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

A snowHead

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

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

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

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

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

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

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

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

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A shorter one

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

TTFN

A little ripper two years ago! Even better now!

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

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

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

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

After all it is free

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

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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

Well that is a first

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

TTFN

Glorious start to the day!

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

snow reports

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

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

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

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

Thanks

You know it makes sense.

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

A snowHead

A snowHead

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

"Too dangerous and a big chance of injury"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Right must dash.

TTFN

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

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

Oh yea!!!!

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

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

You'll need to Register first of course.

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

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

After all it is free

Not quite according to plan

It was a very early start to the day and getting sorted and out the door long before the sun came up! But we were on the road by 0630 which isnt too bad. As predicted we hit traffic in quite large quantities but we had allowed extra time. Anyway what should have taken about 90 mins ended up taking about 120 mins so ill take that!

When we arrived (its a resort ive never been too and the mum of one of Olivias club friends has never been there before either) we needed to work out where to park (in the UG parking). Luckily the parking was plenty high enough to accommodate my van and we parked up. We unloaded and was half way through getting my boots on when some official came in and told us we couldnt park there and needed to move to another slot - doh.

Anyway we got free lift pass for the day which was nice as we were accompanying the kids and off we set to find where the stade was for the race! It was weird as the boys were racing on another slope to the girls. As it turned out the boys had the 'weird but easy piste' whereas the girls were on the stade itself! They ended up having timing issues for the boys so they came over to race their second run on the girls piste after the girls finished and ultimately the whole days timings went totally out the window and the day was about 2 hours behind schedule as a result!

So the sun was shining and it was due to warm up quite a lot as the morning progressed but glorious conditions. Luckily the stade was north facing a bit which helped. So after a warm up and inspection it was race time. Olivia had a mid bib number and with a reverse on run 2 it was always going to be an average help.

The course was really flat at the top and got steeper near the end but overall not a massively technical course with just the one banana on it. So she was off and the inspection was important as it gave her the heads up that she needed to attack and push hard out the start gate and for the first 10 gates or so. From what I could see she skied it well but I could not see her after the drop onto the wall. So she had, by her standards, a very average first run and ended up coming in 9th position. I suspect she was too cautious at the bottom section. Just not nearly her best!

Oh well a chat and some food etc as we waited for everyone else to finish was the order of the morning after that. She was disappointed she didnt ski it too well but she got into the zone for run 2.

Later on after another inspection and a change to the area the 2nd half of the course went into she was back in the start gate.

Im pleased to say she skied the 2nd run much better and it suited her better as she generally prefers, steeper, icier and more technical courses! She ended up being 6th fastest in the 2nd run and only about 0.3s (over a 50+ sec course) away from being in the top 3 on that second run. She made one small mistake thats all.

So overall over the two run was 7th and little over 0.5s away from a podium. So all in all by her standards about a 4/10 day - she was disappointed she could not up her game a little more but hey ho thats the way it goes! Courceval and Meribel had athletes in the top 3 on all podiums as they tend to dominate.

We waited around to see the boys race after the girls and finished off all the food and snacks.

Since the best performance by Val overall was a 4th rookie by both a 2015 girl and 2015 boy there was no need as a parent to wait around for the podium so we jumped in the car and headed home.

It was quicker coming home and by the time I got back it was nearly dark but apart from collecting Ben from club and dropping him home before circling back around and collecting Olivia from club as she was now back in the club van!

At home it was time to unwind, have some dinner and a bath and pretty much the whole family did that before hitting the sack!

Im shattered after an early start, driving and the emotions.

Back to work tomorrow and ill finish with some photos of the day.

TTFN

We always refer to La Daille as "The Welsh End"

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Why is that? People singing as they come down the OK and Orange or something?

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

Sounds like the Valmorel event wasn’t very well organised, or maybe they just got a bit unlucky.

