Whether the Weather
Tomorrow Afternoons Forecast, although Precipitation Expected in the Evening
Updated SatMap, for 13:00 hrs Tomorrow Afternoon
Avalanche risk has reduced to 3 in and around the area.
We’ve had a change of guests with a group of Skiing Canadians, one being a Sports Photographer, although, what they’re doing in the French Alps when it’s all happening in Whistler, was a bit of a mystery? Followed by a very nice couple, one of whom was learning to ski, and as it happens has had a great time learning this last week. Even though the weather has mainly been precipitating for the most part, the skiing has been excellent throughout. It’s been exceptional for beginners, she’s been doing very well, and really enjoyed it, they are already talking about returning. So all good stuff generally. We are finally, on the recovery road now, thank goodness, one thing I’m really thankful for is recovering from being poorly, really makes me appreicate my health. “Life is afterall mountains and valleys, and we could never appreciate a mountain without the valley to reveal it…and here endeth the lesson!” Anyway, we’ve got the coming week free yippee…! so hopefully back out to play! Tuesday, the weather looks like it’s improving.
Whatever the Weather
Precipitation Expected Later this Evening
Today's Satellite picture,big Low pressure in the SW
Well the weather this morning, did look glorious. However, it wasn’t to last long, the high cloud moved in with some acceleration, and the sky changed from blue to a washed out white, in no time. It was as forecast though, so fair do’s to the French Meteo, for their accurate readings. Apparently, this relatively severe ‘Low’ is destined to sweep up across from Portugal taking in a major part of Spain, then moving on up and into the South West of France, so it seems we may only be brushed by the edge, and possibly not taking the full brunt of the expected high/gale force winds. We’ll see how it materialises, it hasn’t been ruled out though, we are expecting high winds, but to a lesser degree. So it may well be a ‘batten down the hatches!’ situation for most of us.
Generally, the weather is on a bit of a downward spiral, with increasing stronger winds. For us the föehn is still dominant, increasing in strength, and sun exposure expected to diminish to around 20%, so all ’round it’s looking a bit bleak and very disturbed.
Sympathetic Weather
The weather is poor, dank, grey, raining, (although snowing up high) grim, and miserable… What can I say, such sympathetic weather… it’s certainly reflecting the state I’m in at the moment. It can be really tough when the weather’s gorgeous, and your feeling like crap! so no complaints this end. Have put up another weather station link on the right hand ‘Weather Update’ menu, the Chamonix-Meteo one. It’s in French, but very detailed once you find your way around.
With all the wet/sleat/snow weather, the avalanche risk has risen to 4 including the Chablais, and Aravis range. We’ve had to secure our window shutters, as they’ve been banging about a bit, just to confirm the wind strength. It’s gusting down at ground level, a little lighter at mid-mountain, and strong up high, a WSW airflow is prevailing. Tomorrow, the forecast is for a brighter day, with approximately 70% sun exposure, but with increasing winds, so it’s all going to be a bit blizzardly and windswept on the mountains. Not particularly cold though, at 0°C min, to +4°C and increasing to a possible +6°C max over the next few days. Snowfall expectation is 15 – 25cms at 2000m, and possibly dropping down to 900m. The snow is all but washed away from our garden now, it’s all beginning to look green down at this level.
All in all the forecast, is saying… “It’s still winter and there’s still more time to play in the snow!”… thank goodness, we haven’t played enough on our new skis yet, once the temperature starts to rise a little, we tend to go to higher altitudes, where the snow is still in great condition. Maybe next week fingers crossed, and over these pesky colds, we’ll make up for some lost time.
Meanwhile… another airport transfer trip for Dennis, this evening… me, a hot long soak in a steamy bath is in order, try to banish the rest of these miserable symptoms.
The other thing, is we’ve uploaded a scene from Plaine Joux 2006, when Raul Rodriguez took the Infinity Tumbles Record…. we know it’s been superceded by Chrigel Maurer, but it’s still a nice little video, in the left hand menu bar.
The Daily Planet!
It’s been wet, rainy and grey again.. although, I’m not complaining, we’re having a dreadful time with these horrific colds, so am selfishly pleased that the weather is miserable. I hate being poorly… Of all the places in all the world where I’m convinced bugs congregate, it’s at airports and supermarkets… I know there’s loads of other places, but there is a high concentration of people coming and going at these two, places where we frequently visit. I only hope it clears off soonest, can’t bear to miss out on the snow, whilst it’s here and there’s still so many routes we haven’t done yet. Dennis is over the worse, and it seems I’ve just hit it, hopefully I’ll turn a corner soon. Anyway, we have been enjoying the winter olympics, if we can’t be out in the snow ourselves. We’ve got chalet work to do though… it’s a bit tough, when you can’t phone in sick!
