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

A snowHead

@Frosty the Snowman, agreed Sad

Great photos Steve, keep them coming Very Happy

A snowHead

russ_e - thanks - ill keep trying my best
richjp - I have plenty of pet hates and this is one of them big time.
philhitch - apologies - ill try and cap it a little. haha
Hurtle - thanks - hope you are doing well - im not at the EoSB this year - prior commitments etc
lynnecha - yes it was - thank you. I think I borrow enough photos from Radio Val (as I will be doing below!) so will call it quits!
welshflyer - shall try and get us nice snow on the descent to Bonneval!!!!!!!
Frosty the Snowman - its been a real chore - Very Happy

Duvet day

Thanks Radio Val - not today but it looked exactly the same out there today I can promise you.

After a nice meal out last night I expected to sleep really well but didnt sleep as well as hoped for for some reason (and it wasnt indigestion either). I really rate the Barillon over the road from here in La Daille - its just honest simple food and the prices aren't too bad either I wouldnt say! Entrecôte and gratin was about €25 I think it was so with a beer and perhaps a starter then €40 a head or thereabouts is OK.... I do always remind people that one of the reasons why places charge what they charge is because for near on half the year these businesses have no income but bills still to pay! Something like that anyway!

Anyway we all had to get up at a reasonable time this am as Olivia had club and Clare was working so it was all systems go although didnt need to get dressed until they were out the door. My plans on getting stuff done didnt happen as Ben needed some down time too and that means he was overly active indoors with me... and whilst I didnt feel the best all my energy could have gone on getting the things done the needed to get done but alas no. Hey ho!

Late am Ben and I headed up into town to get Olivia after Club this am and they had been practicing on the State Legettaz in preparation for their race tomorrow where 5 Club des Sports from various local resorts come together for a fun team comp. Clare is assisting so Olivia and her are off at crack of dawn!

Anyway with lunch at home out the way we settled down to watch a film and the kids chilled too. There was some attempt at structured play but I really feel a little washed out today... so haven't been that productive at all!

Clare is out doing another massage (thats what happens when someone staying for two weeks gets you on the first night and then wants a massage every night almost thereafter) so ive been devoting what energy I have to getting them fed and watered and into pjs etc whilst keeping the peace between them! Oh well!

Our friend / guest is out for dinner with her parents at their chalet this evening so after the kids in bed shortly I am hitting the sack too! haha!

Tomorrow I (along with 2 other colleagues) have 17 American (by the look of their phone number) ski patrollers / instructors.... I suspect this will be showing them around the resort but time will tell! So thats tomorrow line up!

Not much else to say about today although it was chilly this am but the resort looked stunning in the sun and I am sure a good day was had by all out there.

TTFN

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

@michaelbury17 - sorry didnt see your comment - yes I will try

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@Steve Angus,

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

@Steve Angus,
First lesson for the Yanks - this is on piste, THAT is off-piste?

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Proud Dad

I slept much better last night but the alarm went off far to early as Clare was going with Olivia to her first race in La Rosiere. So they were off out the door well before 0700 which meant with only Ben to get ready and with our friend still staying with us it was a pretty chilled start to the day.

We headed to the meeting point and Ben headed off to kids club and Katie was out ski touring with a group so it was pretty chilled start to the day really. The resort was always going to be a little slow to get going this morning as there was a huge and nasty crash on the main road near Aime yesterday afternoon. A car with 3 brothers in it had a head on collision with a van coming the other way... unfortunately all 3 brothers died. Anyway you can imagine there was a lot of involvement of air ambulances and police etc etc and the road was closed and as a result it was complete carnage out there and most people arriving in resort later yesterday pm ended up arriving VERY VERY late... the knock on effect apart from fatigue is that things like ski hire has to be done the next morning!

Anyway I was working with 2 other colleagues and we had a team of americans for the day between us. It was some sort of a club comprising ski patrollers as well as some instructors and associated family and friends on an annual trip over here to Europe and they seem to come from either Utah or Washington State. Anyway they come in drips and drabs and we finally got going with a cruiser team (me) and charger team with a colleague and another group somewhere in the middle! It was one of those 'show em round the mountain' type of day.... 'tell them some of the history', where there might be better snow and local knowledge etc. Lots of those sorts of things. Some didnt have a full area pass anyway so we had to stay Val side whatever. One of the issues when you have groups like this is trying to explain the difference between ski 'areas' in North America and piste / off piste over here and what you can / can't do! There was lots of explaining that we can't just go anywhere as we didnt have any kit and it hadn't been told to our office / us that they might want to head off piste!

