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

A snowHead

@Steve Angus, +1

A snowHead

Wow pretty full on!

I always forget how knackering this time of the season is... lots of pulls on your time etc. Anyway finally catching up now.

AndrewBailey - yes places can be pretty small. We have a pretty small place too for the 4 of us as a year round home, but as they say, location, location, location! Were on the left hand side of the building on the top floor actually.
Jehu & PeakyB - thanks.

So catching up on yesterday and it was certainly ground hog day weather-wise. We decided that with the sun shining / the slopes bulging with people that heading off piste to nice quiet chalky slopes was the best way forward. We even found some old and wind blown pow in places too much to my surprise! Anyway variations of 'my' route from top of Glacier Express yielded some lovely snow followed by the bus stop... all very nice. We found even better chalk off the Orientation piste. After a drinks break the Grand Vallon beckoned and what a lovely descent that was.... no one about and lovely chalk snow too. Pretty perfect really. We took lunch at the Signal at the Brasserie and were told that because of low staff numbers we could only sit outside.... hmmmm OK not to worry! However, and despite only ordering simple lunches (burger / sausages etc) it still took 45 mins for the food to arrive... diabolical service! At least it was sunny! After lunch we skied some piste and enjoyed some more of the Fornet and even did the Signal Haut and Signal Bas runs (as far as I remember these used to be red runs - however they were NEVER red runs and more black!!!!! However now they are marked as black and I would say possibly the hardest black run(s) almost in the resort... super steep). After a quick turn around at home it was off back to the clients hotel for an amazing evening of fine food and wine and nice chats. It was pretty immense... we got back very late (partly because we missed the bus by seconds and had to walk to La Daille) and Clares mum on the sofa was fast asleep so I just hit the sack too. In other news yesterday Val were reminding and warning people of the dangers of heading to the Gorge de Malpassat... already there has been some heli rescues. Doh

Lovely chalk in the Grand Vallon yesterday (and no-one about)

"Were going down there, OK?"

So today... well I felt a little jaded this morning (probably simply due to the late night and the food excesses) but the sun was shining and the plan was the kids to go to kids club, Clare was working all day and her mum would have a chilled day (Olivia and Ben had managed to get a ski in with their cousins yesterday so they were pretty happy).

I headed out to meet the team and the plan was to get to the top of the Motte so off we went. The double chair up the Bellevarde was the better and quieter option today. Of course the slopes and lifts up top were pretty messy with people but we got over there slowly and surely. The actual Motte slopes were beautfiful and of course the Double M was a top slope as always... we ended up doing it twice in the end! We took lunch at Aspen Burger and then some more slopes as we slowly made our way back to Val... everyone in the team seemed to have tired legs so we called it a slightly early day. That suited me OK.

So the kids are out for a swim (their cousins chalet has their staff day off today) at the chalet and takeaway pizza so I have a few hours to myself to catch up. Phew!

Tomorrow is supposed to be another strike day in France but we shall see how that pans out. Still no real snow is forecast / any at all... so it will be another ground hog day weather wise tomorrow!

TTFN

Quite a lot of moguls are building up now since it hasn't snowed for quite some time now... of course these remain off piste like here under Marmottes lift but those on the pistes are pisted each night (well on the main suspects anyway!

On top of the Motte (note the wind has stripped some of the snow away!)

Check out the bonkers lift lines you get during school hols (you need to look closey to see)

You get some slopes from time to time that get quieter!

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

Great pictures Steve. Love the top one of the moguls leading up to the deep blue sky under the chair. Makes me want to ski those bumps Cool

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Is this just a really busy half term? Like a lot of families missed the last 2 years and have all decided to make up for it? I recall skiing at Tignes in 2019 half term and it was busy, but not in an extreme way. Once you got away from the main points it was really quite quiet.

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@FrediKanoute, IMHO, it's busier than pre-covid years because this is the first full season post-covid. As ever thought it's down to timing. Bless the Frencies cotton socks, you can still rely on them to lunch at 12 on the dot until 2. Have a late bite 2-2.30 to allow the afternoon classes to disperse then enjoy the last hour & half until the obligatory in La Rosee Blanche.

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@FrediKanoute, We missed the last 2 years skiing so were happy to pay almost any price to get here. And pay we have…. That said I’ve not experienced queue rage and have had some nice chats in broken French on lifts. Most people seem fairly chilled at the moment. I don’t recall so many Scandinavians in the past though so maybe the Swedes and Danes have topped up the tourist tank?

