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

A snowHead

And rest!

I slept SO well last night. I was off in lalaland when Clare gave me a massive prode to tell me it was 0800, Olivia was off training soon and she wanted my 'special eggs' for breakfast... i.e. poached eggs! So I literally jumped out of bed and into the kitchen still trying to adjust my eyes and started cooking. Luckily a large cup of tea got me going!

So the first hour or two was catching up with breakfast, getting showered and dressed etc and washing up! But with the sun shining Ben went out to play (he did not take the opportunity to go over to Tignes with his club friends to cheer on Clement Noel and Victor Muffet Jeandet who were in the french champs SL (Clement was 1st in the end and Victor 3rd). Talking of French champs a big shout out to the daughter of a colleague (Hamish) - Ruby came in the top 20 in France in the National GS champs today - awesome work.

Lunch was a chilled family affair before Olivia went out for physical training session with club at the sports hall and Ben and I went swimming! It was quite fun really as lots of his friends were there and a couple of parents I knew so all in all a relaxed afternoon.

But generally it has been a very lazy day indeed.

The sun continues to shine and I am back on it tomorrow with the same family as last week!

TTFN

Precautionary drugs and alcohol testing is taking place in many situations in ski resorts (as it always has it must be said) such as Val... lifties being tested here.

A snowHead

Hot

This morning we woke to a few clouds and remnants of a quick squal (sp) that came through in the middle of the night depositing about 1cm of sleet on the ground and rain the village and strong winds that lasted about 10 mins - it was weird as I was awake when I heard it come through.

Anyway it meant the ground was soft as it had not really frozen overnight and there was this weird layer of sleet sitting on the snow and with the thin clouds it would not exactly soften too quickly (or would it?).

So Olivia had a full rest day today and had some homework and other bits to get on with so she was still in her PJ's when we left. Ben meanwhile had club all day and a picnic so off he went and today they were on the Borsat green doing Super G training! He loved the speed!

I headed into town and dropped Ben at club and met my team.... it is largely the same as last week but one of the families has left and another has arrived! The family that has arrived are a slightly lower standard of skier but crucially have not been the Val before. The Dad 'T' was in charge of showing the adults around this morning and 'E' and I had all 4 kids and a further one was with another instructor temporarily for a few lessons this week!

The morning did not start too well as 'G' had somehow managed to lose his lift pass - well it was not in his jacket anymore so whilst 'E' took the kids up I sorted the lost pass out for him! We eventually got going and we skied Solaise to warm the week up!

There were a few things to bear in mind from today e.g. one kid feeling slightly under the weather, one very tired as was awake most of the night and obviously me and 'G' racing to catch up. Anyway we sorted out a good morning for the kids and it was certainly busier than it had been last week (not half term busy but busy enough thats for sure!).

The clouds soon burnt away and it turned into a lovely morning and we had a fun ski about and I branched off with one of the kids early doors and we had a blast of a morning! We did witness a heli evac on the pistes off Madeline which the kids found amazing to watch!

In other news I got news through on the grapevine that there was a bad paragliding accident on Saturday up the Solaise... the person apparently might have broke both femurs, his pelvis as well as his back... well it turns out it is a british instructor we all know from these parts... he doesnt work for TDC but everyone knows him. It was a very serious crash! Get well soon!

We had to get from Solaise over to Bellevarde for the lunch rendezvous and 'G' and I skied the L which was lovely and then the lower part of the Face which was predictably soft, slushy and bumpy but in a nice way at this time of the day - it was fun!

After all that skiing everyone was hungry and Peau du Vache was calling - yummy. It has been a long time since I last ate there and the burgers are good so it was rude not to have nice big burger. Yummy!

It was nice (but hot) sitting in the sun and after lunch only some of the kids wanted to ski along with the parents of the kids who joined this week so between 'E' and I we took them for a tour up Bellevarde and had a nice (but hot) afternoon! Perfect!

It was a nice classic tour of the green triangle for the afternoon and it was quite fun as the kids found some jumps they wanted to do and it was a lot of fun!

I was glad to get home and out the sun thats for sure. Ben came home and was dripping wet from sweat and meanwhile Olivia - well she was nice and calm and chilled after her day! She loaded her skis into the club van ahead of tomorrows trip to the Savoie finals which takes the form of a head to head parallel GS which she loves doing so hopefully she will have a good day. Pity both Clare and I are working all day and cant go.

She will need to be up (well we all will) at about 0530 as she is being collected by her club coach at 0620. Eeek! It will be a very long day for her but hopefully she will come home with a good result but most importantly she has fun!

So thats about it for today. Tomorrow will be a carbon copy weatherwise of today - lets see what happens.

TTFN

Few clouds this morning

Had Piste L to ourselves much of the time

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

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

@Steve Angus, I think we're at opposite ends of the skiing scale, but Piste L was my favourite when in your neck of the woods last week. I had it to myself and managed to avoid scaring myself too badly on the vaguely half pipe section half way down!

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

You'll need to Register first of course.

Dr John - why Karma?
DirkPitt - haha good news but not sure why opposite ends of the scale!
Klammy - indeed in all ways!

Even hotter

It was a very early start as we were up at 0530 to get Olivia ready for her coach to pick her up at 0620 and then getting Ben ready for club after that it meant it felt like I was ready VERY early. So off I went to the meeting point and went down another layer. It had barely dropped to zero overnight!

