Where'd Everybody Go?

It's taken us a full day to recover from our 11 consecutive full days of skiing and still my quads are aching.  This may partially be caused by, at one point in our adventures, having to walk back up the steepest part of a red run in Switzerland to add moral support to some our our flagging party members.

Of course, it didn't help that yesterday, when it was back to just the two of us again, we went out powder-skiing on Fornet.  i've not seen the resort so empty since December and there were no tracks on Fornet before we got there.  The powder was ridiculously deep and quite heavy and, again, we got stuck in a whiteout.

Natalie looking awesome as usual in Morzine.

The family-members who ignored the warning in the Into the Void entry will be presently surprised that i've really learned my lesson this time, and, although we had to practically walk down the last half-kilometer of the Fornet Snowcross in thigh-deep powder, i managed not to take us off any cliffs. 

i also learned a cool trick for determining what lies in front of you.  You take a handful of snow and throw it out ahead of you.  Then you wait until you can make out the slight contrast caused by the now slightly ruffled snow ahead and this tells you how steep the slope is,  if there is indeed a slope there in the first place, and not a huge cliff.

The apartment is recovering with a 66% drop in numbers and even the weather seems to have calmed down.  i did feel sorry for Andrew who had his first snow-driving experience in the worst storm of the Winter (although technically, it was Spring at the time).

The roads were so bad the ploughs couldn't clear them fast enough causing huge, ice-compacted ridges to form in the center of the lanes which our car would just bounce over, usually sideways.

It was absolutely fantastic skiing with The Phils and Siobhan again this year.  Phil himself is really coming along and i feel certain he'll be able to tackle Proclou by next season.  We named a new canyon we found in Plaine Dranse Phillie's Canyon, and Siobhan, myself, and Natalie have decided that The Phils deserve their own mountain named after them.

i think two of the Dents du Midi would be suitable and i'll pick two out for them next time the Dents come out of the clouds.  We also named the tree runs housing The Stash (man) and Les Tannes as Forêt du Natalie.

Siobhan also created The Order of The Phils to be awarded to skiers with extreme patience in teaching new skiers the Lore of the Mountains.  i nominate Siobhan and Natalie as the first new members of this Order.  i still can't believe how much time and effort The Phils have put into my and Natalie's ski career and how mind-numbingly bored they must have been on our first few weeks skiing.

Our newest skiing charges handled the week incredibly well.  Celeste and Leena went from being unable to stand up on day one to just about getting parallel by day eight with Celeste getting really good at the sliding stop and Leena zooting down a steep red as though it wasn't there.  She even went off piste on it, although that may not have been entirely intentional.  By the last run of the day Leena was comparing air-time with Andrew on the bumps above Avoriaz.

Jonathan ripping up the piste in Morzine.

And then there was Jonathan.  Can you say "Natural"?  Jonathan's second turn of his first day was parallel.  i'm not kidding.  He has great natural balance, wasn't afraid of getting up a bit of speed, and handled an 8km steep red on day three of his ski-career.  Best of all he nearly wiped-out a few muggles along the way for extra credit.  i'm so proud.

Sadly for us, it's two weeks to go until we leave the Alps for a short sprint around Europe and then South Africa.  It's official, no matter how much time we spend here, we never want to leave.  i love these Mountains.