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

A snowHead

Awesome and exciting

As Olivia slept in my bed and I slept in hers it was not too bad a sleep in the end... I think that is the complete tour of the bedrooms complete in this household now - definately prefer my own bed thats for sure. The biggest pain in the **** with her bed is that it is a raised loft bed thing - well getting in and out especially to spend a penny in the middle of the night is somewhat painful! Doh!

Anyway at daybreak we had excitement as it has snowed overnight... well all of about 2cm but that is better than nothing and there is definately weather coming down the line - eeeek! It remained a mix of cloud and sunshine all day after the snowfall petered out mid morning!

I dropped the kids on the school bus and spent the morning doing bits and pieces around the flat... trying to sort out someone to come around to move some serious amounts of AV kit from our roof space before we start the works this Summer. The AV kit up there makes NASA HQ look like childs play - eeek! Lots of phone calls too I needed to make.... a pretty successful morning really. Oh and I also recorded my weekly TDC snow report too... phew what a morning.

The main event of the afternoon was our builder (Andreas Bjorkland for those who know will know who that is) popping around for a proper catch up and looking into the details of the works for this Summer and he also brought around his architect. There was a LOT of measuring and chatting and exchanging of ideas and talking through plenty of the logistics of it all. Anyway two hours later we were all happy and Clare (who came home from work half way through it all) and I are very excited - yay!

The only bad thing of the day was that I got a message from the management company of our block in town where we have a little rental place... anyway seems there was a bit of a leak. I headed up there to check it out, meet the management company rep and also our tenants and now trying to contact some plumbers to try and sort it all out!

I collected Olivia and, you, here I am back writing this.

Tomorrow I am working in the morning and then heading down the valley for a food shop in the afternoon... that just leaves Saturday before Feb HT carnage starts.

TTFN

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

Good to hear you've had more snow!

We're coming over again March 9th for a week.

Just out of interest though - have someone in our village who is looking to go out in the next few days/week until the end of the season. Anyone know of any accommodation that is decent? or a spare room to rent? He's 20.

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

@eps, Contact Paul or Debbie at Mountain Rooms. They have a large selection of seasonal accommodation and someone may be trying to get out their contract mid way through the season due injury or running out of funds.
I can also ask our daughter if she's aware of anything.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Cheers @muppet!

You'll need to Register first of course.

eps - as muppet says - you can also try Clare and Piers at SkiPierdor too. Also tell them to join the various Facebook groups specific to Val d'Isere and put their request on there - something will come up im sure! With the 90 day rule these days there are usually plenty of people needing to swap out mid season. Good luck

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

Powder

The day started by realising that it had actually snowed out there overnight - not a lot but something and the clouds and weather were looking pretty un-inviting! And then a message popped through to say that the school bus was delayed as there was an accident on the road where the bus comes from and would be late.... so we hatched a plan where Clare would take the kids to school. It was rush, rush, rush!

No sooner had we sprung into action but it turned out that the bus was back on time - stand down!

Anyway I got to the meeting point and got ready for my off piste morning! As soon as my client arrived it was back to the banter we finished with last year... we have such a laugh skiing together off piste each year and it was set to be again today! I have again tomorrow morning so looking forward to that too!

After kitting up we headed up into the clouds and gloom to see what the snow was like as it was trying to snow in town - or was it rain - it was close! The snow was pretty darn decent up the Solaise I was most surprised but there was not much fresh snow unfortunately. I decided to head at speed over to the Grand Vallon and with the clouds etc was pleasantly surprised that they are trying to part and the light snow that had fallen left us with a nice cushion over the chalk from previous days... game on. I posted a video on insta a while ago - quite surprised as there was about 10cm of nice snow out there on sheltered little bits as there was a decent wind blowing! We were literally the ONLY people in there too... yay! It was so decent and with the light improving we went around for a second helping.

After that the weather was improving even more so I gambled and went upstairs to have a go at the Pays Desert... heading up there with the wind blowing through the Col I did think I might have bitten off more than I could but the wind was non existent really on the Pays Desert itself and apart from about a 100m vertical foggy first bit it was amazing by the time we got lower down... place to ourself literally and about 15cm of nice snow.... everyone was stoked!