Being that warm meant that lower piste would barely have frozen whereas higher pistes would not be too bad! Another that took a lot of heat yesterday like west facing slopes would be VERY firm indeed. On the other hand things like the Face would soften nicely from the offset and by mid morning would be too soft!

I headed to the meet point and it was a lighter team as normal - one kid was still ill, another was having the day off so between the other instructor and I we were to have a boys and a girls team. I took the boys team and between 'G' and I he just wanted a real blast around. So we set off up Solaise and had a great ski about and the conditions up on the Val glacier were just perfect - it was lovely up there actually! We took hot choc break at the Datcha and then were going to ski the L but it was already shut for avalanche risk so we skied the incredibly icy Matisse down - it was bonkers icy! After that we hit the Face just at the right moment in time and it was lovely soft skiable snow!

One of the other kids needed collecting at the end of his lesson with another ski school so after that we headed to the Grand Ourse for lunch rendezvous! The adults on the other hand had gone on resort tour with one of the dads and they turned up hot sweaty messes so with the kids feeling tired because of the sun and the adults enjoying the sun and beer too much it was one of those lunches were it was obvious no-one was going out again after lunch! So E and I packed the kids onto the van back to the chalet after lunch and the adults continued a few drinks in the sun!

Meanwhile at Les Saises Olivia had a shocking day sadly. It was the Savoie end of season parallel challenge where 32 top ranked girls were on a head to head slalom completion and Olivia drew pretty much the strongest girl in the first round.... blooming typical! It meant she did not get past the last 16 however for a 2 hour trip each way for a handful of 30s runs it was a long day for not much reward! She did get on the podium for collecting the 5th highest number of 'points' for the races she has done this season in the Savoie and won a complete ski servicing set which is nice but it was not the day she wanted on the racing front! Oh well!

So I had some time at home and Clare finished a little early too before Olivia got back and Ben was back from training. You would not believe it but she has an end of season haute tarantaise race tomorrow in Peisey Vallandary which is fancy dress so she is off quite early tomorrow for that... and meanwhile on the same day Ben has a race over in Tignes - Clare is going to that with him. Meanwhile im working tomorrow.

We do not know if we are coming or going at the moment - its pretty crazy!

Tomorrow the weather should continue warm and sunny and I dont think we will be getting much of a freeze tonight I dont think.

TTFN

So can you spot the ski lift in the picture (not the cable?). Name that resort too?

Tignes Le Lac a long time ago

When you put it that way then France is not a mountainous country is it?

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

Actually in that spot the lift question - its too hard to see as photo is not big enough but there is whole other lift in the picture believe it or not.

After all it is free

@Steve Angus, are you not aware of the incident at the RB closing party last season? If not, i suggest you ask around.

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

Indeed to wish a fractured femur, back and pelvis on someone is pretty poor form, regardless of their behaviour good or bad. Those are potentially life changing injuries.

I hope karma doesn't catch up with you as well Dr John.

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

snow reports

@Steve Angus, Conflating your comments and photos - the cable on the Chardonnet Drag lift is being removed today - hopefully to be replaced as it's our oldest lift (1953)!

You know it makes sense.

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

@Noob921, @NoMapNoCompass, @franga,
to respond to your slightly pearl clutching comments, this was not an off-hand comment. It was referring to an infamous incident at the end of last season, and those who know about it (which is most of Val d'Isere) have responded in a similar way.
The incident did indeed result in potentially life changing injuries to another person (I can’t say more as a legal proceedings may be pending).
I did not wish harm upon the individual (a complete waste of headspace), but even if I did that's not how Karma works (look it up).

A snowHead

Right whilst I think we have an impasse in the bickering...

Dr John - im very aware of the RB closing party incident yes. I was not sure how 'public' it all was and who was involved but also which person it was involved in the paragliding accident - i.e. didnt know it was common knowledge it was the same person involved in both and you could make the connection!
Noob921 / NoMapNoCompass / franga - suffice to say the person it happened to made himself very unpopular in these parts last year due to a hit and run shall we say (not on the slopes either!). The person is not universally popular in these parts! Enough said!
chocksaway - wowsers!
DirkPitt - ah right I get you now. Thought it might be something to do with that but was not 100% sure! Go, go, go! Blimey sounds like just as stressful for 30s of swimming that!

Ah and by the way in that picture there is a chairlift going up a mountain - it is in the ski resort of Bonneval which is at the head of the Maurienne valley much in the same way Val is at the head of the Tarantaise valley! In fact Bonneval actually own the land the Val glacier is on believe it or not - hard to believe but its not Val land!

Still baking hot!

I slept really badly last night for some reason! Not sure why - I think I was hot actually.

Anyway the alarm seemed to go off FAR too early this morning and I will need to be in bed at a decent time tonight I think!

We needed to be up early as Olivia was off on yet another ski race today. It was the end of season U12 fancy dress race in Peisey Vallandry - ALL the boys and girls from the valley were going to this one and Olivia was dressed as a cheerleader! So she was collected at 0740 so not as early as yesterday but early enough!

Clares clients cancelled today therefore she was able to head with Ben to his race and she dropped Ben at club and then followed him over to Tignes where the race was. NORMALLY at U10 level there is never an individual podium and certainly never a race where all the kids from the whole Tarantaise come together but this was a first. So about 200 U10 kids came together and it was a GS race on the Palafour stade!

