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

A snowHead

Morning all.
Made it to town last night 7 hours after leaving Chambery Airport. Was expecting roads to be jammed but not as bad as it was. 2.5 hours to get through Albertville. Rest of traffic to Moutiers was slow as expected then surprisingly speedy up the valley.

Got checked in in time to grab some food and watch the curling.

First day out for a while so will just cruise about and explore

A snowHead

davidar - awesome welcome! Looking good for your trip!

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

wow that last photo with the snow on the roof of the building and the lift behind is so cool!

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A nice day off

What is it with early morning loo stop! I was in bed at a really decent time last night and this morning (similar to yesterday) I woke at 0540 and popped to the loo... OK perfect but little did I know that Clare had obviously woken at the same time and followed me so when I opened the door I almost had a heart attack as there in the dark was Clare standing waiting her turn! Blimey.. once I picked myself up from the floor I headed back to bed and luckily the sleeping pills taken last night were still working hard so I (amazingly) went straight back to sleep and it was gone 0800 when Clare woke me from a deep sleep! Blimey what a good sleep that was.

The only problem with sleeping pills is that it feels as if you have been run over by a train the next morning so I was frantically trying to cook the kids eggs on toast, poor myself a cuppa and deal with the kids 'energy' first thing.... eeek!

Anyway Clare was off to work on a new all day booking (they ended up being an hour late but luckily the sun was shining!), the kids were having a lazy day (more on that in a moment) and me and the MIL too! So all very chilled.

The kids got some homework done, I watched the 1/2 pipe on TV and had one eye on the cricket (nice work England - keep it going) and did a few jobs like laundry etc. By lunchtime we all needed to get out the door so we headed into town for a slap up lunch at Billabong cafe - so burgers / wraps and smoothies etc all around - perfect just what the doctor ordered!

This afternoon back at home we watched a movie but Ben headed into town (I took him) for a couple of hours for a playdate. On the way home I got caught up in massive person jam on the train rouge - oh yes we seem to have hundreds more Swedish students in town - all dolled up heading to the Folie for a couple of hours of partying and drinking - carnage on the buses!

Clare got back from work about 1700 just as we were finishing watching BGT on tv from last night and I was getting the bath run for the kids as, of course, being Sunday before the kids go back to school it is that Sunday evening sequence of things to get them ready for the off again tomorrow!

However apart from that not a lot else to report really from today... the sun was shining - it has been warm and it will be nice all week - after the storms of the last week I could feel Spring knocking on the door basically saying - 'dont forget me, im still waiting in the wings'.

TTFN

P.S. Back to the day job tomorrow!

Something talked about years ago (perhaps 7-10) but the idea of future proofing Tignes via the building of a snowdone (for Summer skiing etc) is once again being floated by one of the potential Tignes mayoral election candidates - Ill believe it when I see it!

Stunning

That was a large slide to the back door area in Cret this past week eh!

For those liking to know these things and plan next years holidays (potentially to miss) school hols!

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

@Steve Angus, the loo stop in the dark Laughing

Worse still is when you’re the one going second and walk into the edge of the bedroom door, which you couldn’t see was open. Hang around a few years for twice a night, which takes on a completely different meaning to when you were in your 20s.

The Tignes SnowDome notion - is an election due, when local bigwigs float grandiose plans to get publicity? Where I live, the Council almost went bankrupt last year. Yet with an election due, the Leader is banging on about a large ice dome, with a new ice hockey team. Meanwhile, locals are most concerned about potholes wiping out their wheels and suspensions.

That Dates de Vacances Scolaires is very useful and regularly used by SnowHeads. You mentioned Swedish students causing bus mayhem and next week Stockholm and Paris weeks align, so brace yourself and sharpen your elbows

You'll need to Register first of course.

...and lock up your skis! Skullie

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

PeakyB - that (first paragraph) really tickled me, ive been chuckling for an hour about that! Yes I realised its a bit of an attention seeking plot by the person! Yes ive sharpened my ski poles too for next week. Erm who the heck is that and where is that in the photo?
moosepig - dont be silly - they dont need skis - just some fake tan, fake ID and bootle of Hooch (or whatever the youffs drink these day!) in the pocket

After all it is free

@moosepig, not worried about the Skandis stealing my skis, because very few of them buy a ski pass. They just make the buses a misery for everyone else whilst contributing nothing to the town, only adding to the Folie and Coco's coffers.
Today in front of me (on a dangerously overcrowded bus) a father had to shoulder charge 3 Skandi youths out of the door in order to get himself and his 2 children off the bus.
I have yet to meet a local who is happy to have them here.

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

@RickBoden, Of course not, but come here now. I guarantee your wife will be grievously embarrassed by her youthful compatriots behaviour

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

Back on it

It was an early start getting Olivia out the door for the school bus and then Ben a while later but it had hardly dropped below zero overnight so not too much of a hardship!

With the return to normality of the kids being back at school it left me to head to the meet point and Clare was on another all day booking. I did notice that it didnt seem nearly as busy as it was last week - the bus just didn't feel mega busy it really didnt! Anyway with the sun shining it was pleasant to not be battling the elements all day / week! Win.

So my am session was a really lovely lady - actually someone who normally skis with Clare but she was booked up today so I had the responsibility of moving her onwards before Clare takes back over tomorrow! We headed up Bellevarde and skied some great pistes that were in excellent condition! It was so nice having someone so positive and chatty and game to give it a go! I did not go too technical with the session - instead a lot of tactical and psychological work! It was a really successful morning all in all and we did have a laugh! I think she is well on the road towards hitting her target of skiing a red by the end of the week and I think tomorrow Clare is going to show her the best route to take from the Folie down to La Daille as she is ready for that challenge of skiing to the bottom of the mountain on blue runs!

I took lunch back in my old haunt under Sun Bar and then I was up Solaise this afternoon doing some filming - I am going to have some really great footage by the end of this season that I can then spend time this Summer editing away - thats going to be one of my Summer projects and then ill need to start getting it out there - mums the word on what it is but hopefully it will work out!