I got home and had a very quick turn around before heading to Bourg for a big food shop... we have not been for a month! Anyway we spent a LOT on the click and collect before I then went in and spent another couple of hundred euros - we should however now have enough to last us until March and through the school hols!

So this evening has been spent bringing that up and putting that all away and then getting the kids ready for bed. Knackered now - haha!

Working in the am tomorrow and then the pm off - weather could be interesting. Sunday I start first of 7 days full days teaching - eeek.

TTFN

Weather came and went somewhat

Not something you see that often - the pisteurs (under the Vallon gondola hence the tint in the photo as was taken out the window!) practicing with a RECCO receiver - the guy operating it is wearing the high vis... only seen a receiver once or twice before let alone being played with.

After all it is free

@Steve Angus,

Isn't the RECCO system limited in it's usefulness because the detectors aren't carried by skiers or snowboarders. I can't see the RECCO detector/receiver in your photo but I believe they are fairly bulky in comparison with modern transceivers.

Many years ago RECCO was advertised as a useful feature when RECCO "reflectors" were sewn into clothing. I no longer have any clothing with RECCO. Anyone buying clothing with RECCO may be lulled into a false sense of security thinking that they have something which will "protect" them when skiing/boarding off piste.

@welshflyer, The Recco receivers I have seen look bulky - he looked a bit like an ice cream seller in a cinema tbh! I believe there is also a variant that can be fitted to a helo for a wide area search.

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

I have heard that the main use of the Recco system is for locating dead bodies. It is no substitute for a transceiver.

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

Hi all

Not weather related so apologies but wanting to pick the brains of the Val experts. We are heading there mid march and our accommodation is a 10 minute walk to the lifts. Are there any ski lockers for rent around the front de neige area? Don't mind the walk, but just ideally not in ski boots.
Failing that, can anyone recommend a ski hire shop as a couple of us need to hire some planks as well that have storage?

Cheers!

snow reports

@Fridge03, How close to a bus stop are you? It's frequent are free: https://www.valdisere.com/en/village-guide/getting-around/free-shuttles/ (unless, it seems you need to be somewhere at 7am on a Sunday)

@eps,
Try Chalets Chardons in Tignes - think they do long term accommodation (Chalet Hattiers?).

You know it makes sense.

@Fridge03, Snowberry slopeside (Rond Point) I think were advertising ski storage even if you don’t hire ski from them.

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

welshflyer - pretty much 'totally' what you say there and ditto agree totally with chocksaway and john2, Bit like avalanche sniffer dogs generally are sniffing out dead bodies unfortunately!

Fridge03 - thats OK.... yes as muppet says best bet is Snowberry slope side but as mtsuit - I bet you will be close to the free bus network therefore dont need storage lockers really!

A snowHead

Sniffing powder

We didnt really get any new snow overnight - not really and it was also nowhere near as cold as it was supposed to be - hey ho. With both kids to get to Club this morning Clare was on the case with that and I picked up all the other jobs that needed doing like washing up and getting the laundry out - ah the joys of life. Its interesting as everyone sort of assumes that the life of a ski instructor and living in a ski resort is all the 'glamour' and apres and all the rest of it.... well it has its moment but as everyone else is in holiday mode we are well and truly in 'normal' and 'work' mode! I laugh when a client asks for apres recommendations etc.... as if I get out to apres often!

Anyway at the meeting point it was looking like it could be a tricky one up there with the wind! As it turned out the wind was bad enough that the Solaise and Fornet / Pissaillas was totally closed... however Bellevarde side seemed OK it was weird!

So the hunt to sniff out pow was on. Under pisteurs, spatule, baby spatule amongst others and anything above the tree line (because of a lack of refreeze overnight unfortunately) and north / north-west was game on. We had a really fun morning with just enough vis to enjoy it all. Excellent.

Lunchtime was hectic as Clare has started her 10 days Feb HT all day everyday booking so it was all on me. I collected the kids, got them home, got lunch sorted for us all, sorted there clothes and ski stuff out for the pm and filled their pockets with snacks, got them redressed again, and finally got them back to the meeting point for the pm Club session - phew!

So this afternoon I like to think I have put my feet up but I haven't... washed up, tidied up, put my skis away, hunted through the ski cave for Clares mums skis and ski clothes (she is coming next week as an extra pair of hands to help out thankfully) and other jobs! Oh and watched the ski racing on Eurosport I had recorded!

