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

A snowHead

@Steve Angus, Tarquin hired touring kit here in Austria. When he got to the top ready for the ski down (piste) a binding broke off...completely rusted away. Luckily he could walk a fairly short distance to the gondola to download.

A snowHead

holidayloverxx - blimey its not just me!

Need multiple screens (and phone batteries)

The day started early and despite me taking a sleeping pill my brain started working too early - doh.

Olivia needed to be out the door early as we needed to be at club for 0800 to get on the road to St Foy. So it was all go getting the breakfast in the kids and sorted out.

Anyway as one of the coaches was unable to make it to the race today they needed a driver to take some kids and sort bits out so I was in the zone for that. We finally got off with a car load of kids and one parent and off we went. After a decent freeze last night and with a race piste facing west it would mean the piste would be in good condition (hopefully).

So apart from there being a bit of a muck up in the 'accompany'er' lift passes we normally get given for free and therefore having to buy one we were off on time.

Meanwhile back at home Clare was with Ben as his race today was down here in La Daille.

I had the need (keeping friends and family back home in the loop!) for multiple screens and batteries... recording, checking the running order, getting the kids sorted, checking in on replies from back home and ditto all that for Bens race back in Val!

Anyway the days racing did not really pan out as expected in the end.

Olivia made a big mistake in the first race and ultimately got disqualified. She was mortified but that will teach her to course inspect properly - lack of concentration and she went the wrong way around one gate. Anyway I finally managed to calm her down and by lunchtime and the second course was set she was back in the zone.

She had a better set of pm runs but I think mentally the damage was done. Also she is quite small compared to some of the other girls both in terms of height and weight and being a flat race stade its a disadvantage! Anyway with the snow breaking up I thought overall she did well to 4th place!

Tomorrow (its not normal like this) she has another race (SL) and its in Les Arcs. Best of luck as this is a rearranged race and neither Clare nor I can go. Pity!

Meanwhile Ben was having a flyer of a day and these last few weeks he has really come on... at the beginning of the season you'd think he would be happy bringing up the tail end of the results sheet but today he came in the top 10 for his year group 3 times in a row in all 3 runs - amazing Ben! What a result.

So one happier and one slightly less happy child today!

One of the downsides to the day down in St Foy was one of the other girls took a big tumble and did her knee in.... the knock on effect was trying to rearrange cars and kit etc as the other coach had to stay with the injured kid at the medical centre as her parents were not at the race! So I had a very full car to get kids and kit back to Val!

So we got home and spent the early part of the evening sorting ourselves out and then have had a Jami takeaway for dinner!

I know I have been saying it quite a lot recently but I am totally and utterly knackered this evening I really am. I will be up early tomorrow as need to get Olivia to club for 0700 tomorrow. I am then teaching off piste all day. eeek!

TTFN

Olivia (on the left in 4th place) is a little smaller than the other girls for sure and she certainly put on a brave face for this photo!

Ben ready to race

Nice up the top of St Foy looking towards Bourg

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

Well done to Ben and Olivia, not forgetting of course you and all the other enablers. Chapeau!

Hardly surprising you’re knackered. I sometimes have a lie down after just reading about one of your hectic days Very Happy

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

Om exhausted just reading your blog.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

@PeakyB, @Frosty the Snowman, same here

You'll need to Register first of course.

PeakyB - thank you! Yes I need a lie down after writing it too!
Frosty the Snowman / KSH - sorry! Toofy Grin

Tricky

It was another very early start today! Olivia was off to her second ski race in as many days and my job was to get her up there. So action stations from the off. Breakfast, dress and go.

So I dropped her and her gear up at club and that all took a little longer than planned but got there! I put the car away and headed home to finish my days preparations.

Clare was skiing with our guest (they are prepping some ski courses with accommodation in Val for this season and next due to our guests very very large number of social media followers (I dont quite understand what they are plotting but it sounds cool!)), Ben was with a friend all day and then had a party this afternoon and I was teaching off piste all day!