I was home about 1500 in the end and watched some cricket and did a few bits before Ben and Clare got home! All pretty simple really.... well it was up until that point as about 1900 we got a phone call from Olivia to say she was not well.... cutting a long story short we were lucky in that a friend of Olivias mum was down in Bourg so was able to collect her and she has just back in. So Ill have to finish todays update a little short today. Working full day tomorrow.

TTFN

P.S. It remains warm and by all accounts the nice snow out there has / is getting wrecked with this heat - doh!

P.P.S. For some reason the image hosting service im using seems to be down this evening so I cant even post a photo - sorry!

snow reports

@Steve Angus, the picture I posted is of a local activist, creatively highlighting pothole issues, a couple of months before the local elections. Bizarrely it’s the party she belongs to that controls the Council, so it’s an own goal. The town is Stourbridge. It just makes the point that local bigwigs do anything to get publicity, like implying Tignes will build a Snowdome.

Hope Olivia gets well soon.

@Steve Angus, Hi Steve, fellow snowhead - we met briefly in Val Thorens a few years back.

Quick enquiry (it’s a possible rn) - we are going to be based in Le Lac march 7-14, was wondering if you might have availability on Monday 9th for three of my group…all 21/22 years old girls my daughter and her friends for a half day instruction? They’re all early in their ski life and have done maybe 12 hours on indoor snow - they can all snowplough turn well and are starting to try and turn more parallel, i think they would massively benefit from a half day tuition. If you have it available what would be the cost? And also would you be able to make it to Le Lac for the morning?

Thanks Neil

You know it makes sense.

Those Swedish girls last week were out of control, hanging outside Cocorico and all getting turned away. I must admit, I was shocked at how aggressive the bouncers / security staff were and a quick review on Trip Advisor shows some shocking incidents, including a lady being pushed down the stairs and we saw one of them literally punch this youth and kick him to the floor... shocking really. The Gendames were there on Friday night, thankfully, and so they were being better behaved, however they still tried to claim my daughters actual passport was fake Evil or Very Mad

I don't recall it being this regulated in the past, but i think it's because of all these massive groups in the resort who are under age and spoiling it for everyone else..

Great weeks skiing though. I was however shocked at how many people ducked ropes and skied some pretty crazy lines on closed areas on Friday and Saturday, after it stopped snowing. I'm sure people think it's OK as they have the gear with them. Piste L was the worst. Super steep sided natural gully.... totally closed and some brits just went under the ropes and dropped in down the steepest part of that valley. Then a load of people started to follow and head down the closed Germain Mattis and then drop down the steep section down to Piste L.... 4/5 risk.. sector closed. After what happened the week before I though people would hold back. They were visibly in some areas, but this one shocked me.

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

PeakyB - aha makes sense. Yes anything for publicity eh! Thanks Olivia is on the mend. Thanks
neilkav - Ill pm you. Thanks for enquiring!
Alex A - blimey - wild west out there. I must say when the family this end were out last week one of them had a nasty incident with a rude bouncer at the Folie! And yea some crazy people out there you are right! Its very much the thinking that if it was safe for them then it will be safe for me attitude or Ive done it before therefore it must be safe type thing!

A snowHead

Hot

It really felt like mid April today and for the first time this season the snow turned a little - nothing serious but it was softening on west facing slopes this afternoon; even overnight it was only about -2 - so yea warm and that will continue all week I think! Blimey!

I slept well and so did everyone. At breakfast time it was action stations to get Ben out the door to the school bus, the MIL was taking Olivia to the doctors for us and Clare and I were working from 0900. At least it was nice weather out there!

So Olivia had had a good nights sleep and was feeling a little better this morning but she was off to the docs - they discovered she has an ear infection and was put on antibiotics. All I know is that she had a lazy day at home and is feeling much much better this evening.

So this morning I had a returner and we had a good ski up Solaise before it got busy working on some carving - mainly on blue pistes but also a trip down Arcelle. I could not believe Arcelle had some death cookies on it and it was that bumpy pisting when it gets warm which meant the ski down was somewhat tricky! Anyway we changed tactics and piste and worked more on short turns for the second part of the lesson - much better plan all in all. It was a good session and tomorrow I think we will probably mainly do moguls but time will tell!

Lunch was a rush to get packs etc from the office and get back to the meeting point (going to be quite a lot of that this week one way or another I think!) and then we were off! A SH and a Mrs SH for the afternoon where the plan was a combination of off piste learning, trying to find some nice safe snow close to the pistes. So we did a few noodle sorties near the pistes up Solaise but trying to find north facing and away from the sun was the best option we could really do! It did not help that she unfortunately had her DIN settings way to low so for the first run there was a lot of double ejecting going on. But by the time we got to the Cugnai and adjusted the bindings it was all working much better.

So we enjoyed a few more descents up that part of the mountain before enjoying a top part of the Super S and then heading back! Some good developments made - well done nice work!

However it is worth noting that it really was NOT very easy at all the snow this afternoon - heavy heavy snow thats for sure! The sun is wrecking the off piste this week - it was the wind last week and the sheer amount of snow!

At home the MIL headed off home after her 10 day stay at lunchtime - was nice having her to stay and for all her help around the house and with the kids! Her parting shot was a lovely one - she bought us a yummy chicken and potatoes from the 'chicken man' in town at the market yesterday therefore this evening we have enjoyed a yummy family meal of roast chicken!

The warm temps have been running riot on the snow pack everywhere once again! It will continue for a few days but the problem is there will be some purging going on.... this was the case in Chamonix today - ill post a video on my insta but a slide dropped onto a piste there today - nobody hurt etc but goes to show there is a lot of snow waiting to drop on the 'right' aspects and elevations at the moment! There are also plenty of slides still dropping out on the mountain from skiers and boarders etc out there - for example the photo below is a drop off near Mickeys Ears by a skier yesterday - thankfully they were not caught in it! Yikes!