After all it is free

FrediKanoute / Dr John / AndrewBailey - yes there are some quieter corner parts of the resort that's for sure! Just got to get to them / find them! I dont think its all the more busy than pre-covid not really no. But you have to remember that depending on which week OTHER parts of French are holidaying makes a difference... so with the local schools off at the moment and some Parisians its busy at present! But DEFINITELY you have to work the mountain in your favour time wise. Take a late morning hot choc stop / snack, ski through the 2 hours of lunch when its dead quiet and also make the most of the first 30 mins of the day and last 30 mins of the day and you'll get plenty of skiing in. The scandinavians point.... there are lots of scandi students in town - just bad timing for them / us I guess!

End of an era

I had a DREADFUL night sleep - initially I woke up feeling urghhh about 0300 and took me another 90 mins or so to go back to sleep and then I must have snored a LOT as Clare kept waking me up with hits as I was then keeping her awake. So I didnt really sleep from 0300 until the alarm went off at 0700. I will most def sleep well tonight as IM SHATTERED! There is definately a bug going around (as always with people coming from 4 corners of the earth, everyone going at 100mph and creamed into lifts etc) and it doesnt help that my eye has swollen up a little around the edges - exsthma I think.

Anyway today was always going to be a bitter sweet day for me.... after 17 years with the same half term family today was the day that that booking was to finish... the youngest (A) goes to university next year. They have become personal friends over the years and ill miss the booking. However I think they are finally going to put their mouth where their money is and buy a flat here and of course they still plan to come out to ski from time to time. Ill need to find a new booking for half term next year... so any young families out there want a regular instructor then ask away! Haha!

So I headed to the hotel and off we went. Whilst some of the team did a lap up the top Bellevarde I took the 'kids' and one of their girlfriends for a lap of the Face... so that was ticked off for the week (but boy its icy even at 1000!). We then did some laps around the resort and down to La Daille with a hot choc stop at the Trifollet (darn nice hot chocs there!) and we waited a little longer until the queues died down as Tommeuses looked horrendous. I always warn people that that flat area at the bottom of the Mont Blanc chair where skiers fly down from the Folie side and also down the Creux piste from the top of Tommeuse is a danger spot... today was an example as they had to bring the chopper in to a bad accident. You can imagine when that lands at that flat area at the bottom there they have a LOT of work to do to close both pistes.

Anyway we headed over towards Tignes and les Boisses and ultimately all the way down to Brev. We had a lovely ski. Just before lunch though we took a run through the fun run above Le Lac and actually managed to snap not one but two of the kids poles on the bell.... whoops! Lunch was taken at a 'new' place for me Lo Soli at the top of the Paquis lift... darn it was a yummy lunch... amazing burger! We had a couple glasses of champagne to celebrate too.... what a fitting way to finish the week!

The other thing that was happened around town today was another strike as part of the ongoing strike action across France. So from what I could see no lifts were affected (again) in Val BUT over in Tignes there was 6 lifts affected but again these were NOT vital lifts... so things like Col des Ves were shut but also the Lanches lift / Vanoise express and a few others. Ultimately I dont think there was a HUGE knock on impact but I stand to be corrected if people were badly affected out there?

With lots of hugs and handing the ski kit back to the shop and saying our goodbyes (for now) that was the end of that. Can't believe it.

So this evening the kids were knackered at home as Clares mum spoilt them with fun games and things today so getting them into bed was quite easy thankfully. Im about to have dinner then hit the sack myself!

Some photos to finish and then tomorrow I have a one off booking for the day tomorrow, Saturday I am taking Olivia and Clares mum to Tignes as Olivia has a ski race and then its back to work on the Sunday for another week!

TTFN

Sorry I got the angle wrong but you can just about see 'A's' broken just below the handle ski pole!

The new Aiguille Rouge chair takes your pic and then you can enter your email address at the top and the photo will be sent to you - quite clever eh.... so my team from this week and that of the last 17 years... so 'little' A - 2nd from left was just 2 years old when I first met him!

Stunning again!

Look very closely to the moving 'heart' tribute on the lake to my lovely and missed colleague Joe... despite the idiots that have drawn a p enis out the bottom of it!

I liked this shot of the Brev gondola going overhead!

This is WELL worth reading!

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@Steve Angus, great blog yesterday and really enjoying your updates.

