 off piste packs for the afternoon too and get them to the meeting point - eek - busy.!

The weather did improve as the day progressed but this evening has deteriorated again this evening and we have heavy snow falling once again - it should clear up tomorrow morning though into another nice day before some very warm temps from about Thursday!

TTFN

If you look VERY closely you can see the big queues at the bottom of the mountain - we had just arrived at the top of the Bellevarde when we found out that the Loyes Express was not gonna run! Also note in this picture we are below the clouds but then when we got up high....

.... it was glorious.

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@Steve Angus, you seem to be mentioning lift problems, lack of good information, signage etc more than usual these last few weeks. Are standards slipping do you think? Affected by the financial hit the area has taken in the last couple of years maybe?

I hope things will be running well as peak season arrives! Sounds like those lifts and slopes are going to be rammed.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

From Bellevarde can't you just head down Fontaine Froide and Santons if the Olympique is stopped and Face doesn't appeal? Or La Daille and get the bus?

Beautiful pic from on high snowHead

BUT that photo of the Chinese "ski area"... that is a massive eye-opener Shocked

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@moosepig, millions and millions of gallons of water have gone into artificial snow cannons imported from Italy . Thus when there is a dire shortage of water. No criticism from locals though as they would be “re-educated “

After all it is free

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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

.... well I think I read the other day that about 500 million gallons of water had been used this season here in Val!

Talking of which with the long range forecast now for not a lot more snow we can but only hope that temps remain low so the snow that we have remains in situ! The pistes are going to get mega scrapped over the next few weeks thats for sure!

Wow a tiring and long day

The alarm went off extra early this am as I needed to get (I was on duty) the kids to kids club meaning it was leaving the house at 0800. However getting the kids there with their day bags and Olivia with also her ski kit as well as my ski stuff and off piste pack is quite a lot of work! Anyway on the bus, off the bus, walk to kids club which is located at the school, walk to meeting point.........

and then start the days work...

I had there same guy as yesterday am and the plan was for off piste this morning! There was a slight delay on the Bellevarde side so we headed up Solaise. The wind had died off and the sun was trying to come out. It was only going to get warmer today as it was not that cold first thing. Anyway we skied various options of my routes from the top of the Glacier Express (before the lift developed a technical issue and had to shut!) as well as under the Datcha... a 'bus stop' as well as the top half of the Super L and finally finished with an S Prime into the S Foret.... it was a mix of really poor wind blown or scoured snow with some really nice (but quite stiff) powder. Trying to get the visibility and orientation of the slopes correct grappling against the rising temps as the sun started to take over was a tricky one. Anyway it was a nice morning.

Lunchtime was a blur as our office and therefore safety kit is now located at Snowberry Streetside and that closes at 1230 on a Wednesday so this means getting to the office and getting (in this case 6 complete sets of off piste gear) the gear before 1230 AND since it is not slope side anymore that means then jumping on the bus back up to the pistes... a complete pain!

Anyway I made it and then sat in the sun to cool down (carrying all the gear of your own AND 6 sets of off piste gear is very tiring!) before the seasonnaires turned up.

When they did I did the normal safety briefing and gave them all the kit before we headed up Bellevarde! Off the side of Verte was not that great and a baptism of fire for one girl in particular. One of my favourite little routes off the Borsat was in reasonable condition but the best of the afternoon was under pisteurs - it was rather good! There were lots of smiling faces by the end! A successful afternoon.

One thing is for sure the snow off piste is good in places and not so good elsewhere!

After returning the kit back to the office I headed home and had a frantic couple of hours getting all the evening jobs done before heading into town to meet up with welshflyer and some assorted others - most of whom I knew well! It was a nice couple of hours having a nice glass of wine.

Anyway it has been a really long day and now I need to get to bed as tomorrow is another long day. The sun is supposed to shine all day tomorrow and be warm.

TTFN

Started off rather glum but turned out nice....

snow reports

That was a change

With the kids up and out the door (they were on form) it was refreshing to see that the weather looked settled and also warm! Even now this evening it is barely down to zero which is unheard of at this time of the year.

Anyway I headed into town and the first 'change' of the day was that I was meeting not at our meeting point but instead at the Hotel Aigle des Neiges. I got there in good time and it was nice chatting to the other instructors there with the early morning sun beating down!

The second change of the day was that I was teaching a minor... yes the first time this season I have taught (I think) someone under the age of 18. The booking is an Irish family and they have taken 3 instructors so I opted to take the youngest, a boy of 13. He was a really quiet kid but quite engaged in the skiing. First thing we needed was to get to Intersport as he needed some new goggles. So after we headed up Solaise and it was 'softly, softly' as he hadn't skied for 4 years. When (kids especially) they have not skied for a few years and have grown a lot the centre of gravity has risen so much that the co-ordination etc required takes time to remap in their heads. Often the way so we need to learn new skills that the body won't have experienced before!

