It’s Holiday Week!
The last couple of days have been mostly spent on the road. Lots of people coming and going. Dennis had more Transfers lined up but I had some time off so hit the slopes.
It certainly is holiday season, trying to park was like Geneva Airport on a Saturday absolutely jammed packed – in fact it was Parking by John West… sardine style! I finally found somewhere that was not along the conventional parking lines but worked and didn’t create an obstacle for anyone, clever bit of French parking, no spaces? make your own!
getting away from it all
approaching rescue
The cable cars were another tinned experience but finally on the slopes it opened up and the skiing was ok. We haven’t had much precipitation the last few days and if the glories of Champagne Powder are anything to go by, today it was Flat Lager skiing. I decided to give the Mt. d’Arbois chairlift a miss when I saw the queues but didn’t envisage the same scenario down towards Megève. Anyway, there was a bit of pushing and shoving going on, and a young lad forced his way in front of me with his mother sticking out her ski pole to hold me back! They were in such a hurry to get on, anyway in all the caffuffle… I let him have my place, and got the next one. Just as I was sitting down the lift attendant pressed the emergency red button, I looked in front to see the young lad had slipped off the chair! No harm done, it had only just moved a little way from the station, but a very embarrassed lad had to clamber back to get back in line!
Whilst on the chairlift, the familiar coloured pompiers helicopter was called to rescue, looked like someone had come a cropper on the Green Megève run, I admit to a bit of rubber necking with camera, but wasn’t in control of a vehicle at the time! It was all fun and games today!
It was beautiful up the mountain, but very foggy in the lower valley which remained all day. The skiing was ok, but nothing special inasmuch as the snow was a bit old and the pistes scrappy in places. Nothing like the quality of the snow on Christmas Day when we couldn’t see anything. I enjoyed the runs I skied, and La Princesse télécabine wasn’t too bad. Don’t know whether it’ll be worth rushing out skiing for the rest of the week as the snow’s not great and it’s really busy.
We’ve got two groups of people staying one group learning to snowboard and another family set-up whose children are here to compete in the Anglo-Scottish Cup in neighbouring Les Houches, where a lot of youngsters do their training at the very reputable British Ski Academy.
If we do get any precipitation it might be worth it, but otherwise maybe wait for some better snow conditions and less queues. O, by the way, did see one paraglider over towards Mt. d’Arbois not much wind about though.
Christmas Day
a little 'off piste' powder
We decided to go skiing, it was a white out from down here and so it was the whole way up the mountain! Could barely see a thing, in fact I think the white out was probably one of the worst, it was like skiing blind!
white out at 'Freddy'
We managed to grab a little off piste powder, but could feel the ice scraping underneath the powder layer, it was a bit bumpy in places but good skiing all the same. We didn’t ski for too long but it was a nice day to go considering it was really very quiet, maybe that was due to the poor visibility?! It was a shame the visibility was so bad as there was some really nice snow to be found if we could see it!!! I think it was the first time I’d felt quite disorientated in cloud and snow!
Christmas Day is one of the funniest days in the calendar am sure of it! We threw ourselves into a comedy christmas cooking routine that is only ever experienced on this particular day! What a larrfff! – It was just sooooo funny 
!
We decided to have a go at spit roasting our chicken, as we invested in a new oven at the beginning of the year and have never tried to use it. Well Christmas being the time for culinary experimentation, we decided to spit roast it. It worked brilliantly well, and the chicken cooked to perfection it was just the ongoing military operation of monitoring the thing whilst trying to keep the bird positioned correctly as it shrank! Dennis was convinced it was going to come out the size of a Quail! What with pliers and other tools becoming necessary to keep the skewer thing holding the bird in place, I was in fits of laughter over the whole operation…. it just made me love Christmas just because of the fiasco that is associated with all the comedy kitchen slapstick!!!