So we did lots of the green and blue run options up Solaise and covered a fair amount of terrain. After a while we headed over to the Fornet area and sampled some really nice snow conditions all the way up to the glacier. I was surprised how busy it was up there.... all in all it has been quite busy on the slopes of recent. Anyway we ended up taking lunch at the Signal and I had not realised that the whole of the indoors of the place is now only table service... its just outside you can get snack / self service type stuff. All in all even though it was nice enough I would say it was over priced and average quality. I haven't eaten upstairs in the restaurant for a while so should probably have a look at that sometime.

So after lunch we did a few more laps and skiing about before descending to town - some of the team wanted to ski down and some wanted to take the lift. I did warn them that it would not be nice skiing down but they insisted. Anyway apart from some nice artificial snow at the top it was not a great ski down... however it did finish off their legs.

I grabbed Ben and headed home.

Meanwhile I was a very proud Dad as news filtered through that in the race in La Rosiere between Club des Sports of Val, Tignes, La Rosiere, Villaroger and St Foy for kids born in 2013 and 2014 that Olivia was the 2nd fastest girl of 2014. She was the fastest Val girl. Super proud of her. For all 2014 kids she was the 10th fastest out of 60 odd. I was super super proud of her. As a team even and thats really what it was all about really Val d'Isere won the whole tournament which is awesome news!

So when they all got back we had a takeaway to celebrate.

Now the kids are in bed I am tidying up the to do and then I shall be in bed as I am pretty tired this evening I really am.

A new week dawns!

TTFN

Ready to roll

With Harold her coach and her friends / team mates!

It was a nice day it really was.

I thought this a fun picture - no idea where it was though.

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After all it is free

@Steve Angus, you are rightly proud of Olivia, well done to her and the team.

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Congratulations to Olivia!

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Well done Olivia!

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@Steve Angus, any inside info on possible strikes that keep getting mentioned over here?

Congratulations Olivia, make sure she Ski's for Team GB!

You know it makes sense.

tarrantd - thanks - sure am!
pam w - well you can only inform people but until they do it themselves they won't really know. Doh! Thanks re Olivia!
Iski / Hurtle - thanks so much! Feeling rather smug today and proud!
Frosty the Snowman - "that keep getting mentioned..." thats it - its been blown off the scale. Unless things have changed all that has changed in the last week is that other sectors of France have the right to ballot members if they want to take part in the national strike.... so more sectors of French society could in theory join in. I must have mentioned this to people in person or elsewhere a fair few times recently as everyone KEEPS asking about it! Doh! Anyway so by the time the ballot happens / results announced and a date has been proposed it was always going to be something possible 'down the line'.... however also my understanding is that many lifties are not even members of the trade union concerned. So the bottom line I am aware of is that there will be zero / little impact tomorrow and the chances of an impact might rise with the future dates that have been proposed for this ongoing period of strikes! So basically I dont think there will be any / minimal impact!
russ_e - thanks.... yes well id like to see her ski for Team GB but the issue is if she is showing potential when she is like 14 years old or thereabouts then they will ask her / us to sign a long term (10 year) contract so if she makes it to those levels she will have to ski for France.... otherwise we will have to pay the eye-wateringly high fees for those 10 years back... im thinking hundreds of thousands of £.... so we'll see on that front. If only UK Sport put money into snowsports rather than it being privately funded eh!

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

Busier

Lets start with a quiz....

So in that picture which pistes am I standing in-between?

Anyway back to the daily report...

It was tricky getting out of bed this morning - ive got another cold coming on so think thats making me a little washed out but nothing too bad really.

The kids were off to school and with Clare not working much this week I didnt have too much to sort at home before heading off to the meeting point myself! As usual on the bus up to the meeting point I was able to catch up on whats happening on social media as well as check out the daily info from Radio Val / review my lesson notes for the day / week ahead! Anyway it was another proud Dad moment when I saw Olivias name mentioned on Radio Val this morning... 2 mentions in fact - thats my girl!

Whilst I was at the meeting point I watched the various dogs and handlers as lots of pisteurs from across the region are in Val today (maybe a few days - im not sure) to practice and revalidate their avalanche dog skills. So as usual there will be lots of barking and excitement under the Datcha lift area as people are buried in holes and the dogs have to sniff them out in a certain period of time to be rewarded with a treat - should be quite cool to watch. I do enjoy this each year.

Also I got the shock of my life as my best bud from back home who himself used to be a ski instructor over in Switzerland but developed a bad back putting him out indefinitely from the industry said 'hi'. He did this last year and snuck out for on me. So Im really excited to see him... I saw him back in October when I was back but not since then... however since then he has become a Dad himself for the first time and made my his daughters godfather. So im happy to see him. Didnt really get a chance to say hi to him properly at the meet point but hopefully will do so and possibly have a ski with him / beer or whatever! We shall see.