We ended up having a really good morning and being a teen I threw in some fun bits too for him to show off to his bigger brother with. By the end of the session we were ready to descend down the front of the Solaise and he tackled it really well! Awesome.

For the afternoon I had a booking that I needed to get over to Tignes for. Eating my lunch on the lift was rather pleasant actually since it was lovely warm and sunny! Anyway for the afternoon I had a nice couple who hadn't actually started skiing until well into their 30's but were now in their late 50's. They hadn't had a lesson for a few years so it was a case of tidying up some very accomplished skiers as they had been taught well and lots of great skills and assets in their skiing! I was jolly happy with the afternoons progress and it was nice skiing with them.

This evening the kids have been on form once again and it has been a very easy evening.

Tomorrow I have the same kid in the morning followed by my other seasonnaires group in the afternoon.... and then suddenly its the weekend once again.

TTFN

Yawn

The sleep was going just perfectly until I woke to the sound of little Ben crying in our bedroom after he had had a nightmare... we gave in pretty easily and within about 5 mins he was snuggling up in bed.... it took what seemed like about 3 hours to get back to sleep (I probably got a little more than I thought)... but with tossing and turning and getting too hot with him in bed with us it wasnt long until Clare went to sleep in his bed (note to self if it happens again tonight ill go into his bed for a decent sleep!)

Anyway breakfast time came and went and the kids were off to school... I could have gone back to bed I really could have! I jumped on the bus into town but got off a couple of stops early so I could pop to Chevallot to grab my lunch - Friday treat! Love a Fougasse Provencalle - yummy... that was to be washed down with a Delice des Neiges.

It was a pleasant walk from there to the hotel to meet the clients for day 2 of their lessons with us - the only issue there was no sign of them... the minutes came and went and we helped a fair few beginners walk across the black ice towards the piste - kept us entertained! Anyway we ended up calling the phone number on the booking which was the wife... she is still back in Ireland and was doing the school run so had to wait a few minutes to get a call back! We were then able to get the husbands phone number and call him.... problem was that he thought it was his alarm clock going off so kept cancelling it. Finally we got connected and informed him that him and his kids were already about 30 mins late for the lesson.... queue lots of swearing down the phone.... queue another 15 mins or so and they emerged from the boot room looking bleary eyed and off we went. We really only had a couple of hours of the lesson time to go but we made the most of it with some reds as well as greens up Bellevarde and a couple of runs through the petit cross - nice!

My lad was so thirsty though that we needed to stop for a water half way through as of course he had not had anything to drink or eat.... doh! I dropped them at their designated lunch at the Peau de Vache before heading to the office to collect packs etc for the pm's off piste.

The afternoon I had my other seasonnaires group and there was only 4 of them this week. The weather was hot and fantastic again today but I was worried the snow would be getting baked - it turned out it was OK actually thankfully.

Anyway a load of options up Solaise and not too much poling and I had some really happy seasonnaires - I was really happy with the quality and quantity of snow found.

Getting the packs back to the office it was great to hear that Bens friends mum had agreed to take and return the boys from school and to their swimming lesson and then home again.... so it was just Olivia, Clare and I at home which was less hectic than normal!

Tomorrow I am working in the am (if they wake up in time!), Olivia is at club all day and Clare will ski with Ben for a few hours... the afternoon will be pretty relaxed at home hopefully.

So the sun continues to shine, its unseasonably warm still but we hope we might have some snow early next week with some luck!

In other news the STVI are once again talking about the possibility of a strike over the next few weeks - yes over pay. I dont think it will come to that but the AGM of the STVI last night was quite heated so time will tell!

For those of you on the road tomorrow it will be quite heavy traffic as it is the first (and quietest) of the French school holiday weeks which means coming up and down the hill and into and out of the valley could pose a few problems here and there - as always leave / arrive early / late as needed to avoid traffic jams!

Right I'm off to bed.

TTFN

A brisk walk through town early in the day is a calming experience

Joe fuels up as we wait for them to appear from their hotel

Packs are ready to go for the seasonnaires who all come home....

....with happy smiles!

You know it makes sense.

Have I under-layered?

With the more leisurely start to the day on a Saturday it was quite a nice start to the day. There was a smattering of fresh snow - a couple of cm's but still we'll take it. Anyway off I went with Olivia in tow so she could ski with her club. After dropping her off I met my young lad and we set off. We were literally the first on the Olympic lift and we profited from no one about at all. There was an annoying cloud or two lingering about but the main thing was that it felt a few deg c colder - had I under done it with the layers.... luckily I dont think i did in the end but I was worried initially.

Anyway crocodile alley, the fun run and then we were off down the Johann Clarey piste before going 'around the world' backwards. We had a lot of fun and found some jumps at the side of the pistes and it was a jolly fun morning... he especially loved doing twirly birds thats for sure! We finished with a ski down Santons (where I saw Olivia ski past with her group - she's flying!) and then I took her home.

