The End (of this chapter)

Blogs don't usually have an ending. The same way that Coronation Street would never, unfortunately, have a final episode where, say for example, the entire street was demolished to make way for a hyperspace bypass. We can live in hope though.

Anyway so you may have, if you've been religiously checking this page every day, noticed that i've stopped writing. No new entries since April. Also, if you've been paying attention, you've realised that we're sadly no longer in the Alps.

You can't have too many Alpine adventures if you're not actually in the Alps. So therefore, since we're now home, i've started a new blog (for now) to chronicle our life and times in the fine City of London. There's all sorts of new things going on, which some of you may be aware of, and i'm planning on writing some of it down.

So, if you wouldn't mind, please adjust your set.

Harrie's Pancakes

Today we enjoyed arguably the world's finest pancakes at Harrie's at the Waterfront in Cape Town.  The "cold" front continues with temperatures in the mid-twenties and an abundance of sunshine.

Tomorrow is one of South Africa's seemingly unlimited number of public holidays and we plan to go buy new wetsuites and try them out in the freezing Atlantic.

Cape Cold Front

Supposedly there's a cold front in Cape Town.  This must be why i'm walking around in a T-shirt and it rained for less than one hour today.  Oh, and we did see some clouds.

But other than that the weather here is as gorgeous as ever.  Natalie and i are currently staying with Natalie's mother in Hout Bay and generally we are doing as little as possible.

The Days are just Packed

Today we've seen three countries, four large lakes, two blizzards, four mountain passes, traveled for 6 hours by car and 1 by train, driven over mountains and under them, and finally gone skiing for 2 hours.

So this is just a quick entry to say that we're back in France, managed to get here fast enough to ski this afternoon.  We took a really interesting route through the Bergamese Alps to Valais in Switzerland to get here.  In another post i'll log the route because i'd recommend it.

Anyway, this was Natalie about 2 hours ago.

And yes, the mountains here are still gorgeous.  Pretty good powder today too.

Bellagio

We've spent the last two days exploring Lago di Como in the area surrounding Lenno.  Our apartment is very close to the place where they filmed the "recovery" scene in Casino Royale.

For those that don't remember, he was recovering from being shot at, attacked by a man with a machete, falling down several flights of stairs, being poisoned and his heart consequently stopping and needing to be restarting by electrocution, involved in a serious high-speed 9-roll car crash, and finally being cruelly tortured.

Go on, go watch Casino Royale and see if you can place the above scene.

This is a pretty good place to recover, but nowhere near Montenegro, or even the Czech Republic where it was shot, so it's interesting that they brought him all the way here.  Hollywood geography is fantastic, you can just do whatever you want.  After leaving here they're suddenly on a yacht arriving in Venezia.  However,  you'd have to leave from Venezia to get out into the Adriatic anyway,  unless they sailed around the whole of Italy, which i'd imagine would take some time.

Anyway, Hollywood fantasy aside, the Villa Balbianello, where Jimmy Bond recovered, is rather splendid and it's gardens immaculate.  In the afternoon yesterday we took the tiny cable-car (funivia in Italian) to Pigra and got an elevated view of the lake.

Today we were off to Bellagio, which is apparently the number one destination to visit in the whole of the lakes area.  According to Shelley it's not only the best in Lombardy, but also the best in the world.  Don't get me wrong, it was a cute place alright, but perhaps Shelley needed to get out more?

On a bench in Bellagio.  Was this description really necessary?

The lakes are certainly relaxing and there's plenty to see.  i'm getting intense ski-withdrawal though, and keep thinking, when i see these perfectly landscaped gardens, about how i would ski them if they were covered in snow.

Tomorrow we're going to look at an Italian market in Argegno and then wander round Mennaggio in the afternoon.

Milano

Today we spent the morning negotiating our way through the crazy traffic of Milano to try and see the sights before driving north to Lago di Como.

It rained.  It rained and rained.  It rained incredibly heavily and then it rained some more.  We got wet.  And it continued to rain.  The Duomo is extremely impressive, both on the inside and out.  La Scala theater was less impressive, but then we didn't go inside it.

Natalie, Dad, and Mum, outside the Duomo in Milano.  With a lot of pigeons.

i enjoyed the world's most expensive pizza while the rest of my party enjoyed the company of the world's grumpiest waiter.  Actually that's not fair, he was extremely happy once i'd got my wallet out.  Here's a tip Nasty Waiter-Dude, get out of the service industry.

