Not much sunshine around this week and not much in the way of fresh snow either. It has warmed up a bit, which means we’ve been able to get back on to the exterior stonework on le Miroir chalet.
Enjoyed the powder in Val d’Isère this week with the family, skiing the couloirs – a one-day family holiday. I’m also trying to keep up with the ski touring, building up to regular 2000 metre vertical ascents to make sure I’m fit enough for the start of the cycling season.
Posted by Chris
It’s the school holidays – a busy week out skiing in superb off-piste conditions with some of the FMP chalet owners.
The classic locations have offered up some truly magnificent fresh cold powder: La Foglietta in Sainte Foy, La Bellecote face nord in La Plagne and Mickey’s Ears Couloir in Tignes, to name but a few. It brings a warm glow (once you’re off the mountain and in front of the fire) to ski these areas when they are at their best.
avalanche training
It’s great to get our chalet owners out enjoying top-class off-piste, and learning how the mountains work and the safety elements. It opens up a totally new universe of skiing. Very exciting when you get a feel for this for the first time.
Temperatures are rising now with cloud arriving on southerly winds, which is not great, but the wind is forecast to swing to a north-westerly at the end of the week, which should bring around 20cm of snow. Fingers crossed.
Posted by Chris
My Dad and brother are staying with us at the moment and they’ve been out skiing everyday. Dad’s doesn’t just pootle about – he’s still going down pretty much anything he’s pointed at. A pretty good effort for an 80 year-old. I’m out tomorrow with a group of guys for whom I’ve been guiding for about 20 years now. They’re keen to do some ski touring but if we get the 30/40cm of snow we’re due tonight it might be too difficult (and dangerous).
We’ve managed to get the chalet in le Miroir air-tight this week, which is good news. Luis has a few weeks to go before the plaster comes off his broken arm but he can still happily heave two bags of cement on his good shoulder.
My daughter did well last weekend in Val d’Isere. She qualified for the French Championships and only narrowly missed out on the ski-off for the Topolino Ski Trophy – effectively the Junior World Championships – which takes place in Italy in March.
Posted by Chris
Took an overnight trip to Italy on Wednesday to pick up some tile and wood samples and also some handmade ironwork – cupboard handles, hinges etc – for the chalets. About 15cm of snow fell overnight on Tuesday so I packed the skis and hooked up with an old friend to do some skiing on Mont Blanc.
We went up from Cormayeur to Punta Helbronner at about 3500m. There were only about a dozen people skiing on that side and we did four off-piste runs, two of which were down the Toula Glacier. Did La Vierge (The Virgin Glacier) on the final run, going all the way down to Chamonix. About 6000m of vertical descent in total.
We also skinned 40 minutes up to the Aiguille Marbrées and came down the face which is pretty steep at 45°. Packed a lot of skiing in and got some nice samples too – successful trip.
There was a lot of good powder in Sainte Foy on Saturday but Val d’Isere was a bit windblown on Sunday. This weekend my daughter is competing in the first regionale and the qualifiers for the French National Championships in Val. We’ll be cheering her on, even if our teeth are chattering a bit – it’s about -22° in Val at the moment.
Posted by Chris
The weather has been fantastic this week, some great powder and good skiing to be had.
Took a few hours out midweek to do some ski touring (the French call it randoneé). Made the short drive from the office up to Valezan, just above la Côte d’Aime, on the south-facing side of the Isère Valley. Put the skins on the skis and struck out into the Beaufortin National Park. That side of the valley catches all the sun and with the great snow conditions it was glorious. Skinning up and then dropping all the way back down to Valezan.
The kids’ races went pretty well last weekend. My daughter competed in the Giant Slalom in Sainte Foy, she struck out on the first run, but came first in the second run by quite a margin. The overall placings are calculated on the results of both runs so unfortunately she didn’t get a podium. It’s Les Arcs this weekend for a slalom race tomorrow and a super G on Sunday.
My son raced against 80 other kids in Val d’Isère last weekend, coming 7th and 13th in his two runs. It was a great effort considering his size – the bigger the kid the faster they drop down a hill.
Posted by Chris
It’s been warm and sunny the last couple of days, a welcome change to the unbroken cloud we’ve had in recent weeks.
Not a huge amount of activity on the building front and Luis, one of the builders who’s been with us from the start, slipped on ice and broke his arm this week. A broken arm doesn’t appear to be much of a hindrance to him, though – he was back at work the next day.
The kids have got races this weekend, the first of the Savoie regional races, le Coq de Bronze, is in Val d’Isere on Sunday.
posted by Chris
I had one of those experiences on Christmas Eve that was a reminder that there is always a significant risk when you go off piste.
me skiing (not taken near the avalanche - was a bit too preoccupied to take pics then)
Two of us were out skiing in Tignes, taking a pretty cautious route when the mountain started shifting beneath us. We pelted for safety, the huge slab of snow beneath also picking up speed until it felt more like flying than skiing. The snow caught up with me, bowled me over and I deployed the air bags in my ABS rucksack.
Fortunately, I’d picked a good route down the mountain, which avoided the full brunt of the avalanche and I was able to wriggle out. There were two other guys who’d been skiing nearby and one got caught by the avalanche and was completely immobilised. He only had his head and an arm free but I managed to get him out with my snow shovel.
It was a pretty sobering experience, particularly in light of the three people who died in an avalanche in Les Arcs at the weekend, one of whom was a very experienced local guide. They were located because they had bleepers but they were buried under an unbelievable 9 metres of snow.
Snow conditions have got very unstable in the last week with the temperature yo-yoing all over the place – it’s snowing like crazy now and they’ve been constantly blasting the avalanche risk areas.
Posted by Chris
It’s snowed just about everywhere in France (and the rest of Europe) this week but not here. It’s been too cold to snow, around -15℃, but warming up a bit and snow is forecast.
My son’s ski group was an instructor down on Wednesday so I took them out. He’s in the under tens group – the Poussins (little chickens, to you and me) – and they’re a good bunch of racers, but it was freezing and they cleaned me out with multiple hot-chocolate stops.
Got to be on the mountain in Val d’Isere tomorrow in the dark at 7am to help out with the Women’s World Cup downhill event taking place this weekend.
Posted by Chris
Not much to report on the building front, we’re still laying the stonework in le Miroir and it’s still cold work. The windows are scheduled to arrive in January, which is good news.
Was back in Val d’Isere again on Wednesday and skied the last of the good powder – no snow forecast in the immediate future. Still, Val d’Isere fares better than most areas when snow is thin on the ground, thanks to the altitude and glaciers.
Most lifts are open now and the Premiere Neige World Cup event – the first of the European season – kicks off this weekend in Val d’Isere.
Posted by Chris
Skiing in Val d'Isere Wednesday, 9 Dec
We had a good fall of snow on Tuesday night, which dropped about 20cm in Val d’Isere. Managed to fit in a quick outing on Wednesday to find some ski legs for the season. Skied in powder and sunshine and the place was deserted. Magic.
view from Chalet Merlo garden Dec 09
The picture on the left was taken from the garden of Chalet Merlo this week. Following recent features in the Sunday Times and the Observer, Chalet Merlo is featured in this month’s Harper’s Bazaar.
The cold weather isn’t all good news, though – it’s played havoc on le Miroir chalet build this week. We’ve been laying the stonework but had to light fires next to the guys to stop the mortar from freezing as it was going on.
Posted by Chris