Sunday, December 21, 2008

What Goes Up.......


A pre Christmas getaway to Grimentz saw me arriving by rail at Sierre to be met by the Postbus which was on chains. This was the first time I had seen a bus in the valley on chains, and on arrival in Grimentz it was easy to see why they were needed.

Of course, the path to the apartment had not been cleared, so I was soon knee deep in snow. Next day the snow continued, and once I had dealt with some admin matters, I decided that I would try snow shoes for the afternoon. Visibility was quite poor at times, but I was very pleased with my 1st attempt. I did realise whilst walking down the Bendolla piste, that it is quite steep.

The next day saw slightly improved visibility, and as the lifts were still closed I decided to try my skins on the same ascent to Bendolla.

I was very pleased with my climb times, which were double last years' attempts. Of course, as the lifts were closed, I got to make some lovely turns in untracked powder.

The next day was Bluebird skiing conditions!


I had wonderfully fluffy powder which lasted all day, although I really only got into turning properly mid afternoon, which was a shame, as the powder turned to overdone meringue overnight, robbing me of the chance to perfect my turns!

That evening saw the Grimentz Christmas Fair in full swing. This creation from the local bakers' really grabbed my interest.

The next day I skied Grimentz again, and tried the off piste, but it had frozen hard overnight and was just awful. I stayed on the piste, as the visibility was a bit poor as well.

Grimentz closed it's lift system again on the Monday, so I headed for Zinal. It was quite a long journey as there is no skiers bus linking Grimentz and Zinal until the 22nd December, so I had to travel via Vissoie, 2 buses each way. With delays at the cable car, it was really a 2 hour journey to the slopes, and it was a shame that the visibility was not so good, since the snow was quite nice.

The next day I made the same journey and was rewarded with better weather, though the off piste was as crusty as the Grimentz stuff, which is not too surprising really.


The snow began again next day, and I needed to pack, so I spent my time walking in and around Grimentz, which looks very pretty in it's winter coat.

It was lovely to get away from the overly commercial and tacky aspects of the run up to Christmas in the UK, and chance to get some great skiing done.

Saturday, November 15, 2008

Weekend Warriors


Making a late decision to head out to Zermatt and test some skis, I stopped off in Grimentz to collect my kit en-route and was on my skis for 11am on Friday morning. A beautiful sunny day, and perfect to settle down on my Stockli's, before testing some skis over the next two days. The ski area was quite busy, and the cable car up to Furi was quite a squeeze. I had left behind my Transceiver to ensure that I stayed away from the early season off-piste. That resolution lasted a whole one run before I headed under the rope and into the fresh powder.

After skiing I settled into my hotel, and took a walk around the resort, and thought my hotel room had a pretty good view.

The view was excellent, however the bathroom was not. The sign on the door was a bit of an omen.

No matter how I tried to fold my legs into the bath, there was no way in which I could soak my tired knees, and I'm only 164cm tall.

I made sure that I was up and ready for Saturday breakfast starting at 7.30, though I had not really considered that I would be late. On reaching the breakfast room it seemed that the breakfast buffet had been hit by a plague of locusts, and the room was pretty full. I settled down for some protein free left overs, and made a mental note to be earlier on Sunday.

Of course, I was now at the rear of the weekend warriors mass ascent of the Klein Matterhorn, and by the time I reached Trockner Steg, I had discovered that most of the crowd seemed to be participating in the Swiss Ski Test since the test centre seemed to be rather full of people and empty of skis. I briefly considered giving up and going down to get my Stockli's, then joined the scrum.

I was asked what sort of skis I wanted, and what type of skiing I like to do, and I offered up a list of likely models having done some research. So, I'd said I had wanted mid fat skis, 50% off piste profile, and what I was offered were narrow waisted carvers, suitable for piste use only and generally in cute colours. I decided to go for self selection!

Binding setting was quite funny, the ski tech yells what sounds like "sowlalanga" at me which I took to mean boot sole length, and then complains when I'm unable to step the heel piece down on a binding which is still set to the last user who weighed 100 kilos (so I'm told). I'm not 100kg BTW.



The first ski I tried was the Scott Neo. 166cm 122/82/111
I thought this was a really good piste ski, and it's pretty good in soft snow, though it got chucked around in crud. Quite easy to live with.


Next up I tried the Scott Crusade 169cm 139/90/118
This was a really surprising ski on groomed slopes. It turns really easily and is quite fun. Off piste, it seemed to need quite a bit of speed before starting to turn. It has a split personality and turns into a big mountain charger away from the groomed slopes.