My extremely poor navigation ended us up driving in the opposite direction on the A4, the world's most hideous road.  With any luck, we won't have to go anywhere near that road again.  We've plotted a route through Ticino and Valais in Svizzera which means that for the remainder of our road trip we'll be mostly driving north and west from now on.

Anyway, the towns around the Italian Lakes are actually quite large and the roads inversely proportionally small and tricky.  Consequently it took us a lot longer than we thought to get to Lenno, where i'm now sitting having repaired the light bulbs in the bathroom and hooked up their AV system properly.  We've forked over a huge amount of cash and a hefty deposit to be in this apartment.  i'm hoping we get it back.  So far our hosts seem rather disorganized.

However, the apartment is as described and is very tastefully decorated and pretty close to the lake.  Not sure what the plan is for tomorrow.  We've driven more than a thousand miles in the last week and spent more than 26 hours in the car, so tomorrow, whatever we do, i hope it doesn't involve playing dodgems with the Crazy Italians again.

The Long Way Round

Just heading to bed in Presazzo which is between Bergamo and Milano.  Very long day as we drove for nine hours from Krk in Croatia to Milano via Lago di Garda.  The lake was shrouded in mist and it rained for all 400 miles of our trip.

The above photo shows Natalie on the pass above Lago di Garda at about 800m.  There's still snow up there.  We met up with my parents at the hotel and tomorrow we're going to start by going to see Milano.

Plitvicka Jezera

Two days ago we were wandering around the "Pleetveechkah" National Park in the middle of Croatia.  The waterfalls, i scarcely need to say, are spectacular.  So spectacular that we took nearly five hundred photos of them.  It's incredibly late, i'm incredibly tired, so therefore i ask you to infer the beauty of the other four hundred and something photos from this one.

Extra points if you can spot me.  Ok, two photos.

Even more if you can see Natalie.  Fine, ok.  You forced me into it, but seriously, this is the last, before i collapse.

Italy, Slovenia, and Croatia

Three countries in six hours - not bad going.  The strange thing about the trip was that we'd said to ourselves that we didn't expect there to be much difference between north-eastern Italy, western Slovenia, and north-western Croatia.  But it was remarkable just how different they all are.  Italy was rusty brown hills topped with terracotta-roofed villas and castle.  Very Italian-looking actually. 

Slovenia was white domed rocky hills with plains covered with light scrub and sparsely populated with tiny towns.  North-western Croatia was extremely hilly, bordering on mountainous, covered with Alpine trees and even more sparsely populated by tiny villages.

The area that we are in is called Plitvicka and this area was at the center of the conflict several years ago.  We'd heard that there were some remnants of the war, but didn't really expect to see anything.  So we were surprised to see many of the villages close to Plitvicka showing very real signs of fierce fighting.

Many destroyed houses, some razed,  some with caved in roofs in every village.  Many of the houses had dozens of bullet-holes in them.  We drove past an old church that must have been the center of some close combat as it was peppered with bullet holes.  It was very interesting to see, but extremely disturbing at the same time, to see the bullet holes riddled around windows and doors.  Makes you wonder who won these fire fights, and, in these now sleepy villages, how war could have ever broken out in the first place.

Every village showed signs of war.  This was one destroyed house close to the National Park.  The villagers in these places are clearly poor.  Very few cars and very little going on.  Was it really necessary for the various armies involved to smash these places to bits?  More evidence that war is utterly pointless.  This war was many years ago but the scars are still very evident.

Another bullet-hole-ridden house.  At least this one was being repaired.  But there are many many more that i suspect won't be set in order for many years to come.

It's also interesting, now that we're in "Eastern" Europe, how much cheaper things are.  An hour's motorway driving in France is about E20.  In Italy it goes down to E15, and here in Croatia only E5.  We were charged E0.70 at one toll, and the man behind the counter, seeing the GB plated car, gave us English money in change for the 1 Euro we gave him.  This was a nice gesture, except he only gave us 10 pence, which is equivalent to only 13 Euro cents, not 30 cents.  Whether he was genuinely ripping us off, or trying to be helpful, i don't know, but we only figured this out once we were out the other side of the toll. 

Regardless, it's still a lot cheaper here, we just paid E35 for a two-course meal at the hotel restaurant, that would easily have been E60 in France.

