I've thought of a few other things I like..
The lady in the supermarket that gives us 10% discount off our shopping now we've become familiar faces.
Saturdays. They are change over days and the slopes are empty. No queues and nobody wrestling to get to the front of the queue whilst standing on my skis in the meantime. It's great.
Since my last post it continued to snow until sunday lunch. That was 4 days of snow resulting in at least 120cms. I think last saturday was one of the best days skiing I've ever had. The visibility still wasn't great but better than it had been and I had my first true experience of floating in powder snow. An experience I'll have to go in search of again. Like I say, the slopes were quiet and there were very few tracks in the snow. It was knee deep powder on piste let alone off. Just aswell as the avalanche risk off piste has been 4/5 the last few days. Unfortunately we woke on sunday morning to very strong winds. There were only two lifts open in Val Thorens but even these closed by lunch time. It seems to have blown some of the snow away but hasn't done too much damage. The sun was shining in clear blue skies again on monday and a fantastic days skiing was had. Just our legs are complaining about it! We went to Courcheval today now there's been snow as this had been in a desperate condition the last time we tried. It's been another days great skiing but either they didn't have as much snow or there was less to begin with but I think the best skiing is still to be found in Val Thorens.
Stef has been enjoying a new pair of skis the last few days and seems to have found an additional gear. His previous new pair (the ones we bought for this trip and have lasted all of three weeks) broke. How is not quite so clear. He did take some spectacular tumbles in the powder but nothing you wouldn't expect a pair of skis to be able to withstand. However, one of them appeared to bend upwards from the front of the bindings to the tip of the ski. This resulted in half the ski being lifted from the snow making it difficult to edge. We've taken it into a few ski shops and apart from a few smiles the general opinion was that it is probably a fabrication fault. Apparently if they had broken in a fall there should be some evidence like cracks on the outside or the ski would probably snap when they were all bending the ski to its limit. Anyhow, they've been sent to Rossignol to let them decide. Meanwhile Stef was skiless and has bought a new pair called Dynastar TroubleMakers - very appropriate. This was already an expensive trip!
Tuesday, February 21, 2006
Thursday, February 16, 2006
Happy Days
Things I like alot about skiing for an extended time in France.
• Skiing. Every day. I wake up and I can go skiing rather than go to work. It's great. If I ever become employed again I must find myself a job that allows me to do this for at least a month a year. Chances are slim I know.
• Waffles (technically Belgian). They taste great and I always feel like I deserve one after a days skiing. I must have earned the calorie deficit surely?
• Cheap French red wine that still tastes good in three litre boxes.
• French food. They do do it better than the Brits. And the beef does taste better. Let them keep their farm subsidies.
But what I love most of all right now is the 40-50cm of (perhaps well overdue) snow we just had in the last 24 hours. How much fun can you have in this much snow? Alot. How many times did I stack it face first into the snow with zero visibility and knee deep powder? Too many times to mention. And now the sun is shining. The fun is just beginning..
• Skiing. Every day. I wake up and I can go skiing rather than go to work. It's great. If I ever become employed again I must find myself a job that allows me to do this for at least a month a year. Chances are slim I know.
• Waffles (technically Belgian). They taste great and I always feel like I deserve one after a days skiing. I must have earned the calorie deficit surely?
• Cheap French red wine that still tastes good in three litre boxes.
• French food. They do do it better than the Brits. And the beef does taste better. Let them keep their farm subsidies.
But what I love most of all right now is the 40-50cm of (perhaps well overdue) snow we just had in the last 24 hours. How much fun can you have in this much snow? Alot. How many times did I stack it face first into the snow with zero visibility and knee deep powder? Too many times to mention. And now the sun is shining. The fun is just beginning..
Wednesday, February 15, 2006
Denmark
In Scandinavia, Denmark is considered a bit of a backwater, skiing-wise. If you go to one of the southern ski resorts in Sweden or Norway and come across a car stuck in the snow, you just know that it will have Danish plates. The highest 'mountain' in Denmark is 300-odd metres, and having no proper winters, they don't have the right equipment, or experience to drive a car in winter conditions. Similarly, if the lift suddenly stops half way up you just know that a Danish skier just got on and promptly fell over, or tried to get off with the same result.