This evening Ben has been at Judo and we have had a quiet evening - I got a load of jobs done including putting up Bens new LEDS around his room - he was stoked when he got in... but I think 15m of the multi colour LED strips was probably overkill! Doh!

Anyway a busy days teaching tomorrow on the cards so will sign off now.

TTFN

Under the Cugnai lift there was a lot of debris from PIDA blasting going down!

That block was the size of small family car!

Mickeys Ears area where the slide took place!

No idea what happened but goes to show the pisteurs put their lives on the line day in day out. RIP

A snowHead

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

rjs - thank you - hmmm all very sad!

Hot again but found the goods

It was a pretty casual start to the day although I did wake early!

Olivia was having a lazy morning before doing a flèche this afternoon (there were about 250 kids doing the flèche this morning so was maxed out before she even got a chance to sign up for it... as it was over 200 kids did the pm flèche - blimey eh!) and thankfully she does seem 99.9% back up to full health!

Ben was awaiting a friend coming around for a play date this morning and then as usual in the afternoon he and Clare were down the valley at the speech and language and also picking up a large food shop! Clare was home mumming it!

So it was just me to get out the house and I was on the road on time and into the sunshine! I am certainly dressing at the moment just as I would in the Spring this means you WANT to feel a little chilly first thing in the morning for the first hour knowing that it will warm up... that means for the bulk of the day the temp is OK and later on you are a little too warm.

I was at the meeting point and back with the same set up as yesterday albeit with a second person and whereas yesterday the plan was carving and short turns, given the lumps and bumps forming today it was to be moguls! So we headed up the Olympic and did a warm up on the Fontaine Froide and it was noticeable (being south facing) that it is taking heat which means very firm first thing. After some laps there doing some technical work (im always aware of not doing too many moguls in a moguls session (sounds weird but hear me out) as you want legs to last the full time) we moved over towards Tommeuse and some laps there. We had a really successful session and there were some great improvements all round - bravo!

We even finished with a ski down the Face to finish the morning off - great morning!

I picked up off piste packs as usual at lunchtime and got some lunch in me in the sun at the meeting point such was the glorious weather - bravo!

For the afternoon I had my seasonnaires - well actually the TO concerned seems to have a bug going about as about 50% of their staff are out of action with a '24 hour' bug apparently and therefore only 1 of the group turned up! I was pretty shocked but lucky her as this seasonnaire got a private lesson!

After kitting up and working out how we would carry all the gear between us we set off and hit up a 'noodle' option up Solaise to warm up and found the conditions not nearly as bad as they were when I attempted it yesterday - awesome.... so that allowed the option of diving into the Col Madeleine and it was in excellent condition given the heat! We stayed of steeper and west facing stuff and stayed aware of what was above us before heading back towards the piste but she LOVED it! It was great!

I headed home and it has all been action stations this evening getting the food shop put away and getting the kids into bed etc! Im shattered this evening.

For some reason since taking my ski boots off this evening my ankle has been killing me - I didnt do anything to it so hopefully a good sleep will sort it out.

TTFN

A happy 'B' in the Col Madeleine this pm

This is what lies beneath the dammed lake now - looking towards where the dam now sits!

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Ankle

So I slept OK (nothing special but OK) last night and this morning my ankle felt better - not perfect but better.

Olivia needed to be off on the school bus so it was action stations nice and early doors... that was of course followed shortly after by Ben... But with that sorted I was off on the bus into town with packs and transceivers as it was one of those days of swapping amounts of transceivers etc with clients! The sun was shining at least and was going to be a warm one (again!).

So this morning I was booked by a very old friend of mine and her partner from University days (back in the 90's!). I has been a few years since we last caught up (when back in London one Summer actually) and many MANY years since we last skied together - university ski trip days actually! So the aim was to get some off piste turns in, get away from the crowds and enjoy something different as part of their holiday. Game on!

As I seem to be doing over and over again at the moment it was up Solaise (I knew where I could find the snow that worked and since I have quite a few sessions like this back to back at the moment I might as well keep the winning formula) and into a few of my secret (or not so much sometimes) stashes. Despite a few falls it was a fun session. We did so many variations it worked really well.

One issue we did have was that her bindings (his were OK) kept clipping off so when we got to the lift we checked out the DINs to make an adjustment - well the front one was good to go up a bit but the back one on one side DIDNT seem to have been adjusted at all and it was set on the MAXIMUM of 11... holy sh*t. Blimey! What made it worse was that when I (she gave me permission to adjust it - nulling her insurance but it meant we could carry on) tried to turn it down the binding basically fell apart. The skis were rubbish! This is NOT the first time I have seen complete junk handed out to people I teach.... I wont mention names but all I can say is that about the only rental shop I trust is Snowberry with kit.... there are a couple of other independent shops in town I think are good but the big franchises etc are generally a waste of money and plain dangerous! This was no exception.

Anyway so putting the binding back together we gingerly carried on but it ruined things somewhat!

We are planning on a catch up tomorrow for a beer after skiing at Rosie Blanche which will be nice!

For lunch I was back at my favourite spot under the Sun Bar and tbh given the heat (again today) it was nice to be taking shelter from the sun. It will be hot for a few more days yet a while! Definitely Spring vides about! Its hot.

This afternoon I head my 'other' seasonnaires group and there were 5 that made it today! This was the first session for this group off piste and after talking through the safety chat we headed up Solaise and it was very much like the morning in terms of where we went... the main difference being that there were more of them and they were younger and fitter. However I ended up skiing more or less the same as I have done about 5 times this past few days - haha!

They loved it and we had a fun afternoon!

One shocking thing I noticed made my jaw drop. We were popping down some of the meadows a decent distance away from the pistes up Solaise and certainly not 'crawling' distance back to the slopes if something goes wrong! Anyway about 300 m ahead of us I saw a certain ski school being followed by about 10 relatively young kids in bibs off piste - they were bronze level I would say... BUT nobody had any off piste safety kit whatsoever! What a reckless thing to do at the very least. I could not believe my eyes!