We've only seen the waterfalls  from the balcony of our room so far as we got here too late to explore the park, so tomorrow morning we'll be out to go and play with the Tv setting on Natalie's camera and try and get some good photos.  We might take the time to enjoy the scenery too.

Buongiorno Verona

This post is costing me ten Aiyoorohs ("Euro" with an Italian accent) to write, so you better enjoy it.  Early this morning we le-.  No, rather, early this morning we were still packing.  Much later this morning we left Seytroux and drove south and east for the plains of Northern Italy.

Natalie in Verona next to the Fiume Adige.

Italian roads are made out of polystyrene and Italian drivers are all taking crazy-pills.  The A4 from the Aosta Valley to Verona is now officially my least favourite road on the planet.  It's not even finished yet, which didn't improve matters much.  i think that the Italian government watched The Matrix Reloaded, copied the apocalyptic highway of the future, and then sprinkled some of their ugliest countryside alongside it.  i think they did this so that people wouldn't notice how bad the driving is.  While the road is stupendously ugly, unfortunately the driving is just stupendous.  Most of the way along this horrible road i just wanted to close my eyes until it was all over.

Me, driving in the Italian Alps, before we got to the nasty A4.

On the plus side, Bergamo, my parents will be pleased to hear, is probably the prettiest place along the way, definitely more attractive than Milan, and we got a glimpse of the hillsides which the Italian lakes hide behind, which also looked inviting.

The most striking difference between France and Italy is the season.  France is still having Winter, while Italy is firmly in Spring and headed rapidly toward Summer.  The temperature in Chamonix this morning was 4C.  The temperature 20 minutes later once we'd got through the Mont Blanc tunnel and into the Aosta Valley at roughly the same altitude was 16C.  It seems that 5km high mountains do have some effect on the weather.

The entrance to the Mont Blanc tunnel from Chamonix.

In fact, today was a sunny warm day in Italy and the drive wasn't all bad.  The Aosta valley must have the highest concentration of Forts and ancient Castles i've ever seen and were really spectacular.  We got a scare when the car moaned about a lack of oil and we were miles from a Servizio, but conveniently i had a spare can and we timed the maintenance with a picnic lunch while we were still in the Italian Alps.  To add to our woes, it seems Italy doesn't like my bank cards, but hopefully Croatia will.

Ian on the Torre dei Lamberti.

Verona seems to fit the mould of most Italian towns we've visited: ugly on the outside and bursting with charm and elegance on the inside.  We completed a speedy tour of the town, taking in the Castelvecchio with its Ponte Scaligero overlooking the Fiume (river) Adige.

Natalie at the Arena at tonight.

We walked to the Piazza Bra and were amazed by the Arena, which in my opinion rivals the Colosseum, if not for size then for architectural style.  After that we visited the Torre dei Lamberti, the Casa di Giulietta, of Romeo and Juliet fame, complete with vine and balcony, and had supper at the Ristorante Greppia nearby where we felt rather underdressed, but then allowances always seem to be made for tourists.  The food was excellent, but not quite enough to sate my Alpine appetite.

Casa di Giulietta.

Our hotel is nice and comfy and quiet and we're both looking forward to a good night's sleep after a hectic day.  Tomorrow we're off to Slovenia and immediately after that Croatia on our way to Plitvice.  Hopefully i'll be able to send an update from there.  See you in Croatia.

Giulietta's vine, as climbed by her Romeo, and her balcony.

Au Revoir, Avoriaz

Today was, probably, our last day skiing of the 2007/2008 season in the Portes du Soleil.  i say "probably" because we still have one more half-day here on the 15th when we might be able to get out, and apparently there's skiing somewhere near the Schwarzwald, so maybe we won't be putting the skis away just yet.  i hope not.

Natalie in the new trees we found above Combe a Floret.

We wanted an easy last day.  We don't know how to do easy days so it was down the Snowcross Crozats, the Arete des Intrets, the Coupe de Monde, and the Canyon du Pschott (all black, bumpy, and off-piste for those who don't know the names).  Being really tired, and me having a bad headache which throbbed only while i was skiing, we came down through the trees, trying to pick out an easy route.  This worked fine until i made a wrong turn and then this happened:

It's difficult to summarise the last 4 months here.  The excitement starting out our adventure, the intensity of chalet work, the pain at having to let Allez Alps down, and then the relief at finally getting to do what we love.  Living in the mountains, meeting old friends and showing our passion for skiing to other friends and newcomers to the sport.  Living in France and picking up as much of the culture as we can.  Waking up and looking out onto snow-capped mountains every day.  Drinking Evian out of the tap and breathing some of the cleanest, clearest air in the world.  I think this photo summarises, much better than i am able to articulate, just how we feel about being in the Alps:

We were both quite sad today as we unclipped from our skis for the last time in a while.  Tugged off our boots and packed away our gloves and helmets.  But there's nothing to be sad about.  We've had the best time.  Tomorrow we're off exploring Europe and in a few weeks we'll be in South Africa, getting more sunshine.