Now Ben is at a friends for a short couple hours play, Olivia has done some GS training on the Raye piste down into La Daille this pm and is now comatose'ed in front of the TV chilling, Clare is making a Lasagne for dinner, im typing and we are gearing up for the first day of chaos tomorrow morning as the Feb HT starts. Wish us luck.

Meanwhile the weather is attempting to blend, snow, sun, wind, vis and no vis and will continue like that. At least the pistes are getting a nice freshen up.

TTFN

Spot my daughter in there (NB I cant!)

A snowHead

Welcome to carnage

The kids only needed to get sorted to head to kids club today (a day out of ski boots for them) and I needed to be up in town quite early to chat with a colleague re comparing notes ahead of us both starting out on a weeks worth of lessons with the same family... im all day every day with them.

So with the weather looking quite snowy but not too cold out there I headed out into the snow - eeek!

There was a few cms of lovely soft fresh snow but not really enough (well at the start of the morning anyway!) to make a huge difference!

So I met my colleague and had a good chat about how we would work the day (well morning as a starter) between us for the 3 kids (9, 7 and 6) between us. You can tell its school holidays as its just overly busy with hectic everywhere. The buses are rammed from the start of the day with parents trying to get kids to the meeting points, people walking around aimlessly looking for their instructor, queues building up long before lifts open.... well that last one is more likely to be apparent tomorrow after everyone has gotten kit sorted and found their bearings etc!

So it was a 'big' day for me today.... having spent the last 17 years ALWAYS skiing with the very same family and watching the kids grow from barely out of nappies to now enrolled in University it was the time when they now no longer need to come at Feb HT.... instead I started with what I hope will be a new 'regular' family year after year. The kids as mentioned above are quite young but the main thing is that the parents have invested in a chalet out there so with some luck they will become repeat clients for many a year to come. One of the advantages of all day bookings especially in school hols is that you can manipulate the time of the day to make sure you dont have to spend hours in lift queues and (for example) ski during lunch time by taking lunch early or late. Building that relationship (with any client) over the days, weeks, months and years and seeing people is what makes this job special.... as I always say to people its not really WHAT you teach but WHO you teach! Of the many thousands of people I have taught over the years its the persons that stick in my mind for the most part.

So quite a nostalgic start to the day and then we were off..... such a lovely young family and we headed up Solaise and into the gloom. We played lots of games and even did a little lap on the Madeline... well done G.

However you are reminded of the chaos when we stopped at the Lounge for a hot choc break and it was sitting on the floor only space!

At lunchtime we swapped with the nanny and the Dad rendezvoused with me and I took him for a blast about and we worked on some short radius turns and the clouds were trying to part - game on. By this time the snow had left a decent amount of coverage on the pistes and the off piste was looking soooo good. I might take the Dad off piste tomorrow - we shall see. His mate and wife are flying in today to stay in their chalet so not sure who I will ski with tomorrow in the afternoon! We had done decent hour of technique before he announced he wanted a 'proper' lunch so we got a late table at the new Plage Ouilette restaurant. It was excellent and very nice to stop for a proper break. However after lunch he announced he was done so we did a little ski home and called it a day.

I collected the kids and spent the rest of the day at home.... equally mentally chilling but also getting ready for tomorrow... our kids have another week of school left before the holidays start. Eeek.

It will be even busier out there tomorrow - wish me luck! It will certainly be lovely piste conditions as the snow has continued to fall all day. However the weather will improve tomorrow and over the next few days!

You'd have thought this week was the preserve of the super rich or otherwise this week when you see the prices HOWEVER there are nearly 1000 Danish students in town this week (how?!) so things will get spicy in places like the Folie later this week im sure. In fact the Danes are good as they bring 2 of their own policeman with them to help keep control of them all - sensible!

TTFN

What a sign in the loo's at the Plage Ouillette!

This was about the best weather of the morning.... it was mainly like this...

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

With daughter and son and son’s friend and we stayed together as a group all day. We were out from 9.30 with some Sun peeking through a couple of times. We trekked over to Tignes 1550 after an early lunch stop in Val Claret. At one point on Grand Huit we couldn’t even see the next lift support when riding up and then a few minutes later on Aiguille piercee we had sun, then blizzard. Most…enjoyable as it meant the slopes were nearly empty..