So when I got going with my lesson it was a couple who own a place in town and are pretty regular clients of TDC although ive never skied with them! The plan was a day of off piste and it was important to not trigger some mental challenges for one of them off piste in the form of narrow stuff etc off piste (noted!). But since they were celebrating their wedding anniversary it was more of a fun day they were after.

So with the sun shining strong and brightly I aimed to work the orientations in the sun. Game on.

I started with a foray into the east facing Jardins Borsat - it was OK but not as soft as id hoped. Hmm time to buy some time... so headed into bit of north stuff under pisteurs which was decent chop.... time to try some south next and apart from getting in there the south facing jardins borsat seemed ready as the snow was nice! Great. The tour charvet was perfect - spot on. We all loved it. It was time for a coffee stop so we headed to Datcha and enjoyed a quick drink. Perhaps the timing was right to try the Cugnai so we went in and worked the south facing as much as we could but it was not quite right and we moved more north side until lower down. It was not too bad all in all but after all that they wanted lunch and the tactic of skiing through most of lunchtime worked well as by the time we got to Signal for lunch it was quiet there and we had a nice lunch - amazing chicken burger!

With the day ticking on we took on the Grand Vallon and by now later in the afternoon I was hoping the west facing would be OK but it wasn't perfect thats for sure but doable! We just had enough time to lap around for the guts and chalk down the middle one last time before calling it a day and heading home on the bus.

Meanwhile Olivia had a VERY good day over in Les Arcs. The combined run 1&2 put her in first place! She actually was 3rd fastest in her first run but smoked the second run and came first by a long way which over put her in first place! They then did a one off 3rd run and again she managed to nail that and again was 1st. So she came home a very happy girl and bundled with plenty of prizes!

This evening has been a Sunday evening whirlwind getting the kids bathed and into bed and starting to think about tomorrow and the start of a new week! Olivia is heading off on Tuesday night for a night away with the club at the Savoie champs so planning ahead for all that! At the moment im only teaching in the morning tomorrow but that could change - its actually quite a quiet week this week work wise.

But the sun is supposed to keep shining brightly this week thats for sure!

The resort certainly felt much quieter today which is refreshing after all the weeks of school holidays! Yay they are behind us!

Ohhhh remember what I was going to say... when was in the Sun Bar loos area this morning there were two huge DH skis stood up ready to be used by their owners.... It was quite funny as at that moment NOT the owner of them walked in and I joked that he had left his skis there... it was Graham Bell. He took a minute to twig what I was on about and then we laughed about it! Oh how witty I am!

Anyway need another early night tonight so will call it a day!

TTFN

Course inspection time

Ready to race Olivia!

Wish could have been there to see it!

Meanwhile looking nice in Val

Imagine trying to steer those beasts! No thanks!

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

Well done Olivia! That must have been a confidence boost after Saturday. Was she particularly careful with her course inspection today?

Those skis are immense!

After all it is free

Well done Olivia!

Must be a great feeling on that podium Exclamation

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

I’ve been watching “mermaidinthewild” and Clare on Instagram. Will be exciting to see what they come up with. Plus she is sharing fantastic feedback on Clare’s teaching. Very Happy

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

snow reports

Owlette - Thanks. Yes those skis probably weigh about 200kg too. Doh! Re inspection - im not sure really - she just smoked it!
KSH - Thank you. Onto the Savoie champs this Wednesday now - tougher gig that one!
PeakyB - indeed - she certainly gets a kick from being up there!
Susang73 - that was so funny - that comment came through whilst I was talking to mermaidinthewild - she left this afternoon! Yes she and Clare have had a great time thats for sure! They are hatching a ladies course thing in late April I believe!
nbt - gosh it definately looks nothing like this at the moment!

Worked out ok

It was yet another early start to get Olivia on the school bus for 0700 closely followed by Ben. But the weather once again makes is bearable although we might just get some more snow later this week - hmmm we shall see.