So my team for this am was a young recently married couple - he was on skis and she on her board but they had never been to Val before. It was a combination of giving them some tips to improve but also showing them around too! We went Bellevarde way and did some green, blue and red runs and even popped over to Val Claret. It was a nice session and the weather being good it was good to show them the sights and sounds. A fun session.

However one thing it definitely was today was "first day hero's" day... bonkers idiots ahoy! I swear the ski industry is blowing itself up... skiers trying to carve when they can't even control their speed and direction normally. When carving skis 'came in' one of the downsides has definately been people thinking they are progressing way faster than they really are... the basic skills which are so important just dont seem to be learnt / taught anymore. Bit of a shame! Anyway I half wish some more people would come a cropper out there and hurt themselves to get them out the equation... maybe im being mean! haha!

This afternoon I have been catching up on some bits at home and of course the kids have gymnastics / swimming after school this evening so ill be collecting them about 1800.

Totally 'off piste' but Ben will be disappointed when he hears that his favourite dinner lady at the school is retiring after 30 years today.... Ben always talks about Betty giving him extra scoops of the 'good stuff' as he says! Just like me Ben loves his food and I remember when I was a kid having a favourite dinner lady.... haha brilliant nice memories!

TTFN

A snowHead

@Steve Angus ok coupe de Monde and orange

A snowHead

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

For a bonus point what does 'OK' stand for! And why is it called 'Orange' - I reckon those are hard questions but I bet someone will know the answer straight away!

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Oreiller Killy.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

@Steve Angus, To reflect modern terminology is OK going to be renamed OTVDI? wink

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Orange for balance against all the Green runs? Twisted Evil

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@Steve Angus I always like dropping into the follie that route From top of Bellavarde Eh oh!

After all it is free

@Steve Angus,

I'm currently in Val with some friends and they desperately want to do the Vallée Perdue tomorrow.
We're all decent skiers, but do you think it's doable given the current snow conditions?

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@Steve Angus, Before 1965, when the current European grading system was regularised, in Val there was orange, blue and green pistes. Into La Daille there was Orange and Verte as there is today. But the blue piste was called Familial bizarrely.
The original La Daille bubble had orange and green eggs to reflect the colour of the pistes it served, or so local legend has it!

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@Skiwi222,

Don't forget that Piste Perdu is an off piste run.

Does your insurance cover you for off piste skiing?

It varies depending on the snow cover but there is sometimes a 2 foot drop and you may have to crawl through a very small gap - be careful.

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@Steve Angus,
I was thinking Ulster.

You know it makes sense.

Kenzie -

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

Strike - what strike

I know a couple of lifts were slightly affected over in Tignes but basically nothing really bad from an impact point of view has happened today (not that I have been aware of anyway!). I think things like the Col des Ves lift and stuff like that but thats about it. So all good... I reckon by the time we get to the next round of strikes in a couple of weeks time we might be in the position that the lift unions have gotten themselves more organised and more things could be affected but I really can't see it being too bad!

So I really didn't sleep very well last night for some reason - woke up in the early hours with a bad stomach ache. After about an hour it passed and I was able to get back to sleep but it sure as hell was painful. Im not sure why it came on and why it finally passed but it sure was painful when it was happening!

This morning I was working but Clare was starting a little later so it wasnt mega rushed. The kids were dragging their heels and Olivia was little naughty at school the other day so she was not miss popular this morning. So all in all it was bit crazy until I got out the door to go to work.

I arrived nice and early at the meeting point and it worked quite well as my first of 3 people in my new team were already there so we had a bit of a chat. My new team in this weeks group is 3 people for a Blue / Red development group. A seasonnaire taking a few days off amongst the three.

So we headed up Solaise for a ski about and worked on our core technique and broke it right down... it was a successful session as we moved onto skiing the Arcelle a couple of times too. The Arcelle was in good condition which is always nice and helps although got a little slick low down. The nice weather and good improvements helped though. It was a successful morning I felt.

At lunchtime I ate my sandwich in the sun at the top of the Solaise as I was waiting for a phone call from my friend who I mentioned yesterday and who is out here on holiday. Anyway I met up for a few laps with my friend and we had a nice slide for a couple of hours before I headed home as I needed to get a little down time as my cold is coming back again and after last nights bad sleep I need the down time... got a busy few days coming up.

Not much else to report from today really... the pistes are starting to get a little scraped off (a week from the last snowfall and we need to get a little top up). However they have been making a little more artificial snow which is working out well... however some fresh snow would not go amiss. I think things will be fine for a few more weeks yet but dont panic its fine and certainly its (as always) the lower slopes and those down to town that are the worst hit so as I always say and remind people - why not download.