I returned the Scotts to the rack and picked up a pair of Dynastar Legend 8000
165, 120/79/103, took a warm up run and headed for lunch. I had wanted to try some 8000's as Andy has some and is really fond of his, so straight after lunch headed up the Klein Matterhorn cable car for a decent blast down to Trockner Steg. So, I walk down the access tunnel and down to the start of the piste, pop the skis down on the snow, and one ski starts to slide rapidly, heading under the safety rope and off onto the crevassed area of the glacier.

I could not understand how the ski could do this, the snow was powdery and the brake should have stopped it sliding. There was no way I could have gone after it, and it was now out of sight, so I stood the other ski in the side of the slope, so that a searcher would know where to start looking and headed back down the cable car to the test centre. The test centre sent me back up to collect the single ski, and with amazing luck, the escaped ski had been spotted and was now beside it's mate in the snow.

On examining the ski, it was obvious what had happened, the binding heel piece was open, and the brake was up, not down. A faulty ski binding with no functional brake to stop the ski. I returned both skis to the test centre, and whilst I was there another skier returned his test pair, but carrying a detached ski brake. I wonder if I should use my own skis on Sunday.

Saturday night, saw the weekend drunks out in force, kicking the E-bus shelter outside at 10pm, shouting in the street at 3am and in my hotel corridor at 4am, so I had hopes that breakfast might be a little less popular, no such luck, even though I was a few minutes early.


I had decided to give the test centre another chance, so braved the scrum for the cable cars and then picked up the Movement Black Rose 175, 121/88/110. This is a women's specific ski and the top of the range for Movement women's skis, the target user group is expert. I took my Leatherman tool and did my own checks on the bindings, before I used the skis.

I enjoyed using these so much, I hung onto them all day. They are a wonderful ski, well balanced, great on piste, light and springy. Off piste they inspire confidence. I really wish that there had been a length suitable for me to really test properly. I'm not convinced that testing a ski 11cm over head height is all that accurate, but I did my best!

There is no way that I could be described as an expert skier, and I'm left wondering that Movement could sell lots more stock if they re-worded their target group in the catalogue.

Of course, as this was Sunday, all of the crowds were heading off the hill and I got a decent nights sleep! So, as I was skiing on Monday, naturally I headed down to breakfast just a few minutes early, to be told by my hotelier that breakfast started at 7.30. So I made do with yesterdays' bread, and grabbed some meat from the buffet. It was good to see what was supposed to be laid out.


I was back on my Stockli's and it was good to be on my own kit! A little windy though!

Saturday, October 25, 2008

Wellies and an Umbrella



I headed out to Spain for a week or so. I knew about the weather forecast before I set off, and it is Gota Fria season after all. Most folks understand the need to stay home when the rain comes, though, some of the locals decided to take their chances on local roads as the rainwater makes it's way to the sea. I turned on the local TV station to see some of the results.



This is on a local road, and it's between me and the supermarket, good job I had plenty of food in the fridge. Of course, when the road sign says, "Inundable" chances are that it will flood when the rains come.

The next day the rain stopped and the fire crews arrived in town to pump out homes and restaurants.
Some areas of the town were completely washed out, and I was surprised to see that this car had ended up as a part of a local water feature. Many hotels were flooded and coaches were unable to reach hotels as the roads were too deep in water.

If you have ever wondered what happens to all this rainwater when it reaches the beach, it does this.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Can I just Show You This



Things were going so well. I just knew that when I heard those words shouted up the stairs by "the builder" that something had gone wrong, and it was going to cost. Well, this is part of my lounge wall, and it's not meant to look like that.

It is meant to look like the other side of the hole, because it was time to replace front and back doors on the house.
A visit to a handmade brick supplier was then organised to get the matching bricks and the wall was rebuilt. Just my luck, why was the house not built with ordinary bricks, which could be sourced from an ordinary builders merchant?

It's a most disruptive experience, and I took refuge upstairs along with my laptop, whilst the house was pulled apart.
Our cat took flight and went missing for 3 days. We put leaflets with a photo round the neighbourhood and she returned the same evening. She now has her very own Loc8tor tag!

These workmen consumed lots of tea and coffee and huge quantities of biscuits, but they did work hard and the job is now completed, mostly.
The finished doors and windows are in oak and I hope they will last a very long time.

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Having Fun With My Clothes On



I purchased some new skis back in the spring. It was a bit of guesswork, not sure if I would like them, or if I had purchased the correct length. I was over in Milton Keynes Snozone to meet up with a couple of friends, so took the chance to get some bindings mounted on them, and give them a try out. The staff in the nearby branch of Ellis Brigham were most helpful as ever and had the skis ready in around an hour.