So I headed into town and met my am lesson and it was a nice Irish lady who was in her 5th week of skiing I think she said but had never been to Val before. She said to me that due to fear this was basically her last hurrah attempt at 'getting it' but had in the past skied some reds but mainly blue pistes in the past! I explained that the terrain in Val would probably mean that greens and blues would be a sensible goal for her so as to knock her confidence! Accompanying her was her daughters boyfriend (ive found out this evening that he has since proposed to her this afternoon - how sweet!) but he had only done a couple of days skiing previously in lessons so was very new to the sport. So I was very worried that the ability split would be too much given such different goals / aims / abilities etc!

We skied on the Village a couple of times to make sure that it might work and in all fairness (and much to my relief) it would as he was a quick learner obviously and she was not quite as hands on as might be. Phew

With the snow softening a little it was time to head up Solaise and the magic carpet was perfect training ground to develop skills ahead of a trip up the Madeleine! The carpet area was a little like a friends and family meeting area as pretty much every other instructor up there was either Clare or a colleague and even the parents of a couple of Olivias race class mates! How funny!

So we did manage to get a couple of laps in on the Madeleine and it went well and the conditions were good for it. Bravo.

We headed down and they have another lesson tomorrow with another colleague tomorrow as I was already booked! I had a much needed afternoon out of ski boots at home and it was very pleasant actually. I got a long list of jobs done and I feel as if im half back on top of the todo list!

Clare meanwhile was working all day and had a few busy days coming up! I will be working tomorrow morning but Wednesday im off all day - doing Dad duties most of it... Later in the week I am back on Dad duty then of course im driving to Karellis over in the Maurienne on Saturday as Ben is there for something called the Karellis Cup which is a lovely little U10 ski race - mainly for fun!

So not the most exciting day ever thats for sure but tomorrow ill be teaching in the morning and then doing some filming in the afternoon and followed by a beer with a friend. Should be an easy one tomorrow - yay.

TTFN

Only a couple of weeks ago the magic carpet tunnel was totally buried under 2m of snow and it was very dark in there - now - well its like a greenhouse in there.

Another sunny day up there again.

You know it makes sense.

Lovely! Less than two weeks to wait until I’m back! Can you order some snow for next Thursday/Friday please Steve?

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

This Friday Saturday too pls!

A snowHead

I've been following Clare and mermaidinthewild too. Put a good word in about that ladies course being in the Easter holidays, please, for us teachers!

It's a season of extreme weather this year. Crazy snow or crazy sun!

A snowHead

Or crazy wind.

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

Is that snow?

I need to take a sleeping pill tonight as once again this morning I woke early which is really annoying as im tired. Anyway when I got up the clouds were in (at altitude) and it was looking 'grey' you there but not wet. The temperatures were somewhat warmer too due to the cloud!

So with Ben on the school bus I headed into town and met my am session. Before that though and since it is quite quiet at the moment it was actually nice seeing so many colleagues at the meeting point - there is not that many days of the season when so many of us are there.

My session was with a nice guy from Poland who had had a couple of days lessons previously on a trip but had never been to France and was somewhat shocked on his first day about how hard the runs were. So he signed up for a session. In many ways it was a very similar session to yesterday in that I started on the Village with a couple of warm up runs and luckily the snow had NOT frozen overnight so it was lovely and soft from the off! After that we headed up into the gloom but it was not too bad up top at all.

The magic carpet was the perfect place to develop his skills and he gained in confidence. The clouds (and a touch of snow) was tempting us all morning though and there were times it was coming in and looking like really going into a snowstorm / whiteout and other times it was almost breaking out into sun and clouds! So after a few laps there it was time for the Madeleine.

Always a big call when you know its quite a step up from the magic carpet. Luckily with decent vis and good snow it was a complete success and he made great progress. We were able to fit in 4 laps up there and he was not too tired id call that an overall success - brilliant!

At lunchtime I at under the Sun Bar hoping that there might be a gap in the clouds and vis enough that I could get some decent filming done this afternoon but it wasnt to be so I headed home after lunch! Darn it would have got loads of filming done this afternoon as well!