It’s been raining down valley the last few days the temperature has risen with the South-Easterly föehn influence, so the snow is melting down here at 600ish mtrs. Up high the snow is still good and fresh. There was a minimum amount of flying a couple of days ago, we saw just a couple of ploufs, although having said that, there was a gorgeous cumulus humilis, on the edge of Varan the other day… and one glider was managing to maintain, over the Butress… shame we were’nt feeling up to it.
Meanwhile we’ve had an update from Speedrider Mike, who has given us a link to his latest youtube video take a look, it’s beautiful!….
Also, we’ve made a connection to iTunes with our podcasts so you can subscribe if you like, there’s a Link up in the right hand menu.
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That’s about it really except, that because I’ve been out of action, and had a bit of time, it’s been brought to my attention that we are on a collision course with a comet/metorite/planet called Nibiru that is due to collide with Earth in 2012… that might put a bit of a damper on the 2012 London Olympics don’t you think..? anyway, here’s the strange bit… apparently Google Sky have ‘cut out’ the exact position in their skymap of where this planet x is/was? here are the skymap coordinates: copy and paste these coordinates into google skymap and zoom out! 05:53:27, -6:10:56 where’s the sky gone?! strange, weird, bizarre? Will all gamers, religious zealots, members of the Galactic Federation, Ufologists and government conspiracy theorists, please form an orderly queue… 
have fun all!
Dusking and Tissues..
Well yes, the weekend has arrived, and it was a back ‘on the road again’… situation. Whether to go for the Willie Nelson or Canned Heat version, was today’s dilemma?!
- The view from Plaine Joux at Dusk
Well, it’s been a bit tough this week, as we’ve both had colds, and were laid low for a while. Finally Dennis managed to emerge from all the coughing and sneezing, after having generously passed on some of those bugs to me! Still it’s all over now (I hope).
We again, have been very fortunate inasmuch as the bugs deciding to arrive on the busiest week of the whole ski season, we kept an eye on the webcams, and it looked like John West had been doing the packaging… so we didn’t mind not rushing up the mountain. It was getting quite busy towards the end of last week, when people were careering down the slopes, at excessive speeds and out of control! in fact it was quite pleasant not rushing around, and enjoying a bit of ‘home’ time.
We have a family group of skiers in this week, the snow is still in good condition, even though it’s been raining down valley, there’s been fresh fall up the mountain, just ready for us for next week! After the ‘Speedriders’ visit, we decided to expand the ‘bunk room’ with the addition of a microwave oven, a kettle, a canteen of cutlery, a 24 piece dinner service, and a cuddly toy! Well not exactly, but certainly the microwave, kettle, basic crocks and cutlery! … just to make it more self-catering friendly. We haven’t really been participating in any activities, but hopefully will be back on form next week.
Flying has been on my mind recently, and next month I’m sure we’ll be embarking on the flying season in earnest! Meanwhile up the road here in Lausanne there is the CIVIL meeting going on, where the powers that be are this very moment deciding the fate of paragliding competition/attire/classification etc., and the various implications. For more information the XC Mag have daily updated info.
Other than that we haven’t had any dramas, and things are pretty much tickety boo.. As I haven’t taken any pictures recently thought I’d throw this one in… just because it’s nice. And not many have seen the valley from Plaine Joux at dusk. Unless you’ve been out camping in the summer..
mundane, but necessary..
We’ve decidied that to do the Speedriding, we need to get a couple of lightweight harnesses, and do a bit of ski-vol, before scaling down the wing size… definately something to have a go at. It’s just down to equipment and timing now. The guys have put up a video of their escapades on youtube if you’d like a look, very nice… meanwhile….
…back to being a chalet maid, the last couple of days, chained to the ironing board, and sprucing the place up again, for the next guests. Inbetween all the chalet action and transfers, I managed to squeeze in a bit of cloud gazing… a couple of early, and later pics. The weather has been quite nice and bright and there were a few ploufs to be had yesterday. Avalanche risk down to 2 in and around the area, so very good. Winds have been from a Southerly direction,which generally brings in the warmer temperatures as the foehn wind faithfully discloses, albeit with a bit of an Easterly influence at mid mountain, and Westerly at high mountain. The foehn was only light, but expected to increase later this evening. We’re expecting a deterioration. Here are a couple of cloudscapes… taken earlier and later… surely you must know the cloud names… didn’t want to make it too easy!
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- earlier…
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- …later
Speedriders!
