Ski Blog | Powder Snow
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.
Our First Blog….Is it Going to Snow?
What’s the seaweed you having hanging on your back gate telling you?
The berries are plentiful, the onion skins are thicker, the marmottes are doing something or other and so that means that another winter is on the way!
We were wearing shorts & t-shirts just a couple of weeks ago in record temperatures for October and now there is snow down to 1300m this weekend!
Who knows what is going to happen this coming winter – last winter started with record snow falls at the end of November. Altitude’s first day skiing was on Saturday 4th December – it was an amazing powder day! I was heard to shout more than once that day something on the lines of “WOOO HOOO! If this is what Verbier has to offer bring it on!!” It was going to be a fantastic ski season!
Hmmm.....Except it wasn’t!!
After Christmas there was a serious lack of snow across most of the Alps through the rest of the season and that powder day turned into one of only two truly great days for me – the other for the record was on March 12th.
Oh well, we had three good seasons before this one, so a ratio of one not so good season to three good isn’t so bad!
Altitude was based in Verbier last winter and was fortunate to ski the legendary resorts of St Anton, Zermatt and Chamonix as well as La Plagne, Le Grand Massif and Les Portes du Soleil.
This year we hope to ski more resorts visit more chalets, speak to more owners and holiday makers and hopefully over the next five months or so we can give you some idea of what it is like working in a ski resort, some helpful tips on how to book the best ski holidays, information about ski & snowboard equipment, updates on ski resorts, reports on great day trips, amazing powder days and more.
So with the first ski magazines arriving on my door mat, the nights drawing in and the ski show in just a couple of weeks I’m off to look at the berries, the onion skins and the Marmottes of West Sussex to see if we are going to have a great season. I can't wait!