So with that all done we jumped on the bus back into town after another 'bus stop' run (second of my day) and the seasonnaires dispersed at the various get off points and I was left to lug all the packs back home - ill be needing them all again tomorrow for the start of a 3 day intro to off piste initiation course. As I have said before lugging packs about is my least enjoyable part of my job!

This evening it has been OK BUT once again when I took my ski boot off my ankle was in a lot of pain. I had noticed inside my ski boot all day it was a little sore but getting my boot off this evening was agony! However a warm bath and some anti-inflamatories and it seems to be better once again. Weird as I haven't dont anything to it and it just seems to be the soft tissue on top that is sore.... my 'gout' toe is totally fine (its the same foot). Its weird!

So with just Ben to get into bed and dinner to eat I have tried to take it easy this evening and I will be in bed soon thats for sure! I was starving so enjoyed a big dinner (some more of the yummy roast chicken and potatoes from the other night).

I have booked tomorrow morning off so I will see how my ankle is and we will see if I get a chance to get out there and do some recording on the mountain or not. I do need to record my snow reports tomorrow thats for sure.

The afternoon this new off piste initiation booking starts. Clare is off tomorrow so that will be a once in a season weekday where we are both off - blimey!

TTFN

'J' and I near the 'bus stop'

Come on catch up!

Totally un-connected to this blog but I thought was quite funny

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

weirdly enough i have the same ankle pain, right at the top. I am wondering if it is tight calves somehow affecting it

You'll need to Register first of course.

kat - weird - it seems to have magically disappeared this evening now! I dont have tight calves either!

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

Quite exhausting day

I had been popping anti inflammatory pills and when I woke this morning I waited with baited breath to see if my ankle was going to be sore or not! Having slept pretty darn well I felt OK. With just Ben to get on the bus that meant it was a pretty relaxed start to the day. In fact Clare was heading out to get some video recording done about 0930 and I was planning on heading out about 10/1030 to record the weekly snow report and get some recording done myself! What it meant was that I was basically able to stay in my PJ's and enjoy a second cup of tea especially when Ben was out the door. It was a very rare occasion to both of us having a weekday morning off - blissfully calm!

The sun was shining and once again very inviting out there.

So I headed out to get some recording done and had a busy couple of hours recording and dashing about the place... I actually went to Fornet (by bus) so it all takes some time. But to be honest in the sunshine it was not real hardship!

I took lunch (quickly) under the Sun Bar and then met my afternoon session. It was a couple of mates along with one of their 20 year old daughter. They had done some off piste over the years but they really want to get good - ultimately go touring one day is their aim! One is a boarder but really into his skiing now, the other just keen to have fun and the daughter just loves the mountains so a nice group!

After heading up the Olympic and doing a warm up lap we dived into the easiest to get to Jardins Borsat and from there some more far out areas... given the afternoon heat it was very important to think 'north' and not a lot else. Tomorrow I am with them all day so will be able to head further afield! It should mean I can work the orientations a little better too!

So after the first couple of routes we headed over the backside of Bellevarde into the spatule and even went far out to do the super spatule in the end... actually the snow was mixed but I was able to seek out some really great winter pow still - actually there was some amazing powder in there still - I even surprised myself! It was tricky getting to it and back our again but very worthwhile all in all!

By the time we had done that there were some tired legs about and the afternoon heat was sapping energy too. We headed up the Funi and all we had time left to do would be another Jardins borsat before we parted ways and they had to head back towards Tignes where they are staying. In fact when they booked the lessons they had been planning on staying in Val but could not get any accommodation as it turned out.

Tomorrow I have a full day with them so I think things like the Grand Vallon / Col Pers and maybe Vallonet might be on the cards. We shall see.

I went for a quick drink in the sun (well it was quite chilly actually as the sun had gone behind the mountain by the time we left) at the Rosee Blanche with my university friend and her partner - was nice chatting and catching up!

I got home and Olivia was of course back from school and Ben too. So a lot of rushing around getting myself sorted before having a family meal and then the kids in bed has been the order of the day!

I did manage to miss most of the England cricket match but caught the end - blimey we are on fire at the moment - lets hope it continues into the semi finals now eh! eeek

Right im tired and need my bed and still got a few things to sort before then. Besides a long days off piste looms tomorrow too BUT there could be a little cloud cover for once! That will make a change!

TTFN

Forgot to snap a photo until the very last minute today - sorry!

After all it is free

Good to hear your ankle is improving. If it deteriorates again you could consider getting it strapped up to protect it and hire / borrow a larger boot temporarily.

Where is super Spatule btw? I know Spatule but have never heard of the super version.

@Steve Angus, just catching up.
Instructor of a certain ski school taking bronze level kids off piste with no appropriate equipment? Shocked

Surely an instant dismissal offence for gross negligence?

I’m reminded of the circumstances and location of Michael Schumacher’s life changing injuries. A benign looking, not very steep bit, between and close to two pistes in Meribel (if memory serves…else I’ll soon be corrected).

Hope your ankle improves quickly and the gout stays away.

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

But how would they cope if they sacked 70% of their workforce?

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

snow reports

PeakyB - Unfortunately there is no such thing as instant dismissal - no negligence until something happens if you get my drift! Yes the ankle is fine again and the Gout seems good! Thanks for asking.
Ski lots - now now!
Kenzie - doh!

You know it makes sense.

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

Tricky and varied

I slept so well last night (I took one sleeping pill) that when I woke up I was desperate for the loo - like big time.... those pills really knock you out!

Anyway everyone was on a 0930 start apart from me and the kids were skiing with club and Clare was doing the ferrying around etc and having a day out of ski boots.

I headed over the road in order to get up the mountain to meet the team at the bottom of Tommeuse but the lift was delayed opening by about 10 mins which was a little annoying... luckily I only ended up being about 2 mins late! Being a Saturday it was set to be very quiet on the mountain.