 

Moreover, we will  definitely be returning to the Porte du Soleil, just as soon as we can.  We can't wait to come out walking and biking here in the Summer.  So until then, it's absolutely not "goodbye".  Au revoir, Avoriaz.  A bientot.

Jump Around

i like to jump.  i'm not particularly great at it.  i haven't mastered 360s, 180s, or even 1s yet.  Actually, that's not true.  i think i did a 37 the other day.  Anyway, here's a few jumps of mine.  Total air time: 0.045s.

Somersault

Yesterday was our last full day skiing.  The sun was out, the powder was soft and fluffy, and my acrobatics was nothing short of legendary.  In short, it was a perfect day.

Me, not somersaulting on Bleue d'Arare.  i got some pretty sweet air of this little drop-off.

We met up with Dan and John by coincidence in Plaine Dranse and skied a couple of runs with them.  Well, they were on boards, but we tried to ignore this fact and pretended not to be with them if we thought anyone was looking.  We can't be caught socialising with boarders - we have a high reputation to maintain.

Ian,  Dan, and John.  We finally got out skiing together!  Note how we've cunningly hidden their board from view.

Anyway we shot off down some of the simply excellent powder and i spied a wind-lip in the distance.  i headed straight for it and, when i was about a meter away, pushed down hard.  The purpose of doing this in powder is to compress the snow ahead of you, making your own personal jump out of the compacted snow.  Well, my wind-lip turned out to be an ice-boulder from a recent avalanche and my skis went straight into it as opposed to over.

Natalie expertly navigating a tight steep canyon above Plaine Dranse.

i completed a perfect, though unintentional, forward somersault and landed on both skis and promptly wiped out spectacularly.  My skis didn't even come off.

Dan sitting on the left where he had a sympathy wipe-out to make me feel better and me, on the right, marveling over my tracks, which show how my somersault didn't touch the ground.  If you look to the left from me, in this photo, you'll find my tracks leading to the left, and then a gap, and then more tracks.  The gap is where my awesome somersault happened.

Dan had food poisoning and John was suffering with painful ribs and a very sore shoulder after a skiing incident in Morgins, so we left them at a cafe and headed on to Linga where we ate at probably our second favourite restaurant in the area.  We sat out in the sunshine and worked on our ski tans.  We could have sat there the whole day, but the powder was too good so on we went.

Me, getting some Alpine sunshine.

We skied all the way down to Linga, cheekily skiing the competition run where the piste was groomed to perfection.  We got to go fast here.  After that we made our way back over to Plaine Dranse down a new route to the far left of the Les Combes lift which was excellent through the trees.  i think we found the route that Phil has always wanted to try out.  After that is was back up Cornebois and then down the dark, shadowy, black mogul run that is Les Reynards.  i came down the powder while Natalie took on the moguls. 

Natalie, pre-moguls, in Plaine Dranse.

i think we both must've fallen at the same time.  i made one good turn and then, on a very steep section of powder, crossed my skis and tumbled headfirst down the slope landing on my back and sliding.  The slope was so steep i left a completely undisturbed gap which i'd tumbled over.  Fantastic.

We rushed around the resort, trying to squeeze in all our favourites before the end of our second-last day.  We had some great snow on Fornet, which wasn't in a whiteout for once, and then Natalie led us down her new "expert" route of our new tree run above Lindarets.  While it's true you shouldn't follow me, my wife's chosen routes are seriously not for the faint of heart.

Our skis.  We'll miss them in the off-season.

We couldn't have wished for a better day.

Itinerary

Only two more days here before we set off on our European road trip.  i can't believe it's the end of the season already and that it will now be some time before we get to ski again.  i think we should move to a mountainous country which has continuous Winter.  That would suit me just fine.  Antarctica comes to mind but they don't have many ski-lifts.

Natalie on the home run today with dramatically lit clouds to mark our arrival.