Clare had been out skiing with Ben and some of his friends and the lucky boys had been allowed to sit in the drivers cab of the funi - wow the excitement levels were off the scale!

After lunch Clare took Olivia back to Club and Ben and I spent a very chilled afternoon at home doing a few bits and playing games and chilling... I needed it and I think he did too! There was a parent / child event at the Club after skiing so Clare and Olivia went to that whilst I got dinner sorted.

As you can imagine everyone is knackered this evening after all that!

I have an intriguing booking starting tomorrow am - a French lady with a couple of friends (dont think they are French but their names look Spanish) in their 20's.... she started sms'ing me to ask questions about the meeting point etc .... in French.... I did (apprehensively) point out that the lesson would be conducted in English - thinking maybe she thought I would be teaching in French - but she came back to confirm that that would be OK - hmmmm we shall see tomorrow eh! Anyway the booking notes say that they are complete beginners - haven't taught that level for quite a while!

Apart from all that we have the Olympics on the TV as much as possible and I am going to have a VERY early night now so that I can hopefully catch the Mens Downhill in the early hours.

Of course with the progress of the seasons today was the day in the season when the sun completes its pass over the top of the Charvet mountain which means that the town (for the first time this year) doesn't get into the shade until MUCH later in the day - always a prominent moment in the Winter!

In other news the school hols have started so things this week are once again going to start getting busier again on the slopes and that is after some mega queues (as to be expected) up the valley today.... oh yea its that time of the year again!

Oh and finally check out some of the pics below (including a quiz) of the 'young pisteurs' work they do in resort. Whether it be the school kids coming up to learn the work the pisteurs do and how to stay safe in the mountains or with the Club des Sports...

TTFN

The sun did win over in the end!

Which magic carpet lift is this!

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

@Steve Angus, magic carpet... Poum?

A snowHead

A snowHead

@Steve Angus, Did you get up early to go back to bed immediately Laughing

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

@Steve Angus, Magic carpet? The one at the bottom of Val Snow Park?

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Multinationals

I was fast asleep when I got woken up about 2am by Clare wondering what the '****' I was doing sleeping on the sofa bed - had forgotten to tell her. Anyway I rolled over and went back to sleep and then again when I flicked the tv on and realised the mens DH was not gonna happen. So all in all despite it being a little broken I slept OK.

On a Sunday the kids had their usual Sunday breakie treat whilst I treated myself to eggs on toast - yummy. Clare was to take the kids swimming whilst I headed off to work. It was definitely colder this am but that was not going to stop me going easy on my layering - teaching beginners is hot work thats for sure!

Anyway I headed off and the clients ended up being somewhat late - but thats often the case on the first morning with beginners! Whilst I was waiting for them at the meeting point I got the shock of my life.... my best buddy was in town - he had made a surprise last minute decision to come out only booking on Thursday - and he was off skiing.... he was trying to keep it a secret but we bumped into each other.

Anyway the morning was spent getting the clients to the point whereby they could stop on the flattish area under the Village lift before (they already had a lift pass so thought it a good idea to actually use it!) we uploaded to utilise the small magic carpet atop the Solaise! Overall it was a good session. I left them atop the Solaise and headed home. But what an eclectic mix of people - they are all in the early to mid 20's and work for Revolute in London - one French guy (used to Snowboard but never skied and from Lille originally), a guy from Chile originally and one other from Indonesia.... English is their common language thankfully as would not want to be teaching in all those languages! Anyway they did well thankfully and we had a good laugh!

It was a quiet afternoon at home with just Clare, Ben and I as Olivia was off on a playdate so that was nice - queue plenty of Olympics action! Olivia came back later in the afternoon and her friends mum came in for a cuppa whilst all the kids trashed the house (doh) and no sooner had they gone but my mate came around for a cuppa - he is Olivias godfather!

So by the time he had left and the kids had had dinner etc it was rather late... so the kids have only just gone to bed! Phew!

The weather has really moved in this evening (as forecast) and it is now very windy and very snowy - tomorrow could be an interesting day!

I think I mentioned the other day that apparently the heating control system for the La Daille gondola is broken - well apparently it won't be until the Summer that it is fixed... so even in the Spring the heating will be on full whack - so better only load in your swimming trunks by that time of the year!!!!!

Forgot to get a photo today so will use Radio Val's pic instead!

TTFN

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Cleared up nicely

Well I got my early night in and then woke up just in time to see the start of the mens downhill... what a race that was and of course a lot of celebrations in the area - particularly over in Tignes were their boy at his 5th Olympics finally got his medal.... Johann Clarey! Pretty good race and thankfully they slotted that in. Just as the kids were waking up and we were starting the normal morning routine to get them ready for school with breakfast etc there was the Womens GS to watch so that got the kids captivated! Yay.... Also a little snowboarding freestyle to watch too!

