Mostly Warm....

Skiing in April is always fun. It's often powdery, usually warm and quite social. It's about long lunches after powder filled mornings, peeling off the layers and sitting on restaurant terraces. Not every day is sunny, which is good, because that empties the slopes and covers the hills with powder!

Getting a table at the Buvette was not a problem that day

The cook at the Buvette having to work hard on his cigarette break!

The Salomons demonstrating just how soft they are!

Spooky sky

The L'Omen Rosso Avalanche from our lounge. This slide skilled 3 ski tourers.

Wishing he'd ridden his Thunders that day, and not some soft skinny Salomons

The Powder Virus

Plenty of fresh snow to play in off piste

Action in the 6Park Snowpark in Grimentz during April

Off piste with some friends. Lots of fresh snow and more low clouds!

Crossing a stream is a larger problem if you have short legs!

Getting onto the spring powder at just the right time of day

Late season small slab Avalanche high up the system

Enjoying a coffee break in the sunshine

The Learning Curve

Last month I took some ski tuition. It's been a while, so I chose a ski teacher that I've worked with before. A couple of people I know had recently been rude to me about my skiing skills, so I'd outlined what I wanted to work on prior to arriving for private coaching. A quick hop over the Col de Forclaz and down into Chamonix, where it was very, very warm.

Managed to check into my hotel thanks to a visiting postman wanting a signature and being keen to find some staff. My room had a view too! 

Made contact with my teacher, Chris Fecher boss of Tinderbox Ski School who kindly offered to collect me from my Hotel next morning. I headed into Chamonix to see the sights.

 Next morning and after an overpriced and rather basic breakfast, Chris collected me and we headed up to Grand Montets, so he could see what I needed to work on. It's been a while since I was there, and I initially could not get my bearings. The snow was pretty firm 1st thing so we stopped for a coffee to allow the surface to melt, and my teeth to quit humming.

After spending the morning on drills we skied down to Argentiere. It was little soupy bit skiable. I spent the afternoon sightseeing in Chamonix again. It's been a while since I was here, and the town is looking smarter.

Next morning and in search of some quiet slopes for videoing we headed up to Le Tour. The conditions were deteriorating fast but there was still plenty of snow for carving exercises!  Chris is a very supportive teacher and makes skiing seem so straightforward.

Apparently I can carve, and I'm not so bad a skier as some folks have been saying. I'd like to suggest that my detractors take that feedback and put it where the sun does not shine, however as they are already so far up themselves there is unlikely to be any room.

Onwards and Upwards!

A Little Off Piste

Fairly recently, someone who used to be in my circle of friends made a comment to me about my skiing (or lack of it in their opinion) that has prompted me into a bit of a retrospective Blog entry. So, I've looked back over my photos over 5 winters and pulled out the best off piste skiing photos of me. Just two of them definitely do not have me in them, as I was taking the photo, you get the idea!

Downhill All The Way

 

  January came around, and I packed away my skins to make the best of the pistes and easy to grab off piste that is all around the Anniviers. Had a great drive down across the Jura on the way out, stopping briefly in Kent to give a lift to a pal who was staying in Zinal for a week.

We got stuck in to the unpisted areas within the resort boundary and had a blast. The conditions varied widely, some slopes had breakable crust, though anywhere in the shade stayed powdery. 

It was cold again, so I was back wearing lots of layers, only this time I found myself having to say to Andy, no, wear more! We still saw skiers with no hats or goggles though, they must be more hardy.

Having been cruising in the back seat, Andy finds some Breakable Crust and decides to take a rest, and why not, he's on holiday!

My friend came round from Zinal, and brought all his friends with him, we had quite a crowd. We took them onto the same slopes we'd been skiing, smiles all round.

Most days we took a picnic and stopped at one of the Mountain Huts as the sunshine was glorious.On one occasion we had a visit from a confident local bird!

Spent a day in Zinal where there was still plenty of good skiing, though the bottom of the Freeride area was a little thin with a couple of streams showing through. Easy to avoid though. The main part of the resort had some Paragliders practicing for the Mauler Cup, which is a pretty big competition, so standards were very high.

The air was so clear that we were able to see the Cabane Becs des Bossons from the Corne du Sorebois in Zinal.