Grey Day on Skis
Tandem Sam
On the realtively long Red down to La Princesse
We had the day off. The best day was yesterday for the skiing, as it was beautiful bright and blue, today however, grey clagg was awaiting us. Not to be outdone the general concensus was we were going to go skiing whatever the weather.
On a day like today St Gervais, Bettex being our local area was our obvious choice, being easy to get to and if it turned out a bit crap we can always ski down and come home. Well to our delight it was unexpectedly good. Visibility was poor but not that bad, the snow although the temperature was on the rise was in good condition. Unfortunately, a bit too sticky and claggy for any reasonable off piste but the pistes were great! It got very windy for a time, but settled down again. We saw a couple of ski paraglider tandems, out and about, looked like Sam had got some work today, which is good for him, especially on a grey day like today.
I tried to be a bit clever with the mini gps and decided to stop it when we got on the lifts so as to only track the skiing. It turned out quite confusing with lots of mini track recordings so I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s much easier to leave the thing on the whole time, silly me…
Also as it’s gadgets galore thought I’d try out a video of the skiing … it turned out ok..ish. Not much colour though, hopefully give me a bit of practice for when the weather and snow comes good again. Meanwhile we are being plagued by the föehn wind raising the temperature and melting all the snow. While I’ve got a bit of time might attempt to edit this footage and see if I can make some sort of acceptable vid out of it.
It’s Winter in the Mountains
same scene different colourscape
We knew the weather was going to deteriorate it was all a matter of timing. The sky was grey-white and the mountain hidden this morning.
snowbocop II
The wind was expected to reach upto around 35kms from the south-west, raising the temperature.
We were out earlier up at Les Contamines to put the visors to test in white out conditions, as well as try out the warmth factor in exposed winds on the chairlifts. Full marks on both counts. The visors worked great once the eyes adjusted, visibility was poor, but sunglasses would not have improved the vision anymore than the visors, in fact less so. They did a fabulous job of keeping the wind off and we both felt our heads were very warm in comparison to wearing hats. We certainly will not be returning to woolly hats anytime soon!
The snow was still relatively good, although very crispy in some places. The weather was starting to come in so we decided it was time to get off the mountain. The ski down was interesting with the wind kicking up blizzard conditions… blowing and sweeping snow across the piste like a mass of ethereal sidewinders! When we got back down it was all relatively calm…
We had a better mornings skiing than expected. There are not many, if at all tourists here at the moment so all the skiers are locals and exceptional! I don’t think I saw one incompetent skier today, every one was a ‘natural’. Made me want to up my game and I am pleased to say, I re-established my balance and poise, and really ‘got back into it!’ Unfortunately, that’s it now for at least another week, as this weekend was only a partial opening until the official ski season. It was great to get an early start though.
Pictures all a bit bleak… it’s winter in the mountains!
First Skiday
First ride on the Chairlift - Stunning!
First day on the slopes whee hee! We stuck with plan A and went to Les Contamines. It was excellent… lots of fun. The car park was busy but once up on the slopes it was another story, not many about at all. I’m always a touch apprehensive when skiing for the first time of the season. The first ski we had last season was on the 20th December, so we’re a whole three weeks ahead of ourselves this time! I needn’t have worried it was great. It took me a while to get my ski feet back on but after a couple of runs I relaxed, and enjoyed it.
Dennis - aka Snowbocop!
We did a couple of few reds and a lovely blue, the snow on the blue run was much sweeter than the red. The snow cannon snow can be a bit globual and icy so not so smooth, but lovely snow on the blue. In fact it was so nice we went off piste for a bit. Talk about expecting it to be knee deep, we were way off… Dennis went in and I watched him ploughing through the stuff up to his waist! I decided to brave it but didn’t go that far in and enjoyed the depth up to my thighs! It was incredible… so soft, felt like floating on air without the turbulence, beautiful!