Meanwhile I headed off to work and met the team. There was a slight change in kids as one was back, another felt under the weather and one of them was not having a lesson today therefore I took the 'boys team' once again and we were off! I took some requests and decided that jumps and fun runs up Bellevarde would be the best start to the day so off we went! We took the two chairs up and had a fun ski about before needing to get Solaise side to be close to lunch which was booked for Signal today!

It was a fun morning but the sun really got going again today and it was scorching again!

Meanwhile Olivias race in Peisey was a combination type race of all sorts - ranging from SL to GS to everything in-between all on the same run! Sounds fun! Anyway she ended up winning the race today. In itself (by her standards) quite a low level race for her but she'll take a win nontheless and all that comes with it present wise! They also did an end of season podium for places in terms of how everyone accumulated points in the races this season and she ended up coming 2nd overall for this season in the Haute Tarantaise which is about where she should be. She was quite happy! There was also a tombola draw and she won a nice hat for that! The main thing is she had a fun day - see photos!

Meanwhile over in Tignes Ben had a STORMING first run and was in 6th place amongst 2017 boys after the first run - again in the Haute Tarantaise - go Ben! Clare said it was a nice and sociable day out with lots of mums and dads etc present! Anyway poor Ben was beside himself as he fell in the second run - the dream of a podium was over. He was beside himself with sorrow poor thing! But it sounds like it was a nice day in the sun for Clare and the other parents and the kids had fun too!

So back to my day... well we all had a nice lunch at the Signal although there is not much for kids there to be honest and I was quite shocked that nobody (again) wanted to ski after lunch so it was a case of getting them back to the meet point at the bottom of the Fornet cable car at the end and then they were taken back to their chalet....

Back at home I have done a few bits and pieces but mainly sorted the kids gear out as they have come back in the door in drips and drabs and now Olivia has invited a friend over for a sleep over which is a rare thing we agree to in the Winter but hey ho. Tomorrow Olivia and her group are having a 'free ski' day and they are all heading to L'Armailly for lunch all together which will be nice for them all! Ben is probably going to have a ski with a friend of his as there is no club for him tomorrow so it should be a chilled one. Not sure what Clare is up to tomorrow. Im back on the same booking once again!

The sun continues to shine and it will be another hot day tomorrow and into the weekend but it could finally break at the weekend.

TTFN

The Face in all is early morning glory!

You have to be careful as the piste basher path on the Face is quite often closed due to avalanche risk and it was again today even at 0900! Its also worth nothing that these paths are NOT official pistes and if you needed a rescue on them then you would not be covered for rescue but instead off piste rescue costs!

Even the Val coaches all got dressed up today in fancy dress - Olivias main coach is the girl on the right and the guy in the centre is the secondary coach for the U12's - Lola on the left coaches the 'B' team! All lovely people!

Olivia is somewhere in there with her race rivals / friends!!!!!!

A snowHead

zoomed in a million times, still can't see the lift in Bonneval, it is 30 years since I was that side though, and it was summer!

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

endoman - ill help you out and repost it with the red line of approx where the lift is - you can see it much better when you are on the Cascades chair (with the naked eye) I promise you.

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

I saw many of the racers in Peisey-Vallandry this morning as I headed to the Vanoise Express for a day over in La Plagne. I wondered why they were all in fancy dress (and still absolutely flying past me).

Well done, Olivia, and I'm glad she had a fun day!

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

I'm really excited for my upcoming trip to Tignes/Val D'Isere, and with every new post from people currently there, I get even more hyped up.

As this will be a first time for me, what do you recommend as places for lunch/dinner? And the same for good après-ski?

Here's what I gathered from a couple of pages regarding lunch options:

Drôle D'Edroit
Kaijo in Lac
Rosies
Kaijo
The Corner
Jam Bar
La Cantine

Also, any particular ski runs that I must do as first timer in Tignes / Val D'Isere? To give you an idea of my ski level, I do parallels and do Red's fairly often.
Last time I was in Serre Chevalier and I also did one black (only one in 5 years skiing) which was "luc alphand" - The one that goes to Chantermerle.

You'll need to Register first of course.

Marmottes restaurant at the bottom of Borsat chair is the best value on the mountain imo and well located. It's fairly well known for skis going missing also so split yours a way apart or lock them. I've never had a problem there with locked skis.

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

In other news the currently owners of the The Corner have have sold up and are moving on to another venture. Understanding is that The Corner will continue on as is under new ownership.|

https://www.instagram.com/p/DW4XqYXiCwV/

After all it is free

Owlette - Ah how funny you saw them all. They had a blast of a day! Hope you enjoyed La Plagne day out.
peterpan - Lots of good places on that list to eat! Id just put a pointer out there that in the next week or two the end of season parties as far as apres will be starting so keep an eye out for those as those will be fun! In terms of must do runs - well if you want good classic reds then the Double M in Val Claret and go right from the top of the Grand Motte is one to look for and another would be the OK and Orange in Val d'Isere. Im probably not the dinner expert on Tignes so will leave others to comment.
NoMapNoCompass - that was on my 'local news' to say tonight but yes Ferg, Lou and Ryan are moving down the hill a bit more (kids eh!) and Al and Hannah will be taking over running it now. Yes from what I can understand they will continue it in the same vein as it currently is.

Amazing food!