In our little apartment block here in Val Thorens, a big crowd of Danes moved in in the flat above last weekend. You know the type, all the gear, none of the clue. Not able to ski much, they instead partake in the most Danish of national sports - alcohol poisoning. Sure, it happens in ski resorts. However, when throwing up after too much drink, it's advisable to aim for the toilet, rather than over the edge of the balcony, as it inevitably will land on the balcony below - namely OURS.
It's not nice.
In our little apartment block here in Val Thorens, a big crowd of Danes moved in in the flat above last weekend. You know the type, all the gear, none of the clue. Not able to ski much, they instead partake in the most Danish of national sports - alcohol poisoning. Sure, it happens in ski resorts. However, when throwing up after too much drink, it's advisable to aim for the toilet, rather than over the edge of the balcony, as it inevitably will land on the balcony below - namely OURS.
It's not nice.
Sunday, February 12, 2006
Snow
We had a welcome 15cm of snow last week (Wed eve), and a few days of most excellent conditions. However, it's only a short-term fix to the general lack of snow in the French alps. Austria appears to be having the pick of the Euro snow conditions this season. Fortunately, if the forecasters are right, we're about to get more of the white fluffy stuff than we bargained for from mid next week. Powder days ahead? The French met office writes:
High pressure and dry weather over the Savoie region until Tuesday. After that, very very very bad weather with heavy snow and strong winds.
We'll see what that brings.
High pressure and dry weather over the Savoie region until Tuesday. After that, very very very bad weather with heavy snow and strong winds.
We'll see what that brings.
Monday, February 06, 2006
Snowboarders
When snowboarding burst onto the scene a while back, suddenly everybody wanted to board. Skiing was so last year, so unhip in comparison. The media was quick out of the blocks, hyping the new new thing, with the clothes, the music, the attitude to go with it. Many old-time skiers, myself included, felt compelled to try it out. Snowboarding, unlike skiing of old, is trivially easy to learn -- an averagely fit normal person will learn to link turns in an afternoon. Skiing the way it used to be on two-metre long, straight, narrow skis you could try for years and still suck at it. Of course, skiing got a cue off the snowboarding revolution to get its act in order, and over the last decade or more, technological progress in ski design has been furious, and learning to ski on the new parabolic, or carving, shorter skis is a different proposition altogether. An older pair of skis that I owned were 2.05m and straight and narrow, and skiing on them was hard work. My current pair of gorgeous technological freeride marvel from Rossignol are 1.70m with a radius of 16m. They basically turn themselves without much intervention from me, and are equally at home on and off the piste. After a brief period of snowboarding, I went back to my skis, never to look back.
Don't get me wrong, a skilled snowboarder is a joy to watch - the pencil-thin trace of perfectly carved turns, or crazy air manouvers off kickers too high to consider. Unfortunately, the majority of snowboarders belong to a different class altogether. Although boarding is easy to learn, it is actually quite hard to learn to carve properly on a board, much harder than it is to neatly carve your turns on a pair of parabolic skis. The result is that your average boarder, hip skate-styled clothes and all, doesn't really turn that much, but instead scrapes down the slope, alternating between heel and toe edge, and frequently, when encountering a slope fractionally steeper than the comfort zone, slides down sideways the complete length of the piste without bothering, or able, to turn. For a novice skier in the same situation the gut instinct is instead to repeatedly traverse side to side, slowly and gently weaving their way down on the edges.
The effect that a brace of mediocre snowboarders has on the state of a piste is extraordinary. Their wide scrapes quickly polish hardpack into ice, leaving huge mounds of snow at the end. With modern skis, a skier of the same experience as a snowboarder is probably more proficient, and certainly has much lower impact. Skiing on icy pistes punctuated by gathered mounds of snow is no fun for skiers and boarders alike. Normally, I'd seek out the steeps and deeps that novice boarders would avoid, but in seasons like this when the snow is a scarce resource indeed, one is forced to suffer the results.