One minor flaw in the game plan was that my ski boots are out in Switzerland. Time for Plan B. "Can I borrow your ski boots dear?". It was a little like skiing in wellies, but well worth the effort as I really like the skis. I would go as far as saying it's the best time I've had at MK, the skis are huge fun.

I was joined for my session by JT and Snowball from Snowheads, who were on their way to Wales. JT was trying out some new skis as well, though I'm not convinced he was quite as happy with his choice, though guys both look happy enough here!

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

The Spanish Builders (again)


After paying lots of Euros for our place to be renovated, we headed out to Spain in order to get the electricity supply working properly. The problem seems to have been with the supply to the new power sockets. It should have been 220v, but was actually 120.

2 electricians arrived and dug a hole in the (new) wall sighed quite a lot, and announced that it was a big problem! They rose to the challenge and rewired the new wiring! Once they departed the builders' son arrived and introduced a plasterer who fixed the hole (s)!

Naturally we are out in Spain to relax, so it's time to get in a little painting and take in the scenery.

It's a long way down, and it's quite hard to paint a wire mesh!

It's a good job that we managed to get some proper relaxation done. some of it involved catching up with emails of course.

Of course, some builders in Spain, work harder than others, but it's quite a short season!

Sunday, July 27, 2008

Golden Opportunities


It has been unusually hot and sunny, so we decided to head the nearest high spot, White Horse Hill to cool down. We have been visiting for 9 years, and the hill, with it's chalk horse draws locals and tourists to The Ridgeway, which is an ancient road. Imagine our surprise to see an almost empty car park with a couple of these installed. I would not mind paying a charge, if there were facilities, though it does seem a real coincidence that this gets installed just as everyone is trying to save money by taking days out closer to home.

There is little option, but to pay up or drive away, as the roads are really narrow, so we fed the machine and set off on a walk described by the local council as "strenuous" and steep.

It was a really pleasant way to spend a couple of hours, marred only by worrying about being back at the car before the ticket ran out.

Sunday, July 13, 2008

Hotel Weisshorn-The Foodies on Tour



It's Sunday, and the weather forecast was not promising, so we decided to head over to St Luc for an easy walk up to the Hotel Weisshorn for Sunday lunch.
The sun was shining as we left Grimentz, it looked fine but hazy as we entered the Funicular, the 1st few raindrops were hitting the windows on the ascent, but there was a large crowd of hikers waiting to go down as we reached the exit.

It was raining so hard that we made straight for the Tignousa cafe to wait for the clouds to pass. The cafe staff were having fun by telling us that we should be happy as we had "english" weather to hike in!

Soon enough, the rain passed over, and we set off down the Chemin des Planetes, which is an easy trail laid out with depictions of the planets at various intervals.

The last part of the footpath is a little steeper, and the cloud rolled in, but we reached the Hotel without getting wet.

Lunch was great, and it was tempting to stay all afternoon, but the weather was looking increasingly gloomy so we set off in a thunderstorm to walk back to Tignousa. It's July after all, reasonably warm, the rain passed, and we were nicely drying out as we reached the cafe and Funicular station. Our boots suffered the most and took a full day to dry out. Wet feet are not fun, even in July.

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Earning My Lunch... Cabane du Petit Mountet






Another sunny Swiss day, and we decided to make the hike to this popular mountain Cabane outside Zinal. The route up to the Cabane is a trail, but there are variations, so as the main trail was quite busy we turned off onto a narrow path through the trees.
The scenery is quite amazing with plenty to draw they eye, which, of course, adds to the hike time.






The trail we chose was quite steep in places, with chains to grab on the steepest rocky parts. Of course, we had wondered about all the waterfalls lower down, where did they flow, were there bridges etc...

Yes, there were bridges, if a little narrow and wet. They did serve to improve my concentration on the task. It was imperative to avoid falling in!


With the Cabane in sight, and the promise of a long cool drink at the top of that hill, I almost broke into a trot...


Then Andy decides that he wants to admire the scenery....



The Cabane is a very sunny spot and their sun umbrellas were fully engaged in keeping us cool whilst we decided on what to eat. The flowers on the windowsill don't seem to need any shade though....

The Cabane is quite smart and fairly new, since the old one burnt down a few years ago. The food was excellent, and we were reluctant to get started towards Zinal.

We took the easy path down, and the stream crossings were much, much easier...