Well last night with Olivia having a sleep over meant Ben ended up in my bed. At least I slept a little better which was a bonus. Today Olivia was having a non race training day and the whole of her group were having a free ski around - think they went up the Grand Motte (from the pictures ive seen) and then all the way down to Brev where they had a group lunch at L'Armailly. Lucky thing! Meanwhile Ben and Clare had a chilled morning after Clare collected pastries for them all this morning as she was not teaching today (client cancelled again!) and they got the scooter out for the first time this season and onto the pump track. And then had lunch at home! This afternoon Olivia has gone with her friends swimming and is living her best life! Meanwhile Ben has gone to a friends house - he too is living his best life!

So I headed up to the meeting point and met my team and today between 'E' and I we only had 3 kids between us - simples! So I took 'G' and we had another boys morning and todays topic was carving so we blasted a warm up run on Fontaine Froide and it was predictably firm underfoot but that was fine! We then looped around as quick as we could on the Grand Pre working on our carving and before it got busy... the snow was perfect and it was nice and quiet! He made amazing progress and then we had a quick hot choc at the Empreinte Avalaine and after that and before lunch was looming I wanted to get him into the stade... so we headed to the Stade Bonnvie and had a good couple of blast through the gates - he absolutely loved it! Was lots of fun and the snow was not too soft thankfully!

Lunch being at the Refuge at the top of the Solaise at 1200 we needed to get over that way as quickly as possible and he decided he did not want to do the Face so we downloaded on the Olympic and uploaded on the Solaise and headed to lunch!

Given the heat in the sun we decided that sitting outside was probably not the best idea so we got the prime window table inside!

Now the trick when you go to the Refuge is getting someone who wants to share the chicken for two with you... well the Dad Tom and I have done this a couple of times over the years now and today was no exception! So we shared the chicken for two and it is simply amazing it really is. Im usually not a massive fan of chicken in restaurants as im worried it will be too dry but in here its slow cooked and never is. Its awesome! So with a couple of side dishes we ate a tonne of chicken and it was amazing - the mushroom sauce that it comes with is yummy too.

Surprisingly after all that feasting nobody wanted to ski after lunch so I helped the kids down the mountain and 'E' helped the adults and then packed them off home on the bus! Day over! It was still only 1430 so I took the opportunity to head back up Bellevarde and record my weekly snow reports before coming home!

So Ben is still at his friends house and Olivia is not home yet so I have had two screens on the go this afternoon - one with the first round of the Masters on it and the other the IPL cricket - love it!

The weather will continue warm and sunny again tomorrow and might finally start breaking on Saturday but I think there is some weather on its way bringing some rain low down and snow higher up! What a shock to the system that will be!

TTFN

Quiet slopes first thing!

Saw this on the lift data website - quite incredible ! There is only about 40,000 beds in the two resorts - so that capacity should in theory mean we have next to no lift queues ever!!!!!!!!!!!! Doesnt quite work like that does it!

The girls and boys of the U12 group had a great trip to Brev for lunch - lucky things living their best lives!

Clares posting about Olivias results and progress this year - we are also setting her own Insta account up for professional posting to help with potential (and existing) sponsorship and building up a profile for her.

It really was lovely up there today - hot!!!

Purging!

Ill start with some photos of today first.

G with her dog (they bring it over with them on holidays) Nugget and her 'doggles' - cute eh!

The stade looking perfect eh!

The Rosee Blanche closing party with cryptic clue that this is their last one - yea yea I know the rumours are out there but there are swirling rumours as to whether it really will be the last one or not!!!!!!! The poster suggests it really will be!

Skier triggered (they had no gear but were lucky not to be caught in it) slide on the Familial this afternoon - a large 'just in case' search and rescue was launched after it happened!

And the pisteur triggered remnants of the one on the L this evening! Blimey big eh!

It was a fairly relaxed start to the day as Clare was not starting until 1000, Olivia 0930 and it was just Ben and I that needed to be up in town for a 0900 start. So a pretty chilled start to the day all in all!

There was a little cloud in the air but nothing too severe and it had barely dropped below zero overnight!

Everyone was raring to go today but non of the adults were out skiing so it was just 'E" and I and the kids.... in fact I lie one of the dads was out touring for the day but otherwise it was a quiet start with just the kids to sort out! Lunch was booked for the Maison Louly which meant it was always going to be a trip up Bellevarde for the session this morning. So off we went.

We wanted to continue with the subject of race training today so after some warm up drills we headed to the stade and spent a good hour or so in there looping around and developing technique. There was some really good changes made and especially the line they all developed ! It was a good session!

We had one little issue when one of the kids got knocked over by someone but thankfully it all ended OK! Phew! Thanks to Planks Jim for coming to the rescue! The same girl was in the wars today as later in the day she tripped over doing a flatland 360 and bumped her shoulder (again she was OK in the end) and then further still managed to trip on her pole and bend it in half - doh all in all!

We had our usual hot choc stop at the Empriente Avaline which was the usual excellent stuff and the kids shared a sweet plate of deserts between them which was a naughty but nice mid morning treat!

At lunchtime the adults just about managed to get up the mountain and stagger down to the Maison Louly - just a couple of slips in the soft snow. Lunch was wonderful actually and I had a nice steak and chips and béarnaise - yummy stuff!

After lunch I had the task of skiing the kids to La Daille and then they loaded onto the van back to their chalet ! This week has been a pretty low key week for them as I think last week tired them all out! Doh!