Weather wise it was slightly overcast but nothing too bad. As it turned out it changed for the better and worse all day! There were times when it really clouded over and even had slightly flat light a couple of times and other times the sun returned big time but then by the end of the day it looked like it was so thick the cloud that it could snow.... all over the place.

So anyway we warmed up with the a tester on the Fresse ridge facing east as I wanted to see if there had been enough sun to soften things up - if so then we might have had the option for 'softening' clean snow options or even just choppy but soft snow but it a) hadn't softened for long enough and b) the sun was never going to get enough power in it for that to happen - so scrap that idea! Non the less we enjoyed a nice ski before working on some technique on the Face and we skied that way in order to get up Solaise!

I did my 'banker' up Solaise which was nice for some enjoyable easy turns and then we had a quick break for a drink (the plan was for a late lunch so a mid morning break was probably a good idea).

Anyway after that I did a combo I dont normally do but I wanted to get to Fornet... so bus stop followed by Livre Blanc into Fornet trees... it actually worked really well!

Next up was a longish version of Grand Vallon which gave us some nice powder turns so that all worked out well!

By the time we got to Cascades for lunch about 1330 I thought the queue might have gone but alas not - hey ho not the end of the world. As usual a salad and soup went down very well - they all copied my lead and had the same - it was perfect!

I was keeping an eye on the time as I calculated that as long as we got on the Fornet bus at 1600 then I would happily have then back in Tignes by 1645 at the latest! So we started off for the hike up to Col Pers about 1445 and had our skis on at 1500 for the descent! The entry to the Col was the hardest I have ever seen it - seriously scrapped off / wind affected! Doh!

Anyway when we got in we found some lovely turns across the flats and there is still plenty of space out there for more fresh turns BUT crucially the wind has caused havoc out there. It was quite weird as there were places (bearing in mind we have had 3 metres + of snow the last few weeks) that were VERY bare - even in places that should be terrain traps - bald - all very weird! Anyway by the time we crossed over the Grand Torsai it was a moonscape but dropping down towards the Pont it did get better and better. As my experiences in the Col go this was an interesting one to say the least!

My time planning was spot on as we got the bus into town at 1600 on the head so we ended up parting ways at 1630 at the Folie - Id say a good day all considered - phew! Not the easiest of days but got there.

So tomorrow is the first day of Spring officially - so tomorrow is a mental turning point in the season as you know the home straight is not that far away - so near, yet so far! 2 months ago it was barely Xmas so time ticks on.

In skiing Olivia did a Chamois this morning and did well - she got her first Vermeil in slalom - go girl - pretty chuffed with that and so was she. It got better as at the end of the day she was invited by the big cheese (from the US who works with the US Ski Team and personally fits Michaela Shiffrins boots amongst other things) of Surefoot to go in to the shop in town to have her boots looked at. A few of the anglophile kids from club were in there and Olivia ended up getting some padding into her boots as well as a few little freebies. Hopefully she will be on a podium soon and we can repay the thanks with a good tagging opportunity etc!

Ben had a fun day at club and tomorrow he has his second ever race - a Super G over in Tignes - on the stade at the top of the Palafour! Clare will be there but I am working in the morning so cant make it sadly.

This evening the kids have been excitable but we finally got them into bed and now the evening list of chores has started - eek

I forgot to mention yesterday that the continued clear up from the avalanche / PIDA blasting of last and the previous week to that etc etc continues! Yesterday when we were coming down the Orange the pisteurs were digging up a HUG log - about 5m long and diameter of about 50cm, from out of the snow on the piste... it was partially submerged and had been run over by a piste basher on more than one occasion... it was a bit of a trip hazard. Anyway they got it out but wow shows the power of the storm!

Right tomorrow is another day and im off piste again in the morning and in the afternoon im off but not sure what ill be doing!

Some pics of today follows.

TTFN

Col Pers looks nice but the snow was 'weird'

Even in protected areas where at the very least as a terrain trap it should be filled up but it wasnt out there - weird!

'D' dropping into a powder chute

Tried to get arty in the Livre Blanc with the Signal building in the back ground behind the trees

'D' with the Fornet looking a long way down

A snowHead

Not quite how it was planned!

This morning it was all action stations. Olivia had a days slalom training going on, Ben had a race in Tignes (more on that in a moment) and Clare was accompanying him. Meanwhile I 'just' needed to get to the Funi for 0900 - simple.

With the sun shining it was going to be a nice day thats for sure BUT it was supposed to be quite cloudy so it was a case of 'be ready for anything weatherise' type of day.

Anyway my team (its the same team as I have had the last few days but they were due to leave for the airport at lunchtime today therefore it made sense for them to drive to Val and us start here) dropped me a bell to say they were slightly early which was fine as I was ready, HOWEVER there was a small catch... they had not had breakfast yet! They had managed to get over from Tignes and the one person that needed to had rented skis for the day here in La Daille but getting breakfast had not happened yet! Whoops! So the first job was to pop into Equinox and grab a coffee and croissant.

It meant we were a few mins late getting going but anyway we got up the mountain about 0930 in the end so not too bad considering!

First up was a sneaky meadows under pisteurs to warm up and it was quite nice but of course very tracked out (as we all knew it would be). From there the North Face of Borsat was interesting. I have been eyeing it up for a few days now and today was the day to give it a go. It was so very wind affected at the top which would not be an issue if it not for the fact that there was no real way (because of rocks) to get over to the far side at the top. Basically I had to get inventive and manufacture a route. It worked out really well actually and the lower slopes were perfect. The clients were happy as we managed to get quite a few lovely 'old' powder turns in - perfect!

Time was ticking on and we needed to make sure we were back in La Daille for 12'ish as they needed to get to the airport for their 1800 flight!

So the final hurrah of the few days was set to be a 'funky' combination between spatule and super spatule - a route I have not skied in perhaps 10 years! Off we went and as predicted the traverse around was horrendous but around the corner it was much better. Anyway I must say I came good and surpassed myself as we got proper light, dry winter powder for way more distance than I had thought possible!

