Great Snow in the Anniviers

Just back from a terrific fortnight on and off-piste in the Val D'Anniviers. The slopes were mostly uncrowded, the company was good and the sun shone at lunchtimes. After seeing Andy glance into the Abondance itinerary twice when on the draglift, I lured him in.

This was his first day back on skis this season, so probably like jumping into a cold bath, the snow was good though.
We had some fresh snow to play in, though it did hamper the visibility a little on one day.

This is the view down to the Bendolla Gondola station with the restaurant on the right. We also briefly met up with our friend ise at Bendolla, he was quite tired from a trip on skins to one of the mountain huts for lunch. We managed to get one run completed together before the day closed.

I managed to hook up with friend JT from Snowheads, who was skiing with a group of friends, Yve, Tony, Bevis and Robin. I dropped into Abondance (again),with JT and friends and Andy took a cruise and met us at the bottom.

The snow conditions were excellent and several of the steep black runs were open and complete. The next day we went to Zinal and skied the Chamois piste which leads back to Grimentz. It's a long black slope which ends in a long itinerary path through the woods, quite a long route.

During our stay we also visited Vercorin, which has lots of tree lined runs, and some which are surprisingly steep, for what looks like an easy cruising area.

We spent a day in St Luc on the opposite side of the Anniviers. It's a lovely sunny area with a good range of slopes. We both wanted to try out climbing on skins with touring skis, so went up to the Hotel Weisshorn for a long lunch after an hour's climb. Apparently it should have taken us half an hour, but it was the first time!

There is no road to the Hotel Weisshorn in the winter, so it'skis and skins, raquettes or hiking boots. I managed to slice open one knuckle trying to fit the skins, so after leaving lots of blood on the Prilet slope, the skis/skins/rucksack...etc Andy had to finish the job. The food was great and it was well worth the climb.

Andy had rented touring boots, which started out feeling comfortable, but that feeling soon wore off, and he had sore patches on his feet next day. I tried to get touring boots, but the only hire pair in my size were much too big, so I climbed in my alpine boots, with the clips undone.

Andy discovered the value of locking the heel down on the bindings when making a descent on skins.

The snow conditions were good enough for finding uncut snow right through our stay. We found plenty of good powder terrain in the Orzival area, though finding just the right time of day to ski it, could be tricky as conditions were quite warm on some days and the snow could be crusty.

We hooked up with ise and fellow Facebook Anniviers Group member Rej B to find some hidden stashes, Skied right through lunch, stopping just before 3pm.

The only downside to the trip was me catching a cold. All that healthy mountain air and I get a cold!!!

A Little Progress Perhaps?

I was hoping that I would be writing this entry with the knowledge that we had completed our purchase, as it's now over 2 years since we signed our contract.

When canton Valais changed the regulations regarding purchases by foreigners (again), we decided to write directly to the canton and ask when we would be getting our permit. We did not expect a reply, but received one teling us that our permit would be issued the following week. That was quite a coincidence I think.

Around 10 days later the solicitor who works for the Notary emailed to say that the permit would be granted and requested the remaining 50% of the funds. Since then, all is quiet, I sent several emails to the Estate Agent, and got no response, pity really, apparently we need an electrical inspection, and he's the man with the knowledge, oh, and insurance too.

So, we continue to wait, in limbo, we have now paid 100% of the cost, plus charges, and still have nothing to show for it. Welcome to our 3rd year on the permit list.

Zinal Powder

I decided to take a quick trip out to Val D'Anniviers. It was sheer good fortune that I arrived to fresh deep powder up on Sorebois.

The village was quite busy with racers, hosting the Dynastar Cup, so there were quite a few skiers on the hill, mostly feeling the cold. It was our good fortune that they all seemed to want to ski on a couple of slopes, leaving all the beautiful uncut powder to the lucky few.

I cannot really remember ever skiing in powder so dry and fluffy. I was really surprised that my lift ticket was only CHF30 each day, it seemed an amazing bargain.