Anyway, for the interested few readers, on Sunday we're driving to Verona in Italy and spending the night somewhere near the town center.  The next day we drive to Plitvice (pronounced "plitvich") in Croatia and have a look at their waterfalls which now make up a World Heritage Site.  After two nights in Plitvice, we drive to Krk Island which is just off the northern Croatian coast in the Adriatic.  Natalie's booked us a fabulous hotel which advertises itself as being 5m from the Blue Flag beach.  i'll be taking a tape measure with me.

Ian on the home run today with dramatically lit clouds to compensate for his gorgeousness.  i think of all my gear that i won't get to use until next season, i'm going to miss my helmet the most.  i love my helmet.  Maybe i'll sleep with it on back home.

Then it's briefly back through Slovenia and a return to Italy and Lago di Como where we're meeting my parents for 5 nights of me, Natalie, and my Mum hiding under the table as my Dad attempts to communicate with everyone in Italian, including us, no doubt.  We're staying in a great apartment which apparently is really close to the villa they used to shoot the "recovery" scenes of the last James Bond movie.

After that the parental units take the quick way back to the UK while Natalie and i spend one more night in the French Alps on our way to the Schwarzwald (Black Forest) where we're staying for a few nights in an, as yet, undisclosed location.

Then a final sprint across France or possibly Belgium if we're feeling particularly daring and our return to the Uck.  We're only there for a few days before heading south again.  This time a lot further south - to South Africa, in fact, where we'll be mooching off our friends and family and generally making a nuisance of ourselves. 

In South Africa, i suspect a fair amount of tobacco will be inhaled, along with a correspondingly large amount of sea-water as i try and remember how to surf.  Surfing is with the feet sideways to the fall-line right?  Very strange. 

The best bit is that Natalie is also going to learn to surf and hopefully Paul's knee will be strong enough to do a bit of coaching.  We're in Sunny South Africa for three weeks and the middle week we're spending at the Tsitsikamma National Park, which is about 600km east of Cape Town, in a log cabin on the rocky sea front where waves have been known to crash 20m into the sky.

Then it's our return to England and, well, stuff.  Work.  Nine-to-Seven.  The Mill.  Can't say i'm particularly enthusiastic about this last part.  Perpetual holiday is infinitely preferable.

Les Granges

Finally got around to posting this video of Natalie and Jonathan skiing in Morzine on a blue run called Les Granges which is on the route from Morzine to Les Gets.  This was on Jonathan's last day when the three of us skied in the morning.

Note the exceptionally deft muggle-avoidance techniques implemented by Jonathan.

A Clot of Muggles

Clot (noun):

1. A mass or lump.
2. Collective noun for a group of muggles on the piste.  Clots of muggles can be characterised by the way they: huddle together in impassable hoards, getting in everybody's way; loudly mispronounce the names of all the runs they are doing and the part of the world that they are in; and generally cause mayhem by assuming that, by sheer weight of numbers, everyone else will just get out of their way.

Natalie skiing down Tovassierre on the way to Morgins in some heavy snow.  We got very wet.

Today we attempted to go to Torgon.  However, despite the fact that Snow-Forecast told us there would be light snow today, there was something of a blizzard going on.  Everyone else seemed to know this besides us because we were practically the only people out.  We skied down to Morgins and were two of only about ten people on the entire 11km run.

We ate at Les Fontaines Blanches and, as usual, Natalie had the rostis while i gorged myself on their world-renowned (it is now) Soupe Goulasch.  At the table next to us there was a clot of muggles.

They were discussing their route for the afternoon and, just to annoy me, mispronouncing as much as they could.  They were going to head up to MossetteSS and then over to CHavanetteSS, down to AvoriaZZ, and finally back  to ArdenTT.  They were British.  Correct me if i'm wrong but isn't basic French taught in all British schools?  Surely round about day one they mention that you hardly ever sound the last letter?  i seriously suspect they were doing this just to wind me up.  It worked.  Don't get me wrong, my French is appalling, but at least i try.

Natalie and i did find their plan rather amusing, however.  They were in Morgins at 13:30.  Their plan was to spend the afternoon in the Fornet ("Fornay") valley.  For those that don't know the area, which they clearly didn't, it takes Natalie and i, skiing non-stop, and by now we ski pretty quickly, about an hour and a half to get to Fornet from Morgins.  You need 2 draglifts and 5 chairlifts to get there from Morgins.  Two of these chairlifts are incredibly slow, and even slower in a blizzard.