 A day in Vercorin offered us this great view across to Chandolin and the Illhorn drag lift, which is quite steep, and not just from this distance.

Back in Grimentz we'd been watching television and web reports on how bad the snow conditions were in France and Switzerland, um okay, if you say so.

There was a Skier and Boardercross competition in Grimentz, which also brought in the Freestyle skiers to the 6Park. Standards were quite high. You won't catch me doing this stuff!

 I took my Stockli's into the local ski shop for a service, and needed to sit down when the technician told me that the edges were so thin, the shop could do only 1 more service before they were scrap. I love my Stockli's so this is bad news. They also now seem to attract stones, and I spent several evenings with a P-Tex candle repairing the day's dings and holes.

I've not been counting my days on skis this winter, but in case you are wondering, it's 24 so far, more to come, hopefully.

A Little On The Chilly Side

Because the lifts were currently closed weekdays in Grimentz and Zinal, I hopped on the bus, caught the train and headed round to Zermatt for a few days. I would have been on the slopes by about 10am, but was delayed slightly trying to find a working locker for my bags in the basement of the station in Zermatt.

I made it up to Trockener Steg and met up with friends Steve and Nina for a quick ski down the Black run from Furgg to Furi. The run was in great condition, but it's a little dark in the afternoons so early in the season.

Zermatt had it's best party frock on for Christmas, but there was no escaping the really cold weather!

 

Yes, I'm wearing a Balaclava and a Buff. What you can't see, is the 2 pairs of thermal underwear as well!
I've not skied in consistently cold weather like this before, this was day after day in temperatures past -20c plus wind chill. I got chatting to some guys from Zurich in a gondola, one of them had Frostbite on his face, skiing in shades with no scarf, not nice!

I caught the Gornergrat Railway one day, to ski a little lower down, it was just as cold! Lovely views though.

I was very pleased with my Hotel choice. If I tell you where it is, then it will be full next time I want to visit! Lets just say, economical, traditional, friendly, superb buffet, warm and central. My room had a balcony with this view. The hotel was pretty full, and each morning I said Guten Morgen to a woman on an adjoining table. Turned out she was French and from Paris!

A txt one night saw me meeting up with another friend Tino, in the Brown Cow bar, for a quick beer. Several beers, much talking and 3 hours later......
It was great to chat and catch up on news, though I did feel a bit guilty as he had to get up at 5am next day!
The slope conditions during my stay were firm. The pisteurs had done an excellent job in keeping the snow cover, and were topping up with snow cannons during the day. This was the first visit on which I'd been able to ski to Zermatt village, because of good snow cover, and the first time I'd never skied from the top lift, which was closed to skiers because of stormy weather. The off piste was all windblown and crusty, horrible!.

On the way back down to Visp, I passed this.

In the village of St Nicklas of course!

Tick Tock

It's been 2 months since I had some skis on. I have my boots with me, but my skis are out in Switzerland right now, well, except for a really old pair! Usually I get the urge to go skiing in midsummer, and I have the time, so take a morning drive to Hemel Snow Centre, and call in to the Ski shop underneath the snow slope to see if they have any Demo skis available.

The good news is that they have a few pairs of next winters' stock. The bad news is that they want £15 to demo a pair. The hook for this is that the store will refund the charge, but only against a full priced pair of skis or boots. A minor flaw in their strategy is that they have no stock yet, most stores won't get their stock until September and the "Voucher" issued against the charge is only valid for 3 months! They also want photo ID, which I think is a bit excessive.

Oh well, it is nice to ski on new kit, so I pay up. I was slightly concerned that the member of staff who served me didn't know what the ramp angle was on the Demo bindings, but decided it would make no difference if he did know. The ramp angle would not be zero which is what I need, and it would feel like skiing in high heels!

The skis were okay. but not exceptional, I suppose some of that is my fault as I'm out of practice, and not particularly comfortable on them. The snow slope was in an okay condition, though the "Slow" nets were about a third of the way up the slope, so it cut down the skiing area.

I decided to head down to the store to swap these skis for another pair, and had a real problem getting the electric exit doors from the snow slope to open. Usual arrangement, walk towards door, and doors open. Er...well about 12 cm, and there they stopped. I put my shoulder into the gap and pushed hard to escape!