The piste patrol set charges to release this snow from the ridge.




Whilst I enjoyed another day on the slopes, I doubt that there were more than 20 skiers and snowboarders on the entire hill. The snow continued to fall, the air was colder and the snow was very dry and powdery. I sank into a snowdrift thigh deep, and tested the efficiency of my ski bindings!

I had a pleasant surprise from the lift company. I was approached by a member of staff in the restaurant whilst I was having lunch, and advised that I had been overcharged on my ticket, and given a partial refund.



Zinal is a pretty little village and is looking very seasonal right now, in the run up to Christmas.

Tricky Little Gnomes

After my recent success with the bank account challenge, I may have been a little too smug. As we are on a long list waiting for a permit, we have to be quite patient, but we had been assured that we would eventually float to the top of the pile, and be able to complete.

Last weekend the Valais cantonal authorities changed their legislation regarding the permits. This year, they applied all 330 permits to the waiting list, which currently stands at 1290. Next year, they will give most of the permits to builders, and "Canton Approved Projects", and the list gets...wait for it...66 permits.

This means, that if you are at the bottom of the pile, then you could look forward to completion and legal ownership in....19.5 years. Whilst you wait on the sidelines, you will be able to observe foreigners view a newbuild being offered by a builder, and be given a permit...straightaway.

We await the release of next years' permit allocation. If we fail to be able to complete next time round, then we wait another year, and will have the option of cancelling our contract if either our Estate Agent or the canton are unwilling or unable to tell us when (if) we will be able to complete. We paid 50% of the purchase price 2 years ago, so our worst case scenario is, it's been a free loan to Valais canton for 3 years. So, a bit like the Swiss banking system really.

Unless, of course the canton changes the rules again.

Autumn Slide at Xscape MK

The Real Deal and definitely not Milton Keynes

Went along for a couple of hours to Milton Keynes indoor snow slope. Seemed like a good opportunity to remind my body what this skiing stuff is all about. After all, it's been a month since I had skis on in Zermatt.

As there are now signs all over the snow slope base area banning photography and videoing by the public I took no photos. Whilst I was there I met up with several skiers from Snowheads, namely JT, Snowball, Slikedges, Rob and Snowshark. I took my Monsters, and they were fine for the mixed conditions on the slope. I'm looking forward to getting them up to speed in resort, but that's next year, and seems ages away.

It's snow, but it's just not quite the real deal as the sun's not shining, and there are no deckchairs outside the cafe.

One Step Closer

I had begun to worry that I had no chance of getting an ordinary bank account in Switzerland. I am happy to say, that I have found a bank that caters for folks who count their change when shopping, :ie most ordinary people.

I made arrangements to open an account by email, and called in, gave them some money, and in return they handed me some pieces of paper. I now have an online service, and all the necessary access. If I spoke and read French, it would be a doddle.

One of the ongoing problems with "having a Swiss bank account", is that folks who know me, now think I'm really rich. If only it was true.

I'm really happy that one of our hurdles has been jumped, and now all we need is a permit from the Canton, and we can complete the purchase, and enjoy more views like this.

Target Practice in Zermatt Sept-Oct 07

I have just returned from a ski trip to Zermatt. The conditions on the glacier slopes were superb, and the weather was kind to me. This was my first visit to Zermatt, and I was amazed at how busy the whole resort was with tourists. Everywhere I looked there was a party of Japanese or Americans, all raising their cameras in unison to take exactly the same photo of the Matterhorn. The tourist shopping was of course, geared to meet their needs.




I had signed up for a package to test skis, through the Tourist Office. This included my hotel, lift ticket and a range of skis to test. I managed to test 3 different pairs of skis during my stay, and this provided quite a varied experience.