At home I packed the last few things for Olivias trip (they were being collected from school in Bourg and their coach was then carrying on towards Aillon Mergerz where they are all staying the night so they are close by for the race tomorrow). I took her gear (there is lots of it!) up to meet her coach outside Club and load the minibus up and then they were off.

I headed to Blue Note and had a beer with an old client and friend of mine. He always pops out to Val each year for a ski so it was nice catching up with him and hearing all his news. He had lots of news as he is recently retired! It was a lovely couple of hours and the nibbles at Blue Note always go down well!

Outside the snow was snow was trying to fall hard and fast but it really seems to have faltered despite obviously wanting to - lets see if it comes to anything overnight! It remains quite warm again tonight and I doubt we will have much a freeze but time will tell.

This evening it has been rather quiet at home as Ben was at judo and came back tired so ate and went to bed and of course Olivia was away with club!

So tomorrow I am not working - having a small ski with Ben in the morning and then he wants to do the flèche ski race over the road and after lunch he will be off with me down to Bourg - I have a food shop to collect and he has a speech and language session too and im sure when I get back up I will be collecting Olivia off the the bus from the race. We have the start list for tomorrow and there are 101 girls in the race. Will be a big day for Olivia as she has been skiing SL well so hopefully she can put in a good performance - 6th in the GS version of this race the other week was not to her liking so she will want to go one better and get on the podium but time will tell!

TTFN

Forgot to snap a photo until was on the way home after lunch - it was grey, slightly cloudy and snowy up there all day long. But with the period of time since the last snowfall the sitting snow on the ground is starting to look quite tired and yucky eh!

HoneyBunny - on it!
gixxerniknik - ill see what I can do and make sure no wind with it yes!
Owlette - ill mention it but I think all the instructors will already be booked in the holidays already therefore I doubt they will be able to have it in the holidays im afraid!

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

Thought i saw you in the Blue Note yesterday Steve. We were sat by the dartboard.

We've been enjoying the conditions this week.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

drewclarke - how funny. Should have said hi! Glad you are having fun.

Result!

I slept well last night aided by a sleeping pill and since I did not need to be up particularly early it was after 0730 when I got up - nice!

Clare needed to head out the door for 0930 and I was to spend most of the day with Ben. Also eyes were on the phone to see any news coming from camp Olivia at her race / hotel etc. Unfortunately there were no live timings available online today which was a shame! The weather was OK but it remained warm!

Ben and I had a nice ski about for about an hour before we course inspected for his little flèche race. It was all going well as this was his first race in a cat suit... his race in the Karamel Cup race this Saturday they are allowed cat suits so he wanted to test wearing one today to see what it felt like etc! Anyway in the hour we had he did some jumps, dashed about and had a fun time! The only issue we had was he managed to pick up the wrong bib number and we only found out right at the very last second just before the race started he had the wrong one but luckily I was able to dash to the start and get the correct bib number in the end. Phew

Anyway the race was fine and he enjoyed himself but looking more closely at his record it appeared that he had actually managed to get his vermeil level for the very first time on Saturday which is awesome. Well done Ben!

After all that excitement we headed home and I rustled us up some lunch before we needed to head to Bourg... we had a food shop to collect, he had his hour with the speech and language therapist to do and as a treat he wanted to go into Weldom and have a look around - he just loves going to the hardware store!

Meanwhile Clare was working all day and Olivia racing.

So Olivias race.... well she did not have a great bib draw number so it worked against her BUT in her first run she had an average one coming 8th I think it was... so not too bad but again not her best! She said after that she was not overly happy with it. However the coolest thing about the race was that Aillons Mergeritz resorts very own Paco Rassat - who represented France in slalom at this years Olympics, opened the course up and set a time etc. Very cool. Everyone stopped to watch him ski it!

So the second run saw her ski it much better and she jumped her way up the leader board... so in the whole of the Savoie for U12 girls she ended up coming 4th. The most annoying thing is the girl who won - she beat her not once but twice the other day - oh well! So a very nice little trophy and a happy girl. The girls in 2nd and 4rd were from Courcheval.