However there was one BIG issue... the girl that had hired her skis for the day - the bindings kept on pre-releasing - like about 10 times in the space of about 30 mins. For the first 2 hours of the session there had been no issues and now a LOT suddenly. Two of the team were having a whale of a time but she was having a nightmare! It got to the point where she bum slid back to the piste at the bottom - what a downer! I later found out the rental shop gave her free hire for the troubles - as so they should! Doh!

Ultimately we had had a really good few days and they left very happy indeed - I enjoyed myself too! Nice skiing guys and see you next time!

Meanwhile Ben was having a great time over in Tignes at his race.... he might not be quite where his sister is at in terms of being competitive or quite as relatively good as she is yet a while but he did so well today.... in the third and final run in the race he was 8th fastest boy in his year in the whole region.... amazing Ben - love ya!

It ended up being a long day though as they (like last time for Olivias race) had timing issues and it was 1700 before they got back.

Anyway after we had finished in La Daille I needed to pop to town to return the packs, then I grabbed a cheeky chevallot lunch which was yummy as always (my fav things there are the quiche loraine as well as the Tarte Beaufort - to die for - yum yum). I checked our post box and then ended up getting home about 1400. Olivia was out all day so the house was nice and quiet.

Of course with a cuppa in one hand it was time to watch some cricket and I probably had an overly lazy afternoon but hey ho why not! But now we know that England will play the mighty India IN Mumbai on Thursday - eeeek that will be quite a challenge of a semi final for England! Cant wait though!

Tomorrow I am working in the morning and then (at the moment) have not been booked for the afternoon - so it will either be doing some filming or back home or of course get a last minute booking - we shall see. Of course the weather could play a factor in all those things - hmmm we shall see.

TTFN

It doesnt like much but the snow was pretty nice here actually

An early April fools joke - what to do with the apparently never used Lognan race piste above Val Claret - put solar panels on it apparently!

Was glorious for Bens race non the less!

Go my boy!

A snowHead

Coincidence

It was a busy Monday morning as it always is... Olivia onto the school bus (she has a really busy 10 days coming up with 3 races in it.... and that will be followed by the Coq d'Or national race too - eeek) and then Ben on his school bus too. All go. However what is nice at this time of the year is the longer days and of course its quite warm at the moment so getting going in the morning is not too hard at the moment!

Anyway with all that done I was into town to the meeting point. My am session was with a nice lady out with some friends on holiday but also fitting in the opportunity to see her sister whom it turned out is someone I know... she is the step mother of one of Olivias friends from school. The dad is a mountain guide here. So it was funny having such a small world!

So having ascertained what level she was at and what she wanted to get out of the session as well as where she has already skied this week etc we were off. We headed up the Olympique and she decided that the steps down would probably be the best course of action so we did that. The ski down Verte was characterised by that early Spring series of death cookies all over the place which makes it slightly challenging.... it got worse in that the Borsat run had NOT been pisted which made it a challenge too. doh! However we got back on the straight and narrow when going down Genepy for a second lap on the Borsat chair... perfect. However it was getting busy (being a Monday and still in school hols!) and it was idiot Monday of course!

A lap on the Grand Pre and then second time down it was the Club des Sports blue which was a perfect way to finish the session off!

We finished on the mountain and then I managed to get some recording done (well sort of as had a couple of technical issues!).

One thing of note today was that it was colder mainly as there seems to be a bit of a retour developing and that is bringing a breeze in from the south. The sun was still shining brightly and I know (from a colleague) that the Spring slopes are setting up nicely! I am glad I had an extra layer on today as it was chilly up there with that breeze even though the sun was shining hard! With this retour we might be in the situation of having powder AND Spring in the same resort at the same time - heaven!

So after skiing I headed home and Clare worked right to the day end and it has been a pretty chilled evening with just Ben about. Tomorrow will be a hectic one as working all day and then need to drop Ben off as he is taking part in the last torchlit descent of the Winter (most of the younger club kids are doing it) and Clare is going for a drink with some friends at Coco's (yes I know!). Meanwhile I will be at home to get Olivia dinner on the go and she is training hard on Wednesday - eeek hectic tomorrow.

TTFN

The Lores is set up lovely at the moment

The Retour clouds spilling over from Italy

The French Tignes mayoral election version of the Monster Raving Loony Party released the above and below photos today - of course a bit of a joke but can you imagine!

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

Changes of plans

The sun was shining once again and the day was logistically looking like it was going to be quite complicated as Ben was to take part in the torch lite descent this evening which would mean I would need to meet him at the school gates at the end of the day and get him into his ski boots and to the Olympic lift for him to upload with his club mates where they would have some food at the Peau du Vache who were opening especially for them and that would be followed by the descent at 1900 or so.

As it turned out things changed somewhat... firstly my am session was cancelled as the kid I was supposed to be teaching was ill so suddenly I had the morning off. Which was quite nice! Given the short notice of it I probably wasnt as useful with my time as I could have been but I did get some things done non the less!

So at lunchtime I headed into town as still needed to drop Bens skis and stuff at Snowberry so could collect them when I finished work and get to intercept him for the descent! At the meeting point I met my team for the afternoon... it turned out to be 2 youngish americans on their first trip to Europe for a snowsports holiday... and low and behold they were boarders. Whoops I mentally needed to reconsider in my mind the choices I had mentally made about where I was going to off piste guide them this afternoon. Val d'Isere has great and easily accessible off piste but its not the most boarder friendly terrain (on or off piste). They hadn't mentioned it upon booking but at least they had the promised off piste kit they said they had!