The cloud from this morning never really arrived and it turned into a nice day all in all. However the weather is supposed to really change from tomorrow afternoon onward and there will be a drop in temps but more importantly some snow / rain coming our way eeek! Just when you thought Winter was over it appears its not!

One thing that is certain is that tomorrow it will get a lot quieter - in fact the last 3 weeks or so of this season are going to be very quiet because Easter was so early this year!

The other thing is that these warm temps are meaning the mountain is starting to purge itself and two things happened today of note... the first (see photos above) was a couple of skiers triggering a slide in the Familial - luckily and despite the pisteurs doing a precautionary search, nobody was hurt or worse! Goes to show its not as safe out there as you might think! The second thing was after skiing the pisteurs triggered a slide in the L... as you can see its gone BIG and all the way down to the bottom... not sure if and when they might sort that out and get the run open! Who knows!

The kids both had club today and Ben did some slalom training in the morning and then did a Chamois race this afternoon and the good boy got silver for the first time - go Ben - so that was awesome! Meanwhile Olivia was GS training and generally they had a pretty chilled day as half the group had their annual fitness training assessments but she is not on until next week I think it is!

Otherwise I think thats about it - im tired so off to bed.

TTFN

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

Glad to hear no one actually caught in that avalanche we were going up the chair around 1500 and it was a major slide. Son felt sick as he has skied that face when he was a seasonnaire - with gear. We did overhear a British guy talking to piste patrol suggesting there was a skier and a boarder caught in it.

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

@dan100, that was probably me … saw it from the lift and called it in at pisteurs hut at top. Border and skier … skier trigerred it i think and both avoided it. Pretty scary as it was a big one … i said to my boys how crazy it was for the pair to be skiing there at 3pm.
They had pisteurs, 2 dogs (saw one arrive on pisteurs shoulders !) and heli came over and landed st top of Tommeuses.

snow reports

They were very lucky - may have been you if wearing a red jacket. Suspect it was quite scary to see it. Made my son go cold as he has skied that face. He said it was madness for people to be skiing there given how warm. I think the families rating encourages people to stray into an area which is quite dangerous.

dan100 - yes that's a very regularly skied face but not at that time of the day. Its east facing and has spent the whole day in the sun waiting for added weight! Ive skied it a fair few times this season and will continue to do so when the conditions are right etc! "I think the families rating encourages people to stray into an area which is quite dangerous." - not sure what you mean by families rating. Its called the familial but nothing suggesting its 'rated' for families! Off piste is off piste at the end of the day and in this case it seems benign as so close to the safety of the Creux piste and next to / under the Tommeuse lift but that in itself does not guarantee any sort of safety!

On that point its worth remembering that a) most avalanche accidents involving people occur within 100-200m of open pistes b) there is no such thing as 'a little off piste' - its something we invent to make ourselves feel better about our risk taking!

PBJ - yea the dog on duty at the Toviere hut (like others) often comes down on handlers shoulders in cases like this! The heli will have been on standby - that red and white SAF helicopter is 'owned' by Val and Tignes and ready on standby pretty much all the time - its hanger is in Tignes Les Boisses just above the dam in the white hanger!

Anyway alls well that ends well and all that!

Haircut

I didnt sleep too well once again for some reason - woke up too early again! Must have a good one tonight as tomorrow is a long day!

Anyway the sun was shining and the temps were barely zero once again and it was always going to be a very quiet day on the slopes! Olivia was to be out training from 0930 and Ben was doing a funky one of thing with his group where a parent or parents could come for a ski about with the kids! So Clare was off to do that. Meanwhile I was out the door first and the first thing that struck me - no real surprises here, was that the bus was deserted all the way to the rond pont - welcome to Saturday at this time of the year as the school holidays start!

My team were dead on time and being their last day 'E' and I came up with a plan for a totally different day..... so we set off towards Tignes with all the kids and took in the 'fun run' as I call it, a run through the jump park and then the challenge of the day (Yohan Clarey piste first thing when its firm snow!) which the weakest member of the group handled really well! After that we headed up the sunny side of the Palafour. Thats where it changed... firstly that piste which is normally bedlam was deserted and this meant we could do some amazing carving as the snow was softening and grippy - just perfect! Nice.

After that we needed to go marmotte hunting and did the Almes lift once too.... boy between that lift and the Palafour and the ski around we saw about 20 marmots - they were everywhere! A quick (ish) hot choc stop at the restaurant there before it was time to head back for and early lunch at 1215 at the Fruitiere (Folie).

We ended up being one of the first (generally) there and so the kids took the prime table right next to the stage (we had the choice). Im never a massive fan of being that close to the action as it gets so loud! Anyway there was to be no dancers today just singers so not too bad!

Despite the weather threatening to change today it has only done so this evening so at lunchtime today it was scorching beautifully hot! Awesome. Lunch was lovely and the entertainment great! The adults certainly let their hair down and plenty of vino (and other stuff) was consumed! Nice!

After a couple of hours and the kids making several trips to the Folie shop and lots of food it was time to head off so for the last run of this season 'E' and I skied the kids to the La Daille where we did a little awards ceremony with the parents in tow and that was that for another year.

They have already locked and loaded all 4 weeks with 'E' and I for next season so about 100 hours of next season will be back with them again starting with New Year week! Eeek will have to come up with lots of things to keep the kids developing and having fun for then!

This evening I have seemed to have an endless list of things to do and Ben has been playing with a friend after his long ski day; Olivia had a sport afternoon with her group and Clare caught up with some admin!