Down to the store where all the staff seemed to be unpacking store stock and there were plastic bags spread all over the floor, Health and Safety anyone? I ask for assistance, and I'm directed towards the back of the store, where no-one is serving. I wait, and wait.....until my patience evaporates, cross back over the packing materials and resume using the remainder of my paid time slot on the snow slope.

My time's up on the snow, so I rugby tackle the reluctant door again, and make my way to the changing area. One of the Snow Centre's ski teachers stops to chat to me. Tells me that he's not really got used to these wider skis yet. The skis in question are 84mm at the waist, really not very wide, at all.

I should get my £1 coin returned by the changing room locker, but I have no idea where my money went, except to say I don't have it, as it did not drop into the coin return, oh well! Down to the shop to retrieve my hostage credit card, and collect the Voucher, which I have no intention of using! If anyone wants it, please get in touch.

Patrouille des Glaciers

Whilst in Zermatt recently I was fortunate to see the start of the mountain race between Zermatt and Verbier. This only takes place every 2 years and it's pretty tough. There were hundreds of soldiers in Zermatt to manage the start and the preparations. I was quite surprised at the large numbers of the media there, but when lots of exotic looking skis filled up the ski room in my hotel, I realised it was a pretty big event.

During the afternoon the army band officially opened the event by marching through the village.



The start on this, the first night, was outside the main railway station in the centre of the village, and the main street was fenced and roped off by nightfall.

I bagged a position along the fence near to the start and was in place to see the tape go down and a row of soldiers hold back the racers until the official count down is over. The soldiers make a run for the fence and the competitors surge forwards.



Most of them were wearing trainers, and had their ski boots fixed into their bindings on their skis, strapped onto their packs. As I walked back to the comfort of my (now) quiet hotel, I imagined that I would be having a much better nights sleep than any of the racers (who skied and climbed all night).

Mountain Bite

This is a friends Giro helmet. He was wearing it when he lost a ski and somersaulted onto some rocks last month, while we were skiing together. He had a bruised arm and sore knee as well.

In fact all his focus was on his sore arm. I went over and picked up his kit and he skied back onto the piste to take stock, and only then did I see the rock sticking out of his helmet. I really thought that it was a piece of rock stuck onto the snow,which was stuck on his helmet. I was pretty surprised when I pulled it out of a hole.

It had gone right through, and he had a graze on his hairline, the helmet stopped the rock going further.

He's going to buy a new helmet.

Chilly

A quick getaway to the Val d'Anniviers before Christmas. It seemed really easy. Hop on a plane to Geneva, and then the train and Postbus. Of course I had not bargained on British Airways staff voting to strike, and declaring their intent to strike before I travelled back. Oh well, if I had to travel home on the train, it would be no hardship.

I had a walk around Sierre on the way up the valley and saw locals playing outdoor Bingo, accompanied by some guys on a Karaoke machine. All in -2c.




The weather and a judge then intervened in my travel plans, which was just as well. The weather in the UK was awful and lots of folks were stranded, then Eurostar suffered from the wrong type of snow and upset thousands of travellers plans. The judge conveniently (for me) declared the BA strike vote unlawful, which meant that my flight home was running again!

I skied in both Grimentz and Zinal, both hills were pretty cold. The skiers bus does not run until high season, so the journey to Zinal each day was over an hour and two buses each way. It was also not free, unlike last year.
The cold was pretty invasive! I saw -20c at mid station in Grimentz and saw a reported -29c at the top of the lift system. The loos at Bendolla were full of screaming children and anxious parents, who had failed to read the weather forecast and dress their children to suit the conditions. I have never seen so many people who looked as though they had been slapped hard.

All this cold weather, meant very little new snow, it was just too cold. I did manage to find isolated pockets of fluff, but generally off piste cover was thin and rocky, so I stayed clear.

Meeting up with some old friends was a real bonus, and I enjoyed skiing with them again, though don't feel I did my skiing justice, as I went down with a really bad cold, which sapped my energy. I also slipped over crossing the road and tweaked a knee, so I'm guessing the cold left me a bit vulnerable to injury.
The cold is now going, and I can't wait to get back out there later this month. It's rather cold again right now, but I'm confident that will pass and lots of fresh snow will follow in it's wake!