Ski Blog | Chalet
END OF SEASON REVIEW - 30 April 2012
So most resorts are now closed for the winter and nearly all still have snow - what a season it has been!! Arguably the best in living memory!
How was this possible when the press who always love a negative story were writing doom and gloom stories about no snow at the beginning of December?
Fortunately the weather doesn’t read the press and nor do we! We ignored them and got on with skiing and organising holidays across the Alps and were lucky enough to get in plenty of skiing ourselves.
We here at Altitude skied Courchevel, Le Grand Massif (Flaine, Les Carroz, Samoens, Morillon), Morzine & Avoriaz in France and in Italy the Monterosa (Champuloc, Alagna & Gressoney) and all in amazing snow conditions from the powder of Courchevel at Christmas through to the spring snow in April!
The snow was amazing we had some great adventures including a very scary 50m abseil, watching friends jump off snow covered roofs and of course skiing some great runs both on and off piste!
Whilst we should remember the good times we can’t forget the sad news through the season the coach accident carrying children back from a ski holiday, the tragic loss of life in the Belgian coach accident, Sheffield Ski village burning down, the sad loss of life in accidents through the season all reminders that we should make the most of every minute we have on the slopes!
Hope you had some magical moments on the slopes this last winter – have a great summer!
And if you have snow withdrawl symptoms you can always check out our Facebook, Twitter and YouTube accounts!
GITES DE GERS - JUMPING OFF A ROOF! 19th JANUARY 2012
I love the Gites du Gers – it’s a great little restaurant that is on the edge of a lake that I have only ever seen frozen.
Set at the bottom of the Gers bowls which is one of my favourite places to ski when there is fresh snow – just amazing off piste skiing! Or if off piste skiing is not your thing then take the blue Cascades run from the top of Flaine – a 14km run all the way down to Sixt, a stunning run through trees, past frozen waterfalls! Beautiful.
Half way down you can pick up a phone and call the restaurant who send someone to come and tow you up to the restaurant behind a ski do!
I have been taken up to the Gers lift (a very long and in places steep drag lift!) in the back of a converted piste basher, I have seen a helicopter pick people up, I have even stayed the night there and often you can see Chamois’ grazing on the slopes above it.
It’s a tranquil beautiful place unless you have friends like me who will disturb the peace by jumping off a nearby chalet roof – see the video here!
DRIVING HOME FROM CHRISTMAS
I’m dreaming of a White Christmas someone once sang and we all do, I should be used to them, having spent ten of the last twelve in the Alps but I still get excited about the idea of a white snowy Christmas!
And this year it was time to get very very excited! With unnecessary alarmist media reports at the beginning of December, that I wrote about in a previous blog, the snow was now falling across the Alps. Unfortunately I wasn’t out there to enjoy the opening days of the season as lifts opened but some fantastic reports of skiing and snowboarding filtered back to the UK – fantastic pictures of deep snow on Facebook, early reports of great ski holidays on Twitter – I couldn’t wait!
My parents, sisters and their families had booked their ski holiday in a hotel in Courchevel and for a variety of reasons I couldn’t commit to the same holiday at the time so when I could book something I booked my girlfriend and my ski accommodation in a catered chalet on the other side of Courchevel. It proved an inspired choice with our own space, able to eat with the family and a shortish walk home at the end of the night with an excuse to stop for a drink on the way home but still able to ski with the family!
We drove out and broke the journey at Troyes, a comfortable 5 hour drive from Calais where we had booked into a chain hotel and grabbed something to eat and got an early night before rising early and taking a morning stroll round the beautiful medieval town centre having a coffee and a croissant before jumping back in the car and heading onwards to the Alps with my excitement about skiing that fresh deep powder snow and my girlfriend’s excitement about the snow (she doesn't ski but loves the snow as much as I do) growing!
The miles ticked by and we arrived in Les Carroz where we were to spend a couple of days, enjoy a great day of powder skiing, a few beers, an open fire and then we were on the way to Courchevel.
The chalet was great, very comfortable with an open fire to relax in front of, the staff were great and they couldn’t do enough for us and Rich the chef provided superb food even for my special dietary requirements!
The snow just kept falling – some fabulous powder skiing and you couldn’t ask for a whiter Christmas! Whether it was skiing the off piste around 1850 or the quieter slopes over in 1650 (a personal favourite area of mine), for some reason doesn’t get as busy and the snow is great – check it out when you next ski The Three Valleys. We loved the snow, the roads had to be constantly cleared, our car had to be dug out and then it snowed some more! And that was all before Christmas!
Christmas Day itself was fantastic with the weather clearing, some great skiing with the family, entertainment on the slopes in the resort centre for the children (big and small!) and a traditional Christmas meal!
It was soon time to be going home and another drive back across France. This time we went via Dijon and a lovely stop over there.
Driving home from Christmas! Dreaming of a white Christmas.