These were:


Movement Chicka http://movementskis.com/

Scott Aztec Maya http://www.scottusa.com/gb_en/product/155/23/aztec_maya

Dynastar Exclusive Legend Powder http://dynastar.com/product.php?id_seg=&id_product=583&id_dyn_category=2&id_dyn_segment=92&acturub=1


My first outing was on the Movement Chicka, and I really thought I had forgotten how to ski. Perhaps they were too short, or poorly prepared, but once I swapped them for the Scott Aztec Maya I was much happier. The best ski of the bunch were the Dynastar's, and I was most surprised that they were 172cm. All my own skis are under 165cm.









The glacier slopes were very busy with race teams undertaking training in fenced off areas. That worked fine as long as they stayed there, but it was quite off putting to have skiers regularly go past me extremely fast in a race tuck, apparently using me as a "gate". After a near miss, I took to stopping behind the lift pylons for safety. I'm quite risk averse, having had a speeding skier break my collarbone 2 winters ago.

There was some lovely fluffy powder to play in. This was of no interest to the racers as it was not groomed. Perfect for me though!

On my last day, I saw these folks out on their antique kit. This equipment looked really difficult to ski on.










I shared a lift with a teenage member of the German Moguls Team. This is what he was training on. Young knees can take the impact. The speed of descent defied belief, to stand and watch it looked like a speeded up film clip.

Why is it so very difficult

Okay, so I made an assumption. The assumption was broadly this. Someone who is buying a property in Switzerland should be able to open a bank account in order to pay their bills.

Well, technically it's still possible. Practically, it's turned into a surreal experience, more like a nightmare.

I send off an email, telling a bank about where we are in the process, who we are buying through, who the solicitor is etc. By return, I get either, a request for a considerable amount of money 25,000 to 100,000 CHF, or, a request for pretty well everything except my blood group. Still, I'm sure they will ask for that in the next mailing.

I queried the amount at one bank, just to make sure. I was told "It's quite normal". Yeah, right, I'm sure all the Swiss checkout staff and refuse collectors deposit 100,000 CHF in order to get their pay cheque processed.

All this effort is to get a very ordinary current account, paying no interest, with online banking and a bill payment facility.

Given that Switzerland has very low interest rates, I'm starting to feel that it would be cheaper for us to pay cross border banking costs for at least the next 10 years, before we would break even on the losses that a hefty banking deposit would incur in our savings.

I have now learned that Spanish Banks in all the performance aspects I have encountered so far, are miles ahead of Swiss ones.

And we still have no information about when we'll get our permit.

A Most Pleasant Walk

A pleasant day, and a good opportunity to walk a little of the Thames National Path. It's an easy level hike with ever changing scenery. The weather was kind to us, and we saw lots of local wildlife, mostly birds on the Thames.

It's amazing just how busy the Thames is with folks in boats, from Narrowboats to racing dinghys and rowing boats all trying to use the same bit of water.

Something For The Weekend Sir?

In this case, the "something" turned out to be a loan of a Toyota Prius Hybrid. We were prepared to give one a decent road test, especially as cheap road tax and good tax breaks are on offer for company car users.

We were not convinced.

1. The fuel consumption was only around 45 miles per gallon (Imperial)

2. The engine starts straightway when the aircon is on, so burning the planet like any other car.

3. The passenger footwell is very cramped.

4. The suspension is plain awful, I felt car sick on a road I have been using for many years.

5. When you try to accelerate, the engine revs up...and then you finally gather momentum.

6. The music system is inferior.

7. It's quite hard to get beyond 10 mph without the engine starting.

8. The view through the back window is poor, it has a reversing camera, just as well.

9. The gear shift arrangement is counter intuitive.

10.If you forget to engage the foot parking brake after selecting drive, you go nowhere.

11.It's expensive.

12.The battery materials are definitely not environmentally friendly.

The delivering dealer announced that it was "the future". We will settle for the past for the time being thank you. It was collected without comment or enquiry.

Bangs, Bulls and Beer

We were in Spain for Fiesta in our Spanish seaside town. It's a very big event for the Spanish, with 2 weeks of events, parades and fireworks. As we were hosting an elderly parent, we did'nt get about as much as some other years, and those events we did attend were not met with huge enthusiasm by our guest. For us the event was as exciting as ever.