Saw actual carnage. One French chap went over badly on Dielbold and was saying he’s got a broken leg. First aid qualified son leaps into action and is sceptical but we set up the crossed skis until chap’s friends arrive. Five mins earlier we’d seen someone being taken down Fontaine Froid on a stretcher and a few mins later saw someone else stretchered down Creux as we took Tommeuses. And saw plenty of half term Hero’s going too fast and then crashing over on bumpy pistes in bad light.

Oh well.

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

It’s busy for sure this week and the prices have gone up noticeably this year compared to last year, €11 a pint at Le Levanna in Tignes, €26 for a cheeseburger in L’Escale Blanche… all in it is probably going to be an €8,000 week when all is totted up (no flights) but the demand is there. Beans on toast for a while when we get home afterwards

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

A wolf was seen yesterday evening by the Funival.

I was wondering how it could afford to stay in Val d'isere and then I concluded that there were rich pickings there at half term.

You'll need to Register first of course.

@Steve Angus,

Yes, the sign for the loos in La PLage are amusing.

In the Dolomites I used a urinal which had a video screen built into it. The video was advertising large plant equipment used to produce wooden pellets for heating boilers from tree plantations !!

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

AndrewBailey - sounds adventurous first day!
raino - the demand is certainly there! Its NOT a cheap sport thats for sure!
welshflyer - its a Val d'Isere wolf!!! Only rare steak it'll eat

.... as for the unrinal.... pity there isnt tv programs being shown - make good use of your time and all that!

After all it is free

Bluebird

Last week of term for the kids so it was the usual 0630 start and getting them on the school bus before getting ready myself! It was certainly a lot colder this morning but the sun had returned and with the freshen up of the slopes - game on.

After the Sunday arrivals yesterday it was always going to be a lot busier out there today than yesterday and of course millions of kids to get to their various lessons in the right place at the right time! For those who could get up the mountain first thing at 0850 it will have been some lovely pow turns to start the week!

We met slightly later because of a technical issue bringing their gear to the slopes by their driver - whoops but by the time we were ready to go the queues had really built up! Whoops! Anyway with the days plans sorted we headed off. My colleague decided to work on the Village with the kids despite some sore feet for one of them... meanwhile I headed up a saturated Olympic lift, walked down the steps and headed down the Collet to Grand Pre.... being there early (most people do the Borsat lap to get there!) we got 2 laps in before it got busy! G loved playing some of my new games I had for her today.... aeroplanes was particularly popular - awesome!

Anyway hot choc stop at Empreiente Avaline was welcome to warm up and enjoy a sit down then we did baby croc alley.... but then we needed to head 'into the wind' which meant going up Fontaine Froid and getting down 'that slope' before enjoying a quiet Verte piste. The fun run was popular and then she did really well decending to Mont Blanc chair down the steeps above Folie.... a final little flutter on little croc valley she loved and finally we made it back to Folie for lunch! They had a table booked in Cocacinos (cant spell but the new place inside) but we had a wait as all the others were delayed but it meant G and I could watch the entertainments and since she wants to be a dancer when she grows up - she loved watching!

Lunch was awesome and the Italian Chicken I had was one of the best meals I have ever had - it was amazing! But not cheap!

After lunch I took some of the adults and the other families teenage kids for a spin and it was apparent that all they really wanted to do was ski and down via the Face so thats what we did... not a lot of teaching time but I managed to get some tips and focuses into their skiing pretty quickly on the descent down a slippy Face! Game on!

And that was it for the days skiing.... off home and a cuppa before the parenting duties start.... ahhh im exhausted now!

So Clares brother is in town this week and as well as that Clares mum arrives tomorrow to sleep on our sofa and being that extra pair of hands.... tomorrow is the torchlit descent (im not doing) and im taking the kids up to watch that before we all head out to dinner to celebrate the in-laws birthday.... what im trying to say is that the write up might be late tomorrow night - we shall see!

TTFN

I love the sun just licking the mountain tops first thing in the am!

Looking ace!

Mmmmm the desert table offerings at the Empreinte for morning hot choc!

