Wednesday 28 January 2009

Too sidetracked to post


Been a long time so here are some updates.

21st- Ski School Part 3: Powder Lesson! Then went and did some awesome skiing fresh tracks off the top of the Grand Montets.
22nd- Work
23rd- Blizzard - Did a grown up job...opened bank account
24th- Work
25th- Work
26th- Went Ski Touring. Did the Crochues-Berard Traverse. Nice quick tour and only 2 people ahead of us.





27th- Australia Day yesterday so ended up going drinking. Anyway, clawed out of bed, ski'd in fog in the morning then went Ice Climbing in la Cremerie where Dave Chapman and we did 'Chantilly' which made me beer sweat over them bulges!

28th- We all had a day off so decided to use one of our free 'days out' and went to the Portes du Soleil with the plan to ski all of it in a huge loop. Was cool, sun was out and skiing particularly flat and non-chamonix. Still, nice to get out and go on a daft adventure! Girls went and played in the snow - good entertainment for flat skiing!




Tuesday 20 January 2009

Powder Power...Neige Everywhere


So Much Snow! No words. Just pictures!

17th - Work!
18th- Work!
19th- Lots of Snow! Brevent Morning, grown up jobs in the afternoon. Failed at most of them. Skiing was good! Powder is growing
20th- Knee Deep Day! Wow! Thighs ache now! See pictures.....my work van looks pretty stuck!




Friday 16 January 2009

The White Valley & Tired

Went down the Vallee Blanche today. 18km in length 2700m descent. Beautiful







Well done Chris for taking some belting photos

Thursday 15 January 2009

Moguls Week


13th - Went skiing at Brevent and Flegere, met up with some guys from home. Chilled out day!
14th - Ski school part 2, Bumps continued, feeling much better on the moguls now. Still, more practice required. Had fun meeting up with Plum and Mike from Loughborough who are out for the season. Went off on all of the little runs off-piste I have discovered so far!
15th - Read some more PsychoVertical. Just starting to get sucked in! Planned on a late mission on the Valee Blanche tonight but I missed the last lift by 2 minutes because I was doing an airport transfer and the plan was late! Still, shot down the Grand Montets home run for a laugh!

Sad news about the two guys who died on the Gervasutti Coulouir last week. I realised from reading some news on the web that Chris and I met them at La Cremerie when we were climbing there the other week.

Next week.... need to sharpen ice screws and buy some mono point crampons! Might go down the Valee Blanche tomorrow before more snow on Sunday! Fingers Crossed!

Tuesday 13 January 2009

Courmayeur and Pas de Chevre

7th -Ski School Part 1 & Ski Grand Montets
8th - Work & Les Houches Skin
9th - Recco Training Day & Ski Grand Montets
10th - Work all day!
11th - Grand Montets Ski, Pas de Chevre and then Work (just)
12th - Courmayeur

Ski school part 1 was good, part of the seasonnaires lessons. Focused on skiing bumps, so I have gone away this week to aim for bumps to try and ski well and also to keep my legs closer together like a mincing frenchman.

Also tried out my Skins this week with a wee fitness trip up Les Houches, didnt get that far but will try again maybe today.

Met up with Popey and went a bit back country on Sunday and Ski'd the Pas de Chevre which was pretty cool. Was just nice to ski very close to the Dru and be somewhere away from the crowds. Ended up having to do an abseil into the exit colouir and then having to rush off to try and make my first pick up at 3.15pm, only just made it.

Some pictures of this ski route attached.

Also attended a Recco day, a free day out which was just a bit of an avalanche education. All good fun.

On Monday we went to Courmayeur again, take Shaun and Emma for a wee trip into Italia so Team Guy, Jennifer, Melvyn, Shaun and Emma went for Pizza and Vino and Coffee with a bit of skiing to be had too. Oh yeah, had a bit of a high speed crash. oops.

Hoping to sharpen crampon points this week or look at buying some mono points!







Tuesday 6 January 2009

More More More How do you like it how do you like it





Did some more skiing this week!

2nd - Le Tour
3rd - Work! (had a full day of Chauffeuring around)
4th - Brevent
5th - Grand Montets (2k vertical descent! No People!) and Ice Climbing in the afternoon at La Cremerie.
6th - Courmayeur (Italy for the Day, with Pizza and Coffee)

Ski Lessons tomorrow, should be fun!

Put a photo of the house up too!

Ciao Bella

Thursday 1 January 2009

Welcome Chamonix




Just a quick update!

Since arriving in Chamonix on the 27th we have Ski'd for 5 days:

- Le Tour
- Brevent
- Grand Montets
- Brevent/Flegere
- Grand Montets (with Fresh Snow!)

It has been great. Just getting in the swing of things really! Started bashing through the snow on a real off-piste day today. Was just a great way to see the New Year in!