We’ve had an excellent introduction to Speedriding this week with a vibrant group of four chaps staying with us. Dan, Mike, Pedro and Rob. Even though the weather wasn’t the best, they certainly made the most of everyday! The first day, they spent up here in St Gervais, our local ski area, a good introduction area, if you’ve been out of practice for a while. Just to get used to the ski and glider set ups… (methinks? I don’t speak from experience, just observations I might add!) where unfortunately, one mishap occured, so the group was reduced to three. The rest of the week was filled with loads of Speedriding in Chamonix, from various take off areas. One of the crew, experienced, delving deeper into a crevasse than was intended! losing his camera, within, and going back later and finding it?! Amazing, I don’t think all the luck is just with the Irish!! some was certainly dished out to the Portuguese on that day! exciting moments. The photo’s are amazing, and we’re thankful to the guys for sharing them with us… We have to say, since their stay, we’re on the brink of having a go ourselves, in fact a couple of days enquiries at at this very moment are taking shape… Enjoy the photos, there may be more to follow!
On a much tamer note, skiing would have been great anywhere in the area today, because it was so cold last night the snow quality is being retained, so still deep, soft and powdery. The main ski holidays start here next week, so we are expecting a big influx into the area and consequently, more queues on lifts…etc. We’ll see how it goes. Maybe, we’ve got our Speedriding lessons to attend? so we’re not making any plans. Check out the pics in the gallery!! No captions on these, they speak for themselves. Click on the thumbnails for larger images, it’s well worth it! The guys have their names imprinted on some of them if you want to have a further look. Enjoy…
Champagne Powder!!
Champagne Powder!
With the weather the last couple of days, and expecting it not to be so good today, it was still snowing, and visibility can be very poor in these sorts of conditions. We checked the webcams and saw the cloud was thinning and clearing up at Freddy, so we were kitted, and out pronto. We had to go up because we knew the snow quality would be good, but the extent of the quality was unsurpassed it was non other than, Champagne Powder…. !!!
Absolutely gorgeous snow! The whole skiing thing was dreamlike and surreal… gliding and cutting through changing depths and levels from the first run to the last… it was the best skiing ever! There’s no way you can think about anything else, when the snow is of the highest calibre, and this champage powder is the pinnacle of snow quality, the light floating, sensations are delightful. What a privliedged experience, being able to ski the most exquisite, refined snow. Dennis skied like a champion today…powder plumes of snow following his tracks. I was just happy to be enjoying the whole thing, and couldn’t believe how sweetly these skis turned when knee deep! At one point we were both skiing on exact opposite sides of the same wide piste, in our own untouched, exclusive areas! it was simply beautiful and so, soft…There was blue sky and snow, that’s another phenomenon, snow without cloud, sparkling and glinting as particles caught the light. It must have been the last of the cloud condensing, in a word…magical. Makes me feel like a big kid 
!
Dennis’s skilog is posted, and there are a few more pics in the galley.
Grim & Grey…
…that’s the weather! in the lower valley’s anyway. In fact the last two days, loads of snow and cold. The highlight, a new cosy, snuggly electric blanket, that certainly takes the chilly edge away. The higher areas have been ok though. Especially Chamonix valley, having the highest elevation, (above the lower clag line). It is supposed to improve later in the week, so hopefully we’ll be able to go playing again soon. A couple of the neighbours use those mini-tractor lawn mowers in the summer, which double up with a plough attachment in the winter, so they have their own private snow ploughs. Very useful with the amount of snowfall we’ve been having recently. Meanwhile, I’ve added a few more forecast links on the ‘weather updates’ and ‘webcam’ sections, in the side menus. You can delve quite deeply into the sites for skiing information too. Today the avalanche risk was 3 in all surrounding areas, so quite good considering.
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- Personal Plough
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- Fruitful Snow Trees
Back to Bettex
This morning the glorious weather had returned and we had a couple of hours to hit the slopes before more transfers again this afternoon.
Tibet or not Tibet?
We had a great 1½ hours at our local St Gervais area, the snow quality was good, and better than expected seeings as we’ve had a couple of snow free, lower valley claggy days. Off piste, it was all a bit cut up, and not that nice, but excellent practice for keeping balanced when you get thrown around a lot. We really enjoyed our skiing today, it was nice just to take it easy and practice turning consistency, balance, and positioning. Most of the time I just ski, and don’t think about it much, but on the odd day when I think about it, some of these little exercises can really boost the ease of control capacity. It may have been short, but it was certainly productive. I had the gps, and uploaded the skilog, it’s not as long, but very enjoyable non the less. The Igloo Bar & Restaurant have put up what look like ‘Tibetan Prayer Flags’ Looks like the Himalayas! although we’ve never been. A few more pics in the gallery.