For example there is a large firework display which begins at midnight of the beachfront, which is attended by thousands of locals and tourists alike. I have never seen such large fireworks, which are launched with a "whump" noise and a large flash of flame, before the firework opens. We were about 300 yards away.

Then there is the "bullfighting". There is much critcism of formal Spanish bullfights, and having watched elements of the event here, I feel that it owes more to the right of passage for the young men of the town who enter the bullring in T shirts and jeans, to face a stroppy bull. Their defence is to run between the bars of the bullring base to avoid the bull. They have no swords or other weapons like the traditional Toreador. The bull's seem to be rotated, and here are some images of the bulls at changeover.

The images are a little grainy as it was dusk, and it's a bit daunting to put myself through the bars to get a good image!!

The bulls eventually get a run up the beach each evening, which can surprise some tourists.

This is the view of the bullring from the castle approach. The low building on the rear left, is the local emergency clinic!

There are many Church services throughout Fiesta at the church in the old town, which are open to the public.

We managed to entice our guest away from the only English Bar and the English Beer, to enable him to experience a bit of real Spain. He was able to put up with a pitcher of San Miguel, just occasionally.

The weather, was absolutely fantastic throughout our stay.

A great Fiesta trip, and we were quite pleased to have paid our taxes to the Ayuntamiento, and had some interesting dialogue with a proper Spanish Builder about some alterations to our house. We await their proposals and the estimate of the costs!!

The Pull of The Paper

We have just finished hosting an elderly relative at our place in Spain. This involved driving him around, and sourcing his idea of Spanish holiday bliss. This consisted of finding an English Bar, where the staff speak to him in English, English football on TV and today's copy ( absolutely not yesterdays'copy) of the British tabloid "The Daily Mirror".

Well we achieved all that, though I'm really not convinced that he had a good time, despite it being Fiesta fortnight and a really big spectacle. Of course, all this excess of English language
exposure, did inevitably lead to an unfortunate Daily Mirror incident for my partner. Despite heaping scorn on the UK tabloid press and working hard at blending in with the Spanish way of life, he could not help himself!

The Ridgeway

As it's a Bank Holiday in the UK, we decided to take a hike along the Ridgeway. It's an ancient road, and recently motor vehicles were banned from using it, so conditions have improved for hikers and bike riders.

We started and finished at White Horse Hill, which was busy with tourists, hang gliders and model aeroplane enthusiasts.

After walking round the Fort, we hiked as far as Waylands Smithy, which is a Neolithic Long Barrow burial mound, decided that there were too many tourists around and headed back to White Horse Hill.

Just time to take in the scenery and then off home for lunch.

It rained a bit here yesterday

We had rather a lot of rain in our bit of the UK yesterday. It's not just that we had lots of rain, but the problem seems to be where it goes once it's fallen, ie: nowhere fast.

When we went out walking today, we saw that between our village and the adjoining one, some folks were clearly coping better than others.

We managed to complete most of our walk, through careful planning, use of hedgerows, and the odd bit of backtracking.

Some folks were clearly enjoying a chance to justify owning an off-roader!

There was a cloud, just the one though.....

We were feeling rather fed up of living under a blanket of uniform grey sky, so we headed off to Spain to get some sunshine and, well, daylight really. There was a cloud one morning, the only one we saw, so I grabbed my camera! Our resort town was in full summer swing and on Saturday night we headed down to the beachfront.

This photo was taken about 10pm, and the locals are just coming into town, there are still a few folks on the beach, and we were a little surprised to see no-one in the sea.

We had already walked up the North Beach promenade where the resident sand sculptors were doing their best to remind us northern europeans, of the cold weather we had left behind, and that the same weather was waiting for our return.

We had originally planned to do some more walking, but the weather seemed quite hot, and as there had been some fires in the countryside north of us in Tarragona. We agreed to chill out by the pool instead!

Flying back over the Pyrenees and Andorra, we saw lots more snow than is usually visible in July, and it made me think about getting away for some summer skiing.