It was amusing because, given their standard which i was able to judge purely based on their conversation, they'd only get to Fornet by about five o' clock.  Furthermore, in a blizzard, Fornet is the last place anyone would want to go.  It's almost always a whiteout and the light, now that Spring is here and the Sun is more vertical in the sky, is so flat that contrast,  even on a clear day, is at an all-time low.

They left half an hour before us and we caught them up on draglift number one of their journey where one of them had fallen off and was walking up to the top and another, who must also have fallen, was trying to catch a drag from midway up it - very difficult.  Those muggles had that successfully ascended the draglift were nicely blocking the release point, making our own dismount rather trickier than it needed to be.  Smirking broadly like the arrogant fool i am, i set off from the depleted clot in a schuss.  We didn't see them again.  They're probably still on that draglift now.

Silly muggles!

The Secret Forest

We ascended the Lindarets chairlift, turned right, moved aside the suspiciously colourful tapestries in the shape of piste netting, skied past the top the Avoriaz Snowpark draglift while carefully avoiding the rapidly approaching buttons, stepped on the right combination of moguls, and voila, the hidden level we'd been looking for since we got here opened up before us and it was filled with treasure.

Natalie in the cool new area.

After four months here, skiing nearly every day, and with five weeks skiing here previous to that, we're still finding new areas.  i know i keep saying this, but this new area we have skied past on almost every single occasion we have been skiing.  We've unlocked 3 new areas in the last week alone and that's just in Avoriaz.  i think it's safe to say that we will be returning to the Portes du Soleil.  And once we get onto randonee, the area will exponentially increase in size again.

Ian valiantly fighting the moguls in the Cool New Area.  Not very elegant.

Anyway, back to how cool this area is.  Basically, it's in the trees above the Combe a Floret and Les Tannes runs down to Lindarets.  It's off to the right from the top of the Lindarets Express chairlift.  It's quite hidden because of the draglift which is used to get people to the top of the Avoriaz Snowpark.  i'm safe in saying that this new area became an instant favourite.  It's redeeming features:

1. No one knows about it,
2. Awesome snow,
3. Challenging steeps,
4. Bouncy moguls,
5. Exhilarating tree runs,
6. At least three different ways down it.

Natalie showing those that know the area where the New Cool Area comes out onto the Combe a Floret piste.

In fact, with this run in our repertoire,  we can now get almost all the way from the top of Avoriaz to the carpark in Ardent without skiing the piste at all.  The piste is like a busy super-highway that we hurriedly cross while looking both ways.  The off-piste is significantly superior.  Plus its always pretty cool to scare the muggles by appearing from the trees at random locations and knowing that they're wondering how you just managed to materialise from nothing.

I can't wait to get back on it.  Tomorrow we're off to Torgon for, probably, a last look, for this season, at another favourite: Barbossines.

The Order of The Phils

Yesterday Natalie and i skied in the late afternoon.  The snow was slushy, crusty and icy because the temperatures have simply soared in the last few days.  It was +16C at Prodains yesterday.

My legs didn't feel like cooperating and, with the now very late sunsets, it's certainly seemingly like they're closing the resort too early.  In December we were skiing home in the dark, but yesterday the sun was still high when they were hurrying everyone off the mountain.

Natalie on the Coupe de Monde.

Since we'd parked at Prodains, we skied down the Coupe de Monde to get home where we came across two French children, at about 2300m, struggling to put their skis on.  They were clearly in distress because it was late and they were on a steep black run and far from home.  Natalie and i helped them into their skis and, in my very poor French, since their English extended only to "yes" and "thank you", i asked them if they knew where they were going.  "Oui!", came the reply, so, once they'd got their ancient skis back on, off they went.

We were suspicious so we lagged behind and their technique certainly didn't match up to the slope they were on.  We caught up with them at the point where the Coupe de Monde splits to become the Arete des Intrets.  This is a tricky intersection because the Arete looks easier from the top but it quickly, deceptively, turns into an extremely steep black mogul field and the children obviously didn't know where to go.

This time i learned my lesson and asked them where they wanted to go, and not if they knew where they were going.  There is a very important distinction.  They were trying to get to Avoriaz, which was impossible at that time of day because the lifts had all shut.  They were from Thonon and their family was waiting for them in Avoriaz.  We suggested that they follow us down to Les Prodains in the hope that the Avoriaz cable-car was still running.