Anyway with the kids off to school it was time to look at the conditions outside. The snow had been falling thick and fast much of last night but with high winds and Radio Val were reporting 24cm of snow in town so in places up high there was a lot of snow to clear! All morning you could hear the blasting going off and with the winds still quite high you had to really study the weather charts and believe that it would really clear up! Anyway the millions of people keen to get skiing were of course amassing on the bottom of the snow front area so it was rather busy!

My (2nd day now) beginners were a little late but nothing too serious and it was nice as I could have a quick chat with welshflyer whilst I waited. Anyway the funi and the solaise were the first to open but by this time we were in the queue for the Village lift for a bit of a warm up. As you can imagine the queue for that was huge, as was the queue for the Rogoney! Anyway after doing a little work on that lift and with the weather really brightening up we headed up the Solaise to see what was what up there. Conditions were nice and the wind had died down and the snow was not too chopped up for where we wanted to ski - big magic carpet and possibly the Madelaine!

With a big split developing in my group of 3 now I split the time between sending the better and stronger skiers (2 of them) on laps of the big magic carpet with the weaker guy staying behind. We did loads of exercises and he improved but so did the other two. So with about an hour left I knew I had to split the lot up so I took the stronger ones on a lap of Madelaine and whilst it was a little choppy they did well with only a couple of falls - good on them!

The sun was shining stronger and stronger and the clouds parting to leave a really nice day. After I left them to practice up on the Madelaine / magic carpets I skied down to town and boy the snow was getting really cut up - not surprisingly. There were a lot of tired legs carrying people down the runs to town that was sure!

So this afternoon I have caught up on a few jobs, done some shopping and watched some Olympics. The weather has remained with scattered clouds all afternoon and tomorrow should be OK weatherise I think and get much nicer over the next few days. However the avalanche risk is going to creep up considerably so better be safe out there... already reports coming through of plenty of slides with people in over the day today!

TTFN

Was looking very foreboding initially...

....but cleared up big time - notice the amount of bumps on the Face that formed in the morning.... when I first arrived at 0900 it was one big powder field!

After all it is free

Posted this in the Tignes / Val thread and a helpful Snowhead @snowornever
recommended also posting in here !

Hoping to finally be back in Val 1st week April (deferred from April 2020!).

Not visited since 2019 and imagine things have changed since then...

So looking for some up to date recommendations for lunches please .

And also a good raclette in the evening .

Maybe three lunch spots on the mountain for longer group days out.
Possibly nearer to Val than Tignes please as some slow skiers in our group and table service preferred but happy to make a longer trip if somewhere highly recommended.

And three in town for lunch after ski school meet ups .

For an evening raclette - we tried Le Casserole last time and it wasn't great despite being quite expensive (and it has subsequently closed anyway?).

L'Avancher looks very nice - but says they grill the cheese in the kitchen which kind of takes away some of the fun...?

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Many thanks Steve ! This is really helpful - lots of options .

Edelweiss was on my list from 2020 so glad still recommended .

La Refuge looks really lovely.

My 18 yr old son is likely to want to see the Folie D !!

I will have a look over menus .

Is La Gourmandine still any good ? We have eaten a few times there too...and a convenient location post lessons.

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sheffskibod - no worries. Yes Gourmandine is good - good quick lunch time option too and pretty good value. Not really sure it sort of fits the bill in the evening but for lunch yes. I like it in there yes!

snow reports

Stunning day

I slept in my bed last night - as much as id have loved to watch the Olympics all night long. Anyway I did get up a tiny bit earlier than normal to try and see some highlights on what I had missed overnight and see the amazing Kirsty Muir run to get her 5th place - go girl. Just now seeing her interviewed on tv she was awesome and will be a real asset in the future to the development of British snowsports - what a great inspiration for young people!

Anyway I sorted the kids out and they were off on the bus. With the sun shining I could head off knowing it was going to be a lovely day. I met my guys dead on time and the plan was to do 2 hours with the weaker ones and an hour with the stronger guy. We did lots of laps of the magic carpet and for the first half hour it was very quiet up there but certainly got busier. The snow conditions were awesome and with the sun shining a really good day to be on the mountain. By the end of the 2 hours I think the guys would be OK to head onto the Madelaine but we just ran out of time and I really think that it might have tested them too much and destroyed their confidence so I suggested they avoided pushing themselves. So anyway we perfected our work on the carpet and they finished with smiles on their faces - I just hope they continue to enjoy it before they even consider moving on in their own time (or book another lesson).

For the last hour I took the last guy who was a strong rollerblader as well as having snowboarded a bit when he was younger. He has picked it up really quickly. So we went over to ski on the Glacier Express (bearing in mind this is only his 3rd day he is doing very well) and then a lap or two on the Datcha... good on him.