It was glorious, with 70% sun although didn’t see the other 30% cloud cover. It really was lovely and refreshing. We wore our helmets, and I can’t tell you how brilliant they were. Especially with the visor, such great vision all round, and it kept the wind off my face and whistling around my ears on the chairlift, an excellent purchase I have to say. Mind you Dennis did look like Snowbocop! I lost another pair of sunglasses today, fell out of my pocket on the chairlift. Dennis decided he’d ski down and look for them, I didn’t think it was such a good idea… he went off partway then decided it was a bit too risky as there were some sniper boulders in the snow. So those glasses of mine have joined the many other pairs I’ve managed to lose. Am certainly seeing the attraction of a visor attachment!
There was the one Black run open, but didn’t feel I wanted to tackle it on our first day, just wanted to get back into the skiing, maybe give it a go tomorrow.
It was just great being back on skiis, in the spectacular, clean and bright scenery, couldn’t wish for anything more… and we can do it all again tomorrow! Although the weather is due to change, so maybe an earlier start in the morning before it arrives.
Back on Skis!
Sunlit, for a Moment
April Fools Day! ha, ha! fooled ya! just when you thought winter was over! – This morning, it was clagg, clagg, and more clagg, but the forecast did say the sun would make an appearance this afternoon, which it did. Because we still had low cloud, a turbulent atmosphere, and a lot of recent snowfall, we decided to go skiing! It’s been a while, but it was nice to get a bit more use out of the skis before the summer arrives! – I’m sure it’ll be here soon. We didnt’ go up until after lunch because the cloud level was so low, we’d have had zero visibility. So we waited, kept our eyes on the webcams and when the cloud started to show signs of breaking up, we went. It was too late in the day to make any adventurous journey out of the valley, so we stayed local.
When we got to the top, it was absolutely hacking it down… but was short lived. We had a pleasant time. The snow was really, deep, in fact I was skiing up to my shins most of the time, but the snow was much heavier, not so light and fluffly like it is in the early months, but much denser and heavier. It was good practice for keeping balance! We didn’t want to ski too low, as the snow diminished quickly at around 700 meters, so we stayed higher. I forgot to take the gps out today, so no skilogs unfortunately.
The sun peeped out occassionally, lit up the pistes, and in so doing added a sluggish deterioration to the snow quality, it didn’t detract from the pleasure though I might add! We still had some excellent skiing… but I’m ready for some higher altitude now. Speaking of higher altitude, the clouds were looking lovely over Sallanches, Magland, and towards Cluses. According to the forecast we may well have a flyable part-day tomorrow… we’ve a possible couple of folks joining us, but decisions are reserved until then. Todays few pics in the gallery.
Reasonable Skiing, non-Reserve Chutes? & Renewed Shoulder
Empty!
Back on skis today…and it was just fine. Just what we needed. We stayed locally, because of the Doc appointment later, but considering we haven’t had much if any snow over the last few days, the snow quality was surprisingly good. We were expecting it to be a lot more scratchy than it was. It seemed there may well have been snow flurries that secretly arrived overnight, as the pistes were covered in a fresh layer (although a bit thin in places) of fresh powdery type of snow, not the exquisite stuff but a pleasant amount to make the skiing pleasurable. It was quiet on the pistes today, so did a few leisurely runs, nothing to frantic, just pleasurable and not too demanding. Off piste, it was hard and crunchy and it felt like some shock absorbers would have been a very welcome fixture on the skis, so I decided to stay on piste and keep the flow smoother. Dennis on the other hand being a glutton for punishment, just had to complete an off piste run…. wish I was that stubborn. Quite a good characteristic I’d say!
Anyway, later in the day, the trip to the Docs was the next major event, and thankfully, it was more of a non-event! – After casting his professional eyes over my x-rays the conclusion was… no surgery required. That was good to hear, really didn’t fancy that idea at all. Have managed to avoid surgery this far in my life, and would very much like to continue the trend. Apparently, the probability was that I did have a lesion, in my scapulaire muscle, and it healed leaving a little scar tissue that causes the odd discomfort, and slight inflammation so a couple of injections and a bit of physiotherapy is all that’s required. That’s it… simple! So fighting fit hopefully for the coming season. Great!