Anyway as usual some photos to finish with.

TTFN

This was actually last night but looks nice eh!

A snowHead

Sorry forgot to post this photo - the awesome avalanche training dogs stuff going on up under the Datcha lift today...

A snowHead

We left Val on Monday after an absolutely epic month. We are back early March when the kids have gone. Probably the best Jan we’ve had. The cold kept the snow perfect, we had a good few amazing powder days… and the powder lasted for days after.

The old La Daille gondola had its advantages… whilst downloading one afternoon, we watched a fit young lady doing a strip tease for her fella, half way on their way up to the Folie. Shocked

In the new gondolas she’d be lucky to get her jacket and salopettes off before arriving Laughing

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

bar shaker - glad you had such a good month - it has ended up being a great month indeed! Blimey that is the BEST story ever of the gondola. Although now if you tried to do that not only would you have to be quick but you'd also have a cabin full of 8 or so other people who would ruin the intimacy - a moving strip club - haha!

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@Steve Angus, But there's always the Olympique Gondolas on Valentines Night.......

(They run at one third speed and you reserve a time slot, two people and half a bottle of bubbly is the deal)

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Busy

The day didnt start well as Olivia was obviously not on top form so we had to do some sorting and shifting in order the make sure Olivia could be at home. Anyway with that sorted I took Ben to kids club which he loves so that meant that by the time I got to the meeting point I was in need of a rest - haha! At least I had had a great nights sleep!

So I met my am team and I had decided to go down a layer although I am not sure it was the best decision as there was a bit of a breeze blowing this afternoon (well all day really!). We headed up Bellevarde and worked on carving so I made a bee-line straight over to Grand Pre via Collette. We were able to get a fair few laps in before the hordes arrived and some great changes were made although I think people had underestimated the chill out there today so they were a little cold. After a while I headed over to the sun and get a couple of laps in developing our carving on the Borsat green. It was a successful session.

Lunch was back in my 'favourite' place before I met my pm session... it was a 1-1 session with a critical care lungs and airways specialist doc. Quite incredible some of his stories from the past few years he came up with. So we worked on his normal piste technique on reds and then did some moguls. There was definately a 'splat du season' award to him as on one mogul (as he was getting tired later on) he managed to double eject quite spectacularly - we did have a good giggle about it.

After work we had a quick TDC team beer in Blue Note for an hour before I collected Ben from kids club again and headed home where my best buddy then came for a quick cuppa and catch up. Before too long we had to get a (better but not 100% yet) Olivia into bed and a very tired Ben too.

Tomorrow is a new day and I have a busy one.

TTFN

P.S saw these today - hope they may help someone

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I sometimes wonder what type of people we are sharing the slopes with. This afternoon I went into the gents at the top of the Olympic. Somebody had clearly had a nose bleed. The basin, tap and soap dispenser were all heavily splattered with blood and a big clump of blood soaked tissues had been left next to the basin. All left for someone else to clear up. How in anyway is that acceptable behaviour? Mad

Sorry for sharing, but it is just disgusting.

After all it is free

Ski lots - that is pretty horrendous that really is. As you say makes you wonder.

....and have less intermidiots on big flappy skis going in straight lines waving their arms about

I borrowed that quote from Chocksway on his thread - really made me chuckle! I actually nearly always see these 'intermidiots' trying to out do other 'intermidiots' with who can pretend to be the best/worse on the slope at anyone time... seeing whether they can race each other at 10000mph into the ski line, braking as hard at the last second as possible and wondering why its sheet ice etc. Then proceeding to compare p***s sizes by reviewing GoPro footage on the lift talking about how many avalanches they have outrun in the process! Had the unfortunate experience of being the only other person on the Tommeuse lift with 2 other 'lets strap a nightclub to our rucksacks and play music as loudly as possible so everyone is deafened' travellers. I almost considered my options for a moment when the lift stopped for a moment half way up.

Anyway Mr Grump out....

Olivia was back at school today so it was a more normal start to the day. With the temps lower but without (it would seem) a breeze I had to make a decision on layering and went down a layer from yesterday - still not sure if that was a good idea!

Anyway I met my team but we had one extra attendee today and she needed to sort her pass out before we got going! So when we finally got going the plan was to work on moguls so we headed towards Tommeuse. When you are teaching moguls you have to be a little careful that you dont let people get too tired as its pretty intense and full on. So we had a fun and successful session so it was a perfect introduction for them! Bravo.

