Aussois, France

The weather improved and today the sun was shining, and after yesterday, struggling to warm up, we wanted to head to some where, that was South facing, so we drove up the back road to Aussois. This was the resort we had been in for a couple of years recently.

Heading into the resort, and up to the car parking, we parked quite a way up the area by the summer pasture.

Buying the lift pass, we had to queue up for quite a while, but once on the hill the people all spread out.

We headed up to the high point, and slipped over to the back bowls .. From previous visits we knew that the bowls had plenty of sport.

We chose a couple of routes..  the simple straight down followed by the more "around the back".

We came back around the front looking for some powder, and found some above the refuge, as an enticement for lunch.

After lunch we went back up to the back bowls and experimented with the off piste routes below and to the right of the lift pylons.

Finally down to the van and back to the apartment. However not before we had an opportunity to drop over the short-cut by the cross, on the final section of the valley run - we had discovered the last visit.

Then into the bar for some chips ....

Termignon, France

The weather was a bit overcast, but we made and effort to go over to the local lifts carrying the skis and made our way to the ticket office.

The ride up was very cold, and by the time I reached the mid station the wind was rising. On the second leg everyone was trying to hide from the wind, and by the time we reached the restaurant everyone was frozen.

Time for a warm drink, and also to experience the rotating eating room and the enormous log fire..

We did a couple of runs on the left hand drag lift from the bowl, before calling it a day and making our way back to the apartment.

the descent was very icy, and we alternated between care and headless charging. Another hot drink at the bottom fortified us for the walk to get back to the apartment.

2007 Ski Trip, France

Sue had to go back to college early this year, as her term started before the rest of us... So Steph, KT and I drove over to France to Join M-J, Chris and Dom. We had settled on an apartment in Termignon, a little village we had been through a few times on the spring outings, and also with our stays at Aussois.

The girls and I travelled overnight with a short stop in a motorway rest stop North of Dijon, for a few hours sleep before the chill woke us up.

We were well ahead of the bow wave as we drove through the alps, and so arrived at Termignon in the mid afternoon. The village is not very large, and I did not really know where the apartment was, so we wandered around a bit, until we found it down one of the smaller roads to one side of the river.

In these days of mobile phones we knew that Chris and MJ would be late, as they had a problem with the car. so we settled for an early Pizza supper, in a bar close to the nursery slopes, and then waited for them to arrive. (they had the details for the apartment and the deposit).

It was dark before they arrived, but we waved them down in the main road, and pointed the direction to the apartment, down the farm track. The owners let us in as they lived upstairs, and we moved everything in. we had two large rooms and one with 4 bunks in  ...  as well as a massive day room ... it was a barn conversion, with really thick walls, the only problem was there was a lack of light in some places.

Trip Time Line

	|
	|	Arrive Termignon
Termignon	|
	|	Aussois
Termignon	|
	|	Val Cenis
Termignon	|
	|	Termignon
Go Home	|

Kidwelly castle

We stopped off at Kidwelly Castle on the way home, Then it was back via Hampshire to pick up the dog.

Tryfan, Snowdonia

 Not a particularly pleasant day, but time to get into the hills... up to Idwal and parking by the lake under the North face of Tryfan. A scramble up the ridge to the top, a leap between Adam and Eve, both ways to make sure it was right. then down into Cwm Idwal.

It did not actually rain on us, but was very damp in the mist.

Sygun Copper Mine, Beddgelert

We headed south out of Caernarfon and down the coast to Beddgelert .. a look around and maybe get to the slate mines. We got distracted by Sygun Copper Mine
An unpresupposing place but lots of interest inside ... in one door and out another, with lots of tunnels in between.

After this doing the tourist thing in Beddgelert, coffee and the long way back to the tower.

Caernarfon

Caernavon castle - A short walk through the town to the castle ... this is huge and plenty to see with lots of elements remaining, as well as narrow stairs and two way traffic...

It took most of the day to get around, and only left a short time for a walk over the bridge and around the park before we had to get back. The weather was very kind to us and allowed us to make the most of it.

