Snow, weather, food and cats – Days 135 to 142

Happy Jackie in the cat cafe in the village

The weather has been all over the place, too cold to breathe, so you could feel the hairs in your nose go stiff to seemingly sweltering. Friday we weren't going to bother, there was wet snow falling, but we got a message from Cassie that they were going to our resort, the Terche, so we thought we'd give it a go. We never found them, but we did do a circuit, got wet, came back and built a snowcat (no I don't know why). 

Snow cat!

That was it, we weren't going out again, it was miserable, so we broke out the emergency rations, a Fray Bentos steak and kidney pie, in a tin, that we'd brought with us. I'd never had one before, and I shan't rush to have one every week, but as a store cupboard emergency dinner it served a purpose. Nice pastry and gravy, but where was the meat? We pimped it with Fizz, well it was Fizz and Fray Bentos Friday after all.

Friday skiing in St Jean in wet snow

Yeah baby!

The next day was sleety, so we didn't go out for long even though it was quiet. The locals had obviously read the weather forecast and stayed at home. The same cannot be said of Sunday when they were out in the force, as was the sun. We had to finish just after lunch and drive home with the windows wide open or melt. Monday was the same.  

The temperature came down slightly on Tuesday as did the sleet/rain. The next two days were fab though, we tried to get out early to get some freshly pisted pistes. As much as playing in fresh powder snow is a joy, so is being the first down a beautifully prepared slope. We managed both on Wednesday at the Terche, first trip round the circuit, took just an hour, second trip round playing in fresh powder, going through the trees, sometimes more than once, took a lot longer. Yesterday finding virgin slopes was tricky but we did find some amazing untouched off piste, at a very gentle angle so no avalanche or anything else risk.

Early finish in heavy snow. At least we could ski back to the car

Even snowing at the supermarket

Today although it didn't feel as hot as last week, the snow was really sticky, so the off piste we were planning wasn't a joy, and although the pistes started off well, we were about done by lunchtime. Well we do need to conserve our energy for the mountaineering club arriving tomorrow. Particularly after two disturbed nights, involving French youth with torches and shouting going down the very steep slope outside the apartment in the middle of the night. They got yelled at last night, and did seem apologetic and went away! My treat today was to pop into the new coffee shop in St Jean as the owner posts regularly on the expats email group and always signs off from Bluebell and the cats. I was honest, so she did disturb a poor snoozing Choccy to come out and say hello before we ordered our hot chocolates!

Ah, the sun's out, the snow's good so its off-piste

 

We made the most of it, two good days of off-piste. This one has the seven summits of the Dents Blanches in the background

 

Another one with the Dents Blanches in the background, but this one also has Mont Blanc in, the roundy one towards the right. This piste is in Super Chatel and is called Panoramique. I wonder why

Another one in the cat cafe today

And did we mention the hot chocolates we ordered? No calories there then!