I finished dead on 12 o'clock as I needed to tune in via conference call to the UK to a review of my mums care needs at her care home along with social services persons to assess any funding she is eligible for towards her care costs. Luckily it was sunny and warm so I literally spent 90 mins sitting on the snow next to the pisteurs hut atop the Solaise listening in to the half dozen persons in on the call... I spoke a few times but mainly listened to the assessors speaking with the head of care at mums care home about all aspects of her needs etc. I should find out what happens next on the funding front in a couple of weeks time - fingers crossed as care fees are escalating so quickly these days!

I finally got home about 1430 in the end. Luckily there was a couple of hours before the kids got home and I managed to get a few jobs done. Clare came home for an hour and then headed off into town for a drink with her client before heading up for the torchlit descent. Meanwhile I got the kids off the bus and did dad duty for the evening. Phew thank goodness they are in bed now.

On the weather and snow front it will be sunny for a couple more days before there could be a deterioration over the weekend. The avalanche risk remains quite high in the afternoon sun especially and coupled with the fresh snow there was some people chancing things today (as always!). So for example there was this slide VERY near the top of the Fresse lift on the bowl that comes back towards the top of the Mont Blanc chair... luckily nothing serious happened.

Meanwhile...

Glorious on the magic carpet this am

Not much queue wise this am for the lifts!

So tomorrow I have a full day including off piste all afternoon with my seasonnaires so hopefully it will be a lovely day.

TTFN

Wow so hot

Being a Wednesday it is a different 'school' day so Clare took the kids to kids club and I headed to work. A different lesson to the last few days with a young couple who described themselves as intermediates trying to get off the plateau but I think they under-estimated themselves!

Anyway we initially worked on greens and blues up Solaise to develop their abilities through some drills but their understanding and questioning meant we developed quite a lot of content quickly which was good! Anyway later in the session we skied some harder blue runs and even headed up the Val glacier for a lap!

What I did notice was that the Lower Signal run off the top of the Pyramides chair which used to be a red run has now been regraded as a black - about time really.... it is incredibly steep. However it skied very nicely. Anyway we finished by skiing down Solaise on the Plan M and then down the Rhone Alpes piste back to town..... a really nice morning.

Lunchtime was the usual scamper to get back to the office get off piste packs and then back to the meet point, each lunch and get ready for the afternoon session.

The afternoon was another off piste session with one of my seasonnaires groups and with the weaker member of the group missing I could push the others slightly harder. We found some decent snow in patches up the Solaise but we needed to be a little lower and certainly out of the heat of the afternoon sun (it was HOT). Skiing the Tete Arollay as well as the Super L was nice.

After skiing I dumped all packs and gear back before heading home and getting ready for my evening out. My old friend is still in town and being his chalet night off we headed into town for dinner at the Garage. It was rammed in there and the menu has also changed but it was a nice evening out - the burger was good. And here I am back home once again... ready for tomorrow.

Tomorrow I am teaching in the morning and then the afternoon will be a dash as I need to head down to Bourg to do a mega food shop as well as a few other errands - it will be a full on day!

Ill finish off with some photos of the freestyle competition they had in the Val Park today.

TTFN

You know it makes sense.

Thats that done for another week

The sun was shining once again although it was a couple of degrees colder than it has been. Its nice with Clare and her 1000 starts this week - quite relaxed - haha!

Anyway I headed up into town to the meet point and met a lovely couple of new retirees aged ladies (friends) and helped them on a number of areas of their skiing they wanted to work on. At one point when I span right around 360 one of them asked to learn that too so ended up teaching them that - quite funny for a couple of ladies of a certain age! It was a really good morning actually - quite a few laughs.... although they did catch me blindside asking for a coffee and wee stop half way through just as we were passing the Marmottes.... now I think we can all agree the coffee is not great there but anyway they got a sit down!

At lunchtime I really needed a quick turnaround as needed to head down the valley, collect a food shop (a MASSIVE €500 one on click and collect) as well as run some errands. Then getting back up and unloading and getting it all away - phew full on! Anyway having walked out the house at 1230 finally 8 hours later all is put away. Phew!

In local news the rules have changed on the mask wearing front and masks are now basically only needed INSIDE gondolas / the train rouge etc etc etc and now no longer needed on the chair lifts and in lift queues and there is talk that all the need for the pass sanitaire could be dropped totally by the time we get to Easter - hmmmm we shall see!

There was also the freestyle competition yesterday and looks like they are going to organise another one for next week week BUT they managed to get an edition of the Avaline Trax off this evening.

Tomorrow morning I dont think I am teaching by the looks of things but will be in the afternoon. Then some down time on Saturday before half term madness begins.

The UCPA boarders off out the door early doors

One of the issues in going down the Valley Perdue is that if you hurt yourself (and it could be quite minor) then a heli evacuation is about the only way they can get you out - expensive!

TTFN

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

A day of 2 halves - in more than one way!

