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

A snowHead

@PeakyB, Take a deep breath before you ski through the tunnel just above the Triffolet Resto.

@Dr John, Yes, but mainly to stop people exploiting the 4 hour pass limit - the traditional half days have gone and now you get 4 hours from first activation. You could still get away with lapping the Col de Ves though wink

. Additionally, they can be used to track the last known movements of a missing person.

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

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

The flip side of all this Val/Tignes is that I and all my mates used to go to Tignes at least once a year, now we don't go at all. It's far too busy, instead I try to go to Val once a year.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Jehu - thank you
Is it that time already? - no worries! Yes indeed
PeakyB - yea understand your point but restaurants etc are separate to the lift co of course so they dont care of that ad on benefit! Its not just the lifts its the extra pisteurs for example they have to have on duty 'just in case' something happens. That ultimately comes from the same pile of money! More lifts running more full has more wear and tear compared to empty chairs etc! Yea the 'whole area' is the attraction but the finances just dont stack up I think they are thinking!
chocksaway - ive never noticed a smell! Maybe ive missed something! I think the inequality with number of beds is the main driving factor now! And yes there are other advantages of the tracking but the 4 hour pass limit was a smokescreen for the real reason of person tracking!
Dr John - yup
davidar - ah cool what date is that TDC booking then? You'll have a good week im sure even it it will be quite busy then sorry to say!
Kenzie - hmmm maybe!
gixxerniknik - I find the pistes in Tignes generally much busier anyway!

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A shorter one

I slept really really well last night and since I was the only one heading out it was pretty chilled start to the day! The weather was cloudy and windy once again but was supposed to improve. I had aimed to get to the meeting point nice and early and potentially even do a quick lift ride and and fit in the recording of the weekly snow report.

However that all went out the window when I remembered that I needed to get to the office and pick up some off piste packs. Meeting at 0930 meant I had loads of time. When she turned up I was a little surprised that she was not only on her own but also dead on time... the way she had been talking yesterday she might have been thinking of arriving an hour, maybe two late!

When she arrived on her own I first needed to get rid of the second / spare pack so it was a quick trip to Snowberry to sort that! Then we could really start. So we headed up the Bellevarde and worked on a little general piste technique and the light was a little flat but slowly started to improve thankfully. We did plenty of off piste noodles around the Jardins Borsat and little by little the vis improved until it was glorious! All the little pieces of wind blown in snow were delightful - awesome! We enjoyed it.

One of the last bits we did was out under pisteurs and on the way there we had to navigate around the aftermath of a crash on the skier cross course that the pisteurs were on sight sorting out. They were bringing a chopper in to deal with the injury so we had to wait a second for that to land near the entry to get out to the meadows but we got there. There is some old avalanche debris out there which 'luckily' is putting off plenty of people from heading out that way but once you are over it there is lovely snow out there they really is!

So we ended up calling it a day at about 1430 as she was slightly tired, aiming to meet up with some friends for a late lunch and I think she was done mentally for the day too. So that meant I was done nice and early aswell and it meant I was able to get up the mountain and record the weekly snow report which I duly did but the punchy cold wind was annoying (and cold!)

Further to all this the client has just messaged me to say she had made a double booking on instructors for tomorrow as she thought she had some friends coming from the US with her on this holiday and at the time of booking needed several instructors.... alas she has said I can take tomorrow off.... yea I know! I have of course said I can be available in the morning if she changes her mind at the last minute but I dont think that eventuality will happen - we shall see!

Meanwhile being a Wednesday Clare was with Ben today and they decided not to ski given the weather so did things at home before the two of them went down the valley to see the speech and language lady AND collect a monster of a food shop to last us 3 weeks or so.

Olivia on the other hand along with all her race mates were doing a flèche on the Raye this morning! Her last chance for training before the Coupe Argent this Saturday! Well she smoked it - beat everyone including all her male team mates so she was pretty chuffed. In doing so slashed her points score by one more! Good girl! Go!!!!! Im pretty sure that would mean she has already qualified for the qualification day of the Coq d'Or in March! This afternoon she has hung out with a friend and also been into town to club to prepare her skis for Saturday!

