Yup, been in the UK and really not too upset to be back in Verbier. Apart from the fact it’s raining. But whilst Toby and I were taking in the delights of Gatwick airport we noticed this sign – is it possible BAA are slightly out of touch with snowsports? And we don’t wnow if this means you can’t put snowboards on it or if snowboards and “skiboards” are the same thing…

It’s absolutely chucking it down in town but it’s just turning to snow somewhere above Marmotte.

Now normally that’s the kind of tantilising news that makes us hope the snowline  will drop and we’ll get some in town, but it’s May and frankly I’d be quite happy if the clouds, the rain and the snow all disapeared and we got some quality sunshine in thankyou very much.

Look closely, very closely. Just between the trees and above the chalets. Click on the picture and you’ll see…

Yup, that’s snow alright (you’re looking at Atelas).

OK, not exactly waist-deep powder, but give us a break – it’s May. But the snow has been settling at about 2000. In fact there’s snow on the Savoleyres ridge and below, but the cloud rolled in before I got a picture…

Yup, Verbier is shedding inhabitants by the bus-load and the sun’s beating down on those of us who are left. Well, it’s also beating down on the guys who seem to be digging up all the roads, so it’s a bit noisy up at Medran.

But just so we could get some early summer gloating in I thought I’d show you what it looks like at the moment – and if you’ve ever spoken to a ski instructor and asked what they do in resort in the summer, well we mostly look at views like this…

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To celebrate the end of the PDG, the Patrouille Suisse (the swiss equivalent of the Red Arrows) do a spectacular display over Verbier

The final day of the Patrouille des Glaciers and you’ll delighted to hear that the record of yomping across mountains in the dead of night from Zermatt to Verbier has been beaten – they can get here in under 6 hours now. I’m told about 5 hours and 50 minutes, which slashes 25 odd minutes off the previous record.

What is the PDG? Well it’s a ski touring race from Zermatt to here where competitors enter in teams of three, and set of at midnight. It’s incredibly hard. And possibly suicidal.

It’s only every two years means that in a PDG year at the start of the season everybody who does a bit of touring starts having whispered conversations in the Pub Mont Fort about having a stab. Most of us promptly decide it’s too much hassle. After all, it’s like two marathons in one night. On snow. And across some pretty scary mountains.

It’s also a pretty impressive logistical exercise for the Swiss Army (and due to Swiss national service a huge number of them descend on resort and seem to spend an inordinate amount of time in the pubs).

But the Army marshal the whole thing and manage to dodge crevasses, avalanche-prone-slopes and cliffs and still get every single competitor and spectator safely off the hill. And yes, people do hike up to watch the racers coming through the cols in the wee small hours of the morning.

But the biggest thing is that it seems to somehow articulate a Valaisanne (and Swiss) sense of pride – a way to assert their Valais-ness…

(Thanks to G for the photo which I might have pinched off his facebook page…)