Rain Day, France

We woke to the sound of a storm outside .. rain, but higher up it would be snow ... all morning it came and went, until there was no longer any chance of it clearing up.

Sue, and I headed off to the supermarket for some supplies, and fill the van up.

All the rain meant I would not be going out with the pipes, so the townsfolk would have to wait until another year to hear me again (cheers in the background ;-)  ).

the next day we headed back to the coast ..  uneventful trip as we tried to stay in front of the bow wave of traffic behind.  Arriving at Calais and checking in we got an earlier boat. .. so were home in good time.

Grand Mont, France

The sky was blue and it promised to be a good day .. after yesterdays excursion we wanted to repeat a route we did last year, and do a small tour from the top of the Areches ski area to the summit of Grand Mont. We would spend some time on the piste then take on the summit, and come back to finish on the piste.

We all (except Sue who stayed back in the apartment) headed off to the Areches lift, by now we were well practised in packing and getting out, so were  soon on the first lift.

After the second lift we came down the piste ...  things were still a little icy so we stayed on the main track - I was fighting again with my boots ... the lean was too aggressive again after yesterdays more positive successes. However we did find a little sport in the trees ..

Down at the bottom of the run, by the chair lift was a large air bag, which the little ones were jumping onto. KT wanted to have a go, but there did not seem to be any way of registering.

As the sun was no getting higher and hotter, it was time to head to the top lift and make a start on the ascent. We worked our way up the second chair and down to the poma.

At the top of the lift, Steph, Chris and I started to put on the skins, whilst M-J, Dom and KT decided what they would do whilst we were away. We arranged to meet up at the refuge for chips in around two hours.

Once everything was ready we headed up the slope behind the Poma on the well used tracks to the col

From here the route went over a small rise on the ridge and then up a shallow runnel. Heading towards the skyline following a few other parties.

The initial section provided Steph with her first introduction to the infamous uphill kick turn. Demonstration followed by practice.

Once on the ridge We could see the next aiming point - last years high point. As we headed up to it we were passed by a sprightly old guy steaming up the track.

By the steeper section at the end gulley, Chris was steaming ahead, whilst Steph and I were puffing like a train. He had obviously been doing some training!

From this col, it looked similar to last year ...  follow the ridge around to the left and the summit.

More gentle slopes with a few steeper sections

As we climbed up the dome of this bump we could see another one beyond, and people making their way up it. Then it dawned on us that we were only on the fore peak.

The route across was the next tricky section ...  a descending traverse on steep icy tracks across a bolder strewn slope. Another first for Steph.

And so to the top .. Stephs first Summit.

From the top the descent was back along almost the same way.  The initial slopes were packed and hard, but easy to turn on.

We could see other parties on the "bad step" across to the fore peak.

The step was not as bad on the way back ...  except for the side stepping up. Steph was a little worried on the traverse, but came over with no problems

From here we cut the corner off, and took to the powder slopes ..  there was a couple on here who were having a few issues in the deep, and once we passed them we shot off down the flatter coombe.

Then we just had the small step down to the col, and back to the pistes. However not before we found a last field of powder in amongst the crust of the previous runs, which gave us a fine finish.

From here we raced down to the refuge ...  at the limit of what Chris believe he was capable of. He brought some new skis this year and it definitely made a big difference to his confidence, and thence to his skiing .. he was always behind me in the position Steph usually takes.

We caught up with each party over chips, and a warm drink, giving us a chance for a breather.

The day finished on a slightly low note, as we came out of the refuge KT had stomach cramps, so she and I snow ploughed gently down to the middle station and then caught the chair down to the car. The rest worked their way down the a different way and finally the black .

Col du Pre, France

The day was overcast and not really conducive for riding the lifts .. we had gone out on Sunday, but that was the first day, and we had been granted some better ones since.

So after a couple of hours I got cabin fever and decided to try a route from a new book for this trip covering 50 ski tours around Albertville. We headed up to a little village above Areches, where we parked the van and got ready.

Steph had decided to try touring for the first time, so I altered the bindings on my spare set of skis and added some glue to the skins. Then together with Chris and M-J we headed off up the un-cleared road.

After a short period this turned out into a forest track, but did not really gain any height.

We worked our way around the valley to the other side, where we just about managed to gain height into the cloud.

The clouds limited the visibility to around 100m. So we depended on the previous plentiful tracks to gauge where we were.

Eventually we came to what the guide said was a traditional Savoire farm house.

What I had not understood from the guide was that at this point we should leave the main track and head into the forest.

