You're moving out of the chalet?!

I headed over to Barragiste for dinner tonight and everyone seemed to be getting on really well. The food was good, the conversation was great (alot of it was equine related!) and all appeared well... until I looked out onto the decking to find that someone had made an igloo! I made some enquiries and found out it was just made for fun, thank goodness, nobody actually intended on staying in it. The weeks we have children staying we have come to expect forts, snowmen and even snow sculptures but this igloo was entirely the work of grown ups! It's magnificent!

Fireworks and fighting!

Tonight was a fabulous evening of entertainment put on in Courchevel 1850. To start with the first entry of the fireworks competition was amazing with Austria putting on an incredible display. ESF 1850 opened the event with a torchlit descent and then the fireworks were out of this world! At the finale I swear the ground was shaking with all the noise! It was so beautiful and must have cost an absolute fortune.

I headed down to Chalet Elan with the guests to have an early dinner in order to get to the ice hockey match for 9pm. We had a great dinner and then headed up to support Courchevel in their match against Meribel. Courchevel were ahead after the first period 3-1. The second period saw the score jump to 5-4 to Courchevel. At this point play was all very friendly with players helping each other up when they fell over! The most entertaining part was hearing previously reserved guests shouting abuse at the players and Hamish's amazingly bad commentary! As well as this the referee, who looked about 14, fell over in the second period to many cheers! In the third period, play changed dramatically and Meribel brought the scores even. Tensions were running high and after a bit of abuse from one of the Meribel players, the referee got involved in a fight! At one point the two of them were scrapping on the floor! The Meribel player was sent off but continued to shout abuse (in English) at the ref. However, play resumed. After a particularly good goal from Courchevel in the 16th min of the 3rd period to put Courchevel ahead, the Meribel goalkeeper suddenly lost his cool and went flat out across the ice, jumped on to the Courchevel bench and ripped the helmet of the goal scorer in order to punch him! This provoked all of the other Meribel players to join in. Courchevel were very disciplined during this and only acted to restrain the opposite team! Eventually the fight was halted but the ref had had enough and called full time and a Courchevel victory with 4mins still left on the clock. A most entertaining evening although some of us were left wondering if the violence was a bit staged at the end to please the crowd!

Perfect! (As predicted on Monday!)

Today was another one of those amazing ones that just make you feel so happy to be living in the mountains! As you can see in this view of the altiport, 1850 and 1650 there wasn't a cloud in the sky and I even went out without a fleece layer. Ahh, happiness!

However, spelling is among my many flaws and my Granny has just pointed out in a phone call that even at this age and stage I can't spell (amongst other simple words) definitely. So apologies to all who are or have been offended by my sub-standard English! Must do better... That brought me right back down to earth!

Val Thorens and Orelle Valley

Today we set off early... maybe too early as we had to wait quite a while for Plantrey chair to open! Anyway, a group of five keen beans headed over to Val Thorens and beyond to explore the mysterious 'Forth Valley' that we have heard so much about but never actually made it to!On the way over we spotted this lot - I assume they were on a stag do - they all looked very enthusiastic and happily posed as soon as they saw me take the camera out of my pocket! We were on the Cote Bune chair with them out of Meribel and into Val Thorens. Once we got to Val Thorens we took the Caron bubble to the Cime Caron cable car and after a HUGE queue eventually we were swept away up the mountain, completely squashed in to the cable car. We climbed 900m, the longest vertical non-stop climb in the 3Valleys other than the 3Valleys express from Orelle. But wasn't it worth it! This is the view of Val Thorens from the top of Cime Caron. Mont Blanc in the top right of the picture looks like a cloud! The top of Cime Caron is one of the highest points in the 3Valleys at 3200m.

From there we headed back to Val Thorens and up Grande Fonde to pop over into the Orelle valley. It was so quiet in comparison to Val Thorens and there was eerie cloud swirling around... it was a bit wierd but the skiing was fantastic! There are only a few runs over there but it was really nice to escape for a little while! I took this photo going up the Rosael chair of the massive icicles on the rocks. It must be beautiful in summer if it is a spring but it looks a bit sinister here!

We all had a great day and capped it off by going to the ski show in 1650 (free vin chaud!), followed by a few drinks in the Bubble Bar!

Wee bit cloudy!