The tide appears to be turning away from boarding in that people new to snow sports no longer automatically reach for a board. Skiing is hip again, with the advent of twin tipped trick skis that let the skier perform aerobatic stunts and half pipe tricks previously the sole domain of the boarder tribe.
So, dear boarders, if after a week you still can't carve your turns, do us all a favour and hand in your board and pick up a pair of carving skis instead. Both you and I will have a better time.
Don't get me wrong, a skilled snowboarder is a joy to watch - the pencil-thin trace of perfectly carved turns, or crazy air manouvers off kickers too high to consider. Unfortunately, the majority of snowboarders belong to a different class altogether. Although boarding is easy to learn, it is actually quite hard to learn to carve properly on a board, much harder than it is to neatly carve your turns on a pair of parabolic skis. The result is that your average boarder, hip skate-styled clothes and all, doesn't really turn that much, but instead scrapes down the slope, alternating between heel and toe edge, and frequently, when encountering a slope fractionally steeper than the comfort zone, slides down sideways the complete length of the piste without bothering, or able, to turn. For a novice skier in the same situation the gut instinct is instead to repeatedly traverse side to side, slowly and gently weaving their way down on the edges.
The effect that a brace of mediocre snowboarders has on the state of a piste is extraordinary. Their wide scrapes quickly polish hardpack into ice, leaving huge mounds of snow at the end. With modern skis, a skier of the same experience as a snowboarder is probably more proficient, and certainly has much lower impact. Skiing on icy pistes punctuated by gathered mounds of snow is no fun for skiers and boarders alike. Normally, I'd seek out the steeps and deeps that novice boarders would avoid, but in seasons like this when the snow is a scarce resource indeed, one is forced to suffer the results.
The tide appears to be turning away from boarding in that people new to snow sports no longer automatically reach for a board. Skiing is hip again, with the advent of twin tipped trick skis that let the skier perform aerobatic stunts and half pipe tricks previously the sole domain of the boarder tribe.
So, dear boarders, if after a week you still can't carve your turns, do us all a favour and hand in your board and pick up a pair of carving skis instead. Both you and I will have a better time.
Wednesday, February 01, 2006
Val Thorens
After some 20 hours in the air, we finally touched down on England's sacred soil, clad in boardies and flip-flops. At 5am, even a modest -2 felt like the heart of Siberia. We picked up the car, this time opting for the excess reduction, and drove to Cath and Dave's house, just outside Reading, where we got Dave out of bed -- he'd been to see Manchester United play Blackburn at Old Trafford the night before, and only just gone to bed. He put a brave face on it, and made us a glorious mug of tea. We spent most of the day washing all clothing we'd carried over the last four months, and by Jove it was needed. The rest of the circle of friends dropped in as and when their work committments allowed, and before long we were all seated with a take-away curry and beer. I just about managed to finish my food before almost falling asleep in my plate. Chris and Nana had to make an early start to get to work in time. Cath had to take care of her horses first thing, but still managed to bring us a cup of tea in bed before going to work. Sarah and I loaded the car up and headed for Bristol, pausing momentarily at my old work place to say a quick hello to old friends, and at Snow & Rock to buy ski bags. We then drove into town to go to the bank, some shopping etc before coming back to our house to repack. We'd arranged to meet Henk, Angus and Dave in a restaurant in town for around 8.30 by which time we'd not nearly finished our packing, of course, so it was back to finish off. At 2am or so some yobbos decided to trash our car. A gang of 5 of our nation's finest kicked off a wing mirror, before making their noisy way up the street setting off alarms. We phoned the police, who made it there in commendable time. We now had to try to sort this mess out with the car hire people. The £22 we spent on excess reduction turned out to be money well spent. Kind of sad though that the only sign of crime during a round the world trip is right outside your own front door. So with all that, and the fact that we needed to leave the house at 4am in order to catch our flight to Geneva, we abandoned the idea of getting any sleep and sat chatting to Jo, who'd been out on the beers, until we left. By the time we got to Val Thorens we'd gone for 36 hours without sleep. On top of the Aussie jet lag, that made us a cheerful bunch.