Tomorrow I have a long standing client for a days off piste - not 100% sure where I am going to be going but ill think of something hopefully! The weather should be key as im just hoping for a decent freeze overnight as that will give me options (as will softening if the sun gets going)... a variation on either of those could make my timings interesting! Time will tell!

Now you might be thinking why have I called todays update haircut - well now here's a story for you. So the kids were asking me about my baldness etc etc etc and I was telling them that I shaved my head (and face) every other day. It then came out in further chat (this was yesterday) that they found the idea of shaving my head etc quite intriguing! So I said id bring my electric shaver today. I use this every other day to get rid of my stubble on my face and head! I think they thought I was 1/2 joking and I probably thought I was in myself too but when I packed my pack this morning I thought I might as well throw my shaver in..... well at hot choc break today the kids were lining up to have a go with my razor on me... between the 6 of them I got a proper face and head shave - yes I know it sounds weird and it perhaps was but the hot choc stop was deserted and the kids wanted to have a go so off we went! Haha now that is a first for me and something to add to my memoirs book one day!

Haha!

Right I need sleep so....

TTFN

Lovely and quiet first thing at the rond pont

Have a marmotte!

My barber came with ski boots on her feet!

You know it makes sense.

Dont ask! Nightmare!

Today has been a blooming disaster! Totally trying to zone out so will keep it short!

Slept well (love watching the golf so maybe a couple of beers and my feet up on the sofa with that on will be a good solution this evening! - go Rory or Justin!)

Clare and kids were not skiing today (in face they played and chilled, Ben went swimming with a friend, Olivia did some rollerblading etc) and Clare slept in til 0830.

I opened the curtains with dread - no freeze overnight (it was 3c in town at breakfast time!) and thick clouds - not quite flat light but not great! Doh! Having not been off piste for a couple of weeks and with these conditions I knew it was not going to be an easy one!

Headed to Snowberry to meet up with my team for the day (an old client and his grown up family!) and kit them out with packs etc.

In my mind I knew what I was going to do so headed up Olympic (gosh its quiet this week!). After a piste run on the Verte which was surprisingly firm which meant we had something to support us thankfully we did Jardins Borsat south and east facing slopes and it was nice enough on the smooth - game on!

From top of Grand Pre we hiked up as if going for Pisteurs but then from the top turned south and skied that side and it was excellent - supportive and soft enough to be nice - yes! Across the flats and where no tracks it was perfect! We then skied a hidden gully ive never skied before and it too was excellent! We even spotted within a couple of minutes of each other a family of 5 marmots and then 3 chamois. Never seen Chamois out there before!

It then went terribly wrong!

I knew the exit slopes would be thin on the ground! However I had it on good authority I needed to head hard right after a certain pitch which I did............. but not enough... so we walked (on grass) over a couple of strips between couloirs and then I spotted what I thought was enough snow to get out...

Well there was one bit I had to lay on my side and step my skis down - ermmmmmmm ground was more slippery than I thought and my ski slipped and I ended up tomahawk tumbling about 10 metres down this couloir - yard sale with skis and kit everywhere - I was fine but covered in mud! Doh.

Next up was the 25 yr old daughter - I thought she'd be OK further across where the snow seemed deeper - alas not and she tumbled further - giving herself a real fright and whacking her shoulder - this was not good! Meanwhile I was trying to hike back up to get my skis that were 10m above me and shouting to the Dad that I would need to come support his feet as he lowered himself but he did not hear me and went for a ball of chalk... worse still he tumbled much further and retook out his daughter who was now scrambling to get her kit back herself!

Honestly in the few seconds it was all happening I was thinking we would be looking at heli evacs (plural) and all sorts. This was turning into a nightmare!

Well thankfully everyone was OK and the last two were safely lowered down by me OK.

With it all taking about an hour by the time we got sorted and with some rips in clothes, mud everywhere AND a ski pole MIA (god knows where it went as I looked for it!) and some bruises etc... I / we decided we needed to get back to civilisation - well naturally! The snow by now at the bottom was awful so we just treaded carefully to get back!

By the time we were at the top of the Manchet chair we ALL just wanted a sit down and some food! So Ouillette we headed to. We all were a little mentally and physically beat up but we all saw the funny side of things thankfully! Lunch was awesome and well needed!

We decided (it was always going to be like this when you dont get a freeze and the conditions are not great anyway) to stay on piste after lunch and did some technique and skied about a bit. The snow lower down was SO soft and slushy it was not pleasant or easy to ski through! Doh!

Things got worse still when the Dad took a silly fall in it and pulled his calf muscle and had to ski limp gingerly down to the bottom!

To be honest if I hadn't needed to get home and do Dad duties id be in Coco's now with them getting well and truly drunk!

So there we are im done for today! Weather tomorrow going to be rubbish but im on piste so that is good news!

TTFN

Hike up was good!

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

Oh just remembered a couple of other things.

1) Saw the Tignes Club des Sport U16 kids this am..... they had mono skis on their feet and others had Snowblades on too. Bizarre thing to do I thought!
2) Apparently the Rosee Blanche plot has been sold in its entirety for €18million or so... so we think (chats over lunch) that it will be ripe for (sadly all this IMO) ripping down and rebuilding 'bigger and better' i.e. bigger deck, dance floor, maybe a roof that retracts etc. Trying to go into competition with Coco's maybe. Sad to see Rosees go if that happens which is will surely do!