Brains of X country - this lady stopped right in the middle of the bottom of the steep descent down towards the Folie with her two kids (just before the photo was taken) lying in the snow - I mean hello no wonder accidents happen!

The Italian Chicken - incredible!

Good tip on Collet. Didn’t even see that on the map! We’re with a snowboarder this year who is still learning.
We “did” Le Fornet and Solaise today to try to get away from crowds. Much better skiing than yesterday and quieter than our first runs where we had a huge wait for Borsat etc. The sunshine brought everyone out.

Sight of the day. Dad taking young son down plan M at 2.30 and son being barely in control. The huge bumps down near the bottom were the poor kid’s undoing and he lost both skis and slid. We were worried he was injured to be honest. Never good to see kids being pushed beyond ability and having an accident.

Body count today - 4 stretchers going down. 2 in 15 minutes when sat at Trifollet having coffee at 11.30

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

Interesting, we've always done Collet to Grand Pre to loop it a few times as our warm up if going up the Olympique. Would never loop to Borsat first, that comes later. Maybe that's why we've always loved it Very Happy

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

snow reports

A couple of quick questions for Val d'Isere locals.

Are any of the local ski shops likely to sell an Edgie Wedgie? Youngest family member is struggling to hold her snowplough.

Any recent experience of Le Garage. I was going to recommend it to the family. (2 adults and 2 youngsters and they're staying close by.) But some of the recent reviews are absolutely dire. Mainly about rudeness and attitude from staff. Plus it seems that if you have an early evening booking, you're likely to get turfed out to allow the 2nd evening sitting to take your place. Appreciate that this is probably THE busiest week of the Season but any feedback is welcome.

I’m here for Steve’s stories but our today had 3 points of interest. Took bus to start day in Solaise. In the gondola my son announces he’d like to go to Tignes. Puzzled

After a very late lunch in Tignes 2100 (the place which has furs and naked flames for reclette) my son announces he’d like to try Oeillet, an unbashed black. I foolishly decide to go with him. On arriving at the bottom he said ‘well we are not doing that again’. I was minded to agree. Given he happily skied down Face/Olympique at the end of the day I’ll leave you to imagine how little fun we had.

You know it makes sense.

@GeorgeVII, Garage is normally good. Two sittings is a standard practice in France (not just the Alps), so shouldn't be a great surprise but no less annoying I agree. It is extremely busy this week and the restaurants need to capitalise to make up for the quiet weeks. Try La source, Lodge or Taverne d'Alsase, all very reliable.

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

AndrewBailey - sounds like the body count follows you around! Doh stay safe! Otherwise it seems like you are getting around and enjoying the slopes!
dunc999 - the Collet is a very strange run - never sure why it is a blue - a fresh alternative to the usual under grading for many other instances in the resort.
Fridge03 - all OK. Glad could help
GeorgeVII - ski shops selling Edgie Wedgies - hmmmm dont think so no but if anywhere would it would be the big Intersport by the Arctic cafe near the main bus station. Le Garage - never had a bad word to say about it but that could be just luck or whatever. Yes re the 2nd sitting thing though.

A snowHead

Batman on the slopes

I woke up more tired than when I went to bed last night. With the sun shining and it being chilly it was a repeat of yesterday for the most part.

They were a little late at the meet point so managed to fit in a coffee before work which is rare!

Anyway when we finally got going after adjusting the skis again as they have beeb problematic this week - NB never rent ski equipment from Oxygene - completely rubbish gear, set up badly, no customer service and follow up and being paid lip service from the owner. Rant over! We headed up the two chairs and over towards Grand Pre again!

The conditions were wonderful once again! Sun shining and perfect snow - nice!

Got the shock of my life at top of Grand Pre as, being Mardi Gras day the lifties amongst others could dress up... so the guy up there was dressed as a very good Batman!

We had a really nice ski around up there and played some fun games - the kids had a whale of a time!

Lunch was taken at the Yule in town so we needed to download and get there which we did and enjoyed a lovely lunch in the Sunshine - it was pretty warm!

The afternoon I had two of the kids again and after a couple of request runs on the Savonnettes we headed up Solaise and enjoyed some good runs of Madeleine.