However we stayed on the track and followed it around into a clearing and then went up the slope ...  grateful to be finally gaining some height.

We were roughly right .. as we climbed up besides the forest, but this was a circle further out.

After a while we cut into the forest, and followed a well used path, with a few ups and downs. And then we reached a sign showing the col 50m height below and a km away.  we then studied the map and saw where we were and had gone wrong.

Rather than follow the path down on a slight gradient we chose to find a place for lunch and then turn back

Lunch over it was time to head back down the track through the woods ..  a little extreme in places as it was quite icy and no room for error, but it was not long before we were out on the slopes and making turns in the powder.

On this slope, hidden in the flat light and low visibility, were a number of sink holes ...  I tested my bindings again when I dived into one by mistake.

My boots by some magic were now feeling good and I had a "proper" feel to them. Mistakenly I believed I had fixed the problem... unfortunately tomorrow would proved differently.

After the slopes we were back on the track, and down past the farm house, before polling and slowly making our way back to the van.

Tomorrow we would see a different view of where we had been, and where we had gone wrong ... but regardless the day was fun

Les Saisies, France

Another fine day in prospect, the blue skies were visible through the skylights in the apartment.

We chose to go to Les Saisies, up from Hautleuce. We had been here last year, and planned to have a very similar day.

Sue and Dom wanted to have a day doing other things, so the remaining five of us headed off to the road side parking by the Hauteleuce chair lift.

We bought a pass for the Les Saisies area, rather than the larger Diamant area. then up the chair, and straight onto the second one to the peak meeting point for all the lifts.

As it was still a little early we went down towards the Les Saisies area .. it was a very icy run and ended in a big queue. Back up to the peak, we were a little lower than we needed to be so we dropped down the sunny side to the second lift we had taken on the way up.

Back up at the peak we started over towards the top called Douce. This was down and up and down and up. On the top of Douce there was a black run that went down to the valley, and ended at a bus stop. Checking the timetable we had an hour to get down ..  should be fine I thought! We set off on the gentle descent to the top of the combe off the ridge. The take off was identified by a house.

Over the lip we dropped into the first bowl .. the powder was soft and we had a great time carving new tracks down slightly right of the main drag.

Towards the bottom we cut back left into the gulley exit, through some bushes.

From here the going got harder ... the next bowl was wetter and the powder had transformed into porridge.

The section after was a zigzag track down the hillside, but the porridge like snow made it difficult  to stay in control (apart from KT who seemed to remain sane).

I was really suffering with the boots again .. still not correct, and more alterations needed. The final bowls and down through the farms was a nightmare in the heavy snow, and we all got slower. 

As we crossed the second of two tarmac roads we saw the bus just going past ..  missed by five minutes.. We were not the only ones and two parties behind were similarly caught out. We did get the prime seats in the shelter, and prepared for the hour and a half wait to the next bus.

After 45 mins a bus going in the other direction came along and a brief discussion we all got on for a drink at the end of the valley reverse side of Les Contamines. This gave us a great view of the descent as we sat in the sun enjoying the afternoon.

Then back on the bus for the journey back to the cars ... a hard route, because of the state of the snow, and it showed how we could cope with the harder routes.

Le Plannay, France

The sun was out and the day promised to be great. We all headed off to the second resort below Areches ... Le Plannay.
Parking in the same car park as yesterday, we caught a very full bus to Le Plannay. It gave my stiff muscles an opportunity to wake up.

We rode the two chairs up to the highest point ... also wanting to let the sun warm up the piste a little.

Then we dropped down to the red runs which lead down to the bowls below this side of the ridge. It also gave us an opportunity to see the little bump Chris and I climbed last year.

From last year I knew there was some great off-piste to the side of these runs ... steep powder to the side of the poma.

From the bottom we rode the lift back up, and this time headed down to the bottom via the black runs to the edge of the ski area. The black was powder moguls ... soft and gentle, but taking a great line through the woods.

As we worked our way down, the team was getting hungry, so we headed down to the village for some chips. On the way we chanced upon the play park, which had a couple of jumps in it - this gave everyone time for a bit of fun before fighting into the cafe at the bottom between all the ski lessons that had just finished.

After food and a hot drink we went back up for another round ... top to bottom. Back to the play park and then we worked our way back to the car via the valley run beside the river.

For the afternoon I had been skiing with my boots in "walk" mode .. the fix had not worked ....  I went back to the drawing board and did some more investigations. Another day tomorrow, a new setting.

For the evening I got my pipes out and played  awhile in the main square, to the amusement of the locals.  Corne-muse