Says a lot about you when a family keep returning each half term for 17 years. Must be the most challenging week of the season to get the best out of the area. I’d be proud of that!

Start pacing yourself and it won’t be too long before you’re teaching their grandkids and that’ll be another circle completed snowHead

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

@PeakyB,

snow reports

PeakyB - thank you. Yes I know I joked with them that I might end up teaching the grand children one day! Yes it is a challenging week of the season for sure but being with just the one family and not clock watching makes a it a LOT easier!
Hurtle - thank you. Yea I know im rather nostalgic about it really.

Hmmm

With the sun shining it really feels like ground hog day again. I slept well last night which also helped. The kids were off to have a ski and pic nic with their cousins and Clare was out teaching with her same family all day but of course I was onto a new booking today after yesterday!

My plan was to head to the meet point and try and fit in my mornings video recording of the weekly TDC snow report and also a live broadcast on Instagram but two things I hadn't planned for. Firstly I dropped my phone in the snow and after trying on a few occasions to record I worked out that snow was blocking the microphone - so you couldnt hear me speak.... and the other issue was loads and loads of people randomly walking into shot / talking extremely loudly at their kids etc etc! Doh. So anyway I did manage to finally record it but didnt get the live video done... have had to do that this evening instead.

When my team arrived it was a mum with her 2 teen age kids. Knew Val pretty well but quite cautious (and as it turned out quite decent too). We decided on heading up Bellevarde and worked our way around the top working on lots of different parts of the technique whilst throwing some fun things into the mix with the kids too. What I hadn't bargained for was that when we stopped for our morning break that it would end up becoming lunch break.... well a large snack break instead! My eating cycle was very confused as all the last week ive been having late and big lunches but this was a smallish and early lunch - very confused!

We continued having some technique development into the afternoon but by skiing through the lunch couple of hours we benefitted from the quieter slopes. The kids enjoyed doing some tricks, a run through the snow park, some tricks and all sorts. A very successful session.

I must admit I was rather hungry by the end after the miscommunication about the timing / plans for lunch!

What I also saw today was lots of last day shenanigans and craziness. Coming with that there is inevitably accidents etc. We saw one on the stade bonnie - a nasty one that needed several pisteurs to get the person down from the middle of the slope... a few pisteurs working together to get the person in the sled and then down. A couple of crashes on the various runs around the area too including another bad one (surprise, surprise) on the steep slope down from the top of the Olympic! What a nightmare bit of a slope that is isnt it? However the most amazing one was the entrance to monitors couloir. For those who dont know where I am talking about... well as you go up Grand Pre its the obvious little couloir to the left of the lift. Having done it before and as you get an indication from watching from the lift the traverse in is rather scary (to put it mildly). It is a very narrow path with a large drop off down cliffs below you. Once you get in the ski is really rather nice. Anyway the path is extremely narrow and someone had either slipped down off the path or decided to turn back and slipped and was perched rather worryingly above the cliff drop. Many years back someone had fallen down the cliffs there and badly injured themselves and ending up in a wheelchair! So on the first lap of the lift up the pisteurs with the persons friends were on site... probably offering advice on how to extract themselves. The second lap the person was in the same position... and the pisteurs had ropes out ready to tie the person and help them out / down.... by the third lap there was lots of trying to work out how this was actually going to work in practice and by the 4th lap (this is well after an hour now since the pisteurs had arrived!) they had obviously decided that this needed the specialists and the PGHM chopper was buzzing about with the pilot hovering as they worked out how they could winch someone down and attach themselves. Im guessing in the time the chopper set down to get ready the person decided that they did not want to pay for the rescue and somehow inched their way back to safety.... WHY oh WHY couldnt they have done that a couple of hours earlier I dont know. The chopper flew away. I just hope the person gets charged for it all!

So tomorrow I am taking Olivia to Tignes for her Super G race... another one against all the other kids from this part of the valley. So it most definately won't be a day out of ski boots.

For those on the roads tomorrow then expect horrendous queues. Best luck folks!

TTFN

Some rather large queues for the main lifts again today!

Pisteurs doing their thing to help the guy out on the stade bonnevie.

@Steve Angus, best of luck to Olivia-Tell her we’re cheering her from Yorkshire!

You know it makes sense.

