Nice Dollies pics 🙂

Off there in 3 sleeps’ time 🙂

There’s so much snow in the resort they’re trucking it out. We’re enjoying some bright, mild days till Friday then snow showers are forecast every day for over a week.

One of those perfect mornings yesterday; no wind, bright sunshine, snow tansformed enough to make my X-C skis glide nicely.

We were guided by Francesco Tremolado (proguide.it)
Knows the area like the back of his hand and wrote the local guide book. 320e a day – but well worth it.

A liitle video of the trip
http://youtu.be/iXVorhtYTp4

Quality video Nick, looks like a lot of effort went into that, thanks 🙂

Like that a lot, Nick! Looks ace!

Rather tight in a few spots, eh?

http://www.newschoolers.com/membervideo/606326.0/First-ever-quadruple-backflip-1974?s=174474

Ols skoool ossumz!

It’s here, Michael!

JFGI….! 🙂

Just got a letter from the hospital. My shoulder reconstruction is on the 13th Feb so unless I can get something for the weekend then there is no snowboarding for me this year.

How does he not have two broken legs landing like that with his bindings so tight? 😯

He’s a US based 70s skier. Therefore his body is so addled with weed, it’s more bendy than normal humans.

🙂

Sorry to hear about your shoulder, Tracey. Hope the op goes well, though..!

I didn’t take into account the weed. Maybe I should get some in for my trip to morzine in a couple of weeks, might stop me from breaking my legs again.

Good news – it’s snowed all of last night and today In Val d’Isere 🙂

Bad news – I’ve been in bed for 3 days after catching a lurgy. So only managed 2.5 days skiing altogether 🙁
Freeridenick’s photos have just made me cry.

*hugs* 🙁

I’ve been in bed for 3 days after catching a lurgy.

🙁

*Sends positive, healing waves…*

Thanks chaps.
Hubby was ill also (only one day) and another skiing pal, who’s in bed as we speak.

Update – At 2.30pmish, I felt better and decided to chance a couple of blue runs, hubby was done in, he skied through the trees and mainly off piste and I stuck to the piste, meeting up at various corners.

The snow is fantastic, not pisted on the piste (just too much snow), also hardly anyone out, so fairly empty trails.

So glad I got a few more hours in.

Is home after a week in the 3V’s.
Will update later, but a good week in very changable conditions.

well i’ve just had to cancel my trip for this year.

1) no money (3 weeks in nepal mtbing drained that pretty well)

2) split with the GF – i guess it would have lead to an awkward week!

3) new job – its **** awesome, so i’m not complaining. literately my dream job, well worth missing a ski holiday for.

the new boots and goggles will have to wait for next year (or last weekend of this season).

3) new job – its **** awesome, so i’m not complaining. literately my dream job, well worth missing a ski holiday for.

Congrats, sounds like you’re set up for next year 🙂

Spent last week in Les Menuires in the 3V .
Flew out on sat and arrived 8pm sat night. Drank a little too much and then got about 3 hrs sleep as the underfloor heating was rather too efficient.

Sunday . Sunny start so headed up to La Masse to check out the legs and the snow conditions. Was OK , off piste was rubbish though . A week of freeze / thaw had hardened up everything. After lunch the cloud rolled in and the light went flat, then it snowed .

Monday . Fresh snow everywhere , only a few inches but enough to freshen up the pistes . Link lifts closed whilst they blasted all the danger zones , but most opened up around 11am. Dropped into Meribel and had some fun up on the sides of the ridge dropping down towards Mont Vallon . Got sidetracked and went up the Cote Brun lift and decended under the lift on the powder . Its steep enough to raise the heartrate, but not enough to make you go wobbly.
A few laps then down to Mont Vallon . Again , straight off piste and into the powder . It was lovely 3-4″ and hardly anyone around.
A few laps of Mont Vallon then worked our way home on some cruisy blues and reds.

Tuesday Headed over to Corchevalski. Still pockets of powder around
but mostly tracked out. Covered some distance but didnt find anything worth repeating.

