Archive for March, 2010

• Unexpected sunshine in Verbier – we'll take that. Plus a dusting of snow. We must have been very, very good boys and girls… G #
• Bit of hazy cloud's crept in, meanwhile some dirty grey clouds are approaching from Chamonix.. G #
• So is it going to snow properly? And am I going to buy Telemark boots? The two biggest questions in resort… G #

• The forecast says snow's coming in and we'll even get a covering in resort. However it's looking blue up there out of the window… G #
• First lift and first tracks on Les Esserts. Rock and roll… G #
• Snowing again in Verbier. Are we going to get a late dump? Or will it just melt? Depends if you're an optimist or not I suppose… G #
• A dusting of snow in Verbier & suddenly the sun's come out. My money's on the sun winning. At least the snow will stay up at Ruinettes… G #

• Sun is blazing down again and I'm learning to telemark with Toby – who's ripping. This is AMAZING. G #
• Toby's telemarking exploits are up… G http://bit.ly/a7EVy6 #

Yup, after spending two season banging on about how good he was, and after I spent the same amount of time saying I was going Telemarking but never actually getting up there, Toby and I headed up for a wobble about.

I’m actually gutted to say Mallock ia actually rather talented, but I feel I put up a good attempt considering I’ve only telemarked twice, for about an hour or so each time, eight years ago…

Anyway, it looked like this (and yes the video is exceptionally fuzzy, but take it up with Sony Ericsson…).

Meanwhile it was absolutely boiling up there – possibly not the best conditions for me to hurl myself into the slush on skis that frankly look more than a little bit faulty by alpine skiing standards.

But despite the slush, sweat and sunburn I have to admit why all those slightly hippy telemark obsessed Scandinavians bang on about it so much and forsake a decent heel binding…

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• Got the day off but it's looking cloudy… Possibly going to spend the day watching telly instead… G #
• Updated some of the pictures on the website with new pictures of the grinning Swede… G http://bit.ly/cTHM6p #
• It's spitting with rain in town, but stay positive and imagine it falling as snow at Ruinettes… G #

Yup, looks like the carnage caused by the wet slides last week doesn’t look any less scary when you get close. This one started at Ba Combe and only stopped about 100 meters above the beginners slope…

• Kenta's off to Sweden to do what he does best. Good luck mate. G #
• Looks like everything's open… G http://sdds4.intermaps.com/verbier/web_verbier.asp?lang=en #
• An impressive morning in the sunshine but just as it got slushy the cloud came in & it's snowing again… G #
• OK, sunburnt but happy. And more snow is falling in resort… G #
• Er, it's dumping down in town. Loads. And it doesn't seem to want to stop… G #

Yesterday was a bit of weird one – from so windy and stormy that they shut the FuniSpace to perfectly still and sunny.

We set off in slushy snow and it was cloudy, then a storm really blew in and it dumped down with snow until midday, which was when Olly got stuck at the top of the FuniSpace with his clients as it had closed and the idea of skiing down in a blizzard and a white-out didn’t absolutely fill them with happiness. Fair enough.

By the time we’d finished lunch it had stopped there were about four inches of snow outside Carrrefoure, and by the time we got up to La Chaux the wind dropped and we found pockets of wind-blown powder on the piste up to  foot deep.

(So all those instructors who though they’d magically been awarded Patantes simply because it had snowed didn’t actually need to go off-piste to get some decent turns for their clients – they just had to look…)

Then out came the sun and we spent about an hour thumping up and down the La Chaux Express until it shut. Brilliant.

And by the time we got to Chez Dany for a beer it was slush again.

• Could it be sunny today? Surely not? Forecasts were all pretty grotty so fingers crossed… G #
• The first glimpse of snow. Even in town. More to come. http://bit.ly/bmRVaq …T #
• It's snowing cats and dogs, if that's the phrase. Sorely needed as some of the lower pistes were looking pretty sorry. Happy days. N #
• So we started with Spring slush, followed by a some Winter storms but then the clouds parted and it was Summer. Not a bad combination… G #