Can concur about the roads… departed Tignes 0700 sharp trying to beat the traffic… 3 hours later just passing Moutiers! Add on an accident on the highway to Albertville and 5h20 to do a 2h50 normal run, ouch.

Traffic on the way up the mountain was also horrendous all the way back to Chambéry by 11am- some long drives for sure today!

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

Proud

Ben was awake far too early this morning but it was not the end of the world when you get cuddles like that. haha!

Anyway it was a busy one as I needed to be with Olivia, Ben and Clares mum at the Club des Sports at 0840 to grab Olivias freshly edged skis and head over to Tignes for race day. Meanwhile Clare was working too so it was all go. Tomorrow should be easier as Clare is out the door for 0930 and me for 0900 but Olivia and Ben are having the last chilled day before school on Monday!

All went according to plan and we blasted our way over to Tignes on the first gondola of the day... perfect. The snow conditions were perfect and it was nice to blast.... Clares mum was bringing up the slightly slower rear with Ben, Tymeo (his friend who has a sister in the club with Olivia) and his mum.

I helped with course inspection, getting the kids sorted, bags sorted, into position etc etc etc and collecting bibs etc. Olivia had bib 92 out of 108 so it was quite a long wait until she raced. Her cousins and Clares brother and sister in law made the trip over from Val and arrived to watch her race which was nice. Anyway bearing in mind it was a Super G up on the Longnan piste (and they started at the top by the top of Merles piste it was always going to be quite fast and fun for them.

I was super impressed with the racers - some really fast skiers out there from the 2013 / 14 year groups from Val / Tignes / Villaroger / St Foy and La Rosiere... ultimately Val were the fastest CS - yay perfect! However Olivia did super well on her first run... she ended up coming 31st overall... but that includes boys and all the 2013 year group... when you filter those out then she was the fastest girl from Val and (I think - there is no M / F mentioned next to names and I need to guess the sex of the kids concerned) 2nd / possibly 3rd fastest girl in total. She loved the speed of Super G.!!! Super proud.

We did some course maintenance and then it was on to the 2nd run... she had a bad start in the 2nd run and ended up coming 44 and this time I think it was about 3rd fastest Val girl and 6th fast girl overall for 2014.... However what I am most happy about is that including the first race and the slalom race last week she came right or near to the top of the table in all cases... so she is a talented little skier. Proud dad.

Prize giving saw Val CS win and the prize was LOTS of sweets - OMG lots of happy kids. It did however mean the pic pic lunch was not fully consumed. Hey Ho. So it was a late lunch and with the sun shining it was a lovely morning. I really enjoyed my ski home with her afterwards... she blasted around with me... it was really lovely actually.

The rest of the afternoon was pretty chilled as Ben got back with Clares mum as they had had a nice ski with the cousins etc this afternoon and lunch out.

With 2 tired kids there was some iPad time before Clare got home and then bath and bed time whilst the ladies slalom World Champs race was playing in the background - what a great result for Canada there.

So tomorrow im back on a new booking.

Meanwhile the resort really emptied out today BUT as many will arrive today as left... its going to be at least as busy this week as last week!

TTFN

Val are team champs again

Course inspection in full swing

A snowHead

lynnecha - thanks so very much... I told her. She was happy to know she has an international fan club already!
raino - oh dear - really sorry to hear that.... hope it panned out OK in the end!

A snowHead

Well done, Olivia!

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

Fab, loved the Instagram vidoes

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Re bug - my son was sick Tues - his friend Thurs - My daughter Sat night. And by sick I mean vomiting.

As for next year - am interested in a couple of days lessons - or half days if I can’t get for - for kids who come with me. Will PM for recommendations wink

After all it is free

"Enjoyed" my second worst ever transfer from Geneva to Tignes yesterday. 8 hours it took, thanks to the traffic and mechanical problems with the bus.

can't beat my 14 hour and 12 hour sojourns...................18 and 16

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Hurtle - thanks... yes proud! Official results are that she was 3rd fastest girl in the valley for her age.
Frosty the Snowman - ah thanks for tuning in to see.
pam w - yea the snow is pretty decent I have to say. Plenty to go round.
raino - you just have to always remember that Tignes / Val are the 'end of the valley' so not just about being ahead of the Val / Tignes traffic but also need to be ahead of all the other resorts too! I would say 0530 is a decent departure time during half term! The 10km short is the queue for the tunnel just as all the Les Arcs and La Plagne traffic joins!
Kenzie - gosh yes the snow is a whole other level of disaster!
AndrewBailey - oh dear doesnt sound pleasant!
Jehu - nightmare it really is.
Maersk - might as well just stay at home really when its that long!