Wednesday. Sunny, so up to VT for some high altitude stuff . Was cold and windy but bright . Alot of the pistes were rock hard and any off piste was tracked out . Failed to get into the 4th valley as I was skiing with a boarder who was intermediate level , but had no confidence in letting the board run at speed so progress was steady at best.

Thursday. More snow up top , not alot but enough to make a difference. PLayed on the ridgeline between Meribel and Les Menuires , not dropping too low as it had rained lower down. Had some fun as the snow had come in late most pisted hadnt been bashed.
Dropped halfway down to St Martin de Belleville but the lower section of that piste was super hard and compacted snow. Light went flat early afternoon as the cloud moved in . so home for tae and cakes.

Friday . Rain . Pouring down from early evening Thurs , Snow level was around 2000m which is unusual for late Januaury . I wear a bin liner as a goth mini skirt when its like this . Gettin wet means getting cold , and this way I can use chair lifts to get up the mountain withoiut getting wet pants.
The links/lifts up high were closed to high winds ( 60 + kph ) so struggled to stay above the snow level. We ended up on MOnt Vallon again , as eventually they opened up the higher lifts , and they are cabins so offer some protection.
Lots of pwder everywhere but too dangerous for off piste antics. Vis was down to a few meters at times and the wind was horrendous. Stuck at it till about 1pm then binned it off. It was still raining below about 2000m

Learnt that new goggles have a tear off on the inside and the outside of the lens. Not me , I hasten to add , but the guy i was skiing with was always taking off his goggles and complaing that Bloc were rubbish . Till I offered to used the lens cloth thats inside my jacket.
” Why is the sticker that says ‘remove before use’ still stuck on?” I pulled it off and it peeled away looking rather alot like a condom, they worked alot better after that.

SkiFrance OK , food good, but needed 1/3 bigger portions more really. 3V OK but busy with transient people getting over to other areas.
Sorry to leave as it heaved it down all Fri night and was still coming down sat lunchtime. Roads well blocked due to mandatory chainage above 1500m

Looks like you had a great time Rob.

OUr hotel was fantastic with plenty of hot water, food, great staff, balcony and views of La Face (the downhill black coming into) Val D’Isere. We booked with Ski world and would do so again.

However week ruined by 3 of us getting poorly. I managed 2 full days skiing. Half a day with hard packed conditions with a friend who’s the skiing version of Hora! Then a lovely leisurely 2 easy runs on the last day, as I was still ill. But the conditions were fantastic, so I pushed myself to get out there.

Grenoble airport for departure was a chaotic shambles. Due to the amount of snow it put down through the night, coaches were late picking up. They all arrived together to check -in for several flights. Much pushing shoving and arguments breaking out it was one of the worst holiday experiences I’ve ever had at an airport.

However during the holiday it did make me smile listening to one of the ski instructors talking about the Russians coming to town. They pay lots of money to take private lessons but won’t entertain getting onto the piste before 11am. The woman wear tons of diamond jewelry and full make up. They like to take leisurely lunches and coffee breaks and not actually do too much skiing. Each to their own.

Real shame you were ill Jane. You will just have to go again 🙂

Grenoble airport is tiny and was pretty chaotic when we flew from there last year, in perfect conditions. But I really like it, as airports go, as everyone smiled. Even the security staff. And we had the most pleasant check-in assistant I have ever come across (and I am not saying that just because she complimented me on my french).

We go in less than two weeks, but we are driving this time. Cheshire to Lyon on the Friday and two and a half hours to resort on Saturday. Av is warming to the idea of hitting the slopes straight away and extending our lift passes. No russian slap here.

You riding on Thursday? I may be out and I don’t need to avoid the ringers any more :-).

Tell Av to get her best bling on.
No riding for me or J. He now has my lurgy and I’m still not well.

Have a great time in Ze Alps.

Edit: forgot to mention that the snow in Val D’Isere was bloomin’ brilliant, so you’re in for a good time 🙂

She will – new skis, boots, helmet and goggles!!

We are going to Val Cenis, just over the hill from Val D. Fresh snow there yesterday and more forecast this week 🙂

I am getting my lurgy out of the way this weekend. Won’t be riding next week as we will be getting ready for an early start on Friday. See you in a few weeks hopefully.