So we skied down with them sandwiched between us.  What they lacked in style and technique they certainly made up for in pure speed.  This is perhaps where French driving style originates?  That must be the fastest we've ever completed the Coupe de Monde.  i suspect the adrenaline was pumping at the prospect of them being lost on the mountain so that probably helped them down too.

We were both very happy to see them safely on the Avoriaz cable-car, although a bit puzzled as to why they'd be out on a black run so late in the day with no parental supervision.

Can an independent body please decide if we deserve to be candidates for the Order of The Phils for this?  The Order was created by Siobhan for skiers helping other skiers in distress.  Natalie and Siobhan are already seconded candidates awaiting inclusion and The Phils themselves the only current members of The Order. 

Maybe i have to do more than just this to be considered but situations like this don't arise every day so you have to make the most of it.  i have considered putting other skiers (preferably boarders) in distress and then helping them out, but that doesn't seem particularly sporting.

Chapelle d'Abondance

Today we finished the Portes du Soleil.  That is to say that, finally, we have now skied all of the resorts that make up the giant mega-resort.  The last resort was Chapelle d'Abondance and the reason we hadn't skied it before is because it's only linked by bus from the Torgon area and is thus very difficult to get to from where we are.

Instead of skiing there via Plaine Dranse and taking busses we drove there, giving us more time to explore the area itself.

What a pleasant surprise we got.  It's actually an extremely pretty resort.  It's very heavily treed.  There was almost nobody there and all the runs are easy cruisers giving great views of the Vallee d'Abondance.  If you want an easy day's skiing for the whole family or beginners, this is probably the ideal area.  Having said that, while it's definitely worth a visit, Natalie skied the entire resort in less than an hour, including traveling what must be one of the longest draglifts in the world.  The fact that it's so small and so far away from the rest of the Portes du Soleil, i suspect, probably limits this resort to a locals-only area - which is not a bad thing.

We stopped for lunch on a rock in the middle of a red piste and watched the world, what little there was of it in this quietly underpopulated resort, go by.  It was so warm i was down to a t shirt in another desperate attempt to rid myself of my ski tan.

 

It was such a warm day i was skiing sans helmet and gloves, feeling the wind in my increasingly unruly hair.

Re-re-match

i thought this deserved a post of it's own, rather than ashamedly hiding it at the bottom of another.

i suppose i have to report this.  Embarrassing as it is.  After our Swiss adventures yesterday we hurried back though Super Chatel and, purely since we were up there, i suggested a re-re-match.

The first run down was a total shambles and this time i have a genuine excuse for losing.  Again.  i was wearing a backpack and as a tucked down into the schuss the frame of the backpack pushed the back of my helmet up and thus down over my eyes, blinding me.  Once i'd corrected this i was totally off balance and had a high-speed, fairly disturbing wobble which i just managed to correct before the finish giving me a speed of only 58kph.  Natalie zoomed down behind me (and in the above photo) and posted a 62kph. Clearly, this result does not count given my equipment failure.

Anyway, we had to get back home for a meeting and time was tight but nevertheless i was adamant of a re-re-re-match.  Natalie consented and back up we went.

This time Natalie took the backpack and skied down first.  Usually i go first but this time, determined to make some kind of change that might affect the result, Natalie set off ahead of me.

Once Natalie was in position with the camera, because obviously, i wanted to film my victory, i athletically launched myself down the slope.  It was a perfect start and i tucked into a tight schuss worthy of Bode Miller himself.

After sliding to the finish, confident of stunning success i eagerly checked the scoreboard to find a speed of 62kph.  Had Natalie posted a slower time that last time?  Was i about to taste sweet victory?  No!  Of course not!  Natalie, obviously, even hampered with a helmet-obscuring backpack, had posted a 66kph.

Officially now, i give up!  The speedtrap system in Chatel is clearly rigged.  Also, i think my salopettes are really non-aerodynamic and my helmet has more vents than Natalie's.  It's so bad i might as well be skiing sideways.  Somehow, i just know Natalie is cheating.  i don't know how, but she is.

Couloir

Yesterday took ourselves on a Swiss tour.  My personal view is that we've now had the last good snow of the season and so the time was ripe to take in all the lower lying runs while they are still fresh.

As usual the day started with me saying that i wanted an "easy ski".  Somehow this never happens.  Our first run of the day was an alternate route down the Snowcross Brocheaux.  Phil will be happy to know that it was a lot better this time around given the new snowfall, but it was extremely heavy and the narrow gully we came down was tricky to navigate.

