Still skiing in St Jean d’Aulps – Days 91 to 101

Small trees laden with frozen wet, deep snow

It’s been ten days since our last blog entry and, in that time we’ve been out skiing for six of them and been housebound for the other four due to pretty bad weather, the same storms that have swept through the UK and most of Europe causing damage and flooding to many areas have affected us here. 

Skiing good powder between weather fronts

As the weather front came over on 16^th it was warm, falling as snow only above about 1600m with rain below, but quickly cooled down to give us lots of snow right down below our 950m level, covering everything in white, with large amounts at higher levels. All looking good we thought, but as it passed over the freezing level rose again so the tail end fell as snow at higher altitudes with rain below, washing away all the snow at our level of 950m. 

Frozen snowy rocks in very cold Chatel

We had two days (20^th and 21^st) with little precipitation but with fog and increasing wind, so we went out to enjoy the fresh snow and it was pretty good with most resorts open, however another front came over dropping huge amounts of snow again with high winds, enough to close virtually every ski lift in the entire area except low lying lifts. We decided to stay in! Again, the tail end of the front was warm and huge amounts of rain fell for a day, closing virtually everything for a second day. The rain changed the fresh powder snow into heavy wet snow which froze overnight making it look like a white concrete brain (if you can imagine such a thing) and raising the avalanche risk to 5, the highest level.

Then it cleared and warmed up and we had these beautiful scenes

The next day, the 23^rd, was a beautiful day, clear blue sky and little wind, but we didn’t hurry out as we knew most higher areas would still be closed due to the very high risk of avalanche. As the day wore on the resort staff worked very hard to clear avalanches, remove fallen trees, plough areas to allow sufficient room for the chair lists to clear the high levels of snow and groom the pistes to make them skiable. By lunchtime most areas were open and the piste skiing very good, but sadly off-piste was very unpleasant.

The deep snow brought by the storms closed a lot of slopes though

We’ve now got very unbalanced snow depths at different altitudes, above about 1300m the snow is very deep and, with higher temperatures the off piste is quite good with the sun softening the snow by afternoon, but below this level there’s almost no snow off-piste, with only hard packed pistes, which are like ice in the mornings and very soft in the afternoons, which then clump into big moguls as skiers move the snow. It’s possible to ski at high levels for most of the day, only needing to negotiate a lower piste to get home in the afternoon, but it becomes a problem if wanting to really travel through the resorts as it is then necessary to go to lower slopes in order to get to an adjacent resort. If it’s a popular route and one that faces the sun, the low slopes are almost stripped of snow with earth colouring the snow brown, making some route quite unpleasant.

Not much view out of this window, the snows too deep!

So, not to complain, the weather for the next week is fine, warm and sunny, promising a very good week of great skiing, with good off-piste, just as long as we stay above about 1300m. Although virtually everywhere is open and it should be possible to do very long day trips covering many miles and resorts, we just need to be a little careful when travelling a bit lower. However, that’s a small price to pay to what are really very nice conditions. Skiing is warm sunshine with crystal clear mountain views and deep blue skies does take some beating!

With great weather and views we just wanted to take photos

Off the slopes we’ve enjoyed the company of cats, birds and Gizmo dog and had a very pleasant evening in L’Enfanle bar eating ribs, drinking beer and watching a live band, all within 2 minutes walk of our apartment block. Jackie has cooked some stunning meals and we’ve enjoyed vin chaud and cake most days. Today we helped Haig and Gabby change Si and Cassie’s chalet for the next guests while they took their previous guests back to Geneva airport and collect the new ones. The sun came out this afternoon so we walked two minutes to the Grand Terche lift, clipped on our skis and did a quick 10km circuit of our resort with stunning views.

Lots of them. Here's a cloud inversion with white peaks poking through the cloud

Don’t think there’s anything else to add, but no doubt Jackie will remind me when she reads through this…

She’s nothing to add – result!

What about this one taken this afternoon at the top of our local resort in St Jean d'Aulps? The mountain on the right in the distance is Mont Blanc

 

I could go on and on as every corner we turn there are more superb views like this. This one is in Chatel with the black run Barbossine heading off down to the left

 

One of the resorts is Chapelle d'Abondance and all the pistes are named after animals. This one is Sanglier, which translates as wild boar and the little white shape above the '6' is a drawing of a wild boar. I think Jackie is trying to do an impression. Do her hands look like tusks to you?