Well today was another one of those slightly snowy, very cloudy high up days! I took this photo of the Biolay chair from the red Marquetty run. The plan was to show the chair disappearing into the cloud but the cloud engulfed me as I took the camera out of my pocket! Not so good!
I skied just around the corner and out of the cloud - so wierd! There was only about 50m between looking up the slope in the last photo and down the slope in this one! Just afterwards I took this one of the Verdons bubble and if you look closely you can just make out the Saulire cable car whisking people into the clouds above the station. The good news is that the end of the week is to be sunny, sunny, sunny so hopefully the photos will be a bit better than these ones!

Events Galore!

This morning it started to snow again, hurrah! Although it would have been better at night I'm not going to complain too much because a top-up now should make for an excellent week. As well as great skiing this week there are loads and loads of events on in Courchevel. So many that I won't be able to go to all of them but for me the highlights are going to be the Ski Show and Mardi Gras in 1650 on Tuesday with face painting for the kids in the afternoon, fancy dress at 6.30pm and ski show with mulled wine at 6.45pm (I'm getting quite addicted to the ski shows!). There is a Beethoven concert on Wednesday but I might be a bit out of place there. I am looking forward to Thursday the most as the International Festival of Pyrotechnic Art commences with the entry from Austria. It starts with ESF 1850 opening the show at 6.45pm. The competition begins at 7.15pm. I've heard so much about it from last year I can't wait! Then, as if that wasn't enough excitement for one night, there's an ice hockey match between Courchevel and Meribel at 8.30pm! I'll definately be cheering for the locals! On Friday there's Karaoke on ice - I might go to watch but there's no way I'm participating!

Phew! No-one can complain about a lack of entertainment this week! For a full list of all the events go to the Courchevel site then click on 'winter', then 'events' and pick the dates you're going to be here so that you can start planning your evenings!

1850 Ski Show

Another great show was put on by the 1850 ESF tonight. Loads happened with little demonstrations by the ESF kids (look out for the kids in turquoise, they are amazing), a human fireball type thing as in this photo, fireworks and of course the torchlit descent!

This man came zooming over in his hang glider thing and we all cheered but then he came back out of the sky behind us and landed infront of us on the piste!

This was the start of the torchlit descent as the 5 piste bashers came storming down the piste letting off fireworks, followed by ESF 1850 with their torches. If you look really carefully you can just make them out!

And this is of them all making their way down the slope. You really don't get much of an idea of the atmosphere from the photos but it really was a great show, finished off by the most amazing fireworks! Great fun and I'll keep you posted if it is going to happen again!

Reminder!

Doesn't it look like Narnia! Great weather today. Anyway my report for today was going to be on the circus in 1850 but I was working and missed it so instead I'm going to remind everyone who is staying with us this week that it is the ski show in 1850 tomorrow night at 6.30pm. I am based in 1550 and so I'm going to walk down to the bubble and get it to 1850, watch the show (I don't think the show will be longer than half an hour or everyone will freeze) and then get the bubble back to 1550 as it doesn't stop until 7.30pm. Well that's the plan anyway!

Cloudy day!

This morning skiing was brilliant - a bit overcast but great snow. We all headed over to Meribel for a bit of a play around over there. We had lunch in Mottaret for under 5 euros and then headed back up Pas du Lac. When we got to the top we couldn't see a thing! I decided that I had better head back into Courchevel valley at this point just incase the weather got really bad and I wanted to go home! We skied down Combe de Saulire in almost white out conditions but when we got to the bottom of the Saulire cable car we could see again! We headed down to Le Praz but it was quite icey at the bottom. This photo is from the top of the Praz bubble in 1850 of the clouds that we had skied down out of earlier. After a few more runs we called it a day. It was fun but it would have been more fun to have been able to ski a bit more at the top of the mountain!

Back to Black!

Today was a fantastic one! I was a bit wary that it would be totally over busy today so I went out at lunchtime to avoid the crowds... and it worked a treat! I got up to the top of Plantrey and took Jean Blanc (black) then Brigues (red) all the way to Le Praz and I didn't see anyone at all until Le Praz! It was so good I went all the way up and did it again but this time the lonely guy on the chair lift with me followed me but it was OK because then he overtook me and disappeared! I then met up with Alicia from Barragiste and we headed up to the top of Vizelle and raced down Suisses, then up and over to Combe de Pylones, (both black) both of which were pretty much empty as well. This photo was taken on Suisses, note the lack of people! When I skied home from the bottom of Saulire via greens and blues it was heaving, so my philiosophy for this week (half term) is ski at lunchtime and stick to red and black runs!

Freezing!