After that we ascended the Mossette chairlift with a view to skiing down Sim's Gully.  This was the view from the top of Sim's Gully with the Dents du Midi off to the left in the background.  Please now take a moment to appreciate this photo.  It took me a very very long time to take it because once i'd got the camera out and Natalie was in position a man and his daughter arrived and stood pondering the drop for a good ten minutes, thoroughly ruining my shot.

Once they'd realised that, in fact, they really did not want to ski down this dark black slope, de-skied, and walked back to safety, another seventy million muggles arrived and approximately 70 percent of them made the same decision as the first two.

Eventually i got a clear shot and the above photo, i think you'll agree, was worth the (exasperating) wait.  It was actually quite amusing to see groups of people ski to the edge of the run, look at it for quite a while, and then turn around and head back away from it as inconspicuously as possible.  Sim's Gully is not for the faint of heart.  This shot, below, i took from the run that leads onto Sim's gully.  i've lined the horizon up with the base of the camera again to try to convey the steepness.  Just over the fake horizon is rather a large cliff.  Lucky we didn't trying skiing around it.

Having said all this, we didn't actually end up skiing Sim's Gully, instead we skied, by far, the steepest slope of our ski careers.  No seriously.  We both has vertigo on it and it makes the Swiss Wall look like an M25 access ramp.  We traversed across the top of Sim's Gully, across the next couloir, and then into the 3rd Couloir, which i've named the Davies Couloir.  Why?  Because i can.  This is it:

Note that i, from only about 5m below Natalie, you can clearly see the underside of both of her skis.  Couloir comes from the French for "corridor" and, as you can see, it's a bowl-shaped narrow fissure formed between two steep ice-cliffs.  Besides the steepness, which i'd say is at least 10 to 20 degrees steeper than the Swiss Wall or even Sim's Gully itself, it's also very narrow - only about 5m of turning space.  Couple this with extremely sticky, heavy, choppy snow and it was a pretty hair-raising experience.  Well, it would have been if my hair wasn't plastered to my head with sweat on the inside of my helmet.

It didn't help that, once we were committed to the route, we noticed the ominous Cross at the top and saw that this couloir, the Davies Couloir,  had been roped off to prevent people skiing it.

This is Natalie once we were out of the couloir.  The Davies Couloir is directly above and slightly to the left of Natalie's helmet just under the left shoulder of Pointe de Mossette (the peak in the background).  You really don't get a sense of the steepness or narrowness of these couloirs from this photo, but take it from me, it was steep and tight.  Sim's Gully is the one directly to the left and below the chairlift on the right of the photo.  Sim's Gully is actually an unpisted black run.  The couloir to the left of the Davies Couloir is a Swiss yellow run, with the same difficultly rating as the Wall.

Anyway, i'm quite sure you're bored of hearing about this run by now, so here's some other news.  It's not my country but i feel empowered to name the terrain as i see fit.  As promised,  Siobhan, i've picked out two peaks to be named after The Phils.  May i present The Phils - the two rightmost peaks in the Dents du Midi as seen from the French side.  i hope they approve.

A kind Frenchman, who must have been some cool Boarder being filmed took this fabulous photo of us in Switzerland.  This could well be my favourite photo of all time.

This was only the second run of the day!  We completed the route off-piste down to Les Crosets where we found a superb gully on the way down.  Phillie would love this part of the run.  It was so good,  i took this video of it:

After this we skied down to Morgins and then headed back over Super Chatel.  i think i've bored you enough so far with this post so: To Be Continued.

New Trails

Did i mention yet how utterly huge the Portes du Soleil is.  Two days ago we finally got around to skiing the right-hand-side of the Col du Bassachaux as seen from the Chaux Fleurie chairlift.  It's a great run with some extreme steeps in places, combined with some tight canyon navigation further down.  Best of all, there's at least three different ways down it.  This is the view from about halfway down, giving a unique perspective on the village of Lindarets.

Natalie on the hills above Lindarets.

I think these kinds of new trails are what is pushing me to want to take up Randonee.  Randonee involves fitting skins (not real) to the underside of the skis to prevent them sliding in snow and articulating bindings which allow the heel to lift off the ski.  This means you can climb just about anywhere on the mountain and ski down places you could never get to from a chairlift.

 Ian wishing he could climb that mountain and ski down the other side to Plaine Dranse.