Well done to both of you for your efforts. Every one is a success, if there’s learning and enjoyment from it. Plan, do, review…go again.

Wonder why, as you say, those 3V based kids do well in these events? Is it just the numbers of kids they have to draw from? Good facilities? Or what?

snow reports

Well done Olivia! 0.3s is a very tight margin!

In respect of the 3V, I'm guessing it's facilities and therefore simply money. Hasn't the owner of Man Utd just built a new training centre in the 3V?

gixxerniknik Im not Welsh. Blush

PeakyB

. No I wasnt overly impressed no. Maybe were spoilt here but there was no live timing board up for the first half of the first run either which is not ideal! Yes there is a learning curve - it happens! Why are the 3V etc more successful - all those things.... more kids to chose from and amazing set ups. Having a glacier helps too (Val and Tignes enjoy that luxury and the 3V lot - private chopper anyone over here in the Summer. haha!
russ_e - yes it was - she needs to remember that. re new training centre - really!

You know it makes sense.

gixxerniknik Im not Welsh. Blush

PeakyB

. No I wasnt overly impressed no. Maybe were spoilt here but there was no live timing board up for the first half of the first run either which is not ideal! Yes there is a learning curve - it happens! Why are the 3V etc more successful - all those things.... more kids to chose from and amazing set ups. Having a glacier helps too (Val and Tignes enjoy that luxury and the 3V lot - private chopper anyone over here in the Summer. haha!
russ_e - yes it was - she needs to remember that. re new training centre - really!

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

Short day but lunch out

It was hard getting back in the game this morning after several days out of ski boots / away from ski teaching what with the cancelled sessions last week and the race yesterday. Anyway we got going and Ben was off to club and Olivia had a day out of ski boots. I had a good sleep so was feeling refreshed! The weather was looking good (not going to be good for much longer this week though!).

I headed into town and met my am lady! She had done a whole week as a complete beginner here in a group lesson with another ski school last year and was trying to get up to speed with her boyfriend in terms of where he is at (a common request in this job). This year she was going full focus and getting a week of private am lessons with me for the first few days and then due to logistics swapping to a colleague thereafter!

So she was delightful girl in her mid 20's and a lawyer from London but luckily athletic and co-ordinated which helps! After a check out warm up run on the Village lift we headed up Bellevarde and decided to come down the steps for the first part (sensible girl). We then did the green triangle building the confidence and entering the cycle of positivity! It was a good session and she was letting the skis run quite nicely by the end and her posture came on loads and so to the ability to let the skis do the turning for her - bravo!

Tomorrow we will work on the fall line part of the turn and the end of the turn - should be a good session as ill try and get her onto to her first blue - Glacier chair tomorrow - time will tell! The weather tomorrow should be OK so that will help before it goes out the window and all hell breaks lose from Wednesday onwards!

So after all that I met Ben and took him to meet Olivia who was already at Billabong for a slap up lunch! A little treat for the kids and they wolfed down various burgers and milkshakes, me too I hasten to add. All very nice in there! Quick service and family friendly. Kids loved it.

I worked really hard to not let the Womens DH results pop up on any feed etc on my phone over lunch and resisted things like checking BBC news app as there would surely be something about the results come up.....

So Olivia and I headed home and Ben was back to club so back at home Olivia and I binged on the race viewing! What a sad end to an amazing career (doubt we will see her ever again on skis racing!) for Lyndsey Vonn - think that will end up being one of the most talked about sporting moments of the games / year! Oh and the Andorran girl on the Toffana Schuss - OUCHHHHHH!

After that Ben was heading home and by now Clare was home so we had a pretty chilled evening. Tomorrow (being school hols) Olivia is race training on the Orange (GS) and Ben has club too. For most of this week she is SL training the Rogoney though.

I forgot to get a photo today but an interesting photo did come up somewhere I saw - interesting thinking!

