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!