Jane . We were at Grenoble on Sat , from 1pm through to 6pm. The idiot ATC boys had parked a 737 where our much bigger Airbus was supposed to sit, leaving no room for it on the apron. Over 1hr for the incoming pax to wait for unloading , then we were the same 1hr delayed but we got to see most of the rugby.

If i had known you were both in VDI i would have hired a car and come over for the day. I have always been ill when staying there , or Tignes , Its called Val-de-flu. Everyone seems to get it.

I have been with Skiworld many times and mostly its been a good experience . Always paid about 1/2 brochure price though , sounds like a good veiw loooking up La Face , bet there were some ‘oooh ouch ‘ moments if it the usual blue ice on the mid section.

Am working on extracting some pixelated photos from my camera phone atm , but it wont talk nicely to the laptop. If they start talking to each other will post one up.

we only skiied La Face once, it was the warm-up first run of the day on the Monday when we’d had about 20cm of fresh overnight. Powder turns on a WC course, brilliant stuff. some pics of the week on fartbook, not many though

By 1pm on departure day, we were through customs, we eventually took off about 90 mins behind schedule. The staff might be pleasant but they couldn’t organise a pea soup in a brewery. I will actively avoid any ski holiday that requires me to fly into grenoble if there’s any alternative

enjoy VC, paul 🙂

Mont Vallon off piste slack country antics

Meh. Looks rubbish.

😉

Yep Grenoble is always a bit of a bunfight, but was very impressed with them (and Crystal) last time we went. Jnr left his Nintendo DS on the plane on the outbound flight, on talking to the rep in resort he contacted the Crystal airport liaison who tracked it down.

We went to customer services who were supposed to be holding the DS, but they couldn’t find it and said they’d look for it and to carry on checking in, going through security etc…. We’d practically given up when one of the ground crew came running on the plane just before they shut the door with Jnr’s DS. Much to his relief. Not sure you’d get that service at Gatwick!

Changing bindings on to my older skis later. Does anyone know a recommended torque setting for the binding mounting bolts?

Time for a (probable) stupid question. What is English style skiing? I have read it a few times recently but a quick Google doesn’t give me any answers.

Thanks for helping make me less stupid.

What is English style skiing

badly, between bars.

What is English style skiing?

It’s that beautiful example of poetry in motion, the perfect way in which the arms flail around, the way in which the head and upper body lean back allowing the tips to swing free. The stylish, nay raffish, way in which the turns are just on the ragged edge of control as the speed increases and increases….

Basically, all speed, no style!

Anyone stuck at Grenoble airport: pop in for a coffee. We’re only 15 mins away up in the hills behind!

Thanks guys that kind of makes sense. I guess if you learn as an adult you don’t tend to do all the tedious stuff that kids do that leads to better technique.

Didn’t mind Grenoble t’other weekend. Big queue for security but it moved quickly. Didn’t have time for a beer though 🙁

The eventful season continues: an egg fell off but fortunately at about the lowest point on the cable run so no-one was hurt. My son sat around for a few hours waiting for a rope rescue a couple of eggs back. A bus failed to negociate a bend down from the resort and ended up Italian-Job style with a wheel spinning in fresh air. Some Spanish yoofs went for a joyride in a dameuse. I got fed up with skiing in a blizzard/rain depending on altitude and retreated to the climbing wall and sofa.

Edukator, hmm it’s evidently crazy in the Pyrenees, I’m sticking with the Vercors, Chartreuse and Belledonne! Not that I’ve been out in the snow for 4 ish weeks… Hope to escape the mundane on Wednesday.

I saw the the Gourette egg incident on the news, I had an inkling that you were around those parts, Edukator. Glad to hear there were no real injuries.
We were going to spend the weekend in the P.O, but I saw the wind forecasted and decided against it.
Now I’ve got mates in Meribel and La Plagne posting photos of trees with loads of snow on the branches on Faceache, the gits. Can’t wait to get on a plank/planks.

Just taken delivery of a Nippergripper – that’s me sorted and packed for AdH2013week#2 with the wee shifter. Hope she isn’t overtaking me at the end of the week 🙂

Sorry to hear about your lurgy too Jane – another trip later in the season? 🙂