TTFN

A snowHead

More ski schools/beginners should use the stairs at the top of Olympic/Funival down that steep pitch to the Ski Tranquil, especially when it’s busy and icy ?
I know it’s not well signposted but it really should be.

A snowHead

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

muppet - agreed! But sometimes (bit like people downloading on the gondolas) pride takes over brains!
nbt - as soon as you come out the Olympic lift onto the snow turn left and the steps are down there... you can see them on the right near the top as you come up the Fontaine Froide lift. The traverse once you have put skis on near the top of the Loyes chair is still not very nice tbh but its doable!

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Blooming students!

It was all systems go this morning as Clare was working and both Ben and Olivia had club! Of course I was working too so off we went having navigated the carnage of all of us getting ready and into ski gear this morning!

The weather was pleasant but quite chilly but Ill take it compared to what the rest of the weather this week and probably next has in store!

My lady was once again dead on time and the plan for today was to challenge her a little more but mainly to get plenty of mileage in of the things we had learnt yesterday and move onto tougher terrain today! So we set off up Solaise and after a couple of warm up laps on the magic carpet (it is SOOO annoying that it doesnt open (officially) until 0920 - as we are often there with skis on (as happened this morning) by 0910) we headed to the Madeleine. Interestingly she had a phobia about that run from last year but we soon overcame that and she was flying! It is lovely having someone so natural and sporty and eager but happy to listen and develop... bit of a dream student to be honest!

So it went really well and the snow was absolutely incredible! Later on we moved over for a lap down the glacier run and again (given how hectic it can be down there with mindless idiots) she was on fire... never missing a beat! However when you start introducing flexion and extension the legs always start getting tired and today was no exception! I decided it would be sensible to quit whilst you are ahead and we took the Datcha back towards Madeleine to develop her skiing a little more back in her comfort zone before heading home! Bravo!

I hand over her to another colleague for the next few days as im on another booking so im sure she will be absolutely on fire for a second week skier by the end of the week - bravo! I take on another booking tomorrow and the next couple of days are a little all over the place with bookings but its semi busy!

Clares mum will be arriving on Thursday so there is much excitement amongst the kids about that especially. But the incoming snow is also causing excitement around town although I think the amount of snow and av danger could get very high!

This afternoon after a quick lunch stop I headed up the mountain to do some recordings for this ongoing social media stuff im trying to do at the moment... so that was a couple of hours of recording and setting up and getting into position etc. Hopefully it will be next Winter ill be able to get all the stuff ive been working on out there.... so (long watch) watch this space!

So after all that I headed back to town and went to go home via the train rouge. Well time came and went and it was about 10 mins before the bus finally turned up and when it did it was PACKED.... I mean packed like the Folie kicking out time packed! There were a lot of already half drunk Danish students all dressed up attempting to get to the La Daille. Well firstly they were not with it enough to realise they should probably make way to let the dozens of people onboard get off first ... so that was carnage... Finally when people had gotten off they were too in the party mode to move down inside the bus.... doh! Then there was some silly behaviour and it was a little OTT by them all.

Put it this way we sat at the stop (I managed to get in the bus which was a minor miracle I think) for about 10 more minutes... the Gendarmes ended up being called and loads of them were made to get off - it was all rather messy. When we finally got going again the next stop at the tourist office was full of dozens and dozens people trying to get on and more students.... put it this way by the time we got to La Daille the bus was so full of alcoholic breath anyone could get high! The bus driver was sooooo glad to be rid of everyone I think. Although looking down at the bus stop back into town a couple of hours later - good luck to anyone trying to get back on those buses! Blimey!

So this afternoon and evening it has been pretty chilled at home - plenty of the Olympics to watch!

Tomorrow I am just working (for not and until anything else comes in) in the morning! Then tomorrow evening I am out for dinner with some friends at YSE. They have a couple of spaces in Chalet Chardons this week so my friend there who runs it invited me around for dinner - cant wait!

TTFN

Milky skies inbound!

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

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