A jolly relaxed start to the day with neither Clare nor I needing to get to a 0900 lesson. Instead we just needed to get the kids on to the school bus which was blissfully easy. Almost as soon as it was first light this morning the weather was closing in - we had had about 2cm overnight but the flakes by breakfast time were big and numerous! I was quite glad I didnt need to go out there - not that it was particularly cold or anything.

I had some important errands to run in town.... a trip to the Post Office to send Bens passport off as we are renewing it.... with my mother being so ill Im paranoid that if something happens now then Ben will be marooned here alone as we all head back for the formalities or whatever might have to happen! Goodness knows. I know we could sort something out but its still a worrying wait! Anyway once I had done that I headed to our rental flat as I needed to sort out the broken lock that I have been trying to sort for a couple of weeks and fix it with the new one I bought yesterday. It all took so much longer than I had anticipated but hopefully (and now after work today I got more keys cut and delivered) now should be sorted!

When I was in town I didnt miss out on my favourite treat of the week - a trip to Chevallot and today (as I knew I could heat it up when I got home) it was a Tarte Beaufort (had and Beaufort cheese layered in a pie) with a Rosee de Sable (basically cereal coated in chocolate made into a ball - yum) to follow.

Amazing!

After lunch and with the weather a tiny bit better I headed to the meeting point to see my seasonnaires. For one reason or another only 3 of them could make it today. But boy were they in for a treat!

We headed up into the thick cloud and mist as now the snow had stopped leaving about 20cm of fresh snow on the mountain! One of the beautiful things when the weather is not ideal is that the resort is empty and there are far few idiots about - they simply can't ski when the conditions are anything other than groomed and sunny! Anyway a warm up down to the Bonnevie drag and then some nice snow under the Mont Blanc chair was a good way to start the day off. I gambled and went even higher thinking I might be able to drop into the Familliale but at that moment it wasnt to be so instead we did a little on piste work! The plan was then to head lower and ski trees to La Daille and the snow was pretty good actually.... however when we got to the bottom of the funi there was a light bulb in the sky and it was looking better up high.... when we came out the funi I gambled with heading around the corner to the Spatule and we were rewarded with parting clouds and we were about 2nd into the Spatule - it was excellent but deep dust on crust. You just didnt want to ski over any old avalanche debris thats for sure! Anyway it was a really good descent and we didnt see anyone else down there... what was better was that the clouds really were parting now and it was looking better and better. On our second trip up the funi we came out into sunshine and hardly any clouds about so this time we headed into the Cairn and there were only 2 tracks ahead of us.... the snow was pretty good but lower down it was awesome.

I got a little annoyed and told off some French idiot for skiing above us as we traversed in - at least he apologised! Ignorance is a bad thing when the price to pay could be so high!

After skiing and dropping the packs back and getting the freshly cut new door lock keys dropped off at the flat I came home for a cuppa with my mate on his last evening before getting the kids sorted (Ben got back later on after his swimming lesson) and then into bed. And that is today!

So the weather should improve but get colder for a few days now before more big snow coming early next week by the looks of things - great - just as the school hols start! Talking of school hols - its looking pretty bad for the roads tomorrow with the number of cars off the scale tomorrow.... good luck folks! And talking for roads my brother in law and his family are currently en-route from the UK by road as I type - they should get here later tomorrow evening for their weeks holiday! The mother in law flies over next Monday to stay with us! Anyway it'll be nice for the cousins to see each other and also us adults to say hi too!

Tomorrow I am basically with Ben all day but also got to slot in picking Olivia up / dropping her off either side of lunch tomorrow so that will take up some time. I plan to go to the soft play with Ben and maybe treat him to a crepe or something and a trip up the mountain on the ski lift! We shall see.

Tomorrow is probably going to be my last day out of ski boots for quite some time so better make the most of it.

TTFN

Rather bleak and snowy for much of the morning.....

... improving massively in the Spatule and then...

.... awesome day end in the Cairn - with 3 happy seasonnaires (2 from Le Ski and 1 from VIP Chalets.... just before their mega busy half term catering and cleaning work in their chalets start).

A snowHead

Melts my heart

With me off all day and Ben with me all day all we needed to do was get Olivia and Clare out the door at the normal sort of time. So it was relatively relaxed start to the day. Yay! I had a lot of little jobs I needed to get done at home this morning so Ben and I had a really relaxed start to the day.

It was only at lunchtime that we needed to be somewhere and that was collecting Olivia from club at lunchtime. Lunchtime itself was the usual mad rush of getting him, getting lunch into the kids and some downtime before kitting back up again and getting out. I intentionally gave them their favourite lunch of toasted sandwiches and tomato soup which went down a treat. We headed back out and after Ben and I dropped Olivia off for her Club session Ben and I had a really fun couple of hours... He had insisted on having me bring his broom (he is going to run a commercial cleaning company when he grows up I just know it - or be a liftie as he is fascinated by lifts and things like that (or a digger driver!) so we headed up the Olympic and Ben was sweeping away here there and everywhere on the snow front... he loved 'brooming' the decking area up there too.... but his favourite bit was when the liftie helped him (or was it the other way around) sweep out the Olympic cabins as they looped around at the top... he loved it.... even when we downloaded on the pink cabin he was busy sweeping up all the lose snow on the ground! Heart melting moment! Love him.