At lunchtime I went to the usual place under the Sun Bar and low and behold one of my colleagues was there... I thought he had a dead child with him but it turned out he was just sleeping. His little charge had fallen asleep when he popped to the loo mid lesson and despite waking him up for a little more skiing had fallen asleep for a second time so my colleague thought it best to let him sleep for the second time as there was only a few mins left of the lesson.... however the parents were running late to pick him up anyway so my colleague was twiddling his thumbs waiting! Doh. Made me chuckle.

The afternoon I was with my seasonnaires and the plan had always been for moguls with them so it was a very similar pm session to the am (just with more and different people at a slightly lower standard than the am). The full crew were there and we had some fun and also some fun falls were had too! The pistes seemed to be bonkers busy though... maybe thats because it is the Tommeuse area on a sunny afternoon! They certainly have plenty of homework of things to practice by themselves!

After work (it got mighty cold at the end of the day so I got a little chilly) I headed home and Clare was off out doing a marathon 3 hour massage (yes I know!) so I had a long list of things to do like get the kids sorted for bed, feed them and all the rest! Im shattered now!

Tomorrow I will have a totally different day as need to go get our car (French equivalent of) MOT'ed and then collect a new oven I have ordered, oh and also collect a large food shop.... phew could be a busy one!

Weatherwise the sun continues to shine, the pistes are firming up more and more now and you gotta walking quite far to get freshies. Whilst the temps stay low the snow quality itself remains good. Lets hope we get some snow before half them but its not looking hopeful at the moment.

Finally an advert (again):

---------------------------------
Thursday 2nd March is the new date I am running a Bonneval heli day trip. Circa €300 all in for the day (just need to get the touring gear if you dont have it of course already and buy a half day lift pass for Bonneval when we are down there) for guiding and the heli. Drop me a pm if you might be keen.
---------------------------------

TTFN

The valley cloud soon burnt off this morning.

NOT today.... but I haven't got any snowy / mountainy pics from today!

Admin

I have been absolutely no where near my ski boots today.... so the update will be practical to put it mildly.

Yea it was one of those days I just gotta do admin. It started with getting the kids out the door and on the bus and then I managed to get the old broken oven out, record my TDC weekly snow report and run a couple small errands about the house before heading off down the valley. At least the sun was shining and roads were clear.

First stop was to dump the old oven and then it was on to Moutiers for the cars MOT. In France the CT as they call it is only due once every 2 years. You go to a specialist test centre that only does CT checks. So anyway I nervously waited (I was only nervous as was just waiting for something to crop up and stuff the CT up) but apart from a couple of minors it passed just fine - phew.

By now it was nearly midday so headed further down the valley to Albertville. I had a cheeky McDonalds for lunch (blimey prices have shot up!) and then made sure I was waiting outside Conforama when the doors opened after lunch! I had ordered this blooming oven 10 days ago and I can't believe it actually took the equivalent of Currys or Dixons of France to get a very cheap and simple oven in stock for me to collect! 10 days but just in the nick of time it is now in stock and ready for collection.

So I collected that and then it was back up the Tarantaise to Super U for the click and collect and then into the shop to do a top up shop of things you can't buy online.

By the time I left there it was already 1700. The drive up could not have been easier and then I had to get all the shopping and the oven out and away. That all takes a long time and then it was to put the car away. So as you can imagine im now shattered.

Thats about all there is to say for now. Tomorrow I am basically on kid duty so another day out of ski boots... Ben has asked if he can help me install the oven so I will be doing that at some point too.

TTFN

A slightly more detailed version of what I posted the other day

And just remember this!

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We have a new oven

It has been a very chilled day. It started with a nice cuddle in bed from Ben and then a pretty chilled start. Ben and I were at home as Clare headed out to teach and Olivia went to ski club. With the house nice and quiet again I had a chilled morning with Ben and did some jobs including installing the new oven - yay! We of course watched the ski racing from Chamonix too.

Ben and I headed out into the sun to go collect Olivia from club and it just happened that Clares lesson finished a wee bit early so we could all get back home and kids fed together!

Ben got invited to have an ice skate with a friend whilst Olivia was still out with ski club. I got a few bits done at home but otherwise it was a very chilled day.

So being the start of school hols here Olivia is skiing all week whilst Ben is doing bits and bobs. Olivia will be skiing tomorrow but as I haven't been booked by the looks of things I will have a morning with Ben I think. Haha

The sun continues to shine and its the calm before the storm with the holiday makers starting to arrive. But it looks like it might be a little colder this coming week again.

TTFN

Sure was another lovely day out there

A pro photographer snapped some good pics of my daughter racing in La Rosiere last weekend...

Help!!

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

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