It was all systems go after work as Clares mum arrived (Happy Birthday!) and the kids got back home from school - excitement as plenty of goodies from her for the kids! Then we headed to town and watched Clare do the torchlit descent and I bumped into my clients too. It was good watching as usual!

Finally after all that we met up with Clares brother who is also in town on holiday with his family and had a good meal at La Source.

Sorry a really quick update this evening as my eyes can barely stay open.

Final thing to say is that there was a great ski racing result over the weekend for our neighbours son Jackson who won the U12 cup in the Taranataise Valley - congrats!

Right need to sleep. More of the same tomorrow.

TTFN

Pic from Radio Val d'Isere

A snowHead

A veil of clouds

This morning was a very leisurely start... didnt really need to get up early at all mainly because Clares mum was taking the kids all day... how nice!

What's more the kids were ready to roll at the meeting point on time so we were off.... however the other instructor im working with unfortunately had forgotten her lift pass so I had to get all the kids up the mountain before she caught up with us - doh!

We had a change of instructor / kids this morning so I had the two younger ones and my colleague took the older one... like has been the case in previous days we lapped on Grand Pre... had hot chocolate break altogether and ultimately headed back to town at the same time as lunch was taken at the Blizzard hotel. That was an interesting place to have lunch - mainly in getting the kids there and away after... not to mention that a certain ski hire company that does chalet visits that have provided the WORST quality kit this week (no names Oxygene!) that has bordered on junk / dangerous / a p*ss take... finally came after lunch to the hotel to swap ski boots for the kid im teaching. The boots she had were SO bad you could barely do them up so her ankle was moving around inside the boot!

Anyway we had a nice lunch in the Sun outside on the decking and by the swimming pool (slightly strange eating in ski boots next to that).

The afternoon I took a couple of the kids and a couple of parents to have a ski altogether and the kids wanted to show the adults what they could do so once again we ended up on the Grand Pre (blimey ive spent a LOT of time on there of recent!).

So this evening I literally got back from skiing, got my boots off then had to head into town to go to the place we rent out as we had a small leak in the bathroom that needed sorting. Phew thats that job done!

Getting the kids into bed was quite easy this evening as they had a very full and fun day with the mother in law.... but its back to school tomorrow.

Meanwhile the mountain remains busy and some of the queues are pretty incredible out there.... I wasnt there but the Tommeuse lift had an issue yesterday and they had to shut it for about 30 mins so the queues for the funi as well as Mont Blanc were apparently horrendous!

Also yesterday there was a bad accident with someone going too fast across the Datcha flats... as usual people carrying too much speed and thinking speed is an indication of skill and in this case the person swerving to avoid someone and getting their comeuppance and decking themselves! But if its not that nutter it was others following tracks to nowhere and 3 people needing rescuing from the colour from nowhere - doh!

Anyway tomorrow is going to be a carbon copy of today! There was a veil of clouds moving in this evening so it might be slightly different tomorrow but not sure!

Could NOT get the ski boots any tighter than this yet can still slide my hand all the way down!

TTFN

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

Wow. That’s some poor service! The boot fitter visited and gave what they had right there I assume.

We didn’t get to Grand Pret today but did take Collette to Fontaine Froid and then gondola down. My daughter had a lesson with Evolution2 who seemed very helpful. Instructor said she is very good, well balanced but not enough weight on the outer ski as she leans up hill on turns. She managed Germain Marty’s nicely afterwards so seems to have improved.

She has two hours tomorrow so that’ll probably be her exhausted. And I’ve booked my 18yo son a lesson to tackle moguls so I’ll probably tag along for 30 mins before collapsing in a heap. That’s if my strained thigh recovers. Popped out of my left binding whilst racing my son down an empty blue. Hard to stay upright at speed with one ski on so I didn’t. We didn’t see anyone being sledded down though.

Apres crowd out in force tonight I saw.

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

Jeez how did.the.poor kid ski in those boots. Skis would be all over the shop

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

AndrewBailey - Yea I think it was a grab and drop thing by the ski service! Hope the lessons continue to be good!
Frosty the Snowman - it was tricky for her yea!