 

This is Calico cat eating the crumbs of a cake that I had put out for the birds

 

A final photo. This one is in our local resort this afternoon when we popped out for a quick 10km circuit. This is on the return half at the top of the Follys col. Ahead is a flat plateau that is actually the main St Jean ski area at the top of the 'bubble' we catch by our apartment. The next lift goes up from the plateau to the right to the next peak and then we ski off down to the right way out of sight and catch two more lifts up behind us to get here to this col. Ahead we have a fabulous red piste that takes us all the way down the vaklley to the left, back to our apartment. It takes about an hour to do only the circuit (there are many deviations on the way to make it longer if required) and takes in some great skiing from blue to black levels and spectacular scenery

 

Skiing and a bit more skiing – Days 82 to 90

Me 'n 'er on a chairlift in St Jean

The skiing for the last week has been much better than we expected. The snow conditions were better, not the sheet ice we expected, the weather has been pleasant and the crowds have not been here.

We've had a good days out with Cassie and Si and Haig and Gabby, and with C&S and Jimmy, Garvan, Ash, and Martin, three of whom we've met before. The main focus of that day out though was the Sunday 'all you can eat' gammon and dauphinois potatoes. How the guests went back to the chalet for the three course dinner I shall never know. We had a couple of biscuits!

Today the forecast weather has come in. Other places in the Alps have had huge amounts of snow, while we either had rain, or nothing, now it's our turn. Although we have rain outside our window, it's snow a little higher up. The problem, as ever, is the wind speed which is high for the next few days, so while precipitating and blowing, we are in!

Todays snow forecast courtesy of www.snow-forecast.com Adding up those red figures of forecasted snowfall equates to 135cm (4.4 feet) between now and Saturday night. That's at the top of our local resort of St Jean, but note the varying freezing levels (bottom line). Anything above 900m means we only see rain here, as we are today, but we can see the snow line higher up the mountain opposite us so, although it looks dull here, we know there's fresh powder up a bit. However, look at the wind speeds, 40kph today means everything up high is closed and, to be honest, anything above about 20kph makes for fairly miserable skiing so, at the moment Saturday will be our first day out

Jackie beneath a moody sky. Photo taken by Cassie

We have made half an effort to be a little more sociable in the vicinity, last Tuesday there was an advert for a dance class on the expats emailed group. Cassie said it was great, and she was going, so we went, and we did have fun, but to Brian's disappointment the promised jive and waltz weren't quite what he expected. It was an exercise class, based on dance, and he was the only man, so don't think he'll be going again! We also popped into the 'other' bar up here, has been under new, British, management since the last time we were here. We had a pleasant drink, and think we might go up again, probably on Saturday when they have a band on, and the special is slow cooked cola ribs which sound delicious!

We have Gizmo sat, though we were cancelled yesterday, as mummy was home sick. He did make my day by actually running about and seeming pleased to see us, having completely ignored us the first time, so that was lovely. Cats have not been so much in evidence this year, though both Callico and Whitey from our previous two visits have shown their faces. They are still as skittish and antisocial, but still look quite well fed, which is good news after four years.

At the top of the bubble in St Jean, our local resort

Our mountain Roc d'Enfer (Rock of Hell)

So all in all a good weeks skiing, though we were both ready for a day off, but didn't feel we should take one till today, as the bad weather may be here for a few days. So nice to be in, boiled up the chicken carcass from yesterday's roast (meant to be Sunday, but after the ham.....) and made some yummy soup for lunch, B has a sultana loaf cooking and I'm about to start on the cauliflower cheese to go with the cold chicken. All very domesticated!

I wanted to take a photo of Jackie at the top of St Jean but she was too quick for me and all I got was her curvy ski track just left of centre

 

Finding fresh powder in St Jean

 

The moody mountain. Taken outside our apartment one evening

 

Then the rain came down – Days 76 to 81

The start of our ski tour to Abondance

Anyone who has been out on the hill with us is probably aware of his weather jinxing skills. You'll be glad to know they are still going strong! After the best start to the season, or whatever he said in the last entry, the forecast weather certainly arrived on Wednesday, the edge of Storm Eleanor closed the whole of the Portes du Soleil. An almost unheard of occurrence, not only did it pour down, all day, at all altitudes, the wind was crazily strong. We stayed in.