With the race 2.5 hours away she did not get back until gone 1800. Collecting her from the race and bringing her back from club we all enjoyed some food and the kids are now in bed... its another early start tomorrow as Olivia needs to be on the school bus at 0700. Eeek!

Im working in the morning but at the moment have the afternoon off tomorrow - not sure what im doing tomorrow pm yet a while - we shall see!

In local news remember a few weeks back there was reports of a seasonnaire in their 40's (French) going randomly missing after a night out in town... well they finally found his body in the river up near laisenant today - sounds like he slipped in and never got out again by all accounts - how very sad but weird it took them so long to find him!

TTFN

He wears the catsuit well!

There was there faintest of fresh snow up there today!

Get in there my girl!

You'll need to Register first of course.

You are going to need another extension to the flat for all the medals and trophies! Great stuff.

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

Tremendous. My cap has never been so doffed as in the last few weeks.
I keep expecting you to enter a race. Easter fancy dress down Epaule de Charvets would be fun.

After all it is free

endoman - thanks. Yea I know I keep thinking that - eeek!
PeakyB - again thank you! Me enter a race personally - way past those days now im afraid! Fancy dress race down the epaule - no thank you - might need my legs in one piece!

Came good

I went to bed last night and it was snowing quite heavily much to my amazement! When I woke up it was just about finished and it had snowed about 10-15cm. There was however very low hanging clouds and it was looking quite grey out there! Would it be a tricky one???

Ben headed off on the school bus and Clare was on a 0930 start so it was a quite leisurely start to the day really.

I headed into town and checked the web cams and it certainly looked brighter towards Tignes but the people I was teaching had not been to the area before having arrived last night so were keen for a bit of a tour and as best I could away from the crowds. With that in mind I knew that there was a good chance the weather would improve and at 0900 the weather looked better Tignes way therefore most people would go that way leaving the Solaise and Fornet way quieter. So we set off that way.

There was about 15cms of lovely light snow up there and it was wonderful having some fresh snow to play with although it was quite cold (well way colder that it has been for a few weeks now!).

We enjoyed a really nice ski about up Solaise and found some lovely snow... it was lovely actually! What was even better was that the clouds slowly and surely were starting to part and by the time we headed over the top to Fornet it was largely all broken up and certainly by the end of the session all the clouds had gone. It was glorious!

I worked the timings to make sure we were either ahead of the crowds or coming back against them to have the pistes as quiet as we possible could! It was a good morning!

I took lunch up the Solaise as I planned to record my weekly snow report up there and duly did in glorious sunshine - stunning up there!

I was home from early afternoon and edited the reports to get them all sent off and before too long it was time for the next event of the day and that was to head into town as I had the last avalanche training session of the season for Vie Val dIs to deliver. This was an extended talk starting indoors and finishing by doing practical searching outdoors! Unfortunately there had been a mix up with the marketing and they basically had not done any - doh! So ultimately only a few people came which was a little annoying but thats the way it goes!

When I was in town I collected a few things from the shops we needed including a vermeil medal from the ESF as Ben was proud he had earnt that in his races! Since he is off tomorrow for the night to take part in a ski race on Saturday which I am going to I also bought him a really small cuddly toy as a good luck charm to put in his ski bag - he was a happy boy when I got back home and gave him these things! Bless!

So tomorrow I am teaching in the morning (same set up as this morning) and then the main thing tomorrow afternoon is to get Bens ski gear all to club and see him and his race mates off to Karellis for this Karamel Cup although the weather is not looking positive! In fact there is supposed to be a LOT of snow coming this way over the next few days - definately a return to Winter is coming!

TTFN

Whats that disk in the sky?

Some nice 10-15cm of powder up there to enjoy

Before the clouds burnt off there were some pretty cool views eh!

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

La Face

I slept quite badly again last night for some reason and with an early start tomorrow (more on that in a second).

