La Combette

The Porte du Soleil is just massive.  To prove this today we discovered, after four months here, a new cute little black mogul canyon run down from Avoriaz to les Prodains valley.  It's called Combette and is a tight canyon which winds its way through the tree-line onto le Crôt further down.  It's reachable from half-way down the Bleue Arare run on les Hauts Forts above Avoriaz.

Us, being chair-lifted.

The snow conditions weren't great because of the rain but at the very top the snow was still very good.  In fact, the Combe du Machon was just excellent today.

Me, being Combe-du-Machon'ed.

We found the skiing very tricky because we've just had our skis serviced again as i had a huge whole in my base right through to the substrate.  Ultra-sharp edges combined with tough, icy slush and tired ski legs is not a good combination.

Natalie, at the bottom of la Combette.

i also encountered the human cannonball today which didn't help matters much.  i was standing on some off-piste off the Combe du Machon, about to enjoy some slushy powder, when a muggle literally rolled down the hill above me.  i saw him just in time to lean back, Matrix-style, allowing him to carry on free-falling and not take me out as well.

Natalie, on the Arete.

It worked out well in the end because i returned him his pole,  which i noticed was a Rossi Bandit-Earth just like mine, and then he noticed that we were both using the same skis, Rossi Bandit B78s.  This gave me a great opportunity to practice my French with an actual French person.  And, even better, he actually understood me, replied, and then, amazingly, i actually understood him.  i'm definitely improving!

Sunset in the Alps.

After our ski i took a wrong turn on the way home and we realised we were on the road to Avoriaz itself, which is at 1800m.  We decided to carry on and see what we could see from the top.  What we saw was truly spectacular.

The Roc d'Enfer, on fire.