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| Jackie skiing on fresh poweder in Avoriaz |
We are on our final
countdown of 10 days before heading back to the UK and the skilifts, still
running in Avoriaz and Chatel, close on Sunday 24th as the ski
season in Portes du Soleil finally comes to a close.
However, no-one has
told the weather god as, in between warm spring like weather we’ve had one very
cold spell and have another predicted for Saturday through to the middle of
next week that has brought and is forecast to bring more fresh snow.
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| Judith, Cassie, Grandma and Jackie at Montriond lake |
It didn’t seem
possible last Saturday when we pushed ‘Grandma’ (Si’s grandmother) round
Montriond lake with Judith (Si’s mother) and Cassie in glorious warm sunshine,
stopping for a coffee outdoors by the lakeside, but the weather forecast
foretold it and it came to pass.
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| Out walking one day up to the Col de L'Ecuelle in Abondance |
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| Arriving in Montriond in heavy snow |
Sunday was the most
miserable day, constant heavy rain here, but above 1400m it was heavy snow.
Monday continued with precipitation but now, at our level, 950m it was just
about snowing and we could see very white scenery on the mountain opposite with
a very definite snow line at about 1000m, just above our heads, so we headed
out.
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| Poor visibility, but fabulous snow! |
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| Skiing deep powder in Chatel |
The Ardent bubble
lift leading to the centre of the Chatel/Avoriaz ski area is up and past Montriond
lake and, as we drove up there we saw white snow everywhere where only 2 days
before we had been in tee shirts, now -1 degree C. The visibility in Chatel was
pretty poor it has to be said and at the top of the lifts we were in cloud, but
the snow conditions were fantastic and there were very few other people around.
It was not an exaggeration to say there was a new fresh powder depth of at
least 30cm, in some places just under knee deep and, with few other people
about, the fresh lines we could cut were endless. Have a look at this video of Jackie skiing deep powder in Chatel: Jackies off piste skiing.
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| Jackie's fall onto the piste. Can you see the 40cm drop? We couldn't! |
No pistes had been groomed so
on piste skiing was the same as off piste and, quite often it was impossible to
tell the difference as white blended into white in the poor vis. Even familiar
areas became disorientating and our only concern was to try not to ski off a
cliff or at least a rocky edge. On a few occasions we disappeared into unseen
dips or fell over on unseen humps, Jackie at one point thinking she was skiing
smoothly onto a piste past the edge marker dropped about 40cm over an invisible
edge, ending in a heap. Even then the drop was not visible! Anyway, we were
careful and had a fabulous time, doing all the off piste we knew in deep
forgiving fresh powder, how glad were we that we made the effort!
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| Next day, beautiful sunshine! |
The trouble is, the
sun’s been out since and the temperature at 2400m was 11 degrees today, so snow
doesn’t last long under those conditions and by pm it turns wet, heavy and, in
places like glue so can be quite unpleasant. Get up early, enjoy the hard
packed fast pistes and go home about 12:00 midday is the rule now and then the
skiing is fabulous.
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| Outside La Poya restaurant in Avoriaz. Grandma's view while we skied |
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| Lunch at La Poya, Jackie, Judith, Grandma and Cassie |
That is until
Saturday, when it’s forecast to turn really cold again with lots more snow, so
it might be similar conditions. The difference is, after Sunday there will be
no more ski lifts running so any skiing will be hard won after putting the
skins on our skis and ski touring up. 2 hours up, 15 minutes down. Ah well, at
least it will keep us fit! We’ll be here until the very end!
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| Nordic skiing with Leanne and Drew |
A few other things
have changed since our last blog entry, written the day after a great evening
at Si and Cassies with Leanne and Drew. Si has gone away to Belgium, having got
a very lucrative diving job, so is earning the money while Cassie has stayed at
home looking after Si’s mum Judith and Grandma, who had arranged to come out to
see them both, only to find Si has gone away for a month. Never mind, we’ve
been around while Cassie, and occasionally us, has skied with Judith, on her
second year of learning to ski and doing pretty well.
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| Drew and Leanne looking a bit more professional than us! |
We brought Grandma out
one day, up on the Prodains lift and dragged her in her wheelchair across the
snow to the La Poya piste-side restaurant to sit in the sun and watch the
skiing. She does pretty well for 94 years old! Today, after a morning of some
really fast on piste skiing with Cassie we had a leisurely afternoon with
Judith and Grandma walking through the park next to the river in Morzine,
followed by afternoon cake and coffee on the patio at Cassies.
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| Funny things these Nordic skis. Long poles but very comfy footwear! |
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| Cassie and Jackie today, Montriond lake in the distance |
The other thing
that’s changed is that Drew has gone away for a week to be assessed for his
level 3 ski instructor and Leanne has been away for a first aid course and then
lots of dog sitting. It meant that the ski tour day with an overnight in a hut
didn’t happen, but we did get out with them on a couple of days Nordic, or
cross-country skiing. We’ve never done that before and found it really quite
hard, the skis are very narrow with almost no edges and the poles very long.
The one saving grace was that the footwear is very, very comfortable. Very
grateful to D&L in showing us what to do, even though they are relative
novices themselves and after 2 hours we could just about skate along, but we
have a very long way to go!
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| Today at the top of Le Linga, a steep red piste in Chatel. Hard packed, fast, well groomed and flat. Can't wait to set off down it! |
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| Jackie, Judith and Cassie outside in the sun today |
So tomorrow Judith
and Grandma go home, but we hope to see them again in Blackpool, where they
live, if we can find the time, to go Ballroom dancing in the Tower Ballroom! The
weather forecast is good for tomorrow, so we will probably go out skiing again,
then the weather closes in for the expected heavy falls of snow right up until
next Tuesday. If it does we’ll be out playing again, but this time preceded by
up-hill ski touring. Then I guess we have to start thinking about packing and
the long journey back to the UK.
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| A couple of photos of the pussy cats. This is 'Peter', sunning himself one afternoon... |
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| and cute little 'Smutts' |
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