So a quick appraisal of options in my mind and I decided to largely stick with plan a. So we headed up Bellevarde, a warm up off Verte to test em out and that was followed by a variation of Jardin Borsat which yielded nice snow - yes the first Spring snow of my season. So the main event was to do the Tour du Charvet and straight down the middle so to speak and take in the south facing aspects. It was perfect and very nice indeed. The traverse out was not to tiresome for them either - it worked perfectly - yay. After a rest on the lifts we made our way over to the Cugnai and the challenge was to try and take in as much of the south facing as possible as that was set up best... we just about did it avoiding old avalanche debris as much as possible.

It was a good afternoon and they were stoked! Nice

The after work / school swap over went according to plan and then I headed home to be here for when Olivia got back from school! With Clare at Cocoricos with her clients for a drink after work and Ben doing the torchlite it was a quiet couple of hours just Olivia and I at home! I made myself popular by making dinner and then have just managed to get the kids into bed!

For some reason I am shattered this evening so will be in bed soon myself.

Olivia seems to have had a bad reaction to the antibiotics she was on last week after her illness and has plenty of little spots on her so I will probably need to take her to the pharmacist tomorrow morning!

In other news the resort organised the first Yellow Pom Pom day which is a PR initiative by the resort professionals (pisteurs, instructors, STVI, Tourist Office, Police etc) to get the safety messages out and try and invigorate people into understand their responsibilities on the mountain! So I wore my poppy with pride! It seems to have been a massive success by all accounts. Bravo!

Right im having an early night.

TTFN

The tour Charvet delivers as usual.

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

Hiya Steve, we've booked in Tignes for the week starting 15th, couldn't get anywhere cheap enough in Val! Do you do lessons from Tignes side or should I just give the Tignes office a bell?

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

You'll need to Register first of course.

More happy campers

It was a chilled start to the day. Olivia slept in, Clare had a slightly later start to the days teaching she had and I was not booked (well something did come in but it was too late really to sort myself out in time so I gave the booking to a colleage.) Ben was set to be at home this morning and then from lunchtime onwards was at a friends house followed by that friends birthday party afterwards.

So the kids got on with their homework, watched some tv and chilled out. Olivia was taken to the pharmacy by Clare on the way to work for them to have a look at her skin reaction to the antibiotics and prescribe her some antihistamines (sp?) and then she was home.

So with only lunch to sort out it was a chilled morning all in all. Needless to say the sun was shining bright out there though.

After lunch I headed into town. Olivia had some training at lunchtime followed by more race training this afternoon and a practice flèche in La Daille - she had another bad one today - not having a good run of it at the moment poor thing.

My pm was the last session with one of my seasonnaires groups so I headed up Bellevarde and we worked the sunny sides with the centre piece being another trip down the Tour Charvet and it remains in excellent condition producing lovely Spring snow.

It was a good afternoon. It was then nice to head to the Black Sheep in town for drink with colleagues after. Not often get to do a short apres but managed it today.

After that I had to head to the leisure centre to collect Ben from his birthday party and now it has been the usual evening duties before the kids in bed and im back at the laptop.

In local news sadly on Monday a boarder (from Turkey) seems to have headed off piste in the Tour du Charvet and after an extensive search involving everything from the PGHM to drones to pisteurs etc they found his body later at night. Not sure the how's and why's but its a said story as he just headed off piste and got himself all sort of muddled up to his detriment! Blimey!

Also congratulations to the daughter of one of my colleagues, Gi. His daughter just came second this evening in Calgary - she was taking part in the World Junior Freeski champs - she was second in the ladies big air contest - amazing amazing result!

And finally (im working all day tomorrow so will head to bed soon) good luck to England in the semi final of the T20 Cricket World Cup tomorrow - you can do it agains the Indians who are on home soil - eek!

TTFN

The team after the Tour Charvet - happy campers

Same place almost 24 hours later

Stunning sunset on the Face at moonrise last night

My boy and his friends about to decend the Face last night for the torchlite descent

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

Well thats a first

It was an early start getting Olivia on the school bus and then Ben out the door. The main thing on my mind this morning was the fact we have Saharan dust (its sand but over the thousands of miles it has travelled from Africa is broken down into dust) floating around in the atmosphere which turns the sky a sort of yellow haze. What this means is that the suns affect on the snow is diminished so Spring snow options would be limited!

So anyway I headed into town and met my client. It was a guy from New York in his late 20's who used to come to Val a lot as a kid when the family lived in the UK. Anyway it took a while for me to work out what he wanted - it was really just someone to ski with as his family were off a lower standard! So a little off piste, a little adventure etc was on the books. He was supposed to be with his sister BUT he on his own was a boarder which meant it looked a little weird (again) me on my skis and him on his board! Haha!

So we headed up Solaise and we chatted about things and since he could really deal with any terrain we decided to do something totally different. He was a strong boarder which helped big time. So we headed up the TK3000 drag to the tunnel. Plenty of photos taken etc and since he had his board off for photos on the ridge etc he decided to do something totally bizarre. You need to know the actual entrance to the tunnel is slightly further down from the top of the drag. So he carried his board / slid on his backside down the slope to the tunnel entrance! All was going well for the flatter part at the top for 20m or so but then he lost his grip and luckily it was early and we were the first up there..... he slid carrying his board for about 50m and picked up more and more speed! Luckily nobody was on the lift as he would have taken a lot of people out if there had been!

Anyway about half way down he was frantically trying so much to get a grip with his arm and feet that he lost control of his board... it took off left and he was sliding right big time.... oh s h.it I thought!

By pure fluke the board hit the lift pylon and stopped dead and he kept going. OMG.

Ultimately I retrieved his board from the ditch around the base of the pylon - that was complete fluke it stopped there it really didnt and I collected the board to take it all the way to the base for him to strap back in! He had snow EVERYWHERE!

It should have been quite serious but we got away with it / he got away with it. Phew!

So we went back up and this time we successfully made it through the tunnel and on a VERY wind swept rubbish set of terrain to work with descended what would normally be the tunnel run on the Fornet side... it was an adventure thats for sure. It was only the second time in about 20 years I have descended that side and the first with it not being a piste! Blimey it was an adventure making our way through the rock bands etc!