We headed up the Solaise and had a hot choc at the Le Lounge before then playing in the Val Kids area and he just loves pressing all the buttons in the cabin up there and seeing the mini gondola moving. Apart from me nearly forgetting my rucksack all was good!

After rendezvousing with Clare and Olivia back down at the bottom we headed to the The Garage as Clares brother and his best friend along with their respective eldest kids were in town having just driven through the night. They played so well with Olivia and Ben whilst we all ate yummy food and watched the rugby going on in the background. So nice to see them back in the mountains again and catch up.

By 1900 we really needed to get going and get home as the kids were tired.

So with the kids in bed I am now catching up on a few things... I am covering for an ill instructor in another ski school tomorrow morning such is the mega busy aspect of feb ht and needing to cover / help where we have to... so anyway sorted that out but mainly its being a case of making sure all my ducks are lined up ready for another long week in the saddle!

For those who were on the road today then boy it sounded like a busy one. I snapped a couple of photos to illustrate the situation as it developed from the webcams as described below!

Otherwise TTFN

My gorgeous Ben 'Brooming' the decking atop Bellevarde

... early doors cars already trying to get into the Tarantaise / Maurienne upper Savoie regions from the main turnoff in Chambery... so queues already starting to form at this bottleneck before one of the peages

.... further down the road another snarlup near the regulated traffic lights before entering Moutiers causes one of the main jams... meanwhile people will have been queuing (coming towards this traffic camera) to enter the Sioux tunnel and then through Moutiers to get out the valley so the cars coming towards the camera will already have been on the road for 2hours plus for a journey that should have taken in normal conditions circa an hour....

And if you were unlucky enough to be LEAVING and joining the traffic here after Bourg before moutiers then you have hours and hours of traffic ahead of you even to get as far as Chambery etc.

A snowHead

With all that sweeping, you should be signing Ben up for the Curling team. snowHead

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

Busy, busy

Haven't stopped today.... Clare needing to get to her meeting point at the chalet where she was meeting at first thing this morning meant I was on duty big time this morning. So with the kids sorted out we headed out and of course the bus was rammed and then at the rond pont I sent Olivia down to meet up with her Club as she is skiing all day every day with them and I took Ben to the Village des Enfant... We had a to wait for it to open at 0900 but the number of people waiting meant it was a bit of a bun fight but we got there in the end!

So at 0915 I was out and skis on and off down the slope. I met up with my morning lesson and it was a couple of 6 year old girls - not twins just friends. I was also working with a colleague and he was taking one of the mums he was teaching up to the magic carpet so the little girl wanted to follow. I was a little apprehensive about taking them up but it worked out.

Anyway I have never done a complete beginner lesson up there before so it was interesting starting with a 'this is a ski' for little ones. Anyway they were a little moaney and groaney but they finally got into it.... in fact by the end of the period they were holding a plough quite happily which was better than I thought they were going to be initially! Phew it was good! Anyway we stopped and co-ordinated the hot choc break timing to be in the Lounge at the same time as the parents.... anyway I sat down and got the shock of my life - a very nice shock... but I was teaching (one of the two kids) the daughter of non other than ex England cricketer and ex Strictly star of Graeme Swann..... yes I know.... I couldn't help myself but have a jolly good chat with him about cricket.... had to remind myself that I was not allowed to spend the whole of the remainder of the lesson talking to him about cricket! Anyway I was most chuffed to have met him and to be teaching his daughter! Brilliant!

So it was a very quick turnaround at lunchtime as the morning session was a 4 hour session and that ran back to back with my afternoon session... that of the 13 and 16 year old daughters of a snowhead. Both very accomplished skiers we took the double chairs up the Face and set off for a 'maximum turns type of afternoon before the weather changes' type of afternoon. Taking in some jumps and tricks, backwards skiing, some technique development and plenty of milleage it was a very fruitful afternoon.... riding the ridge line down the side of a piste in Tignes was awesome too. We covered a lot of ground and even the skier cross course in Tignes. A nice afternoon. If the weather allows for some nice powder we shall definitely do some off piste at some point too.

I collected Olivia from club and what a day she had had - they had done lots of training for the Flèche on Tuesday as well as skiing lots of moguls too.... nice. She was tired though.

We headed home and I got dinner sorted whilst Clare collected Ben after her all day booking from the Village and then it was the usual getting the kids sorted for dinner and bed but with the added dimension of them being very tired.