Val Thorens was closed for the first two days due to strong winds. We took the opportunity to sleep. However, there's also a worrying lack of snow. I have never seen the alps this bare, especially not in the middle of high season. Let's hope more snow is on the way, as for Scottish conditions one might as well go to Scotland. Still, the pistes are kept in reasonable nick with artificial snow, but the back country is a no-go area at the moment. We're doing a Chris & Angus, stopping for beers and working on our tans in the many deck chairs present. The temperature is on the wrong side of zero. Pleasant for sunbathing, but less than ideal for the state of the snow, Our little flat is really nice, actually. Perfect for the two of us, and will be cozy for four if some of you make it out. Score another one for the Porter organisational skills.
Anyway, the French can't queue, but we forgive them as the food is great and the wine even better.
Val Thorens was closed for the first two days due to strong winds. We took the opportunity to sleep. However, there's also a worrying lack of snow. I have never seen the alps this bare, especially not in the middle of high season. Let's hope more snow is on the way, as for Scottish conditions one might as well go to Scotland. Still, the pistes are kept in reasonable nick with artificial snow, but the back country is a no-go area at the moment. We're doing a Chris & Angus, stopping for beers and working on our tans in the many deck chairs present. The temperature is on the wrong side of zero. Pleasant for sunbathing, but less than ideal for the state of the snow, Our little flat is really nice, actually. Perfect for the two of us, and will be cozy for four if some of you make it out. Score another one for the Porter organisational skills.
Anyway, the French can't queue, but we forgive them as the food is great and the wine even better.
Wednesday, January 25, 2006
Homeward Bound
Singapore, Changi airport. All airports look curiously similar, and this could equally well be Heathrow or Schipol, but with better Sushi. Internet access is free, which is a nice perk. The first 6 hours of flying over and done with. Only 14 more to go, and Sarah's already bored. I've parked her in front of the Aussie Open tennis for now. I've managed to purchase a new spare battery for my camera, as I foolishly managed to lose my other one in the Blue Mountains somewhere.
The End
So, this is the end.
Last day in the Southern hemisphere, we've checked out of the Dreamtime hostel in Cairns and now just waiting for the taxi to take us to the airport. We have a nice 24h trip in front of us, broken up only by a 4h stopover in Singapore. The four months of this trip has passed rather quickly it seems. Seems like it was only yesterday my hands were bleeding from 9 pitches of Serenity Crack and Sons of Yesterday on the Royal Arches in Yosemite. Or seeing Sarah's smiling face after being hauled up after her canyon swing in Queenstown. So many memories, and the skiing is yet to come!
The next few days will be crazy. Landing at 6am Thursday, we're meeting up with our good friends Cath, Dave, Nana and Chris near Reading. On Friday we should be back in Brizzle, dumping the camping and climbing gear swapping it for our skis, and then it's off again 6am Saturday. It's a hard life.
Must dash, Sarah needs to check the latest snow report for Val Thorens..
Last day in the Southern hemisphere, we've checked out of the Dreamtime hostel in Cairns and now just waiting for the taxi to take us to the airport. We have a nice 24h trip in front of us, broken up only by a 4h stopover in Singapore. The four months of this trip has passed rather quickly it seems. Seems like it was only yesterday my hands were bleeding from 9 pitches of Serenity Crack and Sons of Yesterday on the Royal Arches in Yosemite. Or seeing Sarah's smiling face after being hauled up after her canyon swing in Queenstown. So many memories, and the skiing is yet to come!
The next few days will be crazy. Landing at 6am Thursday, we're meeting up with our good friends Cath, Dave, Nana and Chris near Reading. On Friday we should be back in Brizzle, dumping the camping and climbing gear swapping it for our skis, and then it's off again 6am Saturday. It's a hard life.
Must dash, Sarah needs to check the latest snow report for Val Thorens..
Monday, January 23, 2006
Sarah at the Lake Birrabeen
Sarah enjoying the clear, warm waters of Lake Birrabeen. With no deadly animals in it.
View from Indian Head
Fraser is basically one 150k long beach. This is the view north from Indian Head, named by Cook.
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