The sun was shining and it had been a good freeze overnight! Ben was onto the school bus. Clare headed to her meet point and I was the same.

I had the same team as yesterday and the request was for a little showing them around Tignes but not before I got them down the Face! So we headed up Olympic and warmed up on Fontaine Froide.... its that time of the year when we look at how soft things get on which orientation at what time of the day etc. Fontaine Froide was still firm but starting to soften up which would mean the Face would be perfect slightly earlier on.

The Face was in good knick - possibly the best you could have it really and I did my 'first timers' way of doing it - stopping in the correct places and getting the nicest snow etc. The main lady in the group did so well and there were no wobbles at all and you could hear the 'whoops' as we ticked off the Wall and other key areas! Yay!

After that it was back up and we headed towards Tignes and having done La Face it would be easy to do Johann Clarey and indeed it was a lovely slide. Perfect. By now the sun was starting to soften the pistes nicely and we enjoyed a 'reverse' around the world and worked against the traffic meaning we had no lift lines and empty slopes for the most part - perfect!

It was a nice morning and we ended up coming up the Fresse and dropping back into the Val area.

I left them at the Folie for lunch as I needed to get back home prompto to change and then get Bens stuff for his trip away to the Karamel Cup. So I headed into town with all his gear and he got out of school with his mates and they loaded the bus... all 33 of them going with their coaches and some parents going overnight! After that I walked to Club with some of the parents as we needed to load the bus with a LOT of race skis and finally the bus left about 1500. Phew. What a fun time he will have a night away with ski friends and a fun race tomorrow where every kid gets a prize etc!

Meanwhile at home as I was leaving the electrician FINALLY came around to finish off the list of snagging there is still to do on our renovation - there have been some stand off between the main builder, him and me for a while now but it looks like it is moving forward again - just a handful of bits still to finish off! Lordy please sometime soon it will FINALLY all be done!

Over in Tignes this am I noticed they are nearly through building the Shaker event jumps next to the Double M... the jumps etc are huge! It is a World Cup ranking event and I am pleased to say my colleagues daughter Emilie Lewis who I mentioned was second in the World Junior Champs over in Calgary, Canada last in the Big Air contest is making her World Cup debut - go girl!

In other news we got the details through re the Coq d'Or which is effectively the National Junior Ski Racing Champs competition in the Open format! It is this year being held in Les Menuiries at the end of March and Olivia has gained enough points to go straight to the finals on the Friday so she is happy and excited about that! All her team mates have to go through qualification is the only downside so I will need to drive her there on the Thursday but I will be staying there for a few days to watch her!

Now onto tomorrow - well firstly we are expecting a LOT of snow incoming and bad weather all day and night and by Sunday there could be an awful lot of fresh snow about - blimey just when you thought Spring was finally here!

With this race for Ben on I am driving our car and taking 3 other mums and we are leaving shortly after 0500 so I will need to be in bed early tonight - eeek! I will also not be back from the race until about 2100 tomorrow so I doubt I will be posting here tomorrow. I am not sure if I am teaching on Sunday but time will tell on that front so hopefully I will be back to normal schedule on Sunday evening! Im sleeping on the sofa tonight - eeek. Try and give Clare a decent nights sleep as she is pretty tired at the moment!

My team on the Palafour this morning!

TTFN

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

@Steve Angus,
Taking 'three other MUMS'! Toofy Grin

snow reports

http://youtube.com/v/dCmpExUaQiI?si=b_rcu9-4C-j9UwG-

I know this has been discussed before but it’s worth it again, especially for anyone that has never skied the Piste Perdue. It can be a little hard to find Laughing

Probably my favourite run of all time Eh oh!

one of the Bell brothers claimed this and the old ‘elbow’ run at Hillend, as their favourite runs in the world Eh oh!

@Peter S, that’s a brilliant video Very Happy

I only skied it once, a long long time ago, and would say it was in a condition that made it easier than on that video.

Good to have ticked it off but I decided it was best left Perdue et Oubliée, Merci beaucoup.

