I’ve never been in such ferocious wind as we experienced this morning. On the summit of Bellevarde we were being pushed about by the gusting wind and ended up sheltering in the exit of the Funival. Eventually I joined up with Gilles from Snow Fun and I went first and he brought up the rear as we took our two groups towards shelter on the Face du Bellevarde. Even with the two of us I managed to lose a client and was very concerned as it was not a day to have someone go missing in action. Gilles and I climbed back up to the Funival to look for him but eventually had no option but to continue down and hope he hadn’t headed off somewhere dangerous. Once down we went to the Gourmandine and phoned Jean Sports to get the number off the rental list and managed to contact our missing man who had ended up skiing down to La Daille. It was a huge relief because it was potentially a very nasty situation and I wasn’t looking forward to phoning the gendarmes to report a missing client on the mountain in the worst storm of the season. The Funival closed shortly afterwards and remain closed for the rest of the morning. My group dropped away and I ended up ‘skinning’ up above the Triffolet with Adam for a run and then we knocked it on the head around noon. Thomas ended up at the Fornet at the end of the morning as it had reopened and Chris joined him for a run as well. Pietro’s team never made it up the mountain but we all did our best in pretty tough conditions. (See photos)
Today’s wind wasn’t forecast to be so violent and I think it took the pisteurs and lift company by surprise as children were being blown over and adults were finding it difficult to stand their ground. It didn’t take long for the resort to be shut-down and we’ll have some cabin-fever brewing as most people didn’t get up the mountain today.
I ran into Michiel and his family skiing down from the Triffolet restaurant while we were ‘skinning’ up. They all had big smiles on their faces and were enjoying the atmosphere.
The Danois was absolutely rocking last night as the Revolverlites and Flo were on great form. It was Flo’s birthday and the place was jumping and the band responded and played until 8 o’clock. Hendrick and Alice run a great bar and you know a place is happy when the staff show up to hang out on their nights off. It’s my favourite bar in town and if you’ve never been I highly recommend it! (And the food is yummy too!)
Pietro and I are off to Johnnie Alpine’s tonight for dinner and Champions League football between City and Real. Should be a great evening!
It’s still snowing and how knows what tomorrow will bring? Stay tuned!
PS Millie had a University Day at college yesterday where various universities came and presented themselves. Millie liked quite a few but thought Leeds look particularly interesting. Go Millie!!!