And that was pretty much all there was too it today - phew knackered now!

So Clares mum arrives tomorrow - super granny to the rescue to pick up some of the slack for us - yay!

Meanwhile on the weather front it is supposed to deteriorate somewhat into tomorrow and for much of the rest of the week - hmmm we shall see! We could get a decent accumulation of snow!

TTFN

But it was chilly to start the day!

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Turning snowy

It was the usual rush to get the kids out the door this morning! But it was all sorted in the end.

In the morning I had a lovely lady who presented herself as definitely someone who had had just a week of ski teaching a couple of years ago as a beginner. It showed as she was textbook. I was most impressed as although she said she was a nervous beginner she was actually technically quite good. So we started on the magic carpet and then before too long she was happily coming down the Madelaine. It was a pity the weather moved in as she was going great guns. I just hope that she can continue with the stuff we worked on this afternoon and tomorrow before our next session on Wednesday!

I took shelter in the warmth under the Sun Bar for lunchtime before meeting up with my teen girls as yesterday for the afternoon. Today we needed to get all the video clips for the older girls GCSE PE Skiing which was a bit of a bore for the younger one but we got there in the end! Then (as a reward for getting through the dull stuff) we worked on some freestyle stuff - so there was some different types of grabs we worked on and then how to do and land 180 jumps which they did me proud and nailed in the park - good on them.

After skiing Clares mum had arrived in town so I met up with Olivia after her day with club (they are preparing for the Flèche race tomorrow) and Ben and we sorted the kids out and I headed home to get dinner etc ready whilst the kids and adults went for a drink at Clares brothers hotel.... It was nice to have a couple of hours to myself.

When we got home the kids were on cloud 9 with excitement for their granny to be in town so getting the kids settled has been tricky but we have gotten there.

I am rushing this evening as Serena was up at 0200 to get her flights and connections so she needs to get to bed whilst I'm sitting on the sofa bed.... so ill make it a quick one this evening.

The weather really closed in this afternoon and we had a nice little top up of snow and it is still going so it will be interesting to see exactly how much has fallen in the morning - not a game changer but a reasonable amount I think.

TTFN

After all it is free

Wow - pow wow

The day started in the usual way but with the extra pair of hands... I only had to get Olivia to club this morning and she was nervous as she had the Flech race on this morning so I gave her a pep talk. I was first in the line for the Olympic in order to get up and over to Tignes. Atop the mountains it was very snowy (wind wasnt too bad!) and although officially it was 10-15cm there was a lot more in places. Anyway I got to meet up with Ross for the am session and we decided that since the snow was awesome we might as well head off piste. The weather was not exactly our best friend though so had to do some sniffing until we got lower down. Famillial / Trif trees, (the queue was SOOOOO BAD at the bottom of the La Daille gondola - my friend the liftie there told me it was 6000 people through the turnstiles in 3 hours this am which was a record!.... normally its about half that over a whole day!), then off Collette as well as the Stade Bonnivie and Mont Blanc variation... it turned into an amazing morning and I was really quite surprised how good it was. South / South East orientation seemed best out the wind as the snow was pretty light and had been worked over by the wind there was. On some orientations there was face shots it was that deep. All in all a really good morning!

It was a quick turnaround before meeting up for the afternoon session and I have never eaten my lunch at the top of the Toviere lift before in the station but today was a first!

Anyway I finally started for my afternoon session and again the plan was for off piste. Much of the same was skied in the afternoon as the morning but we also fitted in a Tour du Charvet too (which was not as good as I thought it was going to be but good non the less).

It was a really nice day all in all.... a maximum turns type of day.... plenty of powder and a real joy skiing it with my two teams.... bravo.

Unfortunately it was a little cold and wintery so I didnt get the camera out that much and snap too many pics but ill add in a couple below!

In the ski race Olivia skied really really well and was 4th in her group and 2nd girl so I was really proud.... unfortunately she missed the flèche time by 0.29 seconds so she was a little disappointed but hey ho big girl it will happen next time.

After skiing there was a meet up with the cousins so I took all the gear for Olivia and myself as well as the spare backpacks etc etc all back home... I looked like a pack horse.... hot and sweaty by the time I got home.

Anyway it was the usual evening jobs with the kids etc.

Not only am I knackered this evening after all those turns but I am going to try and get up early to watch the first and then the 2nd run of the slalom... with both Noel and Ryding in action then with some luck there will be good news for Val / Britain either way! Hmmm time will tell!

TTFN

Morning rush hour... waiting for the Olympic to open.

Finding the goods in the Triff trees... the snow was thinner here but in some places we found 30cm plus accumulations!

@Steve Angus,

Which piste will Val d'isere be renaming "Noel"?

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https://www.facebook.com/watch/live?ref=watch_permalink&v=500162391460452

Looks like a little celebration going on. Video credit to SkiLena.

www.SkiLena.com

Help!!

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

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