Now just need to work out what I will do with my time tomorrow if I have an unexpected day to myself!

TTFN

A little ripper two years ago! Even better now!

Come on 'N' there is some lovely powder waiting for you over here when you get to me!

The traffic forecast for this coming weeknd - going to start getting bonkers busy!

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

So is a divorce of the two ski areas on the cards then?

After all it is free

@Steve Angus, why are you posting traffic forecast from 2020? Puzzled

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

Well that is a first

Being a Thursday we were all up early to get Olivia out the door and onto the school bus for 0700 but after that and after Ben was on the school bus it was basically a game of 'wait and see'. I was waiting to see if she decided that she did have someone wanting to ski with me today but alas the message never came... so by 0930 I was gearing up to head out the door but with nowhere to go!

I dont think in the 30 odd seasons or whatever it is ive done now had the situation where a 'pre-planned' who day off has happened before. Ive had it when on the day the person is ill or the weather has been horrendous etc but in advance someone basically saying take the day off is a first! It makes me nervous really as im on standby mode all day really.

So by 0930 I was well and truly geared up and out the door to make the most of the sunshine. It was a glorious morning (it has clouded over this evening and is snowing and should snow all night long and be an 'average' day tomorrow weather wise) so I decided to make the most of it and get some recording done.... recording of some video projects I am still working on - could be a long old road to get everything recorded that I want to but I went out for the whole morning with my gear and did some recording. Over the Summer I have plenty of footage to make a start. I'll keep you all in the dark for now but it was a successful morning thats for sure.

At lunchtime I grabbed a sandwich in town, checked the post box and also picked up some extra supplies that Clare had forgotten in the shop yesterday. This afternoon I have managed to get a tonne of jobs done before Ben got back from school.

Clare was on an all day booking with some very regular clients of hers and it was the clients birthday today. Clare knowing them very well went to lunch with them at Folie before they moved onto Coco's for an apres drink so Clare has had a bit of apres today - now that is not something either of us get a chance to do very often! Meanwhile Ben got back from school and I was on kid duty!

The second piece of good luck (for me) also happened in that I got a message from the Vie Val D'is seasonnaires association to say that my planned avalanche talk I was due to give this evening had been cancelled - nobody had booked on it. No skin off my nose (I dont think the VVD really advertise these talks very well tbh) at all.

So what an unexpected down day it has turned out to be!

Im now waiting for my phone to ping to say if the lady wants a lesson again tomorrow or not.... there are once again two of us booked on the session and quite probably only 1 person wanting to ski so there is a decent chance that one of us will not be working again tomorrow! We shall see. Given the weather forecast its possible that NEITHER of us will work... blimey! What a turn up for the books!

Anyway not much else to report apart from we are now waiting to hear the details for Olivias race on Saturday as the bib draw should come out tomorrow sometime... Ill be leaving about 0600 Saturday am so up about 0500 so tomorrow night will need to be an early night.

TTFN

Glorious start to the day!

Its sad that issues like this always happen in France / these parts - always... but outside a creche I mean what are people thinking!

snow reports

Disgusting…yellow snow is one thing but really, brown!! In a H shape too…a canine cry for Help?

Hi folks. We are back in Val for Irish school midterm (14 Feb). Staying in the village as usual. Really looking forward to being back after a couple of years trying new places (chamonix & courmayeur). Nothing matches Val!

The problem I have that I’d appreciate some help on. My 19yo son has decided to join us at the last minute. He is also the best skier in the group (comfortable on all pistes, but never really gotten the chance to go beyond that). given the last minute addition, there’s no group booked or anything for him, and I won’t keep up with him anymore.

Any advice at this late stage? I will try our normal places as well (the two kids were very happily evolution and Oxygène educated for six or so years), but any help or pointers would be really appreciated. I’d be happy to pay for a goody private guide for a day or half day - anything really to make the most (last minute flights and ski pass add up to so much these days)

Thanks

You know it makes sense.

