27-3-2012

Today we are totally crippled with R.S.I.

Not the disease, the organisation Regime Sociale des Independents, which is the french equivalent of the DWP.

 The only things I used to miss about the UK were Chinese takeaways and Indian takeaways.

I now miss the DWP also.  This probably makes me unique amongst englishmen.

It is unbelievable how much time, energy and money that could be spent running a business is totally wasted instead trying to correct the mistakes of RSI.

26-3-2012

What a difference a few days make.
I've let the blogging slip, because the skiing at the Grands Montets has been absolutely fantastic recently.
The rock hard concrete snow is now nice and soft in the afternoons and skiing is so much fun again.
Car park's a nightmare though- you can't have everything!

Use the train while you can- it stops for repairs in April

21-3-2012

Skiing at les Houches yesterday.

Much better than I expected.

Really good fun and an object lesson to my niece and her friends as to just how quickly the snow changes from light powder to heavy clag at this time of year

19-3-2012

So often the best ski days start from unpromising beginnings.

We only went out skiing today because our niece had said she'd be at le Tour with her friends.

There was about 5 cm of fresh snow where we're staying, so we didn't expect anything special. 

Caught the train over to Vallorcine, where we were greeted by a liftie friend who said that, although the gondola was working the chairlift above it was out of action.

We asked what our options were and he suggested we walk up from the top of the gondola to the posettes drag lift- that was running.

We arrived hot and sweaty at the top, caught the plan des reines drag up and skied down to Charamillion.

Met the niece and friends and went up the Autannes chair. I suggested we ski a bit on the path back to Vallorcine, then drop off it.

It was absolutely amazing.  Half a metre of soft powder that hadn't been skied.

Spent the afternoon doing laps- magic.

16-3-2012

Jamming last night with "Edgar".

Absolutely magic.  They're insane.

It's a 12 piece funk band already and they're looking to add a second guitarist and a trumpeter.

You can't escape your past!

16-3-2012

Chamonix is world famous for the off-piste at the Grands Montets (GM).

For geographical reasons this place is Mecca for skiers. 

The GM is a pyramid shaped mountain, where the main skiable face is north-facing. Directly behind it is another pyramid shaped mountain (The Aiguille Verte) which is another 1000m or so higher.

The result is that the GM is largely sheltered from direct sunlight and what sun there is hits it at an angle, so it doesn't usually warm the snow up and melt it.

This year has seen exceptional snowfall and the geography should have preserved this. Sadly we've had unseasonably warm air temperatures over the last few weeks, which has caused the snow to melt and re-freeze overnight.

Currently the weather is unseasonably warm and the snow is unseasonably cold, so it's like skiing on re-inforced concrete (beton armé).  We waited yesterday until 3pm and the concrete in Lavancher was only just softening. Very sad.

Mind you the run home was great- did it twice!

 

15-3-2012

Just finished reading "Goodnight Jim Bob", written by the singer from "Carter The Unstoppable Sex Machine"

Definitely the best music based book I've read in a very long time- over the last year I've read Keith Richard's book, Julian Cope's and Patti Boyd's, but this is in a class above!

I know someone who got divorced because he took his missus to see Carter USM..........