Talking about all these transfer issues... Radio Val today were talking about the issue - basically once again pleading that TO's etc change to Sunday - Sunday if they can and 'why wouldnt they' type attitude... tend to agree.

Back to it

With Clare starting at 0930 and my booking starting then too it was a chilled start to the day. Even had time to have my Sunday treat of eggs on toast! Being the last full day of having Clares mum here she was to have a chilled last day with them and of course they are back to school tomorrow.

The sun was shining brightly but it was a little chilly first thing. I set off to the meet point - first time ive been there for a while it seemed. Anyway the new team arrived... its a few sessions over the next few mornings. A grown up family and some adult friends of 5 from Portugal. Luckily their English was OK but not perfect. So we worked out where they were at level wise and decided to head up Solaise. After working on Madelaine for a lap or two and building those foundations we headed to Glacier Express and then at the end a couple on Datcha. Some positive changes were made and it was a pleasant session.

At lunchtime I headed home and watched the 2nd run of the Mens Slalom from the WSC... another great watch that was... pity not only the home boy could not do the deed nor Dave Ryding but still a good watch!

The kids had had a nice walk and outside time in the morning and they had come back with some cake and nice bits for afternoon tea. Yum. We decided to put a movie on and then later I headed to Blue Note for a drink with an old school friend of mine who was in town from New York for the week... a really nice catch up for an hour or so.

Tomorrow being Monday its the start of another week - eek. I have the same lot in the morning as today and then a one off pm booking. However with Clares mum leaving tomorrow and the kids back at school we are going to have to get back into a new rhythm once again!

I was once again amazed by the first day heroes out there charing around like headless chickens... trying to establish within their little groups who has the most testosterone. Almost a competition to see how many of them can break themselves on the first day. Talking of which and having done this job for 20 years now there are some very distinct patterns you see developing at not only locations of injuries but types of injuries in certain conditions (e.g. twists often after fresh snow). Then also timings of injuries too / types of runs etc. I guess what im saying is that half the injuries out there you can see them coming a mile off.... e.g. collisions at 90 degrees at that flat area below the Folie on the way to Tommeuse etc. Another is going down the Marais piste under the Datcha... people straight lining down there when there are often slower skiers zig zagging down etc.

Interestingly a lot of slope users are not aware of their responsibilities and the requirements on them. But things like the PisteX code (look it up) are a timely reminder of what we need to be doing out there to keep us all safe... I often hear things like 'but he / she crossed in front of me so I had no choice but to crash into them' - well persons have no excuse, you need to anticipate whats possibly going to happen ahead of you.

Anyway folks stay safe out there.

TTFN

Pity that old drag lift is no longer still there for these folks walking back towards the magic carpets

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@Steve Angus, Well done Olivia and great that she got another mention on Radio Val.

Mountain Rooms have moved change over day to a Sunday this season and VIP, YSE, Neilson,HipHideouts, Le Ski are already a Sunday. It’s really the French companies that are resisting change.

Our daughters passport and long stay visa arrived back on Thursday from the embassy and she was desperate to return to Val d’Isere asap.
Luckily talked her out of a Saturday flight and transfer and booked Sunday instead. She was in a Snowdrone shared minivan and was exactly 3hrs from Geneva (then 30mins until she was in the bar rolling eyes

)

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If STVI offered cheaper 6 day lift passes for any NOT starting on a Sunday (ie for those transferring on a Saturday) it might go some way to persuading people to change habits.

Well quite a day

It was a nice snuggle with Ben this morning but the alarm went off far too early... well of course it was back to school so of course it was a rude awakening from that point of view. With Clares mum leaving today it was the last morning that we had a helping hand. Anyway it was relatively easy getting them out the door and Clares mum waved the kids off on the school bus. Clare was off to meet her lot at the chalet for the start of her week long booking and I headed to the meet point. I did a quick video broadcast but then got a message from the clients saying they were running a few mins late... I knew how this was going to pan out.... when you are a 'few mins' late to the meet point in a week like this the queue exponentially grows and a few mins turns into about 20 / 30 mins later onto the slopes. doh!