You know it makes sense.

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

2 French lads died there in January … it can be a dangerous terrain trap.

A snowHead

I was with a guide a few years ago, told him I'd never done it so we went to have a look. We were on the approach above when we saw a proper slide let go right at the entrance opposite where we were. Quite worrying.
So needless to say we didn't go. Happily enough, as Lavachet Wall was facing the opposite way we went and did that twice instead. Amazing that was.

A snowHead

Surely theres a lift available

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

Anyone who claims Piste Perdue is their favourite run is a complete Bell end.

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

Used to do the piste perdue, the tunnel 2000, gorges du malpassat & over the top at solaise & bellevarde down to the manchet valley regularly with the kids when they were young..... I#m 75. Those were the days!

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

You'll need to Register first of course.

Piste Perdu is a handy way to get down to the valley floor so, by Val D piste grading logic of yesteryear, was really no more than a red grade. No doubt prompted by namby pamby alpine nanny state types, making it an ‘itinerary’ is elf ‘n’ safety gone mad. I mean as long as people wear a decent woolly hat to hold their battered skulls together, what serious harm can come from bouncing off a few jagged rocks occasionally, as you descend? It did me no harm.

It should form part of the end of week 1 competency test for all beginners in my opinion. Too much mollycoddling going on these days.

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

Kenzie -

Peter S - having skied both - I can understand a twisted personality might think they are the best runs in the world but its a big ask for me to think that IMO!
PeakyB - I like your sentiment and thinking! Yea im not really a fan as I dont really consider it 'skiing' down there!
PBJ / gixxerniknik - indeed!
phillip33 - indeed and that would be a more sensible option for sure most of the time!
Dr John - nice intentional play on words!
fvlover - you'll be pleased to know ive done (bar Gorges Mal) all those this season (still doable) but hope Gorge will be filled after the recent snowfall as might be heading that way next week!
kat - when did that happen - sure it was what I skied back in say 1999/2000 sort of time last time was there.

What a weekend

Well firstly thanks everyone for bearing with me - what a weekend it has been!

Yesterday started VERY early indeed. I took a sleeping pill on Friday night and went to bed (Bens bed as he was obviously away at the hotel) about 0900 and slept very well indeed! The alarm going off at 0400 was not welcome though!

Anyway the pic ups on enroute and everything went smoothly to get there and we got there in sort of slushy rain fall but the roads themselves were OK thankfully. Les Karellis is a tiny resort as you drive up the Maurienne valley pretty much opposite Orelle sitting about 1400m altitude going to 1700m or so! So after parking up there was 250 U8 and U10 racers and MANY coaches and parents trying to get into position... you first take a free 2 seater lift to the main lifts / restaurant and shop area before then getting passes to go up the main mountain to the race pistes etc! Anyway Ben was on form and ready to have run and the Val team (33 odd kids, about 20 parents and the 4 coaches) were ready in 'party' mode!

The weather however was awful and it was only going to get worse (and colder). So onto the racing... well they kept the courses in the trees which helped but with fresh snow it got REALLY rutted! The format of the day was interesting (in a good way). First up they all raced a nice little GS course that weaved its way through trees etc. Then it was onto a 'combi' race which was even more interesting but fun for the kids... starting as a VERY turny GS the course then went into a skier cross thing with some skating uphill before the course continued with them getting speed up and taking a small ski jump and finally some fast GS turns... it was pretty cool. Val had megaphones, bells and lots of cheering so there was lots of support for the kids!

Lunch was a picnic in their break room and a chance to warm up before doing the combi again and finally back to the GS course to finish! Phew what a day!

It was gone 1600 before the prize giving took place and the organisers make sure all the kids get something from it... so they all got a hat, medal and little bag of sweets! When it came to the prize giving there were categories for boys and girls at each age group and they used some various combinations of times on both courses and well as within each course to come up with the winners. The prizes were really good with the winners getting things like ski poles, boot bags etc.