A snowHead

Sorry to hear about things going pear-shaped Steve - great that all saw the funny side however. Hope you have a decent rest tonight.

Loved yesterday’s marmotte photo.

A snowHead

HerecomesCarol - thanks so much. Glad you liked the photo!

Better

Well I slept much better last night - well I should have as I stayed up to watch Rory win which meant I went straight to sleep as soon as my head hit the pillow... this was after dozing a few times whilst the golf was on.

But we needed to be up quite early partly as Clares dad arrived in town last night and he was popping over this morning early to collect Ben (no club for him this week just lots of things with Grandpa etc) and his ski stuff we store. Meanwhile Olivia was supposed to be training this morning but (prematurely I would say) it was cancelled as the weather was forecast to be pretty rubbish. It turned out to be OK in the end!

So with all the kids and inlaws sorted it was game time!

As I say the weather was not looking too inviting to be honest.... wasnt as bad as forecast so a 'compromise' of thick and low hanging clouds over the mountain tops and drizzle! I put on my rain jacket but it wasnt really needed in the end tbh! I headed up to town and actually bumped into my clients - well they put 2 and 2 together that it was me as I was obviously in uniform! So we started the session and found out it was a young teacher from Scotland on her 2nd week of skiing... the rest of the family etc were mad keen seasoned Val d'Isere skiers. However she was very fit and natural so it was going to be quite easy! Nice!

We headed up Solaise and started with a lap on the magic carpet.... in fact it took a few runs to get her gear but then we were off! She got back up to speed very quickly and before long we were on Madeleine and even ended up doing a couple of laps on the Glacier Express. Awesome work. The weather moved in and out quite a lot and one minute it was close to being a white out and heavy snow and the next almost blue sky but overall the weather was OK with about 5cm of fresh snow overnight. Nice

At lunchtime I headed home and Clare was finishing later than me so I had to sort lunch out. Olivia had ended up spending the morning with her friend from Club at home chilling together and making things etc and even watched a film apparently! Ben had a ball with Grandpa and they did not end up going skiing but instead went swimming at their hotel pool and he also enjoyed a second breakfast with them - lucky boy. Grandpa popped around to drop him back and we all ended up having an impromptu soup and sandwich type lunch and they are now back at their hotel chilling. Ben has been helping bake a cake for Grandpa coming around for afternoon tea later and Olivia has been doing fitness training with Club this afternoon in the sports centre. I just needed to have a few down hours but am working all day tomorrow.

Otherwise its a very chilled afternoon and looking forward to seeing Grandpa later and the cake is in the oven! Yummy.

The weather tomorrow will improve and should be OK for the rest of the week but its certainly been a better one than yesterday!

TTFN

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

@Steve Angus, It’s a funny shaped plot but if that’s €18m what’s the land under the new Mayor’s farm worth…?

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

Heading to Geneva airport now after a week in Val Claret.

Epic trip, reawakened my darling wife's enjoyment of skiing after losing a bit of confidence, and my 7 year old's second trip so progressed from the magic carpet on day one to insisting on a top to bottom red run on the Grand Motte to finish the week. He'll be dragging me around next trip at this rate!

Big ups to Christophe Q, the private instructor i got for the family for the first three days.

The wife says the best instructor she's had and he obviously did a great job with the lad.

We also enjoyed the Marmotte spotting, withthis one letting me get about 6 feet away for a nice photo.

Not looking forward to back to work tomorrow, don't land back in Bristol till about 7pm urgh

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Annoying valley cloud went and then came back in again today - weird one today weather wise!

I always think the Equinox is a great location for somewhere to stay in Val - right by the funival and lovely and quiet corner of the resort!

Progress some more!

Firstly for some reason I had a shocking sleep last night - highly strung and could not switch off! So I really must have an early one tonight!

This morning Ben was up to go skiing with grandpa - Clare was working at 0900 and I was on a 0900 start down here in La Daille which makes it easy! I met my lady on time at the funival and headed up. At exactly the same time Ben and his grandpa were heading up the funival for a morning skiing together and Olivia was meeting for club training from 0930.

There was a weird valley cloud that broke up and receded for much of the day but also for much of the day the actual village was under the sea of cloud. When we got out the top of the funi we broke through into glorious sunshine! Game on. The west facing slopes we started the session on were predictably firm (Verte, 3J etc). But we developed a handful of skills in her skiing and she is such a quick learner which makes developing her real easy! It was a great session and by late morning it was getting not only warm but a little soft so was the perfect time for her to have a go on her first red run and so Fontaine Froid was calling! Different challenge to the firmer pistes of before so she learnt to alter her skills and nailed it. Nice work all round!

For lunch I retreated to the Sun Bar (first time in a long time I have been under there) and had my soup and then met up with M+M - love my yearly catch up with them and a good chat and giggle! Grandparents for the first time since I saw them last and was nice hearing all their news etc! It was all about regaining some confidence lost this afternoon - its amazing as we age how things that were once a walk in the park become tricky. So with the softening snow and the challenges that brings we worked on edging out the turns more rather than skidding to reduce energy expended and that was a success but we needed to do some correcting of posture to make the use of muscles less and allow the skis to do their magic! Perfect work! We enjoyed our ski about mainly on the Grand Pre and that regain in confidence!