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

A snowHead

A snowHead

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

"Too dangerous and a big chance of injury"

You've heard of the fun poked at 'Mums in Waitrose' or 'Overheard in Waitrose' yes? Basically ive got a 'overheard in Val' moment from today.

First up I went to bed last night now knowing if my client wanted to ski today but by the time I woke up this morning there was a message waiting for me from her saying she was not planning to come but there was 'an outside chance a friend might want to come later in the day'..... but tbh it didnt sound likely.

Anyway it was the usual start to the day getting Ben out the door but crucially I was in normal clothes which made a change! Clare followed quickly for her day booking and wont be back until later as the booking have the Panoramic booked for 1430 lunch so it could be a late one!

With the house quiet and watching my phone for a message from this 'friend' who 'might' decide to take part of my day I went about an admin sort of morning. Well the time came and went again and no message so I needed to get something done. So I decided to go for a swim... been a while since I was last in the water but it works for me with my 'occasionally' painful foot etc and give the weather it made sense.

The weather all day (and night last night) has been snow flurries with some wind and I think we have had a decent accumulation during the day and night... seeing the top of the mountain has not been a possibility all day long!

Anyway late morning I headed up for a swim and managed to whack out 2000m which I think is fairly decent - nice bit of fitness! I treated myself to the sauna and jacuzzi afterwards before heading home for lunch and have spent the last couple of hours watching the training runs for the men and womens downhill - was so great seeing Lyndsey Vonn doing the training run - with a torn ACL in one knee non the less!

So tomorrow is the BIG one... ill be up about 0500 to get Olivia to club on time and get the car going etc. So it will be an early night tonight thats for sure! No idea what time ill get to do the update tomorrow night though. So yes the Coupe Argent (Carre Neige sponsored) race in Valmorel it is. A couple of people have asked about following the race - well yes timings will be live on ffs.fr 'live' (google it). Will obviously report back in tomorrow evening but hey its ski racing and anything could happen!

However the other big event is of course the Olympics and I cant wait for the opening ceremony tonight. I love the games, what they stand for and the endeavours and stories that come from it... both Summer and Winter of course. I think I might have mentioned this before but assuming Val gets some events then Ill sign up to be a volunteer. I was a volunteer in the Olympic park during London 2012 which was amazing so would be cool to get involved again! We shall see - a few years away yet.

Right back to the 'heard in Val' thing....

On the bus this morning a group of British lads - lets say mid 20's... non in ski gear.... lots of talking the talking. Plenty of 'I needed a day out of ski boots anyway today to rest my legs' and 'wish we could stat longer' etc etc etc. But then one of them said its 'too dangerous' to ski today (they were referring to the vis mainly I'm guessing) and 'you'd likely hurt yourself' .... well thats the statistical anonomoly (sp???) in these things. Actually there will be next to no injuries on a day like today (even taking into consideration the lesser numbers of people on the hill with the weather like this!) - the snow is softer, people HAVE to ski slower, the churned up snow will slow people down etc etc. All in all even off piste there will be fewer incidents (avalanche risk aside). Its funny these things. In the same way I believe statistically most people have incidents in their cars within a mile of home or something dont they?

Anyway my point is I see and hear plenty of things like this about town and on the slopes!

Right must dash.

TTFN

Similar view to yesterdays photo but somewhat cloudier and snowier eh!

On a Facebook group pointing out that there are a lot of illegal transfer operations out there and the Gendarmes are clamping down. In a raid in Moutiers a few days back out of 60 vehicles checked that 'could be taxi's / transfer companies etc 9 were found with the wrong paperwork (whatever that exactly means I dont know!) and in another raid in Courcheval out of 20 there were 4 errors! Its a real issue out there with fake websites and booking set ups etc as well as chalets in the same boat - be careful folks!

Oh yea!!!!

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It's a pity there are no telemark events in the Olympics. I reckon we'd be nailed on for a medal with Jasmin Taylor.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

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@Steve Angus, I reckon between our experiences on the daily commute to and from “La Dally” we could write a book of quotes.
Fingers crossed for Olivia tomorrow and I’ll no doubt see after our mid season break.

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

Help!!

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

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