Here’s another bit of interesting information, I was having a scout about on the internet and came across a video showing the possibility or the crazy idea of landing a wingsuit without a reserve parachute! Thought wow this should be interesting…and it was. Will it become a reality? who knows?? Have a look if you’re interested, it’s in the vids in the right hand menu.
Night Skiing
The weather returned to it’s winter character, rain/sleet/snow at varying levels. I’ve got my newly adjusted harness back, and it feels great! can’t wait to fly it now. My parasack is packed and ready to go! All we need now is some flyable weather. It’s looking hopeful for tomorrow, so fingers crossed.
Night Boarding
As the ski season is slowly beginning to wind down we thought we’d make the most of what we can, so decided to go up to Les Houches this evening, and do a bit of night skiing. Les Houches is about 1000 mtrs asl so there was still lots of snow up there, it’s definately still winter at higher altitude. The piste opens up at 20:30 , it’s all free and they lay on some ‘vin chaud’ just to keep us all snuggly warm. It was fun… loads of snowboarders doing jumps and what not. It’s a different take on skiing altogether at night, it’s just a shame the moon wasn’t out. Beautiful, in the snow on a moonlit night…
Picture’s a bit dark, don’t think I had the camera on the right setting 
Springy Skiing
A Very Busy Bettex Mid-Station
Apparently, it’s the first day of Spring today! It certainly felt like it here. Really warm, one of those gorgeous Alpine Winter/Spring Sun days. Although, still struggling, we just couldn’t miss not going out, so we managed just a couple of runs. I really felt tired afterwards though, especially with the altitude and having had a bunged up head… but it wasn’t too bad, just felt a bit niggly, and bad tempered! Especially with people who carry their ski poles so they are poking out behind them, when making their way to the ‘bins’ or climbing upstairs or whatever. It makes me really disgruntled, the last thing any of us want’s is to be impaled on someones ski pole!! You can always tell ’visitors’ when they don’t carry their ski poles with any consideration or etiquette! ok, rant over.
On the slopes we really had to be aware of ‘out of control’ skiers – When I was a beginner, I can remember thinking how brilliant these skiers must be going at such a frantic speed, until I learned that the majority were completely out of control! It’s great tearing up the pistes, but the speed comes naturally when control is obtained. When we see, the experts skiing at incredible speeds, the control is absolutely pristine, the body balance is solid and unmoving, and that is a marvel to see. For us, well me anyway, I didn’t feel particularly strong, and not quite up to scratch, so after a couple of runs we were both ready to go home. We did want to do the Mt. Rossett run, but unfortunately, the Poma we usually take was out of action so we didn’t have any choice but to ski the long green down to a very busy Bettex mid-station. It was a bit of a shame really, because Mt. Rossett is quite sheltered so the snow quality may well have been better over there. As it was, the snow was quite scratchy in most areas but we could pick out the good bits down the edges so we made the most of it. Still we got out, and hopefully will again tomorrow. The forecast was very good, we had what was expected, a nice bit of sunshine this afternoon. This evening, more precipitation is forecast so maybe some more snow up high… for skiing, it would be nice. However, looking across to Plaine Joux launch, there were some very attractive, enticing looking clouds forming…. not long now…vario is on charge…!! – Also, the windsock on our roof has been ravaged by the winter, it’s all shredded, and looking torn up and miserable, no problem though, I’ve just heard some tell tale footsteps on the roof, a new windsock is going up! – Ready for our flights back home… 
I’ve uploaded my miniscule skilog, just to check out the long run back to a very busy Bettex Mid-station, and to check my snail pace, although, I was pleased with the little I did. A little is better than non at all, and my pace was better than expected.
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.