I know my last post was about how cold it was but it is still really cold! However it was clear and beautiful so we can't complain too much. This was the view from between Marmottons and Reposoir today. The village that you can just make out nestled between the three mountains is Champagny, part of the La Plagne area where we went skiing a couple of weeks ago.

When I was buying the lift passes this morning it was -16°C and I don't think it got above -8°C all day. Bear in mind that this is at 1550m and the top of the mountain is about 2700m and you can imagine how cold it is up there with the windchill factor! However it was a beautiful day and the snow is great so we are a happy bunch in Courchevel!

Brrrr!

Hurrah! This morning we saw the sun rising into a bright blue sky which has not happened for ages now! I got out skiing at about lunchtime and it was absolutely freezing. The thermometer in 1550 said it was -11°C and it said that up at the top it was -17°C before windchill! The forecast for the top tonight is for -36°C with windchill. Skiing was great today but very very cold. At least we could see infront of us though which is the first time all week! Next week is supposed to be extremely chilly too so if you're coming out tomorrow make sure you pack lots and lots of layers, especially for the children.

Ski show 'snow and fire'!

Tonight I went to the display put on by ESF 1550. It was brilliant! Amazing music, mulled wine/hot chocolate and about 15 mins long so the kids didn't get bored or cold.This was the view as I walked down the Dou Du Midi piste from the Brigues area into 1550. The photo doesn't really do it justice but the lights on the middle right are 1650 and the others are at the bottom of the Tovets chair in 1550.

This photo is of three piste bashers (or pistie beasties!) which came charging down the Tovets run from 1850 to the theme tune from Pirates of the Carribean while letting off fireworks all the way. It was spectacular but almost intimidating as they did sharp halts in front of the crowd barrier! There were also rhythmic skiers and some freestyle skiers but my photos of them didn't come out that well.

The next part of the show was the beautiful torchlit decent by ESF 1550 and some other lucky people. This photo shows the pyrotechnics, the ESF logo projected onto the slope and the torches of the instructors as they make their way down. It was done to some Enya type music and was very elegant and beautiful.

The finale was these amazing fireworks, again the photos don't do them any justice. It was a great show and the exciting thing is that ESF 1850 are doing it next week so for anyone coming out to Courchevel, it will definately be worth seeing on Thursday!

Blue Sky!

This afternoon after our marathon shopping trip down the valley this morning we were all cheered up by this glimpse of blue through the clouds! It has been snowing so much this week that visibility has been terrible and I feel like I haven't seen blue sky in ages. It's still snowing (I have honestly never seen so much snow in my life) and it is really really cold so it isn't melting, it just piles up and up! Hopefully the sun will break through the clouds soon and we'll have a great day tomorrow, fingers crossed!

Albertville

Today the snow was falling in little balls a bit like hail so some of us decided to head into Albertville for a change. It is a large town about an hour away and it is most famous for hosting the 1992 Winter Olympics, when the ski jumping was held in Le Praz. Some of us had been to Albertville before on our way to Courchevel at the beginning of the season but all we really saw of it was the McDonalds where we stopped for a toilet break! When we actually got into the town we discovered that away from all of the industry on the outskirts is actually a really beautiful centre. The shops were similar to most high streets except for the amazing chocolateries - when we were standing outside one of them looking at the amazing chocolates and cakes we did feel like we were in the film 'Chocolat'!

One thing that was a bit strange though was that around the Tourist Office and the Hotel de Ville at a first glance it looked like there was a lot of ornate buildings but if you looked a bit closer you saw that everything had just been painted on a flat wall! This is just an example of the painting, there were lots more. The door, the window and the arches at the top are all just painted on. I don't think anyone's going to answer that door Jess!

Moody weather!

I headed out today with very little intention of having a hard ski! I just thought it would be lazy not to. This was the view from the top of Plantery lift at about lunch time. It is lovely on a perfectly clear day but the sky and the valley definately had a bit of moodiness about them today. I thought it was interesting how well the tree line and the freezing line show up when the sun's not quite out.


Anyway, we skied down from here to La Tania via the Bouc Blanc and Moretta Blanche red runs and headed to Pub le Ski Lodge for some lunch. I had a big plate of potato wedges (from the starter/snack menu) with chilli and cheese and a lemonade (should have had vin chaud, it was cheaper!) for 11 euro - not bad! The food was absolutely delicious and I havent had chilli since before I left Scotland so it made me very happy! The down side was that it was reasonably busy and it did take a very long time for us to recieve our food - they seem to serve the larger groups first and there were only two of us. The burgers looked awesome and started at 7.50 euros. The kids menu was 7.50 for a main, ice cream and a lolly. The Apres ski there looks like it will be really good and on Tuesday nights they have Curry Night, curry and a pint for 10euros, brilliant! I can't remember the last time I went this long without a curry! Buses run from La Tania to Courchevel every hour from 9.10am until 12.10am. It takes 10mins to 1550 and 20mins to 1850.