Having decided how we would head back to Val (La Daille it was decided) we set off back via the Fontaine Froid! However half way down the Verte we came into the thickest and densest cloud you could imagine! It was so thick you could see less than 5m. So all the way from about half way down to the Folie I had to use my intimate knowledge of the resorts slopes to get us to the gondola! Tricky work but we got there in the end!

We enjoyed a quick beer to celebrate a nice session at the Rosee after that and then it was time to get home and sorted out as we were off for some dinner with the inlaws! The kids and Clare had been back in for a while so I sorted myself out and followed on later as Olivia, Ben, Clare and grandpa had all had a nice ski together and were at the swimming pool at their hotel! Diner out was perfect washed down with a couple of glasses of red and a yummy steak - perfect! What a treat!

The only downer of the day was that grandpa lost his phone / wallet on the mountain early doors. Whoops! Anyway cutting a long story short he got his wallet back finally this afternoon - minus cash missing from it - but at least he got it back! Phew!

Im sure there were other things to mention this evening but I cant think..... at least tomorrow I can have a little lie in - I am not working tomorrow - have both Olivia and Ben boarding with me which will be a nice change and Olivia has club in the afternoon and will likely get lunch with grandpa and then ill do some more boarding after that just with Ben. We have a friend popping around for a cuppa at 1600 and then it will be time to gear up for Thursday after that!

Not long to go now of the season but my fatigue levels are really increasing!

TTFN

You'll need to Register first of course.

chocksaway - interesting point that! But I think the Rosee space could be made into a pretty large venue actually!
Whagwan - that sounds like a really great produce trip and so nice to hear - thanks for posting those photos too! Hope the return to work goes well! Come back again soon!

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

After all it is free

@Steve Angus, how lovely that the 3 generations are able to make memories together like this. Wonderful!

Like you, very unhappy that La Daille is likely to see a major upmarket development on the Rosalee site. Sadly I suspect this will be the thin end of a very thick wedge into the longer term future. La Daille has long been my favourite place to stay in the valley, despite the ‘monstrous carbuncle’ apartment block at the bottom of OK.
Can anything be done to stop, or even slow down, the rampant march of commercialism there? Discovery of an extremely rare protected species, nesting there, for example? A Bronze Age treasure discovery? How might it affect you and your home, other than taking away a favourite aprés venue?

Mmmmm…Equinox apartments look very luxurious. At about £1400pp for a 4 night accommodation-only break starting this Friday, I’d expect a good location.
I think my £300 last minute booking for a single en suite in a smart fully catered chalet for 7 nights, in the Legattaz part of town, in mid March, ski in/out, shows how prices have rocketed. That was 14 years ago, but even so Shocked

RE..”So with the softening snow and the challenges that brings we worked on edging out the turns more rather than skidding to reduce energy expended and that was a success but we needed to do some correcting of posture to make the use of muscles less and allow the skis to do their magic!”

I wish I could’ve mastered that, last few weeks in La Plagne. When pistes were getting very soft, mid afternoon onwards, they were tending to form soft/slushy moguls. Any effective edging went completely out the window. I adopted what felt like unnatural body postures to navigate the moguls. Always afraid of side pressure knee wrench in those conditions, which could finish my skiing for good.

Hi Steve,
Thank you for your patience yesterday afternoon. Nanna P is back to her old self. Full of confidence and skiing like she was 30 again. Have a great rest of the season. M&M

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

Kenzie - hmmm yes indeed! TBH I think on reflection by Val standards that €18m is quite a bargain as im sure the FD could milk that plot of land for about a €1m a year or so quite possibly.
PeakyB - yes it is - they loved skiing with Grandpa as much as he loved skiing with them.... my turn (of sorts) to do the same today - but on a board - more on that in a moment! Yes interesting thoughts on La Daille and the developments etc. The number of buildings and 'upgrades' that go on is quite frightening sometimes! How might it affect us... well interestingly last night when walking to the inlaws place I was the piste side of Rosees and quite far from it by the funi... the sound really travelled! Meanwhile whilst at home and even on the balcony the sound does not carry THEREFORE as long as the sound points in the piste direction it might not make much of a difference! So it might make La Daille more valuable having a notable apres venue down here from that POV BUT on the flip side persons being sick / relieving themselves etc etc might be the negative downside.... whatever happens it could take an awfully long time before something happens to redevelop it! Yes prices are not cheap for accommodation thats for sure!

As far as what I said and the technique - its a tactic in these conditions! 'We' (well most skiers sadly) turn and skid the ski more or less every turn rather than steer the ski actively! When you do that in slush (or powder for that matter) you are pushing the snow away and this takes effort... the tactic of getting a change of angle / direction with the skis at the start of the turn and letting the momentum using the edge out the turn as the skis cut through the snow allows the muscles etc to 'breath' for a second... that way its not a constant battle pushing the snow out the way yet the speed is controlled! NB the use of the edge is NOT to slow down - the soft snow and rotation created at the turn start and the friction ski to snow is enough; instead the edge is to give the legs a seconds rest per turn which makes the overall descent less tiring as you continue down the slope. Also the importance of body position is to allow the skier to be balanced on the skis and therefore NOT having to use brute strength! Ironically so much of skiing revolves around the simple things... Nearly everyone I teach fails to understand the importance of good posture in skiing - its not 'boring' and to look like a ski instructor its to make the effectiveness of turning better and easier!

mpurser2 - as always my great pleasure! Until next time have fun!

Help!!

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

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