Anyway it was more than a few mins late as there was a little chaos with the kid of one of the families missing his lesson with a n other group lesson with a n other ski school! "Could he join the lesson".... "well yes of course but being a junior the method for teaching him will be different and he won't benefit / you won't benefit as much and also I dont know how he skis so on your shoulders re the split in abilities if he slows you down etc".... "he'll be OK we skied with him yesterday"..... "erm well OK".....

Well as it turned out it probably was a bad thing for him joining the group as technically he needed to be on much flatter terrain and he probably just ingrained bad practice trying to keep up with the parents but it was a case of parents seeing him tackle the same terrain as them and thus he must be 'at the same level'.... well I did try and warn them... and at the end of the day they are paying the bill!

It was hot again this morning so I took a layer off at lunchtime before getting ready for the afternoon session. The afternoon lesson was really interesting too ... a really nice anaestist from the Midlands. Trying out some more new skis and touring bindings for the first time before doing some touring later in the week we set off up the Solaise. Today it was piste technique rather than anything off piste. However after only a little warm up she stated that she was feeling ill and not quite herself... so after some time out and some water she decided that heading home would be the best course of action. So I nursed her back to her chalet and then headed home myself. So a strange and unplanned afternoon thats for sure! Hope she is feeling better this evening.

I was reflecting a little bit today on how much skiing experience and time people in generally really have when they claim to be intermediate / advanced etc... I further reflected on how much skiing my daughter has actually done in her life and where her skiing ability lies on a holistic / global sort of scale. I came to the conclusion that probably id classify her at the moment still as an intermediate.... OK sure for her age she is doing well but in terms of skills and abilities.! In her life she has skied for about 30 weeks now and can ski relatively skilfully down pisted black runs etc. After another 8 weeks or so (in total) of lessons (which is effectively what it is in the club - lessons each day) next year then she will be better still but I should think it'll be another 2 years before her overall skill level will be closer to advanced I should thing.... putting it another way... by the time she is 11 she'll have spent approx 10% of her whole life having training / lessons and then her overall skill will be advanced id say... but that will just be on piste for the most part and not off piste / freestyle (although many of the skills will transfer across).

So this made me think what would happen if I asked at random 100 members of the public to grade themselves as 'beginners' - so lets say mainly skiing / aiming to ski the green runs in a 'typical' resort, intermediates etc etc etc. I reckon you would get something like 5% beginners, 25% intermediates, 40% Advanced and 30% Expert....

How many times in a chalet has someone NOT put their hand(s) up to proclaim they are Advanced or Experts! There's an AWFUL lot of them out there!

However id say over the years and observing day in, day out I think the %'s are probably closer to:

25% beginners (as in they should probably be best on green runs as their terrain of best chance of improving technique)
70% intermediates (so were talking blue runs and 'nice' reds)
That leaves perhaps 4% advanced (so best terrain for improving and working on would be red runs and blacks).... just 1% Expert.

Of course dont get me wrong having fun is part and parcel of the attraction of the sport and pushing oneself is important but self reflection is important too.

But overall numbers on red and black runs as a persons 'sweet' spot would put the 70% (red and black) figure above about right. Sadly when I watch many 'red and black run' skiers I generally see closer to this 1:20 (5%) of the population skiing those runs as where their sweet spot is.... i.e. 19:20 or 95% probably shouldnt be on that run - certainly if they want to improve!!!! This brings this full circle to amount of experience / ability / discipline (i.e. how much time is spent engraining the stuff learnt in lessons) and the 'beginner' ' intermediate' etc.... grades. Perhaps its open to debate but is 10 weeks experience the boundary between beginner and intermediate, 50 weeks the intermediate to advanced boundary.... sounds a lot and it possibly is... If I use my own experience... I had done about 20 weeks when I did my Level 1 (predecessor 'Foundation' it was called) BASI and it was obvious I was really just an intermediate skier in reality at that point.... where am I today... well about 600 weeks I think under my belt now... not sure still have LOADS left to learn about the sport thats for sure!

Anyway on the weather news... another warm day tomorrow before perhaps a change on Wednesday but I dont think the temps are going to fall enough to allow a meaningful snowfall - could be rain at lower altitudes! Doh.

Was another lovely start to the day!

My colleague Gi doing the instructor / client chat at the meet point this am.

(Still) Rather proud of my daughter being so far up the race leader board over the weekend. Go girl. This from Radio Val write up this morning when she got a special mention by name!