We had to ski a couple of moguled black runs this afternoon to try and work off all those calories! The light got really flat at about 3pm so we called it a day and went for a hot chocolate. More calories!

Snow, lots of it!

This is a particularly uninspiring photo out of the office window yesterday. I went out with my ruler this morning and there had been 45cm in 24 hrs, not bad at all! This morning the tracks you can see here were totally covered but...

This view gave me a bit of a fright this morning! Trundling towards the office on huge snow chains the digger drivers had decided to clear the road in front of the office - great as I spent about an hour digging it out the last time it snowed!

The cheery driver then happily posed for his photo to be taken! To be fair to him if I was driving a digger that big, I'd want a photo of it too!

After work in the office was done for the morning I thought I'd better get out to sample all the new snow! When I caught up with the other girls their hair was all frozen like Claire's in this photo and it was totally brittle. It is absolutely freezing out there and I wimped out after a couple of runs, even though the snow was fab! Visibility was not so great and it is still snowing a little bit just now... I think tomorrow is going to be great though!

A Dreich Day!

This was the view of Marmottons in the sunshine last Saturday...

















And this was it today! Snow is coming here from Britain I think! Hooray! I asked Louise, the host in Marmottons to pose with the giant icicle that was still clinging on from last week to show you just how huge it was - one minute she's happilly posing with her Pledge and duster....

And the next the whole thing came crashing down about a foot away from her, yikes! Thank goodness she wasn't hurt and that's the last time I ever get anyone to pose with anything as dangerous as an icicle!

Bring on the snow!

Wild animals in Mottaret!

Today I headed over to Meribel Mottaret to catch up with some friends for lunch. We were sitting next to a plastic cow, complete with cowbell that kids kept ringing! Funny the first time...!
On grabing our skis to head back up Pas du Lac we came across this racoon type creature playing with the kids. I think he was probably employed by the photographer you can see in the back ground but I wouldn't want his job, the children kept beating him up! Anyway, I think the photographer was doing a roaring trade so I would imagine he'll still be around come half term.

After a hard day on the slopes...

La Taverne is a pub located opposite the bottom of the bubble in 1550. This makes it the perfect location for a wee hot chocolate or vin chaud by the log stove when you come off the mountain! Infact for those beginners who are staying in chalets in les Brigues who can't ski a red yet, it is where Finlays will pick you up from between 4pm and 5pm if you let us know you need a lift! The owner, behind the bar in this photo, is Philippe and he loves it if you try out your best French on him, it's the best way to practice!

Finlays get together in La Plagne!

Today we decided, despite the bad weather forecast, to go to La Plagne to visit the other Finlays crew who are based in Les Coches. From the office window, Delage, Reposoir, Marmottons and Barragiste you can see the village of Champagny across the Bozel valley. This is the outmost part of La Plagne and Paradiski so it is where we decided to head. It only took us 25mins in the minibus and we were skiing a totally different area! From the top of the second chair we got this great view of Courchevel. 1850 is in red, 1650 is in blue and 1550 in green. 1650 is bigger than it looks, we just caught it side on!

With Hamish as our guide (he worked for Finlays in Les Coches last year) we were soon zooming around the mountains! The scenery is totally different even though we are so close. We met up with some of the Finlays Les Coches crew for lunch and then all skied together after that. They even treated us to a ride on the Vanoise Express and there was a big debate about whether it or Saulire was better! There was no conclusion to that argument! We skied a bit in Les Arcs then headed back across to La Plagne and into Les Coches to say bye to all of the guys that work there. The sun came out for a great photo of us all - infact the terrible weather that was predicted never turned up at all!

On the way back down to Champagny the piste was closed except for access to the village. Initially this was fine but a bit further down we came across this sign! Being the only way down we decided we had better ski well and try and get away with being 'good skiers'! The slope was a bit chewed up and slushy but we all made it home safely. A great day was had by all!

If you buy a 6 or more day 3 Valley pass you get a free day in Espace Killy (Val d'Isere and Tignes) and a free day in Paradiski (La Plagne and Les Arcs). Now that we know it is only 25mins to Champagny, maybe more guests will make use of this freebie!