Cloudy but warm

With the grandmother in town it does make things easier!!! She was able to do the bus drop this morning.... this meant I was able to get to the meeting point nice and early and record my weekly snow report! Phew! Doing it does take a lot longer than you think... there is the planning.... the practising (one take in about 70/80 secs), re-taking when there is interruptions (like a piste basher making a din as it came past today!), or if make a mistake etc. Anyway takes abouts 30 mins usually and get there in the end!

So with that ticked off and a few clouds floating about but with pretty Spring like temps it was time to meet the team. With one of the three kids ill it was just two kids between 2 instructors so we set off. Lunch was booked at the Fruitiere at the Folie so we had to head Bellevarde way once again. By this stage of the week everyone is pretty clued up to understand that you can take the two chairs in order to get up the mountain instead of waiting in line for the Olympic.... so we did the double and instead of Grand Pre today we headed Verte direction and spent some time on the Borsat lift. I had the little one and we enjoyed ourselves massively - doing lots of fun things! We ended up taking an early hot choc break at Marmottes and for those who dont know that (along with the old Bellevarde back in the day) was an awesome place to stop... why well because it was so nice to see other instructors and say hi... so many of us are teaching kids and working that you always see someone to catch up with and have a nice chat with! Today was no exception seeing a couple of colleagues - one in particular not seen to speak to for a couple of years now... the other was our very own Flossy Cockle!

Anyway with that done we enjoyed some more skiing and the only glitch in the day came at the Fontaine Froid as I got my timings wrong so arrived just as tonnes of Oxygene / ESF and EV2 groups were all arriving at the same time with their hoards of kids so we decided to join the public line - in itself that would not be an issue even at school hols BUT the problem was that Santons was closed from the offset this morning because the freezing level was too high I guess... however as we neared the front of the queue I noticed that the pisteurs actually opened the run up - intriguing! Clare told me it was closed again later this afternoon - weird!

So anyway we arrived at lunch to find out that some of the adults had decided to ski to Brev and were going to be VERY late. Furthermore when we got there there had been a muck up on the reservations front and there was no table for us but we pulled the instructor strings and got a table for 10 (yea I know!) in the sun by the stage (queue 2 hours later deaf ears!). Ultimately I sorted the kids out with some kids lunch and waited for some adults... by the time a few had arrived, we had ordered, it had been delivered AND we had eaten it all... half the adults STILL had not arrived! Eeek!

Ultimately the whole cabaret show was well and truly in full swing and the 'party' had started by the time we left lunch at nearly 3 o'clock! Yes I know 2.5 hours there - quite a while! By this time and having done a long morning etc non of the adults wanted to ski and the kids were done too so all we did was download and the kids went home etc with the parents!

So I got a decent amount of time off this afternoon!

Again Clares mum has done the kid jobs this afternoon and evening so it has been a jolly relaxing day overall from about 1500 onwards!!

The weather will be cloudy again tomorrow with high temps still.

In local news today was the day that Val d'Isere was supposed to find out from a French perspective if they would be included in the technical events for hosting the Winter Olympics in 2030 - not heard anything as of yet so dar so maybe some info tomorrow am!

Also there was a technical problem with the Madeleine lift as well as Laisenant Express yesterday afternoon and both had issues which means they stopped for about 20-30 mins - the knock on effect meant that the Solaise was late shutting down yesterday - at least it was not cold in the sun yesterday afternoon! Haha!

Finally there are some figures released in detail as to attendance figures so far this season and they make interesting reading... So outside of school holidays in January the numbers of persons using the lifts was about 4% down BUT when you include all the school holiday periods the season is 8% UP - quite intriguing! One thing this means is that school holiday prices might go even further up!!!!

Anyway TTFN folks.

Wolf spotted running across the pistes in Tignes yesterday! (three small children missing!!!!)

You'll need to Register first of course.

@Steve Angus, Don’t know the exact timings but around lunch time a speed rider was heloed off the lower end of Santons, perhaps it was closed to make the area secure for the chopper.

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

After all it is free

@chocksaway,

I'm surprised a speed rider would be down Santons. If you're right I hope they're OK.

@welshflyer, A point Radio Val makes, it’s illegal to ‘speed ride’ above an open piste.

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

I do enjoy your updates Steve but I am struck by how many inconsiderate customers you have ...

TDC is not cheap , and very often booked well in advance .

Yet a lot of people are late or cock you about ...

Help!!

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

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