We weren't the first up, but it gave us tracks to follow

Thursday we did venture out as food shopping had to be done, despite the heavens still emptying. We bumped into Cassie leaving the supermarket carrying a bag of cat litter and were concerned that by the time she got it into and out of the van, it might be solid! The post New Year beef sale finally hit Carrefour, so beautiful stewing beef for €4.90 /kg, only in large packs, 2kg was the smallest. So boeuf bourguignon, 2x beef stew and dumplings, 2x beef rendang following the same recipe as last time we were here using the coconut sweets from the tin of Quality Street (sorry Elizabeth, I know they are your favourite) and 4x beef madras with vegetable curry accompaniment. The curries have yet to be made, but it's all working out so far!

Our tracks up

We did manage to make the most of the fabulous snow on Tuesday before the rain as we ski toured up the valley to the col, where we thought we could ski down to get the lift to take us into the Abondance ski area. He told me the lift was running, the conditions were good, I'd managed to tape up my own foot, once the blister started forming reminding me where to apply the tape, and all was good. Till we hit the col, to find the chair lift we were planning on skiing down to has been taken out, what Brian had seen running on the internet, was a tiny new drag lift, which meant we had to skin 3/4  the way up the final slope! I may have had a slight sense of humour failure!

A stop for emergency first aid

Once we got there the skiing in Abondance was lovely, though from the central area you have to pole each time you want to get to a lift, and it was this movement that agitated the blister, but we gave them a good go, before deciding to go back over the top! The sky was beginning to darken, and you never know how long it might take to get down, if all goes well an unfairly short time, but you have to allow for all eventualities. In this case unnecessarily, it was a great ski down with fields of untouched powder that took about 20 minutes, compared with the two hours up!

Skiing back down in untouched powder snow. We are now back down in the col that Jackie was writing about. There used to be a ski lift off to the left which I thought we'd be able to catch to the top to avoid having to skin up, but its been taken out. The new lift is right up the hill,just in view, it meant we had a lot more ascent to do. She was an unhappy bunny, so I kept just far enough ahead to keep out of range of her ski pole! The slope behind her used to be a ski run, but now with no lift its inaccessible to downhill skiers, but not to us ski tourers!

Stepping over a part buried fence. This is grazing land in the summer

Yesterday with the forecast showing sun and temperatures of about 8degrees we thought we'd better go and see if there was any snow left at all. As it turned out t was better than we expected, hard and icy, but the pisteurs do work miracles. We met up with Cassie and Gabby and Haig, only to find that the guests had taken themselves off, which was good, but that Gabby's boots were too big, so Cassie was taking her/them back to the shop. Would we mind skiing with Haig for a bit as he's only been skiing since they started working for Cassie and Si. 

Jackie enjoying the untouched powder snow

It would appear he has already spent too much time with Si and was happy to try whatever B suggested, so reds, blues, a view of Mont Blanc before meeting up with the guests so Cassie could pick them all up together...... we both enjoyed it, though it has served to highlight that perhaps we are slightly jaded with skiing every day, regardless, just the two of us. So skiing with others, when the conditions are good or perhaps a little more time learning bridge, studying the location of the best campervan sales agents and things like that. It is still a lovely place to be. We went for a gentle walk by the river today as I hurt my back unloading the shopping on Thursday, it seemed to be getting better till I sneezed yesterday morning, and was jolly painful this morning! Having said all that, once B put his cakes in the oven he has popped out to do a quick circuit....

A panorama of the valley to Abondance with Pic de la Corne peak that we've yet to climb, hopefully later in the season!

Activities for a rainy day, bake and eat!

Our walk along the river today, Jackies bad back showing in her eyes

A pleasant riverside walk by an angry river - and that's nothing compared to two days ago. That's all our melted snow running down there!

An indication of how high the river has been. This was the end of our riverside walk, the path has been washed away!