With that under our belt we did a very funky adventurous version of the Grand Vallon - it was pretty decent I must say!

Phew that was an interesting morning and it felt like I was the one having the adventure most of the morning with a mate! haha

Lunch was the usual pack collecting from Snowberry set up and then I went to meet my students - seasonnaires for their penultimate session with me off piste. When I had woken up this morning I had envisaged skiing the sunny sides of the mountain again like I have been the last few days. Nice and easy! However the dust in the air meant I have to change my thinking! So with settling snow, nice chalk forming and some vague winter powder still... we bussed it straight to fornet and headed up to the top and headed for the Col Pers. The entry was very much tricky tricky but we got in there and had the place TOTALLY to ourselves. It was lovely. Its all getting quite and nice chalky up there. The Grand Torsai is nice too BUT certainly the Gorge Malpasset is not passable for the most part FWIW.

What a great outing - they loved it. They were buzzing.

We fitted in a little lap off the Pyramids to finish - great afternoon.

So after work I rushed home after dropping the packs as quick as I could... of course I wanted to get home to watch the cricket! Hmmmm yea it was a good game but we were just too sloppy in the field initially. Nice try but well done India. The final NZ v India - well Ill be supporting NZ I think but that should be an awesome game.

Finally Clare has a guest for the next few nights ... it is a girl from social media she is hatching plans to work some singles courses out with. She came in from the UK this afternoon and it could work well... she has about 100,000 followers on Instagram so it could end up being a good partnership!

Right tomorrow I am up for the 0900 lifts and will be recording my weekly snow reports... then my client is coming from Brev and we are heading for a ski tour. Must get some sleep.... Saturday I am with Olivia for her race in St Foy - first time I will see her SL race - cant wait.

TTFN

It was a long way to slide down there

The tunnel is longer than you might think.

Sand anyone!?

Twas interesting the ski down from the tunnel - haha!

After all it is free

@Steve Angus, great to see the infamous Tunnel again! Proper Old Skool.
I remember explaining the Tunnel to a few skiers I shared a chalet with. It was during the long period where it and the drag lift leading to it were out of action…must’ve been well over a decade and I imagined the lift would be dismantled and confined to history. Anyway, these skiers thought I was making it all up was confusing it with another resort. I only convinced them by showing YouTube footage of it.

I remember going on it when the run down to Le Fornet side was like sheet ice! A nightmare and I can’t remember ever feeling more certain of getting injured….though like your client yesterday, luckily got away with it. Chapeau to them, picking a way through those rocks on a board Shocked

Quite a steep drag lift ride up too for a boarder.

I thought England made a good fist against India and, after a very stuttering start to the tournament, can be happy with recent performances.

Bethell could become quite the star. Very Happy

All winter, England's fielding has been an Achilles Heal! Too many simple catches dropped.

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

Blimey

I slept badly last night - my mind was working overtime in the background I think last night.

Anyway got the kids out the door (well kid) and then sorted myself for todays session. The yellow sky etc seemed to subside and it was set to be a mix of cloud and sun! With the cloud last night keeping the heat in it DIDNT drop below zero overnight - it would be 'spring' from the off!

So anyway at 0900 I headed off up the mountain headed for the top Toviere. The client was coming from Breviere so made sense to meet there. I arranged to meet at 1000 which gave me the opportunity to record my weekly snow report beforehand! So top of Toviere lift 'around the back' I recorded it. Perfect!

At 1000 'E' arrived and the plan was for touring. I have planned it out. So we headed to test the snow on the east facing Fresse ridge.... it hadn't frozen so it was already perfect Spring at that time of day - game on! Up the Borsat and did the mega mega traverse out towards the Manchet from there. It meant we could then do some more east facing slopes by the Chalet Garde! It was amazing!

Skin up time and head up the classic Mont Roup route... there were some other groups up there but generally it was pretty quiet! We made good time and we got to the top about 1200 and time for some food.

And this is where it went downhill.... she was taking her skins off and one of the bindings fell off.... quite literally! The bindings had been shortened on her rental skis so much as she had tiny feet that one of the bindings had come off the rail somehow... it might have been like that all morning for all we knew. We calculated the other binding must have only been on the thread one turn!!! After much head scratching we could NOT get the binding back on.... the ONLY option was for her to wedge the binding against the back of the bolt on the binding and put the skis on and in doing so it would wedge the ski on just enough to slide on it.

Blimey what is happening with kit etc problems at the moment!

Anyway we had no choice to descend the route we had taken to skin up... we were not going to risk skiing the east face we had aimed to do as it is steeper! For all we knew she could have broken her leg and the ski could have taken off to the bottom and ended up in the river and then we would have major issues! By going really slow and steady we were able to make it back down and there was actually lovely winter north powder on that side! It was slow going but we got there. We made it back to civilisation and she ended up bussing it back to Tignes... the rental shop got hell I can tell you (she told me when she got back that they gave her free hire for her and all her friends next time she is in Tignes and a refund for this weeks rental).

Blimey what a 'save' that was. Nightmare! But she did get a skin in which is what she really wanted to do!

This evening I have been running around getting stuff ready for tomorrow as Olivia is racing in St Foy and im down there with her. Ben has a race here in Val. Busy evening getting everything sorted and getting the car out and packing a bag etc.

Right got loads to do this evening so must dash!

PeakyB - yea it was closed for about 10 years as they decided not to renew the license on it for a long time and then suddenly they changed stance on it a couple of years back! Yes the drag is mega steep it really is. It was a real adventure the fornet side for sure! And yes I think England had an OK tournament all in all! Will Bethell continue hitting the highs - perhaps - time will tell!
philhitch - personally I think we need a complete overhaul of the coaching set up - BazBall is dead id say! Controversial!

TTFN

Not as cloudy and hazy as yesterday! Thankfully. But warm non the less!

Just before she found out her binding was about to fall off!

Top of the Grand Pre lift and behind top of Marmottes / Funival area!

Help!!

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

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