Sometimes you get some 'interesting' notes on lessons you are about to take. Sometimes people give a long speil to the office about their abilities and what they want to learn in the lesson etc and sometimes you get nothing (it doesnt really matter either way really) but this one today for a colleague made me chuckle! The 'his words' bit was added by the office im guessing.

TTFN

You know it makes sense.

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

A snowHead

Last year we did an on the spur of the moment late season trip back out to Tignes to coincident with a fresh dump of powder. We did Thurs to Thurs and it was a revelation. Empty roads all the way!

A couple of weeks a go when returning to the UK, early flights meant that we had to leave our chalet at 4am(!!!!) on a Sat morning - even then I was shocked at just how busy the roads were. I was expecting it to be empty but there was a considerable amount of traffic.

We'll be doing mid-week from now on when possible.

A snowHead

@Steve Angus,
Interesting on what you say re weeks, but I'd have expanded that to hours on the mountain - how many people claim to have done a full day on the mountain when getting to the lifts 9.30/10am, a coffee break, lunch and hitting apres 3.30/4pm?
As a ski bum I reckoned to be getting 800 - 850 hours mountain time per season in Tignes (the season I worked in Meribel probably 300 hours).
Oh, and if one of the 100 randoms asked ability I'd give my standard answer - 'Fair to middling'.

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

@Steve Angus, Wow! Did you eat a scientific calculator for lunch? wink

Very well done to Olivia Very Happy

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@Steve Angus, seriously, though, your reflections on skiers (and boarders?) self perception of their ability are interesting.

Probably worth a thread on its own which I feel a lot of snowHeads would contribute to.

Sticking on here for now and using some Former Espace Killy pistes as examples, I’ll throw tuppence worth in.

I’ve never considered my skiing technique to be what I’d describe as technically good. This showed up most obviously, I think, when choosing, or accidentally encountering, large moguls. On runs of typical red grade steepness I’d be satisfied to get six or seven turns on my planned descent before having to improvise and readjust. On black mogul runs, happy to survive.

As I got more experienced I gradually accepted a few criterion for being satisfied with doing any particular run. For example:

Did I avoid putting anyone else on that bit of the mountain at risk?

Did I make good decisions about my planned route down that piste, taking conditions, crowdedness, etc into account?

Did my actual descent turn out like it was planned? Were any variations to plan justified, or the result of poor skiing by me?

Did I get into a good rhythm and flow, adjusting to take account of unforeseeable variations?

Did I get bonus point(s) for particular agility and skill at avoiding collisions, when someone else does something really stupid during the descent, eg set off across the piste without looking up the mountain first?

Did it push me to exert myself, focus well and feel a connection between brain signals and body movements?

When I’d finished, did it feel good? Did I enjoy it?

In this area I think I’ve regularly hit my sweet spot on runs like Arcelle, Double M, Sache, OK, that one down to Laisinant, Col de Vers, the one from top of Grande Motte then right turn down cul de sac ‘black’ and the one from Aiguille Percee back towards Val Claret. Sometimes, when timing is right, Face de Bellevarde.

The pistes I very rarely hit my sweet spot on include Santons, Orange, the one from Aiguille Percee down to Les Brev, the descent to Val D from Solaise, Epaule de Charvet and the steep black from mid station to base at La Fornet. Also a badly time Face de Bellevarde has been a nightmare occasionally.

I wonder what this says about my skiing? Unambitious? Complacent? Content?

I imagine your criterion defining ‘success’ or ‘improvement’ (as an instructor) would be very different to mine.

Wow! Did I eat a dictionary for breakfast?

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

@Steve Angus, Interesting post about peoples abilities - theres certainly a lot of hubris about when people "self assess" their ability !

Personally, I dont think anyone could class themselves as "expert" unless they are skiing daily as part of their job (i.e. instructors, guides, pisteurs etc).

I have been skiing since I was 13, and would still class myself as a "decent intermediate". I am 55 now and quite happy with where I am - I get an occasional lesson as a topup.

During the winter, depending on number of skiing days (either Alps or in Scotland) I absolutely improve my skills, but "advanced"? I'm not sure I would go that far.

I think some people are seduced by what they are told in lessons and there is also the apres bragging from the "slope baggers" who love to reel them off as a badge of honour - Sache in Tignes for example.

Most people would do better to under rate their skills and allow instructors to make their own mind up and formulate a plan - I guess you can usually do that within about 15 minutes anyway?

After all it is free

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