2007 Summer Break, Wales

We headed off to Wales ...  starting around Ironbridge then curving around and down the coast before coming back via south Wales.
It seemed like it had been raining for months .. there were floods all over, so with trepidation we had set off on holiday .. we must have stayed overnight near here... but first stop at Ironbridge before a late breakfast at a great café on the main road .. then headed off to museum of Iron for a look around
Finally on to Bangor and another Travelodge.

Over the bridge to Anglesea ... heading for Beaumaris castle .. a kind of half finished castle that never reached its full potential. From here we travelled out around the coast road to the other end of the island near Holyhead, before coming back . stopping at llanfairpwll ... etc... gogogoch.. a long name, disappointing place with just a coach stop and tourist shop with a train station.
Our time up at the Bath tower, we headed south, past Beddgelert and Dolgellau until we came upon the Centre for Alternative Technology, where we were so intrigued it covered most of the day, with only time for a short stop at king Arthur's labyrinth, where we toured the craft centre and the mining exhibitions, but ran out of time to go down the slate mine.

We stayed near Aberystwyth, then visited Kidwelly castle on the way home.

Trip Timeline

• Ironbridge
• Anglesea
• Bath Tower
• Caernarfon Castle
• Sygun Copper Mine
• Tryfan
• Centre for alternative Technology
• Kidwelly Castle

Reconnaissance, Switzerland

Both Bryon and I had wanted to go back to the Bernese alps at some time. The books talk about a great descent down the Loeschental valley.

As the day was very cloudy and the forecast was poor we set off for the valley to have a look around.

We drove up to Blatten and then on to Fafleralp - the road was open, which it would not be any other time we would visit in the future.

From here we took a little walk up the bottom to see how far we could get .. there was little snow, but the ground was very wet.

After making our way up the bottom bit we got to the pastures above (very flat areas where on our descents would involve a lot of poling.

From here it was time to retreat back to Blatten, to find somewhere to stay. We wanted to see what was available if we needed a place to stay after descending the valley. In the end we would never use it, but we did find a small pension near the beginning of the village. They looked after us well .

The next day the weather was still poor and the forecast worse, so we took the option to head for the channel and home.

col de l'Eveque, Switzerland

The morning was clear, and very cold. The parties on the Haute route we all running around getting ready to set off.

We let the pathfinders get away and then set off. The first bit out of the hut across the col is always a "wake up call", this gets the heart pounding as you do not want to mess up in front of everyone.

Once across you get amazing views of the hut .. the classic shot, and after this we slowed dropped down to the first drop to the glacier.

The powder slowed things up, but once the slope steepened up things went a bit easier and we had a great descent in the fresh powder.

Now we had everything working again, it was time for the skins to go on and set off for the col, following the pathfinder tracks.

The col is just over Bryon's, shoulder, but this is just a false summit (one of many).

We plodded on in the tracks heading up to the col.



We were grateful for the trail blazing of the earlier party, the powder was several inches deep

Approaching the col... unfortunately it has a very rounded top so you never seem to get any nearer.

looking over the other side ...... I said the top was flatish. Last year we never saw an of this as it was all covered in cloud.

The powder on the other side was fantastic, and we had some really great.

Then even more ...

So much big smiles.


After the great descent of tow fantastic bowls we dropped to the glacier and moved of the tracks of the pathfinders. Moving carefully across the new snow on the glacier. Almost walking pace as it is quite flat.

Now we were on our own, and heading down the glacier.

As we came to the end of the upper glacier the slope vanished altogether . walking was called for again

I was not kidding! - we are aiming for the col to the left - follow the stream







OK ... so the route finding over the end was a bit wayward .... we found the summer path, but this was not exactly smooth skiing

On the glacier at last .. shooting around through the avalanche debris as quick as possible

The powder is getting a little heavier now, but still great fun

stay left and follow to the glacier snout!the end of the route is where the thin ribbon comes in from the left to meet the river! so a bit of a walk out

The walking begins ... and so down to the van ... then back to the hotel Aiguille de la Tza for food and shelter ...  A great day out and we were in the right place at the right time.