Anyway I was soooo chuffed that Ben made the podium... he is starting to come out of the shadow of his sisters successes and he came 9th in his age and boy group. The smile on his face with his little trophy made my day! Val got about 8 people on the podium in total across the categories so that was super good! The main thing was that amounts his peer group he basically was 4th out of 12 boys which bodes well for him moving forward into his second year in the U10 category next year and that lays the way for individual racing at the U12 level the year after that - eeek time will come around quickly!

So we finally left about 1800 and it was mighty late by the time we got back having done the dropping off and dealing with some Saturday traffic and slow going up a snowy road from Bourg! After collecting Ben and getting him home and then putting the car away it was gone 2200. Lunch had been a real 'on-the-go' event all day! I didnt get much done after the kids were finally in bed (Olivia had waited up to see Ben and his trophy) and I was asleep soon after that and putting my things away!

I had a good lie in this morning as I slept so well and it was nearly 0800 before I came around. Olivia was the only person who had to do anything today and with about 40cm of fresh snow to have fallen in 30 hours or so she was to do powder with club today. So the rest of us had a chilled morning and celebrated mothers day! Of course Sunday meant special eggs on toast all round for us!

Ben went for a swim with a friend and I got bits done at home like about 3 sets of laundry!

The main event of the day (apart from watching the World Cup ski racing and OF COURSE seeing the Carrick Smith brothers trials and tribulations at the World Juniors - get in there with a silver medal Freddy) was heading out for a RARE family lunch and on Mother's Day at that!

We went to the Garage and boy it was the usual awesome food and relaxed atmosphere in there. It was really yummy! Personally Le Garage is our all round favourite place to eat in Val as its good honest decent food without being flashy and perfect for families as you can make noise in there thats for sure! I think having pudding was a step too far as we all walked out rather full up!

A quick trip around the shops followed and the main thing we needed to do was to head to SureFoot - they had promised Olivia some sponsorship now she is starting to emerge as doing quite well in her age category! She already has POC that are informally giving her stuff and this is her second in that manner so she has had some boot work done and now today they gave her a lovely new boot kit bag! Lucky lucky girl - it was in her favourite purple colour. When this season is over we are aiming to start contacting some ski companies and try and move towards some more formal sponsorship and at the same time we are talking about trying to get her a start on social media which we will manage! Time will tell though eh!

Finally onto local elections... well today was voting day and the 'opposition' party have won... the Reveil Avalaine grouping which has some pretty big local names within it! Since we are NOT EU citizens we are legally NOT allowed to vote in the elections which is sad bearing in mind we live here year round, pay taxes etc, have kids at school full time etc...

However the grouping that has won have some nice ideas - now to see if they will come true. My understanding of SOME of the main things they want to do that will appeal to readers here include:

- a permanent lit and year round toboggan run somewhere near the base of the slopes - I guess where the Savonettes slope one currently is now!
- updating of the current Val d'Isere app which will include geolocating within it - this will allow users to see where there friends are on the mountain but also in case of use of the SOS button to call the pisteurs a location will be transmitted to them - that will be good!
- Potential for some night skiing - im guessing lighting the lower part of the Face and having that open for a few hours from 1600 til say 2000 or something is what they have in mind!
- Ski lockers installed as somewhere to put gear during the day.

Hmm lets see what happens next on all those things!

Right well that is the weekend over with - back to the dailies tomorrow and im starting a new teaching week - im mainly on piste this week - this is the last full week before next week we have the Coq d'Or which will take me to Les Menuiries to watch Olivia in the 'national' finals - ill be there from about the 25th for 2 / 3 days!

TTFN

Lunch time for 33 hungry and cold mouths!

One VERY happy little boy!

After all it is free

Fantastic stuff!!! Well done, Ben!

Owlette - thank you!

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

The new mayoral team vision for La Daille - pretty awesome if and when it ever happens!!!

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1GWAUBEhZC/?mibextid=wwXIfr

Help!!

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

snowHeads Forum Index >>> Snow Reports - weather - snow conditions